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| - The Melting Pot. Please allow me to summarize the experience for those of you on the fence and in a hurry to get on with your lives:
1. Dim lighting
2. Unnecessary formality
3. Uber-long dining experience
4. Lackluster desserts
5. Large bill
For those of you with the time to kill I shall now provide the detailed run-down in all its gory pulchritude.
My wife and I have been to The Melting Pot exactly twice in the last 15 years. That's right, you did read that correctly. Our first experience was so amazing I guess we just had to allow ourselves enough time to come down from the high. So what brought us back after all these years? Groupon.
As soon as you walk in you're greeted with that "Melting Pot" aroma. It's sort of a combination of stinky feet from the cheese and meaty wine water from all the cooking pots bubbling away on everyone's table. The water element behind the hostess station adds just the perfect amount of Dr's waiting room to the ambiance.
The atmosphere, where to begin. Should I start with the slightly too loud soundtrack of horrid brownchickenbrowncow lovemaking classics playing over the PA? I'm talking Stevie B, Barry White and Michael McDonald. Although I think the latter deserves better company. How about the lighting that's so dim most strip clubs would consider it unsafe. I've seen cave lighting that's brighter. I suppose they're going for "romantic" and "intimate". I already have a hard enough time reading most menus, I don't need the assist.
The service at The Melting Pot is definitely on the formal side. Servers bustling around dressed all in black reciting their carefully rehearsed scripts detailing exactly what they'll be doing and how they'll be doing it. I find this a bit pretentious for a chain restaurant like The Melting Pot. It just makes it feel a bit sterile. On the plus side, our server was quite friendly once she had let her guard down a bit around the entrée course.
Another thing you must prepare yourself for is one helluva long dining experience. We ordered all four courses - cheese, salads, entrees and dessert - and it took us a little shy of three hours from butts in booth to bloated exit. The entire experience is v e r y d r a w n o u t. Each course takes about 40 minutes and sometimes it feels like it. Just be sure to clear your schedule and bring your smartphone so you can play Candy Crush while you wait.
The food and the entire food process I guess is, I supposed, the reason you'd come to The Melting Pot. The whole "playing with tiny pieces of meat with mini spears by cooking them in some sort of hot liquid" method is what's made them a household name, right? Be prepared to sit there and wait through some awkward silences as your server makes everything for you as you watch. We sat there and stared at our server stirring the cheese for what seemed like an eternity.
I'm a sucker for melted cheese. Who isn't? If you come here you have to get the cheese course. After all, that's the only true "fondue" on the menu. The Classic Alpine is really the way to go.
The salads, as others have already mentioned, are nothing to write home about. They're tasty enough and, at just a shade over $5 each, not terribly expensive. I just found the dressings (we tried both the House & the California) very sweet. I'd skip these and save yourself the $10.
For the entree course we selected the Coq au Vin (herbed red wine) cooking method and our Groupon allowed us to choose 6 selections from the list. Entrees are normally in the $20/person range. We chose Atlantic salmon, filet mignon, chicken potstickers, spinach and artichoke ravioli, chicken breast, and wild mushroom sacchetti (little pasta pouches with mushroom filling). Everything comes out on a little plate and your server will also dump a bowl of mushrooms, potatoes and veg into your cooking pot.
Overall, the quality of the various proteins and pastas was pretty good. On par with some of those I've had in more traditional restaurants. The various sauces they served with the meal were definitely one of the highlights and made things a bit more entertaining as we sampled our way around them. A few suggestions - gorgonzola port + beef & teriyaki glaze + salmon.
The dessert course was a big letdown. We expected a bowl of melted chocolate. We received a room-temperature bowl of Hershey's syrup. Sure, the plate of mini desserts was nice - strawberries, pineapple, bananas, marshmallows, brownies, Rice Krispie treats, pound cake - but the chocolate was awful. For the additional $9/person I'd suggest you skip it.
The Melting Pot is one of those places you definitely have to try just once. It's one of the so-called "experience" restaurants where the actual event is more important than the dinner. Had we not had our Groupon, our total bill would have been about $96 without tip. Ouch. For that price I think I'd rather have my food brought to me already cooked. Maybe we'll see them again in 2022.
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