Between many meals there and holding my wedding reception at the Norwood location, I think I've developed a pretty good understanding of The Chateau. The first thing to know is that it's not a single restaurant, but several different restaurants that are scattered throughout eastern Massachusetts (Waltham, Westborough, Andover, Norwood and Norton). I've had the most experience with the locations in Norwood, Westborough and Norton.

The Chateau bills itself as an “Italian family dining” restaurant and while not ever dish is what you'd consider traditional Italian food, they are all very good, well proportioned and the service and hospitality that you get while you're at The Chateau are consistently great. Something I don't find very often in many other restaurants or chains.

You'll probably end up being overwhelmed by the menu, I know I was. There's just so much to choose from with appetizers, salads, soups, pasta dishes, chicken, veal, steak, seafood, saute and pizzas. It's a lot to write out and I think it would be basically impossible for someone to not find something that they liked on the menu, it's that extensive.

Menu Basics

Even having eaten several times at The Chateau, I know I still end up spending several minutes pouring over the menu looking to try different dishes and trying to decide between one dish and another. The menu has all the traditional 'Italian' favorites including things like chicken parmigiana, lasagna and shrimp scampi. However in addition to that there are a ton of different dishes that I would call “Italian inspired” and include things like the Tuscan style grilled shrimp and the marinated steak tips. Overall I'd consider the menu to be an American-Italian kind of menu, with more of the American side represented.

That said, I like it. No, I love it. Sure I love traditional Italian dishes, but here I know just about everything is going to be good, I'm going to get plenty of food, and if I'm not in the mood for something strictly Italian, I can find it here.

We usually start out our meal with an appetizer, which is usually the mozzerella sticks or the boneless buffalo tenders. Both are good, though the tenders are quite hot, but that's the way we like it. There's also appetizers like nachos, garlic bread and toasted ravioli (very good!).

We almost always add a house or a Caesar salad to our meals, as they are not included with the various entrees. If you're looking for more of a salad, there are several entree salads including a Caesar salad, a glazed salmon salad and a spinach salad. I can't speak to the entree salads, but I've always enjoyed the house salad or the Caesar salad that I've had with my meal.

Oh my, the entrees...you've got like five different sections to choose from here. There's the chicken, veal and steak portion of the menu with my favorite, the sirloin tips. There's the House Specialties section where you'll find traditional favorites like lasagna, chicken parmigiana, and mussels marinara. Then you've got your choice of pasta dishes. Continuing you'll find all the seafood selections and finally closing with the saute section where you can get meals like chicken piccata or shrimp scampi. Not only that, but if you don't feel like an entree, there's also a pizza menu that you can choose from. There's also a sandwich section and for bigger groups looking for family style dining, there's a family style menu where each selection feeds four to five people.

The desserts are also really good.

No one is going to leave The Chateau hungry. The portions, while not huge, are more than enough for the average person. I almost always go home with a doggy bag, especially if we've gotten an appetizer to share at the beginning.

My favorites

I really like the steak tips, but a lot of the time I take advantage of the “choice of two” special that they offer on the menu. It lets you pick two items from several different choices (including seafood, chicken and steak) that come along with pasta or potato and a vegetable. It makes for quite a meal and usually for me it includes the steak tips and then I try various other items that are available each time I'm there.

The sauted chicken, broccoli and penne is also very good, but it usually loses out the steak tips.

Besides me, I know others have really liked the shrimp scampi and the chicken parmigiana.

I also love the bread that they provide with their meals! It's a sliced, crusty Italian bread that is just really good.

My experiences

I've been able to dine at the Westborough, Norwood and Norton locations. What I like about the Norton location is the fact that you're dining on the shores of a lake so you can get some great views. My partner and I had our anniversary dinner there this year and we were able to watch the sun set over the lake. I thought it was really cool. For the other two locations, not as great of a location, but they are nice and they have plenty of room inside so even if the parking lot looks crowded, it usually doesn't take too long to get a seat.

I had my wedding reception at the Norwood location. They have a function room on the lower level and we took advantage of that. We didn't go for a full sit-down meal, but had a buffet for people to choose from and were able to really work with the people at the Norwood location to tailor the reception to exactly what we wanted.

Price

Another nice thing about The Chateau is that it is reasonably priced. Most meals are between $12 and $15 with only a few closer to $20, which are mostly seafood dishes that include shrimp or lobster.

For an average meal with two of us with non-alcoholic drinks, an appetizer, a salad for each of us and an entree, it's about $50.

Service

One of the reasons I found The Chateau to be so outstanding is the good service that you find at all of the locations. We've always had great experiences when dining and when it came to our wedding reception, I really think the events coordinator went above and beyond to help us. The wait staff works really hard to keep your meals well paced and to make sure that you are content while you're dining. Not only that, but everyone is friendly and helpful and overall, I just like being there.

As for the service with our reception, it was outstanding. From the effort that the manager put into helping us plan it, to the service that the staff provided during it, we couldn't have been happier. They really made it seem like the easiest thing in the world and saved my husband and I from having any headaches during the reception.

The Chateau is probably one of the few restaurants I would tell someone that they'd basically be guaranteed to have a good experience at, whether they were just going to have dinner or planning an event in one of their function rooms.

Final Thoughts

The Chateau restaurants are one of the few that I would have no trouble recommending to people who are visiting the eastern Massachusetts area. I've always had a good experience at them, no matter the location and when we had our wedding reception at the Norwood location, it was as perfect as it could have been.

If you're looking for dinner in eastern Massachusetts, don't think twice about stopping at The Chateau.

Recommended: Yes

Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: No
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations The 'choice of two' option that they have is a great way to try different dishes
Best Suited For: Friends