Chalet Ticino

A nice place to have dinner at a slow pace. We visited this for weekend dinner; me and my partner we tried the Prefix menu which comes with a soup/​salad, entrée and a dessert.
The wedding soup & cream of mushroom both tasted great. Coming to the main course we both picked the fish dishes the salmon and sole; Salmon was served with mashed potatoes and assorted veggies.
Sole was served with assorted veggies, the portions were generous in both the cases.
Dessert was either spumoni or lemon sorbet, we preferred the spumoni when compared to the lemon sorbet.
If this wasn’t enough I had to try the chocolate fondue which comes with a variety of fruits apple, pears, orange, strawberries and finally bread pudding. The chocolate used for fondue was dark chocolate which I prefer but slightly on the sweeter side and kinda watery.
Tip– the waiter did say that the credit card machine had some issues and they need to swipe multiple times which we were okay with.
Overall the food was good, service was great; a comfy and nice place to have dinner.

A really homey little neighborhood place is a gem. I love the rosti potato. It reminded me of hashbrown, really crispy and tasty. The veal dish was supposed to be the Zurich national dish so I had to try it. It was pretty good. The crab cake and gulf shrimp was also great. I like the tomato based sauce. I didn’t recognize any French dishes on the menu, mostly Italian, German, and Swiss dishes.

This is a cute place in Foster City. I’ve never been here but my sister and I have talked about it. I finally went a couple of weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised by this local establishment. When you walk in, you walk straight into the restaurant instead of a waiting area. We were seated immediately. I believe our waiter was the owner. He’s not a talkative guy but you can tell he is extremely proud of his food. He and the other employees were attentive. The food was good too. I had their duck and my husband had a steak dish. Parking was easy along the strip mall. We went on a Saturday night. Even though it was busy, the food came out quickly and service was excellent. Will come again!

Beautiful swiss italien cusine in a cozy restaurant. I did not make a reservation but was seated promptly. Had the three course Table D’Hote with a beautiful duck breast and mushroom risotto. The meal is served with freshly baked baguette that is still warm from the oven.

We had a nice catering experience here. The owner didn’t get my phone number nor credit card correct but they still deliver the food to us on time.
We really enjoyed the food and great service they provided.

Found this place on check please and so glad we came. Dinner was delicious. I especially loved the neighborhood feel and the very warm staff — So sweet and appropriately attentive.
The minestrone soup was homey, unique and wonderfully tasty. 5 stars
The Rottolo had a very hearty flavor. Delicious perfection. 5 stars
Bread pudding was good but very sweet. If you have a sweet tooth I’m sure you will love it. It was a little too hard much for me after 5 bits but yummy up until then — 3.5 stars as a result.

I decided to try this place out after watching a rebroadcast episode of Check Bay Area Please featuring Chalet Ticino. The restaurant is tucked away in Foster City next to a post office.
Reservations were made and they promptly seated our party. The place was pretty packed. The patrons that evening consisted mostly an older crowd.
I opted for their prix fixe menu with a house salad as a starter, osso buck as the entrée, and lemon sorbet for dessert.
Personally, I’m not a fan of the 1970’s era plating style of carrots and steamed broccoli that showed up my entrée as well as entrees for the rest of my party. At least the chef did not decide to dash some parsley as part of the plating as well! Usually with the dated plating style, based on past experience, it generally does not bode well for the food. I was worried that the chef was stuck with the cooking style of yesteryear or simply lacked the passion to cook food well. This was not the case here.
The Osso bucco was very tender, juicy, and came off the bone easily with gentle prodding of the fork. I could taste the vegetable broth it was cooked in. The only thing that needed improvement for the protein component of the dish was it needed a more seasoning.
The Osso bucco dish came with a mushroom risotto which was flavored well. Perhaps I’m nit picking, making truly good risotto is an art, not only does it need to be seasoned and flavored well, but the grains of arborio rice should be separate instead of mushed together. The good thing it has going for it is tasted good. At least it wasn’t like the undercooked (raw rice) risotto I had at Bartalotta’s at the Wynn. This risotto would win hands down.
Overall a pleasant dining experience. Service was amazing. We did not feel rushed, and the staff was on top of the things.

My goodness, the BEST rack of lamb ever!!! Tender, juicy, well seasoned, melt-​in-​your-​mouth kind of good! I’d come back just for that! It is a charming restaurant. Who would’ve thought it would exist in Foster City?! Our party also had the Osso Bucco and Sole. The Osso Bucco was tender and the meat fell off the bone but was a tad under-​seasoned. The sole was great! It was grilled to perfection. The wedding soup was okay, not much different than a minestrone soup. The bruschetta was sizable but average. The tiramisu was creamy but a bit too fluffy for my taste. The lemon sorbet was refreshing.

