Melting Pot

[ShellyLynn3630]

I have got a resevation at the melting pot this weekend for me and my husband for our 15th wedding anniversary. We have never been there. Please tell me all you can about this place.

 

[preb]

It's one of our favorite "special" places. Get the "big night out" package. Cheese fondue, salad and chocolate dessert are amazing. I could skip the main course and just fill up on those. They also have a wonderful raspberry martini. Enjoy! It's a 2 hour meal, so plan accordingly.

 

[GatorMama]

Its pricey. Over $200 for th two of us on our anniversary...

 

[jedijill]

It's good but pricy. Sign up for their email club to get a free chocolate fondue. I find that I can skip the meat course and just do the cheese fondue and dessert fondue and be full. I also like going to happy hour...usually the cheese and dessert fondues are half price.

HTH

Jill in CO

 

[MagiKitty]

I agree...sign up for their emails and special promotions. I was able to go to their "girls night out"--$39 per person for four courses. Wonderful! So check the website, you never know!

its a really nice, fun place to go. I usually go to the one in Atlantic City. They're having a $15 lunch special all summer of salad and main course. But you can't go without getting the dessert fondue!

Happy anniversary and enjoy!

 

[Styx Fan]

Very pricey, but a great special occasion meal. The service at ours is excellent, as befits the prices. They are very flexible on substituting items, so if there is a theme meal you like, but don't like one of the meats or cheeses or whatever they will happily replace it with what you do like.

They will also nicely bring extras of the dippers...like bread and veggies if you run out and still have cheese fondu.

If you haven't seen it before there are burners built right in the tabletops.

 

[Styx Fan]

How funny, just went from my last post to my e-mail. Got a note from The Melting Pot advertising a new $30 per person Friday night special. Cheese, salad, entree and dessert! That is very cheap for there....might have to go soon!

Edited to add: Just read the add again and it is for a party of 5 or more...dang!

 

[timmac]

I'll preface this by saying I'm not a fan of Melting Pot, at all. That said...

It's very elegant; the theme there is "nice restaurant", which they pull off well. Not quite to the point of feeling stuffy and portentous, but close.

It's quite pricey, particularly for the amount of food you actually get. I realize that some people can easily fill up on it, but I'm not one of them. In particular, it was the "main course" with the meats, etc, that I found most lacking.

Be wary if you ask for water; they'll bring you a $6 super-fancy bottled water. Not a huge deal, but a waste if all you want is a glass with water in it.

In my own case, when I was there with DGF several months ago, she enjoyed it (she had been a few times previous) and I basically hated it. Our tastes are a bit different, so finding a decent cheese course to share proved to be impossible; she seemed to enjoy it our selection, while I found it outright unpalatable. The main course tasted good, but not great. And again, quantity of food was largely underwhelming. DGF also greatly enjoyed the chocolate fondue dessert. I tried just a bit, but really, it just wasn't my thing.

Now, to be fair, I think in my situation it was more a matter of DGF and I having different tastes, and the "shared" meal like this was risky from the start. Having been previously, she went in more or less knowing what she wanted, got exactly that, and seemed happy with it. I made myself some more substantial food later that evening when we got home.

So, in summary, I'd say ambiance is nice, and the experience can be fun. But the food itself is not much above mediocre, and there's not enough of it.

If we were to go back, we'd likely skip the "big night out" in favor of ordering individual entrees, but honestly, I have no plans to return... was just too much money to spend to leave unsatisfied.

 

[jwfla422]

It's good but pricy. Sign up for their email club to get a free chocolate fondue. I find that I can skip the meat course and just do the cheese fondue and dessert fondue and be full. I also like going to happy hour...usually the cheese and dessert fondues are half price.

HTH

Jill in CO

Thanks for posting, just printed my coupon. DD said she would like to go there for her bday this year since she's not having a party.

 

[cathyce2]

We go there a couple of times a year for special occasions, but I didn't know until the last trip that we could request seconds of the things to dip. We got extra carrots with the cheese for my dd and extra strawberries with the chocolate because they are a favorite for us all.

 

[TinkPirateMom]

I'm not sure if this is the same for all but when I was in the one in Atlantic City on a Saturday they said you had to get the 4 course dinner that was the only option. Any other night you could pick and choose what you like. I like the cheese and dessert the best.

 

[marie1203]

We love the melting pot we are there once a month. The big night out is the best way to go for 2. The prices are $78 for the cheapest and I think the one that has lobster is around $88 plus drinks it is a four course dinner so I really do no think the price is bad. It will take at least an hour+ to eat so make sure to leave enough time if you plan on doing something else. Also their green goddess sauce is great with mushrooms. Most of them are own independently so the specials are different but you can check the special for each particular restaurant online.

 

[MaleficentRN]

I love Melting Pot! It is pricey and I've only gone during Restaurant Week here. Lobster. Get lobster. Then it's all good. Enjoy!

 

[powellrj]

We go there a couple of times a year for special occasions, but I didn't know until the last trip that we could request seconds of the things to dip. We got extra carrots with the cheese for my dd and extra strawberries with the chocolate because they are a favorite for us all.

