Melting Pot- how does it work?

[SunnyP4Disney]

We have been many times, it's one of my favorite birthday/Mothers Day places to eat. My favorite one was the location in Coral Springs, FL. The manager knew usby name and always gave us something special, like a bottle of wine or flowers at the table.

The one here in Tampa is alright, we have been twice so far. We always get the Big Night Out, with the Wisconsin Trio cheese fondue, California salad and coq au vin cooking broth. Our favorite chocolate is yin and yang, with the white and dark chocolate.

 

[Jennasis]

We went to TMP on NYE two years ago and it was a blast. LONG meal and expensive but very good. I think we were there for nearly 4 hours.

 

[luvmy3]

We went to TMP on NYE two years ago and it was a blast. LONG meal and expensive but very good. I think we were there for nearly 4 hours.

Is that the normal time frame or was there something special going on for NYE? My kids have been asking to go to the one here since it opened and I was thinking we'd go for my birthday, but there is no way we can be there for 4 hours!

 

[kimmar067]

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

....you might wanna try it once....

 

[kimmar067]

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

...not a fan of graham crackers, are ya....

 

[marcyinPA]

We have one in our city- we've been a few times. We go for special occasions- it is that type of place. We've taken our teenaged children, but I've never seen really little ones there.

The meal can take a while, because it is served in courses. Cheese, salad, meat, dessert- yeah, it takes a while. But it is the kind of place that you go to relax, socialize with who you are with, slow down a bit. I wouldn't go there if you are in a hurry. I kind of equate it to a dinner show- but the fondue part is the show.

We've actually gone for Christmas Eve two years in a row now. We go with our best friends, and we get a private room. We go after church- have a few drinks and eats- and are home around 11:30 pm. I love their Love martini!!

 

[timmac]

I can't help but respond to this. Fiance loves Melting Pot. I tolerate it.

First, the good, which we both generally agree on:
- Great ambiance
- Long meal, which makes for a nice date and time together
- It's unique/different from most other meals

Now, a few of the negatives we both acknowledge:
- It's not cheap
- More often than not, the service is mediocre. I don't just mean that it's a long meal, but that often, during the course of it, we feel neglected (drink refills, more sauce, whatever) and can't find our wait staff.
- Valentine's day (when there was a special menu and an increased price) was absolutely the worst. And the tip was automatically included. I'd have called a manager over to get it removed, but we'd been there such a long time by that point, it wasn't worth my time.

Now, a few things specific to my opinion... I don't consider the experience as a whole to be a good "value". More than just price point alone, I don't feel the meal is worth the price. I don't leave feeling full and satisfied the same way I would from a steakhouse, for instance.

For me, the "high point" of the meal is the entree. The cheese fondue--depending on which one it is-- only marginally interests me. Some of them I simply don't care for the taste at all. I also don't take a huge interest in the chocolate either. Occasionally I'll have a little, but in general, it's not my style of dessert. That said, cheese and chocolate can be very filling, so I'm not surprise that some people feel stuffed. As someone who enjoys the entree most of all, I find the portions (specifically in relation to price) to be laughable. At risk of sounding like I'm standing on a soap box, I also largely see the hot-pot cooking as a dumbed down version of more traditional Asian hotpot. For many of the meats, boiling in broth is about the least appetizing method of preparation I can imagine, though that's partly just opinion.

It just comes back to value. There's a lot of meals I could go out for, for a much smaller total check, and leave feeling more satisfied.

ETA: Where it's a situation that your meal is essentially shared with your dining companion(s), you also have to both have similar tastes... the cheese and chocolate most of all. The entree you can have different things, though you need the same cooking style. For DF and I, this definitely doesn't help much with my enjoyment (I like spicy, she doesn't... I also can't stand marshmallow or peanut butter)

 

[duffy]

The one in Pittsburgh is also within walking distance of one of the inclines, I forget which one.

We enjoyed it when it was my husband and I. We went there with our vegetarian 16-year old, and just got the cheese one with different dippers. Everything else had meat in it, or chocolate, which my husband doesn't like.

 

[Bonniec]

Ive not eaten at the one here in Orlando yet, but I went several times to the one in Boise. Melting Pot is one of my fav restaurants. My opinion is....


It's great for a girl's night out.


It's very pricey and takes a loooong time. But very yummy. I've been full the full course meal which was awesome but took forever. Ive also gone in just for dessert. I would never take my 6 year old to this, he would be bored in a heart beat. It just takes too long for little kids. My DH tolerates it for me but it's too "foo-foo" and takes too long. He's a steak and potatoes kinda guy, lol. My teenage daughter loves it so I like to take her.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

DD and I LOVE Melting Pot. DH barely tolerates it. He doesn't like cooking his own food one piece at a time.