After watching a «Check Please Bay Area» panel rave about this place and mention that they serve fondue, I knew I had to come here, despite living 35 minutes away. When my birthday rolled around I suddenly had the perfect excuse to visit Chalet Ticino.
My husband wanted the petrale sole but the only way to get it is with their prix fixe. (That’s the only way to get the lamb shank and wienerschnitzel as well.) This was a problem because we planned to share the chocolate fondue, and the prix fixe doesn’t include the fondue as an option. «Oh well,» I figured, «I guess we’ll *have* to eat two desserts.»
The Italian wedding soup that began our prix fixe was pretty good. The petrale sole came next. It was nicely prepared — very lightly fried with a sauce that was not too heavy. Zucchini, carrots, and cauliflower came on the side which I liked since it meant I got my veggies even though we didn’t order salad as our first course. Overall it was one of the best seafood dishes I’ve had.
Meanwhile, we also noshed on our other entrée, the rosti con salmon — smoked salmon served on top of a giant thick potato pancake. Overall there was too much fried potato, but I still enjoyed the dish. The raw onions, capers, and sour cream worked with the smoked salmon.
The prix fixe came with a choice of lemon sorbet or spumoni. Neither is made in-​house. The husband chose the lemon sorbet which did not pleaseth me since I wanted spumoni. The sorbet was fine but eh for me. (Because, hello? SPUMONI!)
Last was the much awaited chocolate fondue. The dip-​ins included strawberries, grapes (I thought they were kalamata olives at first!) peaches, and watermelon, and it was nice to see some peach and watermelon representation among the dip-​ins. They also had bread pudding which I’d never seen before as a dip-​in. (Bread pudding? YES, PLEASE.) The chocolate was more watery than every other fondue I’ve had, which made it a bit sub-​par compared to (the fondue standard) La Fondue. But still, chocolate fondue is like pizza. Even when it’s bad (which it wasn’t), it’s good.
Kathy’s Fondue Rankings
1) La Fondue, Saratoga
2) The Melting Pot, San Jose (closed)
3) Rok Steakhouse and Bistro, Sunnyvale
4) CHALET TICINO, FOSTER CITY
5) Harvest, Cupertino (closed)
6) Noah’s Bar and Bistro, Morgan Hill

Small but very interesting restaurant. Serves all three different regions from Switzerland with dedicated menus. Owner speaks English and German (and some French).
Coming from Germany and having lived in Switzerland for quite some while I really can confirm that it is the original style.
So if you are looking for an international restaurant, high quality food and nice service — take a seat here!
Towards the post from Bea — I might agree on being more sensitive with water, but the rest is a typical «I need to somehow complain». Yes, the owner also serves himself — so what? Different temps on the food? I have been there 6 times now and never had differences in quality.

The plastic plants and faux fireplace sort of say it all with Chalet Ticino. –a bit heavy on the ‘Schein’ and not enough ‘Sein’, sadly.
Although California is in the midst of a severe drought, we were automatically brought pint glasses filled with tap water. I understand that this is typically how we do things in California, but not currently, surely? More pints filled with ice were dispatched for the bottled sparkling water we ordered as well. In the end, our table looked a bit like a glass menagerie.
We each ordered a salad starter and a main. I must have waited just a beat too long between ordering my starter and main dish as the owner rather impatiently then asked, ‘Yes, but what about the entrée?!’ after I’d asked for a mixed green salad. –off-​putting. We were also asked if we’d like to see a wine list and one was promptly brought. In the end, we declined ordering any wine and with that the list was snatched away. I kept thinking throughout, ‘Is business suffering?‘
The mixed greens were decorated with two grape-​sized tomatoes cut lengthwise and arranged around the periphery of the plate. I’ve never met a mixed green I didn’t like, but, unfortunately, this plate had been doused in balsamic vinaigrette to the degree that my nose burned with each bite.
I ordered the raclette dish. It came with lukewarm sausage, appearing whole upon first glance, sliced lengthwise then placed cut side down on one half of the plate and the other draped in an abundance of exceedingly hot, melted raclette. I should add that a couple of whole breakfast sausage-​sized sausages also made an appearance. I poked around the raclette with my fork and discovered two, small potatoes sliced in half swimming around. Most of the cheese went uneaten. The meat tasted a bit like food you’d expect to find at a carnival: a bit charred as if cooked on a grill that hasn’t been cleaned in ages. Add to the charred and greasy flavor, the sliced sausage should really not have been served room temperature.
The hubs ordered a dish with Rösti and lox. It tasted not like what one would find the German Switzerland or in Germany, for that matter, but rather like American hash-​browns. I like hash-​browns just as much as the next American, but when one is eating at a restaurant that touts serving food from CH, then Rösti, a sort of European cousin of the hash-​brown, is what one expects. Atop the Rösti was a thin slice of lox, dill sauce and thick cuts of red onion. The starkness of onion made the salmon’s flavor largely imperceptible. Had the onion been slivered/​sliced thinly, the dish would have probably been a bit more balanced.
On our visit, it felt as if they were, perhaps, short-​staffed as the owner, who also served as waiter, was having to direct the other staff member quite a bit while rushing around himself. I wonder, too, if the dude in the kitchen was in training given the stark inconsistencies with food temps of the raclette plate and the too-​thick cut onion.
While I appreciate that the owner of Chalet Ticino provides fairly consistent and well-​thought-​out responses to Unilocal reviews, I’d encourage him to direct his energies into tightening up his menu and staff instead.

