Last night I went to The Melting Pot with three girlfriends for a special "Girls' Night Out" event that they marketed. There was a set menu, and the price was $29 per person with a few options for $5 martinis. If you wanted a drink that wasn't on the set menu, you paid extra.
When we arrived, we were greeted outside by two very bronzed girls who were promoting Planet Beach tanning salon. They gave us as many samples as we could carry (for those of us who wanted tanning lotions and such) and had a entry form for a free month of tanning.
We had reservations for 6:15, so we were seated promptly. Our waiter, Cody, came over to introduce himself and explain how things were working that evening. When we asked about the other activities outside (we had seen girls getting paraffin dips and hand massages and eyebrow waxing in the courtyard), Cody told us that we could participate after dinner. Angela, our friend who made the reservation said when she called they told her we could get those services until 10 PM. So, we relaxed.
We ordered our cheese and cooking options and then some drinks. The drinks took forever to arrive. Seriously. We had almost completely finished our cheese fondue by the time the drinks arrived.
The cheese option we selected was a spinach and artichoke white cheese concoction that was delicious. But isn't anything with cheese delicious? :-)
There were several times when we complained (to ourselves) about our lack of drinks. Later, when one of our friends said she would want to order another martini in about 5 minutes, our waiter said, "I should probably go put it in now, though, considering how backed up they are." We thought, 'Oh wow, they are really busy with this promotion.' Turns out they had no glasses. In fact, the Ahwatukee location had to run over glasses for Scottsdale. I thought it very odd that the restaurant would advertise a big Girls' Night Out event and not be prepared for ladies wanting drinks. Oh well.
We choose the basic bouillion cooking style, and our plates contained sirloin, filet, chicken, shrimp, butternut squash ravioli, and an assortment of veggies. It was a ton of food! We were not expecting to get so much at the discounted price.
Our chocolate fondue choices were limited to milk, dark or white. Three of us were up for dark and one wanted white, so Cody was nice enough to bring her a little bowl of white chocolate. We had a ton of dessert .... And it was delicious.
Meanwhile, a woman from Mary Kay came over carrying a basket of what looked like presents. She asked us if we had heard about the drawing yet, and we said no. She said, "OK, well, I'll just leave these entry forms here with you." And, she did. But, she never told us what the drawing was for .... and she never returned. She asked us "Does anyone have any Mary Kay products in their purse." One of my friends did, and she got "a prize" - one of the presents. Then she asked us, "Does anyone have any lipstick at all." We all did. We all got "presents." Our present was a bag of marketing materials, which was kind of a let down.
Next, the bill. This got a little weird because there were additional charges on our bill that didn't make sense to us. We paid with three credit cards, and all I know is I was charged $6 more than I should have been, and my friends who had either higher priced drinks or multiple drinks paid less. We asked the waiter about some of the charges, and apparently one of the drinks ordered was not on the set menu and was therefore extra. Though, we had asked about making an adjustment and he never said it would be more.
We excitedly went to the courtyard for our treatments and discovered that everyone was either gone or was cleaning up! And it was still early! That was a bummer ....
So, overall, the food was great, and it was so nice to connect with friends over a leisurely dinner. The price was perfect - about $40 a person when you consider drinks and tip - and if they do another such event, I will go again, but try to arrive early to make the most of the activities.