Gifthuettli - Basel

We visited this place with my wife and our infant. There were many free tables without a reservation sign and a few that were reserved. We saw a free table for four persons which would suit us, because we needed the extra space for the baby wagon and also my wife would have the privacy she needed to nurse our baby. I asked the waitress (Chefin) if we could sit there and she showed me another table for two persons. The answer was not clear and I didn 't understand if it was just a recommendation. We instead sat on our chosen table for four persons. The waitress then came and said we must change tables because this table wasn 't available. So we took our seats on the 2 person table. After around 20 minutes I see a couple coming from the inside and sitting on the 4 person table which we originally preferred. I was very surprised because the waitress told us this table was not available. I asked a waiter how come this couple sat at this table and he said it was not his decision but the decision of his boss (Chefin headwaitress) and we should talk with her. Anyways then the waiter comes back and says that this couple had a reservation. I reply that this table didn 't have a reserved sign and that it looked like they were searching for a table outside. He replied that they did not have a reservation for this table but that they had a reservation inside and they went to sit outside because of the sun. So to sum it up: Table was NOT reserved. We tried to sit and told it 's not available . Couple comes from the inside after 15 20 minutes and just sits at the supposedly unavailable table. So I and my wife are very disappointed and frustrated from the service. We have never experienced such a cold, disrespectful and clearly unfair behavior in a restaurant until now. The fact that they didn 't even try to accommodate a family of a nursing mother her baby makes it even worse. Completely unacceptable, and plain sad. Besides that, the food was very tasty. But this treatment we had from the headwaitress ruined our stay there. So if you just look for a nice meal, you can visit this place. But if you really want to feel warm welcomed in a restaurant, this is the worst place to go to.

As I’ve never been to Switzerland, I have no idea whether this restaurant is “authentic “ or whether it primarily caters to tourists. While there seemed to be many other tourists dining with us, I thought the food was excellent. We both had cordon bleu and they were outstanding. The vegetable and spatzle sides were very good as well. Service was top notch. All in all, this was an outstanding place for our first dinner here. Highly recommend.

Simply recommended. From the restaurant, especially the service and the food...

Very nice staff, nice atmosphere and all dishes can be gluten-free! That convinced us. The GF Cordon Bleus were super tasty and so was the huge Rösti! The vegetable bouquet, on the other hand, was more expensive than the Rösti and was probably normal frozen vegetables, small bowl, nothing special. Then choose another side dish. But we would love to come back :

Nice bar and restaurant. Good food in substantial portions. Swiss styled dishes are predominant. We tried a local wine too. Service was pleasant. Recommend.