Melting Pot — Restaurant in Appleton

My fiance and I celebrated our anniversary and my Birthday at the Melting Pot on Friday night. It was around 5:30pm - wasn't too busy and we luckily got a table right away without a reservation. The front entrance had a really weird odor - like a old musty restaurant which was kinda off putting. I think if they fixed it up a little, it would make a big change.

We started our dinner off with two drinks - the first being a Pomegranate Moscato Sparker which was Pomegranate Vodka, Pomegranate Juice, Luccio Moscato d'Asti. The second drink was a Lemon Berry Mojito which included Bacadi Limon, Wildberry Puree, Mint leaves, Lime and Club soda. These are similar to drinks we usually order - light, fruity style. They were just ok, the bartender made them quite strong, so if your into that you would like it. For us, they were a little too strong.

We chose the Complete Dinner For Two which was a four-course experience including your choice of cheese fondue, salad, entrée and chocolate fondue. Premium proteins and vegetarian items served with seasonal veggies. Prepare your entrée in a fondue cooking style of your choice, one per cooktop. $92.95 for the two of us.

Our first course is the one we always choose when we come to the Melting Pot. We chose the Spinach Artichoke which included Butterkäse, Fontina, Parmesan, Spinach, Artichoke Hearts and Garlic. This is great everytime and we recommend this as your first course!

Our second course was a salad. I chose the Caprese which was Mixed Greens, Fresh Mozzarella, Tomatoes, Basil and Balsamic Glaze. It was pretty good, it was missing a crunch in my opinion to add some texture. Possibly a light dusting of flake salt on top would have rounded it out as well. My fiance chose the Melting Pot House salad which included Romaine, Iceberg Lettuce, Cheddar, Tomatoes, Croutons, Scallions, sliced hard boiled eggs and a choice of dressing which he chose caesar I believe. It was a normal salad, nothing special.

For our third course, we chose the cooking style of Coq Au Vin which included Burgundy Wine, Mushrooms, Scallions, Garlic and some broccoli. It was ok. In the past we chose Mojo which was also ok. I think next time we will try the Bourguignonne. For our meats, the first option we chose was the Pacific Rim which included Shrimp, Teriyaki-Marinated Steak, Chicken Potstickers, Sesame-Crusted Ahi Tuna and Duck Breast. These were phenomenal and I would highly recommend! The second meat we got was the Steak lovers I believe, which included Premium Filet Mignon, Teriyaki-Marinated Steak, Garlic Pepper Steak and one other. This was pretty good, if I did it again I would order two Pacific Rim instead. We were provided with 6 dipping sauces, 3 of the 6 were our favorite. The Curry and teriyaki sauce were the best!

For the dessert course we chose the Dark & Dulce which was dark chocolate melted with dulce de leche and finished with sea salt. It was pretty good. We enjoyed dipping the fruit and rice crispy in the chocolate. The other dippers for the dessert weren't our favorite. We were so full at this point, it was hard to finish our meal!

I would love to go back and just order the appetizer, one entree and dessert. That might be a better portion for us.

I would go back, overall we had a good...

I was trying to set up an impromptu dinner date with my brother and his wife since they like going to the Melting Pot often and we go annually. My brother wanted to try the grill top and we wanted to take advantage of the traditional fondue. So I called the restaurant two times to ask several questions that came up amongst our group as we made plans to visit the Melting Pot in Appleton. My first call was to see if you were busy, our group thought there might be a wait to get in. The response to my call was currently (4:30pm - 5:00pm) no waiting, after 6 however there would be at least a half hour wait if not longer. Then I called back to ask if we could have a table that would accommodate both fondue and the griddle? The same person answered and said there would be no issue with this request as they would be able to accommodate both cooking styles. When we arrived at 5:05pm we were greeted with how many, 4? Your reservations are under? I said we didn't have reservations but I did call ahead, I was cut off rudely with "we like for people to make reservations!" I reiterated I called ahead and spoke to... I was cut off again with someone saying "he did call and spoke to him twice". I started to say I wasn't aware that you had to... Then the breath taking rude comment was blurted out, as the hostess took out menus "remember next time to make sure you make reservations! We are busy and we are booked" This set the tone for our entire evening the person that seated us seemed very short and dismissive. Our waitress seemed short and elusive, being difficult to find and taking their time with our requests for additional food items. They seemingly kept trying to move us along with the next course immediately as. Overall the four of do not live in town we have enjoyed the Melting Pot for the past decades. Fixing this issue of miscommunication and rudeness could be easily coached in saying "if you are taking inquiring calls or informational calls ask if they would like to place a reservation?" A Hostess should never be flippant or rude they should always be pleasant, graceful and in control. They could say something similar to let me see if I have a spot open for you. Our observation was you appeared not booked , you were not busy, as stated the Hostess, you did not have any large parties come in, and our waitress was unbearably elusive, was this tone set from the hostess? These above behaviors are not becoming of an establishment that charges $106 for a meal, when there are so many other restaurants vying for...

I am a huge fan of the Melting Pot, have been for almost 15 years, but tonight was such an off-putting experience.

Let me start by saying I have a lot of food allergies, and I appreciate all of the effort they take to keep me as safe as they can. This time in, we were seated in the "Lovers Lane" section, which was perfect because it was empty and away from other guests (my nut allergy is airborne, so being secluded is great). HOWEVER, this placement also posed the biggest problem for us tonight. There's a window that is on the wall between the lane and the host stand. There isn't actual glass, just decorative bottles in that space--which means we can hear EVERYTHING that's being said out there. The lane is also directly next to the door to the kitchen, so we could also hear everything the waitstaff was saying as they entered and exited the kitchen.

Tonight, amongst other things, I learned that three servers failed to clock in when they arrived to work, some interpersonal details of the staff that I won't repeat, how annoying a large party of girls were, as well as my own server beginning a conversation with another server who asked how her night was going and she responded with "I've got this one table tonight, and she's allergic to everything!" Great... glad to know my medical information is the punchline to a joke.

The final straw was when an employee's child started going between the managers office (next to the host station) and the kitchen door, running back and forth constantly (almost knocked over our server when she was bringing out our chocolate) and chanting a line from a comedy show that another server has taught the kid and was chanting with them making it even louder. It was non-stop for about 5 minutes, and as soon as our server came back, we asked for our chocolate to be packaged to go.

If you want a peaceful, relaxing or remotely romantic dinner DO NOT sit in lovers lane. But, if you want to hear what every server thinks of the diners in their section, it's perfect spot...