Melting Pot- how does it work?

[*JoGo*]

Do you have to cook your own food? Or is it brought out cooked and you just dip?

Is it nice? Or just gimmicky?
Should we just go for dessert?


And if anyone's been to the one in Pittsburgh, is it within walking distance of other things?
What about Cleveland? I see there are two there.

 

[Janepod]

There is one nearby and we have been a few times. Food is brought out cooked and you dip. It really is delicious but we don't go often for these reasons:

1. Takes a loooong time.
2. Lots of kids there, always. There is a kids menu, families bring their kids, and it's a "date" place for local teenagers.
3. I think it's overpriced for what it is. We eat at expensive restaurants fairly often, but I do not feel this one is a good value for the money.

I do enjoy the food, but we generally find there are better options for the money.

 

[Help Please!]

I think it's nice...but expensive.

If you get the cheese (or chocolate), you do not cook anything. For example, with the cheese you may get different types of bread, carrots, cauliflower, etc. to dip...but if you get a main dish (oil or flavored broth), you will get meat and veggies which will you will cook. I haven't been there in a year or two, but love it! Need to take my hubby this year for my birthday The one near us usually has very good service and a quiet, relaxing atmosphere. Getting 3 courses (cheese, main, chocolate), plus salads and drinks can get very expensive, we will sometimes eat a later lunch and them just do cheese and chocolate (and drinks!) to save money.

 

[SaraJayne]

If you get cheese or chocolate, there is nothing to cook.

If you get any meat with veggies, you will have to cook it at the table.

It is *very* expensive and takes a long time, which is why we only do it every couple of years.

 

[sissy_ib]

Do you have to cook your own food? Or is it brought out cooked and you just dip?

Is it nice? Or just gimmicky?
Should we just go for dessert?


And if anyone's been to the one in Pittsburgh, is it within walking distance of other things?
What about Cleveland? I see there are two there.

If you order a meal yes you cook it. The server will explain everything including how long you need to keep the different foods in the broth. It is fun to go for dessert and drinks.

There is one nearby and we have been a few times. Food is brought out cooked and you dip. It really is delicious but we don't go often for these reasons:

1. Takes a loooong time.
2. Lots of kids there, always. There is a kids menu, families bring their kids, and it's a "date" place for local teenagers.
3. I think it's overpriced for what it is. We eat at expensive restaurants fairly often, but I do not feel this one is a good value for the money.

I do enjoy the food, but we generally find there are better options for the money.

We have never seen any kids at the two we have been to but with anything YMMV.
It is expensive but fondue is expensive because of all of the different items. To do the same thing at home would cost me just as much as be a huge hassle. Because of that it is worth the cost to me. But it is a once in a while restaurant for sure.

 

[DeaverTex]

This thread piqued my curiosity, since it sounded like a fondue place, and Mrs. Tex and I enjoy fondue. I checked Google and found out we have one of these in town. (We had two but one's closed now.) After checking out the menu, all I can say is

Those prices are outrageous! Until we win the lottery, I think we'll stick with CPK, BJ's, and NXNW.

 

[Nette]

This thread piqued my curiosity, since it sounded like a fondue place, and Mrs. Tex and I enjoy fondue. I checked Google and found out we have one of these in town. (We had two but one's closed now.) After checking out the menu, all I can say is

Those prices are outrageous! Until we win the lottery, I think we'll stick with CPK, BJ's, and NXNW.

You aren't missing that much. We went to the North location when it was open years and years ago and it was the LONGEST. MEAL. EVER. I don't mind lingering over a good meal with good company, but that was just ridiculous. It was also crazy expensive and I dislike cooking my own food at a restaurant. We've always said if we ever went back we'd just do the cheese and chocolate courses, but we've never really felt like going back. Maybe there are just TOO many great other places to eat in Austin.

 

[nchulka]

We went last year and loved it. It was very quiet, no loud children or teenagers. The booths were very secluded, even if someone was next to us we couldn't have seen them. We had no interest in cooking our meals. We did the cheese fondue, salads, and the chocolate fondue. We were stuffed, I cannot imagine adding the meat to it!!! It cost a total of about 75.00 so it was kind of expensive, but it was my birthday and I really wanted to try it

 

[ilovepcot]

DH and I got very irritated because we were HUNGRY and the meal was sooooooo drawn out. Never again.

 

[cornflake]

I think I went to one of these in NJ once. Beyond bad. Like, it remains a joke years later it was so bad. Induction tops, not fire, improperly made cheese fondue (with questionable cheese - seemed like something out of a bag, pregrated) and the "chocolate" fondue was something unknown (and yet very clearly some kind of chemical stew of bottled "fondue", god knows, it was inedible) poured, cold, into the pot and heated. Seriously 'are you kidding?' level bad.

The thing I remember most about the time was a reallly long wait to be seated in this weird anteroom but I do think it took a while, because I think when we saw them come out to pour cold "chocolate" which was clearly something else we were like 'oh, no, we're outta here' but then they ran off to get things and... I dunno, we were kind of hysterical with laughter by then.

 

[SkyMedik]

I live across the street (literally) from one. Agree with some of the above - pricey but overall I think quite good. However - if you join their email list they send you a coupon almost immediately and it can be used right away. Usually free chocolate covered strawberries or free chocolate dessert fondue. If you order the "Big Night Out" and use the dessert coupon they subtract it from the price.

 

[Jedana]

My favorite date night place! DS loves it as well, but knows he is on his best behavior there, as it is an "adult place".


