German, Swiss and American Cuisine in the Catskills - Chalet Fondue Restaurant
Written: May 10 '07 (Updated May 10 '07)
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Pros: Tasty appetizers, Wonderful ambiance, Great service
Cons: Could be considered pricey
The Bottom Line: I would definitely suggest a stop at Chalet Fondue for dinner, especially if you have a thing for German and Swiss food
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| jps246's Full Review: Chalet Fondue Restaurant |
Traveling through the Catskill Mountains and looking for a nice dining experience for dinner? Consider stopping at Chalet Fondue in Windham. It’s located in a beautiful setting with great character and a great mix of German, Swiss and American cuisine.
German, Swiss and American cuisine you wonder? Well, I am not a huge fan of German food and yet I still enjoyed this restaurant. That’s because it has a wide enough selection of items, including basic fare such as a sirloin steak, that I had no problem finding something to eat that I liked.
Location, Location, Location…
Chalet Fondue is located in the Town of Windham in the Catskills Mountains of New York. It’s located out of the center of town, on the slopes of the valley that Windham sits in. The restaurant is almost directly across from the access road to Ski Windham on Route 296.
There’s plenty of free parking, but on most weekend nights during the ski season and in the summertime, the place fills up and reservations are generally needed. We had made reservations for Friday night on the first weekend in May, but that’s generally before the summer season starts and it turned out that the restaurant wasn’t crowded at all.
Ambiance
One of the coolest things to me about Chalet Fondue was the overall design, layout and decorations of the restaurant. When you enter, you are in a small waiting room area that has lots of windows and lots of plants – very open and inviting. Then there’s a small seating area for people who just want to have some drinks. Beyond that are three main dining areas, two of which are in the restaurant and the third that is located in a sun room off of one of the other dining areas.
We had our choice of seating, so we ended up in the sun room. The views aren’t that spectacular though since the room opens up on the buildings adjacent to the restaurant and don’t really give any views of the surrounding woods or mountains.
The inside of the restaurant is decorated much like you would think a German and Swiss restaurant would be decorated – making it feel like you’re somewhere in the Alps. My favorite part was that each dining room had its own antique German woodstove. While they weren’t running while we were there, they were interesting to look at and on our way out, we went and checked out the two in the other dining rooms.
Service
We had a bit of a unique situation on our last visit and even in that case, the service at Chalet Fondue was great. On our last visit, we were meeting two others at the restaurant, but they misunderstood and ended up at another restaurant. It took almost an hour for all of us to be at the same place and through all that time, the waitress kept tabs on the four of us, filling our drinks, bringing out appetizers and checking to make sure that we were content while waiting for our other guests.
When they did show up, ordering was quick and easy and the waitress made sure that the flow of our dinner was at the right pace – with salads coming out quickly right after we ordered followed by our meals after the salads were done.
What can I eat?
There’s a fairly varied selection of items on the menu, from the appetizers, right on down through the desserts. As we were waiting for some time, we actually ordered a number of different appetizers to start including the Westphalian ham with melon, the Swedish Meatballs and the Potato Pancakes. All of which were very good. My favorite was the ham that was wrapped around the melons, though I also enjoyed the other dishes.
In addition to the appetizers, we were served a loaf of freshly baked bread.
With drinks, Chalet Fondue has as full-service bar so the sky is the limit. None of us were really drinkers, so we stuck to sodas and iced tea.
Neither my Father nor I are big fans of German and Swiss food so we picked from the ‘continental’ side of the menu where I had a sirloin steak and he had veal piccata. Our meals both came with house salads and vegetables served family style. Other dishes our party ordered included Wienerschnitzel, Sauerbraten and the tilapia special. My steak was cooked the way I ordered it and was very good. No one had any complaints, if anything, everyone was commenting on how good it was.
There were a number of different specials offered that consisted mostly of seafood, which is generally not on the standard menu.
Finally there’s the desert menu and even though we had a birthday cake at home waiting for my Brother, we did get the apple kuchle to go, which consists of deep fried slices of apple that are coated in brown sugar. I also had a coffee before we went.
I kind of wish we had time for dessert though, the hot apple strudel sounded so good and when I’ve had it in the past, it’s been really good. Not only that, they did have really good coffee and I would have loved to have sat there enjoying my dessert and drinking the coffee.
I’d also like to get to try the chocolate fondue where you can dip various fresh fruits into melted chocolate, that’s one dessert we’ve never tried yet.
Prices
I would consider Chalet Fondue at the high end of reasonable prices. Most of the entrees were around $20 with a few slightly lower and a few a bit higher. The appetizers were generally around $10 each and the desserts were slightly less expensive, except for the chocolate fondue, which ran around $20 I believe.
All told for six of us with three appetizers, six meals, sodas and the one dessert to go we spent about $200, which is around $33 per person. Like I said, I would consider that slightly pricey for an average meal, but the food and service were very good and you do have to consider that Chalet Fondue is located in a tourist area, so prices are bound to be a bit higher.
Overall thoughts
I’ve been to Chalet Fondue a few times for special events when I visiting my family in the Catskills. It’s a very nice restaurant with great service and good food. While I’ve never been a big fan of German and Swiss food, I still find plenty on the menu and it’s always been very good. All of the meals that I’ve had there have been good and I’ve never been disappointed, which to me, is a sign that it’s a good restaurant.
Unless you’re adverse to the prices you’ll have to pay at Chalet Fondue, I would definitely suggest a stop there for dinner, especially if you have a thing for German and Swiss food. I doubt that you’ll be disappointed.
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: No
Vegetarian Friendly: No
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations During the busier seasons, make sure you have reservations
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