This is a nice place for a relaxing lunch. Not so much if you’re in a hurry, though.
I really like their Rosta dishes. A Rosta is basically a plate-​sized potato pancake, covered with stuff. It’s a very satisfying meal.

Tried this Fri night. Only downer was the fruit fly that just would not go away. Still this place is superb in service and authentic dishes. The shrimp & crab cake appetizer was paired nicely w 2 unique sauces which should be dipped w the crispy bread. I originally ordered the chicken pasta and perhaps should have stuck with that. I had changed it to the salmon potato pancake. My mistake I didn’t ask for no crème freche (or may it was sour cream). Regardless it was spread underneath the salmon (still very good) and with extra on top. The potato pancake also too fried for me, would’ve preferred more «pancake» not crispy. Still again just my preference and no fault of them. Being the kitchen had closed I missed out ordering early for the bread pudding, one of my fav desserts… and I’m not much of a dessert fan. Still it will give reason to come back. I can tell this place is well-​loved by observing their interactions with the other patrons. I’ve been here in FC for a year now and finally hit this place.

What a perfect dinner I had at this little gem tonight!
I am currently staying in the area and wanted to get a bite to eat while I had an hour to myself. Unilocal led me here!
The owner is the sweetest man straight from Lausanne! He explained the Swiss and Italian parts of the menu to me.
Since I am following a vegetarian diet, I ordered the Mushrooms and Penne Primavera. Food was excellent!
Service is great. Definitely will be back!

This is the worst restaurant I have been to in Foster City. I’m pretty sure the sauces came from a jar and their pesto is almost certainly from Costco.
My eggplant parmigiana tasted like it came from a frozen dinner as did my kid’s lasagna.
The interior is outdated and you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the bathroom. Did I mention the cool was having a meal when I went to the bathroom?
The only reason I even gave it 2 stars was because the waiter was very nice, although I’m not sure how hard that is when there is only one table occupied.
Never again.

I so wanted to be giving out 4 or 5 stars and honestly the meal I ordered as only a 2, but the people at my table might have had 3 maybe 4 stars. The menu is very Swiss authentic, reminded me of places I had gone in Zurich. But I made the error of ordering the 3 sausages which sounded wonderful on the menu and ended up with 3 tiny little sausages, 1 looked and tasted like a Farmer John breakfast link and the other 2 were dried out and tastless. This was accompied by a luke-​warm cheese melt and a few slices of bread. Let’s just say that by 3pm I needed a snack as this was seriously small and not great.
Meanwhile the other people at my table ordered a lasagna that looked fabulous and was HUGE, he ate half and took the other half home with him, while the other person ordered a Chicken pasta in red sauce that was also huge and he had no chance to finish.
I plan to give this place another try for sure, Chalet seems like a great place, but I have to give a tip, skip the 3 sausages.

After walking around the entirety of that little lake in Foster City, my wife and I were absolutely starving and had time to kill. Fourth of July fireworks weren’t until 9:15, and it was about 7:00. We stumbled upon Chalet Ticino, and were very satisfied with our experience.
We were able to sit outside, which at the time was absolutely perfect. There were many different options that we wanted to try, but settled on the shrimp and crab cake for a starter. The starter was VERY good, and came with two different sauces.
After the appetizer we ordered a rack of lamb, as well as the Raclette. So often when you order either a lamb shank, or a rack of lamb they have a little too much sauce. This rack came with just enough sauce to compliment the perfectly cooked meat. The Raclette on the other hand, was its own beast. It was quite literally a huge slab of gruyère that had been melted, with sausages, potato, cornichon, and pickled onions. On the side was a really great sort-​of spicy mustard. I cannot describe how great this dish was. It was delicious, as well as fun combining the 4 – 5 different sausages with potato cheese and mustard. Absolutely loved both entrees.
For dessert we got a single order of the bread pudding. I love bread pudding, and this was no exception. It was an absolutely enormous portion that came with a very wet, amazing sauce. It was not the most visually appealing dessert, but the taste was absolutely amazing. You really get the sense that most things in this restaurant are made in house.
The waitress, as well as the owner were very personable and made the entire dinner a treat. I cannot recommend this place enough. We will absolutely be back, hopefully soon!