If you're going, expecting a meal like Chili's or Applebee's--just don't go. It takes much longer, you don't get a huge portion of food all at once, and you do have to work for your food. If you have never fondue'd, well, anytime you fondue, it takes a long time. It is a 2 hour meal, usually. We pace ourselves, and usually have an awesome server that keeps our pace steady. They do have the cheeses pregrated before they hit the table, same with the chocolate, but it is seasoned and melted at your table--you can request more or less spice, no cilantro or nuts, etc.

It is expensive--we spend $100-150 before tip, depending if I'm drinking or not. It is pretty relaxing, especially when it's just the two of us. I get a couple of drinks, or some wine, and enjoy our time.

We usually get the Big Night Out.

Cheese course: love the Fiesta and Cheddar fondues. Carrots, cauliflower and celery, different breads. Save the green apples for the chocolate!

Salad course: House salad is good. They had a strawberry salad I loved, but is off the menu now. Just eat a bit of this.

Main: We prefer using the Mojo broth to cook in. If I'm feeling lobster, we get the big grouping; otherwise the smaller one is fine with us. Get extra veggies--I love the flavor the potatoes and broccoli get, and DH scarfs the mushrooms. Green goddess dressing on those--

Dessert: We ask for no cheesecake, and extra marshmallows--the oreo crusted are good but the graham crusted are sooo yummy! I like the bananas, DH the strawberries. Brownies are hit or miss.

For the chocolates, we like the original (peanut butter) with dark chocolate, oreo with dark chocolate, s'mores with dark chocolate (sense a theme here? the white chocolate is too sweet and the milk chocolate is good, but I think there is a deeper flavor with the dark). You can ask for whatever chocolate you prefer (at least at the ones I've been at).

Coffees are ok, kinda burnt tasting, like Starbucks.

 

[indimom]

Do you have to cook your own food? Or is it brought out cooked and you just dip?
It's uncooked and you do the cooking and dipping.

Is it nice? Or just gimmicky?
A bit of both, I think, but it was fun the one time we went. I admit we have no plans of doing it again, so that says something...

Should we just go for dessert?
Depends. Our favorite parts were the appetizers and the desserts. Not so much the meat portion. Part of the problem was we took our kids (who were old enough to behave and enjoy the experience, for the record) but we helped them with the cooking because we didn't want them getting anything undercooked and it felt a bit like work to us... We probably would have enjoyed it more if it had been just the two of us. The restaurant did treat us very nicely for our anniversary with a rose on my plate and complimentary wine.


And if anyone's been to the one in Pittsburgh, is it within walking distance of other things?
What about Cleveland? I see there are two there.

No idea on the last two, we went to one near Destin/Navara Florida a few years back for our anniversary.
As far as kids, we saw younger children than ours there. Ours were 8 and 10. Another large table next to ours had three kids between 4-8, I would guess. Not a bad experience though, the kids were well behaved and quiet. I suspect the restaurant intentionally put all the groups with children in the same area to "protect" other diners. lol.

 

[cornflake]

For the chocolates, we like the original (peanut butter) with dark chocolate, oreo with dark chocolate, s'mores with dark chocolate (sense a theme here? the white chocolate is too sweet and the milk chocolate is good, but I think there is a deeper flavor with the dark). You can ask for whatever chocolate you prefer (at least at the ones I've been at).

That was what it was they went to get, peanut butter! Because we didn't quite understand that the chocolate fondue wasn't just, you know, chocolate fondue, but the waitress was all about no, the pb and chocolate is a thing and people love it and so we said ok.

They came out with the "chocolate", poured it into the pot and as we were like 'oh... yeah, no...' she scurried off to get the pb which looked like Jif or something and dropped a big lump in and stirred.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

We loved it. It is expensive but sooo yummy.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Interesting thread. I have no desire to eat there and this just reconfirms it. Thanks!

 

[auntfrannie]

It's been a long time since I've been to one. The last time was in Atlanta but it was very good. Just expensive and a long time spent over the meal.

The one in Pittsburgh is in Station Square. It's a small mall with about a gazillion different Pittsburgh sport stores all owned by the same company, a used bookstore, an expensive Irish store, and various other small stores. It's not nearly as unqiue as it used to be; I think the expensive rent forced a lot of merchants away and most of the floor space is now rented to a trade school of some sort. So yes, there are other things you can walk to but not sure that it's really worth the effort.

In the complex (but not within the mall building) there's a Hard Rock Cafe, Joe's Crab Shack, and Red Star Tavern. There's a nice little fountain in the courtyard. Station Square is along the Mon River so you have a nice view of the city. They also have the Gateway Clipper fleet for rides along the rivers as well as the Just Ducky tours for water/land tours of Pittsburgh.

 

[pooh4evr]

We LOVE the melting pot! It sounds like there is a big difference in locations though. Ours is very clean, well run, quiet, and expensive. I haven't ever seen groups of kids or teenagers there. We also enjoy the Fiesta cheese, the house salad is wonderful, and we also get the coq- a -vin style cooking, followed by awesome desserts! We don't go too often because of the price, but it is a good meal/date night place to relax, talk, and enjoy some time together.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We've gone with and without our teenage children. We find it very relaxing and romantic. We didn't find it loud or that there were a lot of kids. Maybe it was just the time of day.

I would not take younger children.

 

[HM]

We had a local Groupon for ours recently. My DD used it to take four friends out with her to have chocolate fondue for dinner (all the girls are 17). They had such a good time having chocolate for dinner! The staff treated them very well from all accounts.