St Hubert vs Swiss Chalet

For those of you who are not yet aware, Swiss Chalet and St Hubert are very similar in what they offer as a restaurant.

We, being from Ontario, grew up on the wonderful flavors of Swiss Chalet and HAD to find out how the rival is.

Approaching the restaurant there was a bit of excitement. We had been eating a lot of fruits, veggies and bean salads with water. Our pallets had not been treated to delicious chicken, fries and sauce in a long time. The building looked promising with it’s nice exterior and the smell was unreal. Then we got to the doors. Let me preface by saying, it was not a windy day and we are not the weakest of guys. The way they had designed the lobby/front door area was poor. It created a wind tunnel that made it very difficult for the doors to open without a very strong effort. I don’t know if this is a ploy to keep out the elderly or overly famished patrons, but it was ridiculously tough.

At the table, the interior seemed nice, could be that this place is a step up from Swiss Chalet in terms of interior and decor. Waitress arrives and we order 1 coke and 1 water each. We had already known our food orders due to the nature of our visit, comparing Swiss Chalet to St Hubert, so we ordered 1/4 chicken with fries. Waitress then asked if we wanted our coleslaw vinegar’d or creamy, we chose vinegar’d. It was nice to see that an appetizer of coleslaw, all you can eat, was offered for free. Looking through the menu we found the prices to be similar to Swiss Chalet as well.

Now here is the big part, this will be broken down into the ever so crucial judgment points in comparing the two restaurants.

SH = St Hubert
SC = Swiss Chalet
The scale is from 0 – 10 with 10 being the highest. 10 could also represent beauty, unrealness, glory, or divinity.

The Coke
SH – 9
SC – 10
While both are of Cocacular nature, there was a small but distinct difference. The glass that was served at SH was smaller than that of SC. While this possesses some obvious rate of depletion vs refill opportunity issues, it also creates a different flavor. The smaller glass seemed to have the same amount of ice, which means, the beverage has a higher ratio of melted ice to coke, thus leaving the SH’r with a watered down beverage.

The Roll/Bun
SH – 3
SC – 9
SC offers a beautiful almost miniature version of a calabrese bun which comes slightly warmed and is beautiful on the pallet. SH offers a hamburger bun that has been lightly toasted. This my friends, was a great disapointment.. but hey! Maybe it would accompany the meal/sauce well.

The Roll/Bun in Accompaniment With The Meal/Sauce
SH – 2
SC – 10
SC, for any that have had it, it’s amazing with the meal and dips so well in the sauce. Its simply amazing.
SH – As you may have guessed by the fact that it’s a hamburger bun, this sorry excuse for bread was horrible with the sauce. All it really did was make the sauce taste cheap and bad. Horrible!

The Fries
SH – 5
SC – 10
SH’s fries are McCain frozen fries similar to those you would get at McDonalds except they are not cooked in whale fat and don’t have much salt. This leaves them slightly plain but still crispy. It offered a mediocre potato flavor with a decent crisp, neutral to the meal, but they could never be eaten on their own and didn’t excite the pallet enough to say “hey.. there’s some fries left.. you better finish those!” These fries certainly wouldn’t initiate a call to the waitress had your meal come without a plentiful amount.
SC’s fries.. beautiful flavor in a light yet slightly crispy potato stick. They are seasoned to complete perfection and simply cannot get better. You can even sense the ingredients are more pure and won’t land you on a gurney had you initiated the waitress for not only more on your initial meal but to order a second plate.

The Skin on The Chicken
SH – 7
SC – 9
I know, not a huge deal right? BUT IT IS! SH has a crispy beautifully cooked skin but it lacked flavor, thats simply it. It didn’t offer a ground breaking accompaniment to the chicken, thats a big deal.
SC on the other hand has a wonderfully basted, seasoned and cooked skin. Crispy and goes great with the chicken. An impressive combination.

The Chicken
SH – 8
SC – 9
SH had a nice, moist and sizable amount of chicken. The grade of chicken was clearly good and it was easily the highlight of the meal. It was well done. I would say the portion size is bigger although not by much vs SC.
SC has a better chicken flavor wise for sure. It is just as moist and comes with the same quality as SH. The only slight complaint that can be made is the portion size at times, it can be a bit small.

This was left till the end because it is such a crucial part in the meal. Quite possibly the one thing that would bring together the entire meal. The one thing that can spring a smile onto the face of the frequenter in an instant, and again when they recall the experience while writing about it on their blog.

THE SAUCE
SH – 3
SC – 10
I know right? SH only a 3. Well this sauce was no sauce at all and it certainly wasn’t a perfect medley of spices perfectly picked and proportioned! This was a gravy, that was watered down and clearly not well thought out. This gravy did not bring the ever so important smile to the patrons face. It did not go well with the fries, it did not go well with the chicken and it was HORRIBLE with the bun. Its runny nature meant that when you would dip fries or chicken into it, there was a lively chance that it would drip off and hit you lap while on the way to the mouth. The place should be shut down for this one part on its own!
SC sauce. Oh what can I say about this sauce. It is perfect. It is full of rich and tasty flavors. It’s so good you could drink it if you still had some left at the end of the meal. It’s so good that people are always asking fellow table dwellers if they have any left to dip the final fries or bun into to prolong the experience of this glorious sauce. This sauce will bring that ever so elusive smile and it will engrain it in the memory for eternity. Its that smile that exists on my face as I write this blog right now!

The Overall Experience
SH – 5
SC – 9
Quickly, if you want a tasty and delicious meal consisting of chicken, fries, sauce, a roll and a coke, go to Swiss Chalet. If you want to punish your pallet or tastebuds, possibly for the reason that they don’t like a food you wish they liked, then go to St. Hubert.

Nail in the coffin? You know those little bowls of water with a small, cute, but effective piece of lemon in it that you get at the end of your delicious meal at Swiss Chalet? At St Hubert’s.. you don’t get it…

Joe