|
Guests staying at any of the five Seiler Hotels on the Half-Board plan
(same as MAP or Modified American Plan, meaning breakfast and dinner are
included in room rates), have the option to "Dine Around" at any of the
eleven restaurants affiliated with the hotels. This is not available
during the holiday season during which guests of each hotel will dine each
night at their own hotel.
Two of the restaurants - the Japanese Myoko and Seilerhaus restaurants do not have a daily "dine around" menu and guests will be given 50 francs credit to use on the a la cart menus. (This amount may change depending on the season). The Prato Borni "Cheese Hut", the Da Mario Italian restaurant, and Schwyzer Stubli Swiss restaurant each have a dine around menu which stays the same. Since all three of those menus looked good, we made them our "default" restaurants for those nights when we didn't find anything on the "du jour dine around" menus that suited us for the evening. If a guest decides not to dine at any of the Seiler restaurants, then s/he will receive a 20 franc credit to their room charge. Clear as mud? Don't worry, it's easy to figure out once you get into the swing of things and will give you plenty of choices. We all looked forward to viewing the menus each morning to decide where we might dine that night. All the hotel main dining rooms have a special or grand buffet at least once a week, usually on different nights. Since a huge buffet would give our family of carnivores and vegetarians the most selections, we signed up for several buffets during our stay. Nicoletta had an excellent buffet on Wednesday night, Mont Cervin had a Swiss buffet on Monday night and a Grand Buffet on Friday night. We didn't attend the one at the Schweizerhof or Monte Rosa, but another American family did and gave them excellent ratings. Be aware that gentlemen must wear a coat and tie to most of these buffets. Guests will have an easy time finding a favorite menu among all these
selections each day. Once a decision is made, simply tell your Hotel
Concierge and he will make your diner reservations for the evening and
give you a reservation form that is presented to the restaurant.
 Our family of diners has very different tastes - Kara is our vegetarian, Corinne doesn't eat much red meat, Max will try anything, Nick - our Englishman - also has a wide range of preferences. Jeff, Katherine, Kenny, and I tend to stay with "meat and potatoes" unless fresh seafood is an option. Finding a restaurant which could satisfy all of us is often a great challenge, but we did find a few (and the other nights, we split up and dined at several different spots). Note: in some cases, restaurants made a "no extra cost" exception for
our vegetarian Kara if she could not find something suitable on the dine-around
menu that night. Ask and they might make a recommended alternative
selection.
|
||||||||
|
Restaurant information provided by the hotels is in black below; our comments are in blue. Panorama-Restaurant
 We loved the relaxed and friendly atmosphere and
good food at the Nicoletta. The menu had selections of light Continental
Cuisine and it was a difficult choice to dine out at another restaurant.
The pianist in the nearby bar provided wonderful dinner music and we'd
often move straight from dinner back to the bar for a night cap, game of
billiards, or to continue our dinner conversations - see below:
 The bar also had a spacious reading room and lounge where we would all meet around 6 pm for a few drinks. Cocktail nuts and some of the best potato chips we've ever tasted were served (Frito Lay should try these some time!). Carnotzet Party Cellar
 The Cellar had afternoon tea during our stay and also a special Fondue dinner one night. Main Dining Room
 This elegant dining room served Continental gourmet cuisine five nights a week, a Swiss Specialties Buffet on Monday, and Grand Buffet on Friday. The two buffets were excellent and offered a fabulous array of selections for everyone in our family including Kara the vegetarian. Both rated 5 stars and the Swiss Buffet featured swiss hand bell music - a delightful addition. Coat and tie are expected at the Friday night dinner; smart casual for the other nights, although most men wore jackets each night. Rendez-Vous Bar / Hall
We found this an elegant setting for a pre-dinner
or after dinner cocktail.
 The full menu has steaks, lobster, seafood - all grilled to perfection over a romantic fireplace in the dining room. The dine around menu changed each night. Four of us - Corinne, Max, Kenny and I, opted to have dinner there on Tuesday night. Our selections included: All were excellent and rated 4.5 stars out of
5. This was one of my favorite restaurants because of the relaxed,
cozy atmosphere and grilled selections.
