Hotel Restaurant de la Plage

The service was awful from the start. When I called to reserve, the person taking the call, manager or owner, was grumpy and bolshy. I was told they opened at 7, and when I said we’d come then, he replied, “But if everybody comes at 7!?” That showed a complete lack of customer orientation. When we arrived, contrary to what the website publicizes, the reception from the manager, gérant, a certain Tertuz, was unpleasant too. He didn’t greet us, just walked by with a grumpy, unpleasant look. The old Chinese proverb comes to mind: “He, who can not smile, should not keep a shop.” That person would be better off stocking shelves in a warehouse and avoiding customers. The service was extremely slow and unprofessional, mostly from untrained food and drink carriers who certainly can’t be called waiters. The tonic water came without ice. When we asked, the server mumbled an irrelevant explanation about why they “don’t bring ice cubes,” as if anyone cared about that stupid reply. Our main dishes, filets de perches, took a very long time to arrive. We eventually caught a female server’s attention and complained. The dishes came some time later, but the food carrier had forgotten the sauce tartare. He said he’d bring it, then disappeared without returning. We were already well into the meal and eating the dry filets without sauce so they wouldn’t get cold when we finally caught the same server and complained again. She brought it after some time. The service was extremely poor. This place is run like a student canteen, and the prices are too high for what you get. It feels like a rip-off, a sign of the manager’s or owner’s purely pecuniary orientation instead of a customer orientation. The manager or owner reminds me of Farquaad from a Disney film. I’ll certainly never come back.

The view is wonderful, and the wine was fine. It’s pricey, as restaurants around here tend to be, but you get more than average for the money. The perch was excellent, with good flavors and generous portions. Service was on point. One of the best restaurants in Gland, if not the best.

The food was good, but the prices were high. We ordered a 5dl bottle of wine listed at 22 CHF and were charged 39 CHF on the bill. We only spotted the difference later. When we called about it, the person on the phone disconnected twice, which was disappointing. We won’t return after that experience.

The sea is directly accessible, which was a plus. The food was excellent, though expensive. The hotel itself was very basic, with shared toilets in the hallway, more like a youth hostel than a hotel. For what it offers, I found it somewhat overpriced.