Chalet Suisse. International Cuisine

We always have our first and last dinner here. It is our favorite overall meal and it makes us feel like we’re really in Aruba. We started with their yummy complimentary garlic bread. Next, was their house salad, which is fantastic, and Chris always asks for two of them – on one plate. The Chateaubriand was perfect and Chris ate a piece of chocolate cake for dessert. We also had 1 brown lady and 2 Balashis (now we feel like we’re in Aruba!). About $100 with the service charge included – well worth the money (this same meal in our area would have been closer to double that).

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-Amy B.
www.inaruba.homestead.com

We tried this restaurant for the first time on our last trip to Aruba at the suggestion of a local gentleman we know. This atmosphere was not exactly what we expected but the food was Awesome! My husband loves Chicken Cordon Bleu and they have absolutely the best (and biggest) you will ever have. The staff was friendly and attentive. The only drawback I found was that it was a little on the noisy side. Great place!

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dixie luvs aruba

Aruba September 7 - 14, 2014

Woohoo!!!!!!

There food is always excellent. A must is to save room for the Chocolate Fondue for dessert!!!

The best creme brulee I've ever had... Love their weiner schnitzel- years ago I asked for their mushroom sauce on it and now everyone orders it this way..yum! Service is always excellent!

I am not a fan of this pretentious restaraunt.Way too stuffy a place for us and our food was so-so in our book.The guys had the weiner schnitzel-rather dry and overcooked,i had carribean chicken and although the portion was huge i really wasnt thrilled with it(that may just be my bad choice though)and my friend had the duck which she said was good so 3 outta 4.It was just way to uppercrust for us-a different waiter for everything and none of them particular friendly.The coffee at the end of the meal tasted like instant or it was old.I enjoyed our meal at the captains table at Lacabana more.

We look forward to Benny's now famous greeting..."Welcome Home". As corny as it may sound...it is truly such a nice thing to hear as you approach the maitre d's podium. (So what if he really doesn't mean it!!!) I like to think that he does!!!
The food...equal to the service...both very good, if not excellent. I will admit that both the food and the service seem to vary...depending on the night of the week. But...for old time's sake...Chalet Suisse remains one of our favorite dining spots!! Hooray for Benny!!!!

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One of our favorites! Great to always see the same staff who welcome you back with a big smile. Food is excellent, best lobster tail and rack of lamb and desserts to die for. We visit at least twice or three times in our two week trips. Never had a bad meal here and service is always outstanding. Try the Hot Kisses for dessert - vanilla ice cream with hot raspberry sauce!

Question -- this will be our first time at Chalet Suisse. Can someone tell me what is the recommended attire? Thanks.

i would use a pair of slacks or a sundress or even dress shorts and a nice top. just something about the place lends itself to making you feel you should dress just a little better although i have never seen a dress code stated.

In all 5 trips to Aruba...we've never made it to Chalet Suisse...and every trip we say we are going to! Afterall its right next door to us! Maybe this November but I grew up eating German food and weinner schnitzel and sour braten(sp) is old hat to me.

Hey Jayed...have you tried the Cordon Bleu at MJ's...its the size of a football! (ok i'm exagerating...but its big)

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"These are a few of my favorite things"
...Elisa

Elizabeth-you will never believe this but i have yet to make it to mjs-next time i go I am definately going there and i am getting either the snapper or the grouper!!Can not go in 2006(2 kids in college that year)but hopefully 2007 will bring us back to Aruba!!Then I will look for you on the boards and see if you are renting out your units at all as I love Lacabana!!But I will not be going to Chalet Suisse(My mom was German and she made great sauerbraten)just to many other places to eat and they sure did not wow me.

No problem...I probably won't be able to use weeks 46&47 for a while...and I don't plan on going anywhere...so as long as this board is around...so will I be!

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"These are a few of my favorite things"
...Elisa

We love Chalet Suisse and eat there at least once or twice on every visit (usually twice). Our favorite appetizers are their escargot, french onion soup, and Dutch pea soup. Duck is our favorite entree (always tender, juicy, flavorful -- and never fatty/greasy), but we also love their veal and lamb entrees. I never have room for dessert, but one of these days I'll have to try their chocolate fondue.

This is our favorite place on the whole island! We have to go there once for every week we are there. I agree about loving the way Benny says,"welcome home!" If you think it is a little too noisy in the main room, request the "Tiffany" room. It is beautiful with Tiffany style lamps and a black marble floor. It is lined with windows, also. They added it a some years ago and we love it in there. Not as many tables and they seem to keep the families with kids in the bigger room. The food is always great! We love the house dressing on our salads. It's creamy garlic and absolutely the best!!!! We have never had a bad meal there.