I didn't know that, good to know!

 

[Jenn]

Just went there last weekend! We signed up on the website for "club fondue" and got the free dessert coupon. We ordered the big night out for $78 and they deducted the dessert price of $15 for the coupon, bringing the price down to $63. That included cheese fondue (got the spinach and artichoke - yummy), then salads (we did the california salad), then entree (we did filet, teriyaki steak, and chicken), then dessert (we did the flaming turtle chocolate). Everything was delicious.

My one complaint is the menu requires a ton of explanation as every course is customizable. We had a great waiter and joked that we should be taking notes to remember everything. Also, when you get your entree the meat is raw and you choose your cooking method (oil or broth). We have done the oil in the past and don't enjoy that. We much prefer one of the seasoned broths. This time we did coq au vin, which is broth, red wine, herbs and mushrooms. It's a fun dining experience, definately a nice special occasion place.

 

[ShellyLynn3630]

Ok I signed up with my email and got the deal for a cheese, salad, meal and dessert for 30 bucks a person. No minumum number of people required. Only valid for a few days though. I will be using this deal.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

This is my favorite restaurant, hands down! I'd highly recommend the oil cooking style...anything else seems like boiling your food.

 

[MikeP22]

In my opinion it can be a lot of fun (with friends, such as another couple) or very romantic (with your S.O.), but I've been there maybe 5 or 6 times and I think I'm done with this place. Much of my dissatisfaction may be local to ours, but the following has been my experience for all but maybe the 1st time we went.

For the cheese course, the bread seems really sub-par and often stale (and not merely in a way that is conducive to dipping).
The apples are consistently unripe.
The amount and variety of fresh vegetables they give you seems to be on the decline (and often too dried out).
And no matter what cheese concoction we get, it always just seems bitter and unappetizing after the first couple of bites.

The salads I find creative and tasty, but they must be left to sit around too long as they are almost always wilted. Relatively small portions here.

As for the entree/meats, what they lack in quality they make up for in quantity, and I don't mean that in a good way. Enough said. Plus, they all just seem to taste the same after a while... even the potatoes. I say don't bother.

To me the only redeeming course here is the chocolate, but I find that the dessert dippers offered seem to decrease in both quality and quantity each time I've been there.

Plus, seems to me that with the exception of the entree/meats you get the same amount of dip (chocolate or cheese) and dippers regardless of whether you're in a party of 2 or 5.

So... $200 (plus ~$30-40 tip) for sub-par food and an entree that you have to COOK YOURSELF?
Unless money is no object and you don't care what your food tastes like, take your money and find a nice local place. If you don't like desert there, you can always come back for the chocolate, just bring yourself something better to dip in it.

 

[justbishop]

I was a server at our local Melting Pot many moons ago, and DH and I still enjoy going once a year for our anniversary

We've never encountered the $6 bottled water at ours. When we've asked for water to drink, we've always been brought a glass of ice water at no charge.

The cheese/chocolate portion is supposed to be different per number of people. There are 1-2 person sized bowls and 3-4 person sized bowls. Any party larger than that was always sat at a table with more than 1 burner IME, and thus ordered more than one cheese/chocolate. It's totally possible that servers sometimes grab the wrong sized bowl to make cheese in for a table, as ours were always stacked and stored all together, regardless of size, and you just had to pick through to find the correct sizes for your tables. The chocolate was always handed to us already melted by the kitchen staff, so IDK anything about sizes there, but you can always request more brownies, marshmallows, strawberries, etc. We never charged extra for extra dippers.

As other posters have mentioned, do not be scared to ask to sub one meat for another on an entree. We are not huge beef eaters, so we usually end up replacing most of the steak on whatever we order with extra shrimp and salmon. I don't believe we;ve ever been charged extra for that. Same goes for sauces, even if they aren't listed with the entree you order.

The menu does require quite a bit of explaining, and the meal can run quite long, so I would definitely plan for at least 2 hours or so (say if you were trying to make a movie after or something) just to spend in the restaurant. We always let our server know that we know what the deal is because I used to be in their shoes, so that cuts some of our time.

Anyway, have a great time, it's one of our favorite places to spend an evening enjoying one another's company

Oh, and if anyone is interested, make some of the MP cheddar cheese fondue at home:

* 1/2ish cup of Milwaukee's Best beer (heat almost to boiling in fondue pot)
* Add minced garlic and dry mustard powder to taste
* Add shredded cheddar + emanthaller (sp?) swiss mix to consistency with fork (IMPORTANT: toss to coat with a bit of AP flour beforehand)
* Finish with pepper and a splash or two of Worcestershire sauce

 

[herdtoDisney]

Dh and I went to the melting pot last year for our 15th anniversary-we enjoyed it! It was just he and I (we rarely go out by ourselves ) and it was quiet and romantic and all that. It wasn't $200...I think we got the 4 course thing and dh got a beer, they also gave us a bottle of champagne free for our anniversary (I don't drink at all and dh just does one beer, but it was a nice gesture) and the bill was just over $100.

It was interesting. It's far enough and expensive enough that we haven't been back, but it was good for the anniversary. We had more than enough to eat.