Shane B.
Yelp
My hubby bought me a cute little convertible for my birthday. Don't be jealous, it's used, but new to us!
Anyway, that adorable little car, (I named her Sylvie), sparked a desire for us to get out of town on a little escape.
I decided we'd drive her from Orlando into the Smokey Mountains and onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. What better place to let Sylvie stretch out and hug some curves.
Frustrated with all the negative posts online, about other countries banning travelers from the US, I decided it was time we Americans got to know our beautiful, vast, and diverse country. So I posted on my Instagram account about Helen, Georgia. (It's an adorable little alpine town in Georgialina-look it up later, after you read my review...)
One of my friends posted a link about Little Switzerland on the Blue Ridge Parkway and I was instantly intrigued. I mean, another little alpine town--nestled in the mountains? I am there for that.
So I booked us a night at the Switzerland Inn. I liked that the Inn had a restaurant and pub onsite since I knew we would have limited options once we got on the Parkway. I also liked that currently the restaurant was not open to just walk-in patrons and their hotel guests had priority for reservations.
Let's get the Covid stuff out of the way:
1: Masks are required when inside the hotel's lobby and in the little shops located on the property.
2: All staff of the hotel, restaurant, pub, and little shops wore masks.
3: Hand sanitizer was available for guests and staff.
4: Outside tables on the patio--pictured--were spaced well-enough apart to allow for social distancing. We did not go inside the restaurant or pub, but I assume it was the same.
Now, onto my review of the Chalet Restaurant at the Little Switzerland Inn.
When we arrived mid-day, it was close to 3:00pm but the time the hubs and I made it to the patio for some libations. Sadly, the restaurant had closed for lunch, so we were stuck with liquid sustenance. The bartender was friendly enough and hooked us up with a beer for the man and a blueberry gin fix for me. My drink was yummy with lots of fresh blueberries and mint muddled in the bottom of the disposable plastic cup.
At check-in, we had made dinner reservations for 6:30, so we hungrily arrived at the hostess station--located outside of the physical restaurant, and when we chose to eat outside, the hostess walked us back up to the patio where we'd had drinks earlier.
Our server seemed a bit distracted and came to our table stating that she'd forgotten what she was going to say--we waited, but it never came to her, so I ordered the Swiss Onion soup, my hubby ordered the trout dip (it didn't warrant a picture), and then he also wanted to try the Carolina Caprese--because fried green tomatoes, duh!
My onion soup (basically French Onion by another name) was gooey, ooey, and cheesy and exactly as expected. I love me some French onion soup--no matter what you call it. The broth was well-rounded and packed with flavor.
The Carolina Caprese with their homemade pimento spread was okay. I don't know that I'd order it again. It was good, but not my favorite version of fried green tomatoes. I'd recommend possibly the spread in a small ramekin on the side--to keep the tomatoes nice and crunchy.
The smoked trout dip my husband got was absolutely not something I'd ever order again. It was runny with way too much mayo or whatever they used--maybe cream cheese? Think of a runny tuna salad--with some basic captain's crackers on the side. It was not anything I'd write home about and I've actually spent more time on writing about it than I spent trying to eat it. I would never order that again. We don't like to complain and we don't like to waste food. We're of the opinion that the buyer beware, so when we order something that is not to our liking, we usually eat it anyway. He ate it. It definitely wasn't my jam.
For our main dishes, the hubs chose the blackened salmon and I chose the three salad plate. The salmon was good and well-cooked. The hubs seemed to like it well enough.
My salad trio was tasty. I actually preferred the shrimp salad over the lobster salad, but the lobster salad was literally giant chunks of lobster, not little shreds of fake-looking lobster. I just didn't really care for the "Louis" sauce. It was similar to thousand island dressing. Chicken salad completed the trio--not anything fancy, but it tasted good.
We ended up taking the salad trio back to our room because we'd over-ordered in the food department. That happens when you skip lunch.
Overall, the food was good, not Michelin star, but you're limited in the mountains. I would definitely eat there again, just not the same things.
Personally, I feel like their menu is stuck in the 80's/90's. It could use some updating.