This is also a "must" for us every year and we love hearing Benny say "Welcome Home". That's when we know we're really (finally) in our favorite place. We always order the Beef Strogonoff on our first visit, the second trip varies. Love the creme brulle (sp) for dessert.

The strogonoff is the closest we've found to the Talk of The Town which was where we used to have our first and last meals!

Upon our arrival in Aruba for two grand weeks, we began the vacation feasting at Chalet Suisse, it was a grand resturant, nice place, but the staff makes you feel rushed to eat and get out, as it can be busy. Not sure when you compare it to some other places it ranks very high, maybe an '8' out of a '10', overall.

Food = 9
Service = 7

Food = 8.5, Service = 7, Atmosphere = 8

Tbear: Why did you lower your 'ranking' of the food from 9 to 8.5?

We've always been very pleased with food, service and atmosphere at Chalet Suisse. Sure, Benny can be a bit overbearing at times...but so what? He's doing his job, and as far as we can see, he does it VERY well!!!

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After our several trips back to Aruba, we finally ate at this highly commented on place. A lot of pizzaz and swirl of staff, I wouldn't go back, food okay for the price, but it seemed to be a show boat place to get you seated, served and out. Many other places are more relaxing and food as good. If ya want a rich looking place, go toe Terra de Sol, much nicer, and food as good............ plus they might have some entertainment as a treat on weekends.........

OK! That's what's so great about the BB's....we are all entitled to our opinions...and...rightly so!!!

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I got in a do-loop, obviously you saw my final comments on the place. Place felt a little over bearing on an island you go to relax.

We are in Aruba and went to the Chalet Suisse for dinner last night. I don't even know where to begin, the entire experience from the service all the way through to the food was terrible.

We are frequent visitors to Aruba - my family makes the trip every year. We love the island, the people, and the restaurants. I have never once complained about a restaurant until now.

To summarize, the waiter got several orders wrong. My sister-in-law ordered tuna rare and it came out very well done. So, she sent it back and the waiter returned five minutes later with the same well done piece of fish, asking if it really wasn't good enough for her. She said she wanted it rare and he unhappily took it back into the kitchen and replaced it with a rare piece.

I ordered a lobster dish and coincidentally, my Dad did as well. (he was on the opposite end of the table) The waiter brought the wrong dish and claimed that I did not order what I said I did...he also claimed that my Dad ordered something different as well. I finally gave in and took a different dish from what I ordered, but my Dad waited for the correct one. It finally came and it was DISGUSTING. Not bad, but horrible.

We went to complain to the manager and while we were waiting, I asked another table who was waiting to also speak to the manager how their meal was and they said it was the worst meal they have ever eaten.

We finally had a chance to complain to the restaurant manager and he said that he apologized - he also said that he should have closed the restaurant because everyone came in half drunk (it was Carnival). Needless to say, he admitted that the entire night was a fiasco and apologized but didn't offer to do anything about it.

Anyways, the meal was very expensive and not enjoyable at all. I do NOT recommend eating here.

Wow, what horrible sounding experience. We went here for the first time last year, and loved it, although it was pricey. But what was the manager thinking trying to operate with half-drunk staff? You're lucky you weren't poisoned!! (ha-ha-ha)

I just spent some time with the owners of Chalet Suisse while I was in Aruba.. they have a timeshare where I stay. Too bad I just left 'cause I would have shared this with them.

I learned something from Roy Leich... the owner of the Waterfront Crabhouse, and now a friend. (I had a bad experience there last year) He said that when you have a problem with a restaurant, you need to let them know so that they can do something about it. If I were you, I'd send an
e-mail saying exactly what you did on this board, and see if you get a response. Roy happen to read my post on this bulletin board last year, wrote to me and invited me back for a complimentary dinner this year. I took him up on his offer and my meal this year was wonderful... way beyond my expectations.

It's certainly worth a try... and, should be brought to their attention.

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This is probably the only restaurant in Aruba (after 9 years of going there) that I would not recommend to anyone. Felt the food was soso, was greatly overpriced, and the service was poor. This happened 2 years ago and I see things haven't changed.

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Costa Linda Mar 30 - April 13,2007
10th consecutive visit to the Happy Island

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We were there in Jan. The service and the food was good as usual. We did find the prices have gotten a lot higher and when we left (party of 10) we decided that maybe next year we would skip Chalet Suisse.



