Melting Pot — Restaurant in Annapolis

Read the reviews and thought this place would be great to try since it's definitely something different. I could see perhaps giving this place more stars if it were just me and my husband on a perhaps somewhat romantic date, but it was the two of us and our two teenage kids. We all thought it was horrible...

Service was extremely slow and they weren't even that busy. With that said though, our waiter was super nice. Atmosphere was fine - somewhat dark yet bright at the tables. The booth seat-backs were high enough that we had privacy from other customers. We only had one burner and were never asked if we wanted to move to a larger table considering the vegan portion of our table couldn't cook their food with the same cooking style as the others. It was never taken into consideration, but we also didn't make a big deal out of it.

The primary reason for the low stars is the price of the food, quantity, and sanitation. Our first course was cheddar which cost almost $40 for the 4 of us for a bowl of cheese, some bread, and a few veggies. (Sorry, no pic!) The next course was salad which were $6.50 each, so $26 in salads for 4 - and it was a small plate. (Also no pic - sorry!) The entree was minimal and left a lot to be desired! (See the pictures of the Vegetarian option and Land and Sea.) Perhaps you're paying for the various meat choices, but averaging $22 - $28 per entree left us with a hefty price tag for the entree alone. On top of the entree you order, they brought a bowl of asparagus, zucchini, and mushrooms for the table to also eat. If I had known that, I probably would have not gotten the veggie dish at $22(?) because that's basically what I received anyways besides 2 small mushroom pasta purses (taste was good - not great), maybe 2 or 3 veggie 'meatballs' (taste was NOT good), and 2 veggie dumplings (also not good). After the entree, our waiter said he would come back to wipe down the table again...remember it had raw meat juice touch it...he took so long that he forgot to wipe it down and he immediately plated our dessert boards before we could say anything. Again, didn't make a big deal out of it...just didn't touch the table after that. Dessert was the best part - a few pieces of waffle that my kids said were the best part of dessert, a few marshmallows, a few pieces of rice crispy treats, and a few pieces of fruit - to dip in your choice of dip, which we choose original which was chocolate and peanut butter.

It took us a little over 2.5 hours to get through the meal, and we were not enjoying our time so we were trying to get out of there. Our total bill was about $230 (including tip) and was NOT worth that money. For that amount of money, I would expect something almost Hell's Kitchen or Ruth's Chris worthy! Instead, we paid that much for what - the experience??? because as far as we could tell, all they had to do in the kitchen was prep meat, buy store bought veggies and fruit, and prep the fondue...you did all of the cooking yourself. And I get it's a fondue place, but seriously it was NOT worth it. Save yourself the money and go somewhere much better like Cooper's Hawk in the same area...it's way nicer, you don't have to cook it, they wait on you timely, and have much better food. Hope this...

This almost pains me to write this as I've been looking to try out this restaurant for YEARS now, and my husband & I booked our 1st reservation at this location. Upon booking, I made sure to disclose that it was both my husband & my birthdays', and I chose "Birthday" from the prompted drop down menu before proceeding to book.

Upon entry, we were repeatedly asked throughout the visit if we were celebrating a special occasion and we happily spread the reason why we came to check you guys out!

Service was...rather confusing. We actually only saw our waiter...maybe 3 times at most? Out of respect, I won't publicly disclose his full first name on here nor do I wish anyone get in any trouble, but for company reference, our server was C**s.

He was very sweet, but attention was kinda all over the place. That said, I'm sure you guys were really busy, and when I feel swamped, I'm the same exact way.

Food was pretty good for the most part. Honestly, due to the positioning of our cooktop on the table and our distance to it, my husband and I honestly struggled to cook our food. When it was brought out to us, our server basically put the plates down and was about to walk away. There weren't clear instructions at first on how (long) to cook our food and a plate with "orange sauce" (later informed it was batter to use prior to cooking) & a shaker of bread crumbs, was left on the table without explanation, so we waited until we could find out what that was for prior to eating.

There was some miscommunication when it came to transition from entree to chocolate (my husband was getting full and didn't want to finish the entree just yet but we wanted to proceed with the dessert round. Our chocolate & dippers were packed up to-go. On my account, I did not speak up to clarify as I didn't want to cause extra stress through confusion, so I obliged with what the staff/our server decided). We were told that all of our entree food would have to be cooked prior to the last course (also understood, that can pose a liability issue), so we rushed to get our items cooked properly to pack them up.

Neither of our birthdays' were mentioned again after getting our seats.

Overall, the experience was...okay, just okay. Food was good, but service, arrangement, and efficiency were pretty lacking which led much room for potential.

I can't honestly say we'll be back again, at least not intentionally to that location. TMP experience isn't exactly on the affordability scale, so a special dining experience should live up to just that. I honestly apologize for this review, as I know they can negatively impact perspective of a business, but I do hope the staff are incentivized to always strive for the best. For the dining experience, the restaurant's positive reputation, and for themselves.

Warm regards, slightly-bitter...

I would not suggest anyone go spend that much money for this place. It was disappointing. I hate even saying all that was wrong. In a nutshell: Dirty table, reservation included flowers which were presented in a dirty vase and must have been half price, the food was beautiful on the first tray that was literally dropped at our table. I know, accidents happen, but the second tray was absolutely skimpy. The fondue was extremely skimpy, I expect the pot to at least be half full of melt. It was not. There was no salt and pepper on the table, and the veggies had no seasoning on them. The dips or sauces were not flavored enough to season your food enough. We were a late reservation, and they were short staffed (trust me, I was told multiple times how much cleaning had to be done during our birthday celebration) it was unprofessional at best. But our waiter would rather talk and complain than make sure my water glass was full. The manager tried to make the situation better, but when I finally mentioned that the fondue chocolate was so skimpy it was crazy, he offered me to purchase another portion. (I said forget it. Did I mention that we were there for 3 hours when there were only 2 other couples in the entire place? The locals know this place is not up to par, obviously. It took forever to get food, for the cost of over 100.00 a person the amount on each course was shameful. Except on the appetizer. They must have cut an entire sour apple up because they would have had to pitch it I guess. I really was so very disappointed. As a customer, this was supposed to be worth the money one way or the other. Quality of food was good, amount was shameful, service left me shaking my head, including our waiter stirring fondue and splattering it all over the table and our outfits. I believe the waiter was under the influence of something, which made it worse. I think he might have been better if he didn't allow whatever he indulges in to enter his workplace. I left way too much of a tip for what we got. Just go somewhere else or buy a fondue pot of your own and save your money. I will say the dishes were clean atleast to end with a...