The Melting Pot is the perfect date night experience, because it is just that: an experience. Dining at The Melting Pot is about more than just eating: for several hours, you get to spend time with your date, experiencing all that fondue has to offer. You should go prepared to spend some time—at least two hours—eating there.
Jeff and I did “The Complete Fondue Experience for Two”, priced at $94.99 for two people. For the first course, you choose a cheese fondue. We had the Wisconsin Trio, which is butterkäse, fontina, gorgonzola, white wine, sherry, shallots, and scallions. They brought cubes of bread, green apples, and vegetables to dip. We had fun dipping, eating, and talking.
The next course is salad. Since we both hate salad, we took the salads to go and gave them to my dad, who said that both the strawberry spinach salad and the California salad were excellent.
The next course, which is entrée fondue, may leave you feeling overwhelmed with the number of choices you have. First, you have to choose a cooking style: court bouillon, coq au vin, mojo, cast iron grill, or bourguignonne. We chose mojo. Then, you have to pick your protein. We chose steak lovers: premium filet mignon, teriyaki-marinated sirloin, and garlic pepper sirloin, as well as the classic: shrimp, Memphis-style dry rub pork, teriyaki-marinated sirloin, garlic pepper sirloin, and herb-crusted chicken breast. There are also seafood-focused and vegetarian options. We found that the meat quality was very good, and we most enjoyed the items in the steak lovers dish. It was fun getting to try so many items, but if we return, we will, most likely, both be getting the steak lovers.
For dessert, there are so many options that look so good. Since we both love Reese’s, we chose “The Original”, which is milk chocolate melted with crunchy peanut butter. They brought us a variety of sweet treats and fruits to dip. Strawberries were an obvious inclusion that were delicious, but the best treat to dip was probably the brownie and blondie bites they brought.
The verdict: We had an absolute blast and will definitely be going back again in the future. I wouldn’t say that The Melting Pot is the best food you’ll ever eat; dining there is much more about the experience. Don’t get me wrong, the food isn’t bad—in fact, it’s quite good. It’s just that if you are going for an exquisite tasting experience, there are other restaurants with the same price tag that have food that is technically better. Unless fondue is your favorite food, in which case, the food is fantastic. The food is as good as fondue is ever going to be.
If you’ve ever tried to make fondue at home, you know how much work and expense it is, so you’ll be happy to pay someone else to do the work and will be comfortable with the price. I have tried to make a three-course fondue meal at home before, and by the time I paid for all of the different cheeses and made all of the dipping items and the dipping sauces for the meat, I would have much rather paid someone else to do it all for me.
N.b. If you want to make the experience extra-romantic, you can dine on “Lover’s Lane”, a seating area where they seat couples in very private, secluded booths.