Nat

After a few trips to Aruba my husband and I finally made it the Chalet Suisse for dinner March 11th (yes, 4 days ago). We fine dine often and I found this restaurant to be EXCELLENT! I honestly cannot not say one bad thing about it. Our table, the service, the food, Benny the manager, we enjoyed it all. We will definitely go back on our next trip and hopefully that will be soon

That sounds more like it!! We have NEVER had a bad experience at Chalet Suisse. From Benny's greeting to our leaving it has always been a most enjoyable experience. Like we've said before...places have their good and bad days (just like some people!). Chalet Suiss still remains as one of the highlights of our visits to Aruba!!

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We ate there this past week, and at first was a little concerned about attire - we had not brought a lot of fancy wear, and saw a lot of people going in "nicely" dressed. However, a pair of nice "dress" shorts and sensible top fits the bill just fine. Our gentlemen had on polo shirts with shorts, and we just had simple, nice tops with shorts, and we felt perfectly comfortable. We foud the food to be great as well. I had the chicken florentine, my husband had the veal. Both great. Other members had fish ( I think it was the seabass, starting to get restaurants mixed up!), and the steak was the best cooked (medium-rare) that we had on the whole island. I did not find the prices as exhorbent as some of the other places we ate. Overall, the experience was great - would do it again

I have been here several times, the food is excellent however the service isn't the greatest, the service isn't bad but its just lacking sometimes. Overall though it a very nice restaurant with good food.

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My Aruba Vacation - Over 200+ Pictures
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Chalet Suisse ties with MJ's as our favorites on Aruba. We usually get the rack of lamb.

The only disappointment of our August/September 2006 trip to Aruba was that Chalet Suisse was closed for vacation!!!!! Imagine that!! People who live in Aruba going on vacation!!! Anyway...we were looking forward to having dinner there at least once...we ended up at MJ's twice instead!!! Wonderful...wonderful!!!

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Our second visit to Aruba, we eard so much about Suisse Chalet on our first visit so we gave it a try this time. We were really disappointed. My wife ordered the Chilean Sea Bass, it was either not fresh or not Sea Bass, my Weiner Schnitzel was overcooked, tasteless and dry, the coffee was old. Not an experience I will try again on our next visit.

alan, could you please repost this under the proper heading so people can see it. we have a complete restaurant review section.

this is the link...

http://bb.visitaruba.com/showthread....=chalet+suisse

i will lock this thread and then delete your post after you move it. that way you can even cast your vote for (or in this case, against, lol) the restaurant. thank you!

Best Meals during our 2 weeks. The escargot appetizer was very good. I had a rib eye that just melted in my mouth. Much better than El Gaucho. Our table had a variety of meals and all just raved about them. The service was excellent. Oh and did I say Toblerone fondue!! So Good ! Can't wait to go back.

I have to say here that our first dining experience at Chalet Suisse was terrible to say the least. Thought we'd give this place a second chance and we were very pleased with the service and our meals. Over all though, I do think that they are a bit pricey compared to other restaurants on Aruba.

An observation:

We have been more than satisfied diners at Chalet Suisse since 1996 (or so) when we first started coming to Aruba. One thing I've noticed, though, service and food quality for large groups (6 or more) have not been as good as they are when there are only 2 or 4 of us! Has anyone else noticed that? The wait staff is certainly experienced; its just that the service and food don't seem to match what they are when the group is smaller!! Just an observation!!

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I also have not been satisfied with my experience at Chalet Suisse. Been there once and was dissatisfied with the service and price. There are too many other restaurants in Aruba I feel welcome at and at a much lower price.

Joe

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Costa Linda Mar 30 - April 13,2007
10th consecutive visit to the Happy Island

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My 15 year old daughter tends to be the one who says "please may we eat at Chalet Suisse?" despite the fact that when she was younger she hated to "dress up" and I required her to do it for this particular restaurant.

She must have felt the experience and the food was worth it.

We dined at Chalet Suisse (perhaps our 6th visit) last March, a group of 5, and felt it was one of our most enjoyable evenings. The drinks were lovely, the ambiance is very lovely there, we had excellent service, and we all completely enjoyed our appetizers and entrees.

For dessert we shared a couple of the chocolate fondues which for 5 people worked out perfectly.

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29x visitor to the Island of Aruba - and counting !!

We had an amazing dinner here this last trip for our Anniversary. This is our new #1 restaurant as the food and service was amazing.

Here's a picture of my wife's huge lobster....

Milkman!! Happy belated anniversary!!!
It looks like the portions at Chalet Suisse have not gotten smaller!!

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Abusolutely the best food we had our entire trip! My husnad got the mixed grill and had so much food we couldn't believe it. The chocolate fondue for $18 was well worth it!! I highly recommend this place for a nice atomosphere and an amazing meal. THe table of 4 next to us were talking non-stop about how incredible the weinerscnitzel was.....maybe next time!