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Dip whatever you like at the Melting Pot: Lobster, filet mignon, shrimp, vanilla rum chicken, butternut squash ravioli, ahi tuna and vegetables are among the entree offerings, with cakes, cookies and fruit to dunk in chocolate for dessert.
Melting Pot
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At the Melting Pot, a chain specializing in fondue cooking, most meals follow a similar process. A heating element sits in the center of the table. Pots are brought out in a series, and diners use long-handled forks to dip a variety -- depending on the course -- of ingredients into the contents of the pot. The menu follows a typical progression of a cheese fondue, then a salad, a main course and a melted chocolate dessert.
It is this kind of dining that makes the Melting Pot popular for special occasions -- we were twice asked if we were celebrating one -- and certainly appeals to children. We watched with amusement a newly arrived family whose children kept craning their heads with excitement over the back of the booth to watch the people at the next table.
Although the Melting Pot offers a la carte items, the most popular choice is the Big Night Out, a prix fixe menu that includes a starter, salad, main course and dessert. The basic option here is Fondue Feast at $79 per couple, with the main course including beef, chicken, shrimp, pork, pasta and vegetables. Fondue Fusion adds a lobster tail to that for $84, and Lobster Indulgence, twin lobster tails for $89. Basic cooking ingredients are either what Melting Pot styles Court Bouillon (a vegetable broth) or Bourguignonne (canola oil, no Burgundy involved). For $6 more, diners can move up to a Coq au Vin, which actually uses wine, or Mojo Style, involving Caribbean spices and citrus flavoring.
For a first course, the cheese fondue, we opted for the classic Swiss version. The cheese was very good and went especially well with the chunks of Granny Smith apple that came with it, less well with the pieces of raw carrot and celery. Little hunks of bread provided an excuse to mop up the cheese.
Of the main-course ingredients, we found that the beef worked best. Jerk-seasoned sirloin won our vote for the tastiest choice. Filet mignon also cooked up well. Except for pumpkin-stuffed ravioli, which had a flavorful filling, we found the others on the bland side. Remedying this situation somewhat was the collection of sauces that comes with the main course, among them a teriyaki-type sauce, a sweet and sour one, a light curry that went especially well with the vegetables (potatoes and broccoli) and a blue-cheese flavored one.
It is this kind of dining that makes the Melting Pot popular for special occasions -- we were twice asked if we were celebrating one -- and certainly appeals to children. We watched with amusement a newly arrived family whose children kept craning their heads with excitement over the back of the booth to watch the people at the next table.
Although the Melting Pot offers a la carte items, the most popular choice is the Big Night Out, a prix fixe menu that includes a starter, salad, main course and dessert. The basic option here is Fondue Feast at $79 per couple, with the main course including beef, chicken, shrimp, pork, pasta and vegetables. Fondue Fusion adds a lobster tail to that for $84, and Lobster Indulgence, twin lobster tails for $89. Basic cooking ingredients are either what Melting Pot styles Court Bouillon (a vegetable broth) or Bourguignonne (canola oil, no Burgundy involved). For $6 more, diners can move up to a Coq au Vin, which actually uses wine, or Mojo Style, involving Caribbean spices and citrus flavoring.
For a first course, the cheese fondue, we opted for the classic Swiss version. The cheese was very good and went especially well with the chunks of Granny Smith apple that came with it, less well with the pieces of raw carrot and celery. Little hunks of bread provided an excuse to mop up the cheese.
Of the main-course ingredients, we found that the beef worked best. Jerk-seasoned sirloin won our vote for the tastiest choice. Filet mignon also cooked up well. Except for pumpkin-stuffed ravioli, which had a flavorful filling, we found the others on the bland side. Remedying this situation somewhat was the collection of sauces that comes with the main course, among them a teriyaki-type sauce, a sweet and sour one, a light curry that went especially well with the vegetables (potatoes and broccoli) and a blue-cheese flavored one.