 

[auntfrannie]

The one in Pittsburgh is also within walking distance of one of the inclines, I forget which one.

We enjoyed it when it was my husband and I. We went there with our vegetarian 16-year old, and just got the cheese one with different dippers. Everything else had meat in it, or chocolate, which my husband doesn't like.

Yep. That would be the Mon Incline. The station is right across the street from Station Square.

 

[pixiewings71]

Just ate there Saturday night, the food, while delicious took FOREVER......we were a party of 7 celebrating a bachelorette party, it took us literally 4 HOURS to eat. It was ridiculous!! We got there at 8 and left at midnight, needless to say that was the whole party. We even asked management to speed it up a bit and nothing changed, the waitress, it was her second day, was nice but extremely slow. Apparently because they were short handed they decided it would be ok to give her a big table, it wasn't. A table of 12 came in after us and they finished before us! We got nothing for the time it took, and we paid in full for our meal, as we left the assistant manager gave our bride a note and said she hoped it would help us decide to come back, there was only a "sorry we didn't meet your expectations" note inside, not a coupon for free chocolate or anything. We won't go back, for $50 a person I expect more than what we got. I'll say again though, the food was very very good!

 

[manning]

Years ago we had a steak place where you picked out your steak and then cooked it. Well, when everyone figured out you could get a cooked steak for the same price somewhere else they didn't last very long.

 

[purplegirl247]

One of the ways to speed up your meal, btw, is to just dump your veggies in all at once, instead of waiting to skewer each one (I suppose you could also do it with your meat, but we've never been in *that* much of a hurry). Just a tip from someone who went every year on her birthday for 15 years!

 

[pixiewings71]

One of the ways to speed up your meal, btw, is to just dump your veggies in all at once, instead of waiting to skewer each one (I suppose you could also do it with your meat, but we've never been in *that* much of a hurry). Just a tip from someone who went every year on her birthday for 15 years!

We did that, with a party of 7 we had 2 pots, we all dumped our veggies in and then started cooking the meat with the veggies, didn't save us much time, it still took another hour to get our dessert pots.....

 

[MIGrandma]

Our DD and her DH went to the one in Grand Rapids in June to celebrate their anniversary and they enjoyed it, but it was expensive as they did the Big Night Out (is that the most expensive one?) which included lobster. Plus they had drinks. I think with tip it was about $175 which, to me, is outrageous for one dinner out but....I still want to try it, just once, maybe for our anniversary in September.

 

[kkmcan]

We are going there Thursday night for our anniversary. Kind of excited as its our first time trying it out.

We are thinking of getting the Big Night Out which says its $87 per couple so I'm thinking plus tax, plus tip plus bottle of wine ($25) that we'd end up with $145 bill. Is that about right?

Not sure that we want to spend more than 2 or 2 1/2 hours on dinner so after reading everyones tips we should dump the meat in all at once? That sounds like a good idea!

Any other tips for first timers?

 

[sissy_ib]

We are going there Thursday night for our anniversary. Kind of excited as its our first time trying it out.

We are thinking of getting the Big Night Out which says its $87 per couple so I'm thinking plus tax, plus tip plus bottle of wine ($25) that we'd end up with $145 bill. Is that about right?

Not sure that we want to spend more than 2 or 2 1/2 hours on dinner so after reading everyones tips we should dump the meat in all at once? That sounds like a good idea!

Any other tips for first timers?

If you dump the meat in all at once you may not cook it right. It should not take more than 2 1/2 hours if it is just two people.

 

[Drbob31]

I love Melting Pot. My wife and I go went this year for our anniversary. It took us like 3.5 hours, be it was a special occasion and we loved it. However, I wouldn't take kids. If you were going with kids, I stick to a dessert course. I've done that with friends and it's a fun time out with other couples. Last time we were there they had a PB&J chocolate dessert, if they still have that, I'd highly recommend it. My wife loved it so much that when we finished with things to dip in it, she just used her spoon...LOL!

 

[Micca]

Over the past 5 years or so we've been to melting pot about 20 times. We really enjoy it and the service was excellent.* With just me and DW it takes less than 2 hours, we've probably spent longer when there were more people and we were talking, drinking, etc. For sure, it's expensive, but each bite is a treat. I wouldn't take small children there at all just because they'd get bored/restless.

* When I say "excellent" I mean the server remembered which drinks and salads we liked and which items we'd want extras of. Phenomenal.