Main Dining Room Gourmet cuisine, à la carte dining. Various theme buffets weekly. 100 seats. Coat and tie required. Dinner @ 7:30 The menus were always in French and haute cuisine.
We didn't dine at the Monte Rosa but a family from Salt Lake City who return
to Zermatt each year gave it high ratings.
We enjoyed a drink at this very historic "Old
World" bar.
Main Dining Room Gourmet cuisine and theme buffets, once a week gala dinner with live musical entertainment. Swiss and Italian buffets Seating: 160 Smart casual. Dinner @ 7:00  We did not have dinner here, but the menus looked good. Had we stayed at this hotel, I have no doubt we would have been quite happy in this restaurant. The Lobby and Cocktail Bar This elegant lounge with open fire-place is the ideal spot for a late afternoon or evening get together. Complimentary afternoon tea and cakes are offered to hotel guests daily throughout the winter, and there is also a weekly aperitif. Our barman will mix you a fancy cocktail, and every evening between four o'clock and midnight you can dance - or just relax - to music played by international pianists. Seating: 120 This was a very cozy bar and lounge - recommended
for a pre or after dinner drink after dining at one of the four Schweizerhof
restaurants.
 All eight of us dined here one night and the overall rating was 4.5 for cuisine and ambiance. Kara, the vegetarian, and Corinne gave it a 5. Some of us started with the Cold Buffet of Italian appetizers and salads - enough to make a meal in itself! Others started on Penne with spicy tomato sauce. The two soups were Tortellini and Vegetable soup Italian style, both excellent. Max had the Risotto "Acquarello with asparagus
and black truffles - excellent.
We ended with delicious Tiramisu, Ice-Parfait with Amaretto, and Orange salad flavored with mandarin liqueur. Overall, a great evening of Italian cuisine -
we highly recommend Da Mario!
We all enjoyed this delightful Swiss restaurant. The food was good, atmosphere fun, and the peppy Swiss band music was provided by a foursome - three ladies with accordions and a man on a base fiddle - a variation on what we would call German beer drinking music. We rated this restaurant the best in entertainment and good times. Our dine around menu offered:
Corinne and Max were allowed to substitute the
evening special Osso Bucco, and Kara the vegetarian was allowed to order
Risotto at no extra charge.
If you've never heard of "Raclette", it's the Swiss national dish as well as the name of special cheeses. The photo on the right above shows our waitress heating a half wheel of cheese before scraping the bubbly stuff onto a plate to be eaten with pickles and vegetables. For everything you ever wanted to know about it, take this LINK. All eight of us dined at Prato Borni and loved it. The dine around menu had two extensive selections: Menu 1: White wine soup Valais style, Fondue Bourguignonne or Fondue Chinoise, ending with Sorbet with abricotine liqueur. (for two persons). Menu 2: Green salad, air-dried meat, followed
by Raclette with four different cheeses or Cheese Fondue, finished with
Fresh fruit salad with kirsch. (for one person).
 We also ordered a LOT of beer, as in more than enough. Plus two of us ordered the Fresh fruit salad with kirsch - and more than a few drank the dessert rather than ate it! By the time the chocolate fondue hit the table, everyone was pretty well "gone" and completely goofy. Jeff insisted on eating it from a spoon - JUST the chocolate; Katherine was enthusiastically yelling "chocolate", and Corinne was busy licking all the chocolate off her face.  Corinne's Comments: Ambiance: 5 What fun! Communal eating Food: 5 Ya gotta love cheese or
meat to appreciate the food. Don't eat
Seilerhaus Restaurant - Café, Bar, Bistro Modern restaurant, casual atmosphere, dishes from Italy, America, and Asia are served. Music is selection of jazz, junk, blues, soul, and pop. During the winter months the terrace is heated, giving our guests the opportunity to enjoy a few pleasant hours outside when the weather is good. Casual wear.  The menu was extensive and looked quite good, however, it was a little too close to American fare for us to try it. The Myoko Restaurant Every detail was taken into consideration when this restaurant was designed in order to faithfully reproduce authentic Japanese cuisine. Our Japanese specialty chefs learned their trade in Japan and since their arrival in Zermatt they have been making exquisite à-la-minute sushi and delicious specialties of the land of the rising sun such as tempura, shabu-shabu and yakitori. Only the best, freshest fish, the very best quality meat and the freshest and crispest vegetables are good enough for preparing these dishes.  Jeff and Katherine dined at the Myoko one night
and gave it 5 stars. The dine-around plan gave them each 50 francs
to spend on selections from the three page menu of sushi (which does not
change each night). They spent 98 of the 100 and loved everything
they ordered.
