Dining at The Melting Pot

Dining at The Melting Pot is more than just enjoying a delicious meal. It’s an interactive fondue experience that encourages diners to enjoy conversation over a mouthwatering assortment of foods.

This chic, contemporary restaurant presents an array of artisanal cheese, savory main dish, and rich chocolate fondues that delight the senses. A large variety of gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan offerings are presented, and a children’s menu is available. These options make this fondue restaurant a fantastic choice for those with special dietary needs or restrictions.

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Bonding Over Food

In April of 1975, the first Melting Pot fondue restaurant opened in Maitland, Florida, not far from Orlando. College student Mark Johnson may have been just a waiter back then, but he had the insight to realize the unique interactive experience that a fondue restaurant offered to the public. It wasn’t just dining. It was an opportunity to create lasting bonds around the dinner table.

Together with his brothers Mike and Bob, Mark opened a second Melting Pot in Tallahassee in 1979. As he had anticipated, the public loved it. In 1981, the brothers opened another restaurant in Tampa. And from there, the franchise expanded.

Today there are Melting Pot locations in over 30 states and one in Canada. But even as the establishments have spread across the country and the menu has expanded, the vision of guests creating memories around food has remained consistent.

The Dining Experience

With more restaurants returning to in-person dining in our area, we were craving a dining experience, but were also cautious. We were delighted to discover that The Melting Pot restaurant in our area was offering a dine-in option that included protocols to guard against transmission of COVID-19.

At the time of this writing, diners and staff were required to wear masks, and seating was scattered so no two parties were close to one another. In addition, temperatures were scanned before we were seated. The adherence to state health guidelines was top-notch, allowing us to feel safe while indulging in a rare night out.

Once we were seated at a booth for two, our server came by to introduced herself and explain the fondue experience. Since this is a fondue restaurant, the cooking is done by the diners at their table. The server’s job is to bring each course from the kitchen, prepare the cooking or dipping liquid in the fondue pot, and set the temperature on the tabletop cookstove. They check in periodically, not only to inquire if anything else is needed, but to adjust the cookstove temperature if needed.

The Melting Pot Menu

The menu at The Melting Pot is presented a bit differently than menus at other restaurants. The servers that I have encountered are wonderful at explaining the way the menu works. They’re also wonderfully patient and happy to help those who have never had a fondue experience (or those of us who have…but a long time ago).

The fondue at The Melting Pot is delivered in courses. Guests are welcome to indulge in a full 4-course meal, and we did! We ordered The Complete For Two ($94), which included a shared cheese fondue, two salads, two entrees with one shared cooking style, and a shared chocolate fondue dessert.

Diners are also able to choose courses a la carte. All of the courses included in the 4-course meal are available to order in any combination. The cheese and chocolate fondues are priced at $20 for up to two people, plus $10 for each additional person. Salads ($7) and entrees ($27 – $30) are priced per person.

At the time of this dining experience, gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan offerings were available for all four courses: cheese fondue, salads, entree fondue, and dessert fondue. There is not a separate gluten-free menu, but items that are gluten-free or can be modified to be gluten-free are clearly marked on the current menu.

Vegetarian fondue options are not marked on the menu, but all ingredients are listed. If you have any questions about menu items, the staff is happy to help. They are dedicated to providing the best experience for all diners, so don’t be shy!

There is a separate vegan menu in some locations. The general menu does not list dishes as vegan, but it does provide a note if a vegan option is available, such as vegan chocolate fondue. Again, just ask your server if you have any questions about menu items.

Menu selections and prices may vary seasonally and from location to location.

Cocktails

The Melting Pot’s beverage menu was more extensive than I had anticipated. Four pages of beers, wines, sangria, cocktails, mocktails, and after-dinner drinks ensured that there was something for everyone, including plenty of gluten-free selections.

I was particularly intrigued by their two wine flights ($18 and $20). Each flight consisted of four wines, each chosen to pair with a particular fondue course.

While I loved the idea of pairing each course with a different wine, another item caught my eye: the White Gummy Bear Martini ($10). Stoli razberi vodka, peach schnapps, fresh lemon juice, Sprite, and three gummy bears, living in fruity harmony in a tall martini glass.

Oh, yes. I highly recommend it!

My dining partner chose the Modern Old-Fashioned ($13). Knob Creek rye whiskey, a brown sugar cube, 18.21 Earl Grey bitters, a swirl of orange peel, and the iconic filthy cherry in the classic short glass. He enjoyed it, but decided that he wanted to try a different Melting Pot rendition of a classic, the Melting Pot Mule ($12).

I loved the presentation of this cocktail. With the stirring stick, it looked just like a simmering fondue pot! Diners are able to purchase this copper pot mug for $15. If you know any Moscow Mule drinkers, a set of these would make a wonderful gift, along with a Melting Pot gift card.

Cheese Fondue

Our Complete Fondue Experience for Two began with cheese fondue. It was difficult to choose from the six selections, but we eventually decided upon the Garlic & Herb Quartet (Butterkäse, Fontina, garlic & herb, Chèvre, white wine, lemon, and scallions).

Our server poured white wine into our fondue pot and let it warm as we enjoyed our cocktails. When she returned, she added the other ingredients, identifying each as she added it to the pot. Once the fondue was blended and warm, she placed a lovely boat of fresh vegetables and breads on our table for us to dip.

The purpose of cheese fondue is not to cook. Instead, it provides a warm, delicious sauce in which to dip raw vegetables, pieces of fruit, or breads. In fact, the word fondue comes from the French word fondre, which means to melt.