Pretty wonderful! Went there tonight and it was such a quaint and cozy little spot. Service was good and he was really nice and personable. Told us stories about places in Switzerland. Really nice guy.
The food was good too. We had the crab cakes and shrimp to start. The sauce was awesome and crab cakes even better. The shrimp were small but pretty good. We also tried the chicken risotto which could’ve been better. Flavor was good but risotto could’ve been creamier. We also tried the spinach and feta rotollo. Awesome. So flavorful. Lastly, the highlight of our meal was the raclett. Man. So good. Melted and scrapped cheeses accompanied by potatoes and three types of sausages. So good.
All in all. We loved it. We’ll be back for sure!

Despite some decent Italian fare to be had here, I didn’t venture in for that. I came for the Swiss fare, which unfortunately is quite scarce around here. Actually the only things I kinda know of Switzerland are 1) The Alps 2) The cheese with the holes 3) They are great watch makers 4) I will never have a bank account there.
The place is quite charming, in that Euro village kind of way. The owner works the tables which you hardly ever see out here. Unfortunately on my experience they were quite short of some help on a busy evening. Upon arriving, we were told that they were behind and patience would be required. I wasn’t ‘on the go” so we sipped on wine and endured the venture.
About 30% of the menu is Swiss. Here’s what we sampled.
Bundener Raclette $ 17 Traditional dish where a wheel of cheese usually sits by a fire place, then the softened cheese on the surface gets scraped onto a plate and served with charcuterie and garnishments. Here they use gruyère cheese, and a generous semi-​melted glob sits on a plate. Small steamed potatoes (cold), cornichons, pickled pearl onion and grain mustard are the garnishes, protocol.
2 grilled sausages also were on the plate, sliced lengthwise. The pork sausage was small and predominantly sage flavored. This is what Americans have adopted and know as «breakfast» sausage. The veal sausage was larger and fine textured. The spicing reminded me of a mild bratwurst. Both sausages were extremely good with the cheese and tart garnishes. I pictured myself loving this dish say after skiing the Swiss slopes.
Veal Zurich $ 19 A homey veal stew with sliced onions, white wine and cream. That is exactly what it taste like. A little shy on the seasoning/​salt.
Rack of Lamb $ 24 Not really a swiss prep but I was just craving it since I was drinking their house Bordeaux. Generous lamb portion and cooked quite well. Minimal sauce. What actually set these entrees off were the potatoes done in Swiss manner. One was a Rosti, which is a potato pancake but Americans will associate it with a «shredded hashbrown». They execute this to perfection, light and thick in the interior and crisp on the outside. The other was like a potato chip but not crisp all the way. The thick cuts were slightly crisp on the outside but potato-​y in the center. Never had anything like it, but still quite good.
House salad a bit of a rip at $ 8, just super basic. Actually they have a pre fixe at $ 25 but none of the entrees seemed to be Swiss, so we passed. But definitely more value oriented.
I knew my meal was legit, when I stepped out after the meal, I felt like I was spinning around in a Swiss meadow, with the Alps as my backdrop. Yup, I was that chronic day dreamer as a kid always getting sent to the corner for being in another world.

There’s a reason this place has been in business for 2 decades and it has everything to do with the total package.
Chef/​Owner Alex is great and stands behind all his products. I love a place that will let you sample the BTG wine first.
For starters — the Wedding Soup, yes… It is all that and definitely worth s spoonful for sure.
On his recommendation, I decide on the Rack of Lamb. One of the best preparations in my travels — was perfectly cooked to order and had great flavor, as were the steamed baby veggies. What really tipped me off to the excellence of this craftsman was the homemade potato chips — approx. ¹⁄₈ — ¹⁄₁₆ thick and again perfectly cooked. Not that they are hard to make, but they were so subtle… Not too crisp, not to soft or salty — just plain awesome.
Put it all together, throw in excellent service and what you end up with is a great experience for the money that makes you want to come back again and again.
Shall return :)