"Alexandre" restaurant delicious set menus, à la carte dishes, weekly buffets and soirees set against a spectacular view. Smart Casual.  Kenny and I took the cog-wheel train up one day and had lunch in this restaurant. It has a gorgeous setting, views, and a beautiful lunch buffet with extensive dessert table. Highly recommended for a day when one doesn't ski, or for those who do ski and want an elegant noon meal. The Salt Lake City family dined here one night
and gave it excellent ratings.
I've read good reviews from others. It's
small so make reservations far in advance. The
Riffelalp Resort provides guests with a free roundtrip to Zermatt on the
Gornergrat cogwheel railway each evening, so take advantage of the Seiler
Hotels' "Dine-Around" option if you're staying more than a few days.
|
||||||||
|
Restaurant Stadel
 We were delighted to find that it also had other local specialties. Max and I ordered two Rosti (excellent hash brown potato pancaked topped with about anything you want) - mine with ham, tomato, and melted cheese smothering the hash brown potatoes; Max's with a long delicious link of veal sausage. Corinne started with clear beef soup with a poached egg that was mixed in followed by a small order of Raclette - melted cheese with a small sausage. Three at the table next to us ordered meat fondue with french fries and had a great time cooking their meat in the sizzling pot and trying the various sauces. We give this great little restaurant a definite 5!  Corinne's Comments:
La Creperie was directly across the street from Hotel Nicoletta
and became a favorite lunch spot. Every kind of crepe imaginable
can be ordered - flavorful and perfectly prepared. Highly recommended
for a light lunch or afternoon snack.
 The Derby on main street was recommended to me by our German friends. It specializes in Italian Cuisine and looked quite good. |
| Restaurant | Cuisine | Dress code | Comments |
| Mont Cervin
main dining room |
Gourmet cuisine | Coat & Tie | Weekly Grand Buffet |
| Mont Cervin
Le Cervin Grill |
Charcoal grilled meats & seafood | Casual | Rustic elegance |
| Monte Rosa
Historic Dining Room |
Very Gourmet cuisine | Coat & Tie | Weekly Grand Buffet |
| Nicoletta
Panorama Restaurant |
Light Gourmet cuisine | Smart casual | Gorgeous views, weekly Buffet |
| Schweizerhof
main dining room |
Gourmet cuisine | Smart casual | Weekly Buffet |
| Schweizerhof
Da Mario |
Italian | Smart casual | Excellent Tiramisu |
| Schweizerhof
Schwyzer Stubli |
Swiss dishes | Casual | Swiss folk music
band - fun! |
| Schweizerhof
Prato Borni |
Fondues & cheese dishes | Casual | open only in winter
fun! |
| Seilerhaus | American, Italian, and Asian food | Casual | Indoor and outdoor dining |
| Myoko Sushi | Sushi, Japanese | Casual | Japanese specialties |
| Riffelalp
Alexandre |
Swiss specialties & desserts | Smart casual | mountain hotel restaurant |
| Riffelalp
Walliskeller |
Raclette, Swiss food | Casual | mountain hotel
restaurant |
| Restaurant Stadel | Great Local food | Casual | good food, great prices |