Cheese fondue is the “original” fondue. It was first used in Switzerland in the 18th century as a means for poor families to enjoy a warm meal in the winter. Cheese was melted with a small amount of wine, and families gathered around the pot to dip bits of stale bread into it. I suppose it was similar to clean-out-the-refrigerator day in my house!

What a delicious way to start our experience! The white wine gave a pleasant, tart edge to the smooth and buttery cheeses. I particularly enjoyed the honey wheat bread with this fondue, as the honey undertones melded beautifully with the mild cheeses.

And like magic, the proportions of fondue to dipping foods was perfect! The very last bits of cheese were sopped up with the last piece of bread.

Impressive! Otherwise I might have been caught licking the pot!

Salad

Our server brought our second course as we were nearing the end of our cheese fondue. We each chose a Caesar salad from the four selections, and we were both happy that we did.

I’m not a big salad girl and would not have wanted salad if we were ordering courses a la carte. But that being said, I ate every scrap of this salad. It could be because I have been following a ketogenic diet for the past three months, but there was a sweetness to this salad that had me diving in!

Meat Fondue

Once the remnants of our first two courses were removed, our server brought out our entree. Since we were sharing a fondue pot, we were able to choose one cooking style from the five on the menu. A cooking style is the method by which you cook your entree. At the time of this writing, The Melting Pot offered four fondue styles, as well as tabletop grilling.

We chose the coq au vin fondue style (Burgundy wine, mushrooms, scallions, garlic). When we fondue at home, we tend to use this style, so we’re partial to the flavors. Our server brought out the cooking liquid, already heated, and set it on our cookstove. This was nice, since we didn’t have to wait for it to heat before cooking our yummy entrees.

The Complete Fondue Experience for Two allowed us to choose two entrees to cook in our coq au vin. Instead of each of us choosing for ourselves, we decided to share both entrees so we could get a little taste of everything.

Our first entree was the Land and Sea selection ($27 a la carte), which consisted of garlic pepper sirloin, herb crusted chicken breast, Atlantic salmon, and shrimp.

And our second entree was The Classic ($29 a la carte), consisting of garlic pepper sirloin, teriyaki-marinated sirloin, herb-crusted chicken, Memphis-style dry rub pork, and shrimp.

The Classic selection had more proteins than the others, so selecting it meant we were charged an additional $2, which we felt was fair.

Along with the entrees, we received a boat of raw vegetables. Unlike the vegetables presented with the first course, these aren’t meant to be eaten raw. You can either spear a veggie on a fondue fork and place it into the cooking liquid as you do with meat, or you can dump them all into the pot at once and fish them out later. We’ve done both, but we prefer to put them all in at once.

If you’ve never fondued before, you might be concerned about accidentally undercooking your food. There’s no need to worry. The servers go over how long to cook each protein and vegetable when they bring the foods. That’s wonderful, but if you’re like me, you forget two minutes after they walk away.

Luckily there are little “cheat sheets” at each table to remind you how long the recommended cook time is for each item. The “cheat sheets” also list the six dipping sauces that are brought out with the entrees and the recommended proteins and veggies for each dip.

We love the dipping sauces! Entree plates at The Melting Pot are compartmentalized so the sauces don’t mix, but guests are encouraged to mix sauces for exciting new tastes. From top left to bottom right, the sauces were yogurt curry, Gorgonzola port, teriyaki glaze, Green Goddess, garlic dijon, and ginger plum.

I enjoyed all the sauces, but I especially loved the Green Goddess on the potatoes and the Gorgonzola port on sirloin. That being said, the ginger plum was amazing on the teriyaki sirloin. No matter what, I think it would be hard to find a bad combination!

Chocolate Fondue

A dining experience at a fondue restaurant would not be complete without sumptuous chocolate fondue for dessert. And once again, The Melting Pot did not disappoint! We chose The Melting Pot’s signature chocolate fondue, The Flaming Turtle (milk chocolate and caramel, flambeed and topped with candied pecans).

Our server brought out a third fondue pot, this one containing melted milk chocolate. She swirled caramel over the top, added a dash of liquor, and poof! Our pot was pleasantly ablaze! As the flames died down, she stirred the caramel and chocolate, then added the candied pecans.

I couldn’t believe the number of dipping treats that our server set on our table! There was definitely a little bit of everything there, from brownies to pineapple and from marshmallows to strawberries. I was surprised at how well the baked pieces held together when dipped in the chocolate, and everything was just as delicious as it looked.

There was just enough caramel in the chocolate to give it that unique caramelly taste without being too sugary. I really enjoyed the crunch that the pecans added to our dessert. Surprisingly (or perhaps not so much), we ate every bit of our dessert. And as we experienced with the cheese fondue, there was exactly the right amount of chocolate to cover each treat on the tray!

Visit a Location Near You

Our dining experience at The Melting Pot was exceptional. From the attentive service to the delicious food, it was the perfect place to spend our first evening out in ages. We were able to easily book a table online, and we look forward to doing it again for special occasions or another date night.

We also signed up for Club Fondue, which enables The Melting Pot to email newsletters and updates to us. These include notifications of special events, new menu offerings, and even a special birthday treat!

Questions?

We hope this review of helped you learn what to expect from The Melting Pot. If you have any questions for me about my experience, please comment below. If you have any questions about The Melting Pot restaurant or food, including specific ingredients or offerings at different locations, I recommend that you visit their website at https://www.meltingpot.com/.