Did you know that cheese fondue is traditionally Swiss? When we were searching for what to do in Interlaken, tasting cheese fondue in its motherland itself came to mind. The highest rated restaurant serving cheese fondue was Panorama Restaurant at Harder Kulm; the highest point of Interlaken. We were enticed at the prospect of delighting both our eyes and stomach.
Now, after the almost traumatic skydiving experience, Bel and I were going to recharge with some cheese. We took the Harderbahn; a funicular that brought us 735 metres up to Harder Kulm. It was quite cloudy, but those clouds did little to the picturesque vista before us.
Panorama Restaurant
We grabbed a seat overlooking the lakes and the alps. It felt surreal; The blue sapphire lakes against the azure sky, pummelled by the alps. The clouds started as a boor, but watching the wisps float and fade brought me comfort.
The view was nice alright, but lunch time was way over and our tummy clocks had been ringing. All these minutes we were enthralled, we hadn’t gotten a hold of the menu. With hunger racing, I got up, and walked to the counter where I eyed a stack of menu.
Halfway to my objective, I heard a voice raised at me
“Hey mister, please sit down! I’ll go get the menu for you, you just sit down.”
It was a black-hair-ponytail lady who must be the waitress.
“Okay sorry” I uttered out of confusion, doubling back to my seat.
Maybe she was determined to give her customers the best service, hence didn’t want me to raise a finger to get the menu myself. Or she was afraid of any penalty if her manager saw that a customer had to get their own menu.
She traipsed to the stack of menu, took a pair, dropped them off at our table, and left. We were still predominantly in awe and hunger, so we focused on poring over the menu. Without much hesitation, we were going to try the MOITIÉ-MOITIÉ, half vacherin and half gruyere cheese fondue, served with bread and potatoes. We were so looking forward to what it would be like!
Disorder
Except, we couldn’t really submit our order.
When a short-haired waitress walked past to serve a table adjacent to ours. I waved and asked
“Hi could we make an order please?”
“Please wait, I will get someone to take your order” she plainly responded.
I don’t know if she did, but nobody came. Afterwards, I saw her chatting away with another waitress, seemingly amnesiac to my plea.
Minutes passed, we still haven’t gotten the chance to order. In those minutes, we perused the google reviews of the panorama restaurant. They were mostly positive, but many of the 5-star reviews peculiarly chimed: Great view but poor food and customer service. Numerous 1 star ratings complained about rude waitresses. One of the 1-star review specifically mentioned a blonde-haired waitress, as a waitress from hell.
A good 20 minutes since we arrived, our black-hair-ponytail waitress finally came to take our orders. That was when we noticed the blonde roots on her scalp. We were sure that she was the infamous waitress in the reviews. At this point we were having second thoughts about this restaurant. Firstly, the prices were exorbitant. Secondly, our customer experience had been terrible, with no sign of remorse or reconciliation. We were unwilling to spend our money on this lacklustre establishment.
Emboldened by the lousy google reviews and frustrated by neglect, we regrettably ditched our cheese fondue cravings. We settled with a single order of raclette instead. Not surprisingly, the food took a while to arrive.
As bad as our experience was, I will give credits where it’s due. Other than the fact that it came only with 3 little potatoes, the raclette served was good. Scooping the molten cheese with a slice of potato then munching on it, ushers in a delightful balance of savoury buttery cheesiness over the potato’s starchy texture. Unfortunately, the weather was really cold, quickly turning our raclette into a cheese board.
Despite the minor setbacks, it was a pleasurable time at Harder Kulm.
Panorama Restaurant??
To be fair the name “Panorama Restaurant” checks out. Indeed there’s a panorama and a restaurant. But I’d recommend just coming here for the panorama.
Dashing Heights 