Melting Pot — Restaurant in Columbus

Disclaimer Keeping in mind that reviews are completely subjective, founded solely in opinions.

Curious about the "experience" and reviews for over 2 years now, my wife and I decided to try The Melting Pot tonight (Sun. @ 6 PM).

The quick: The Melting Pot is not for us. The process felt clumsy and strained. Wanting to experience the best of the best, we ordered the "Big Night Out" with lobster. This includes a variety of seafood, chicken and steak. These items are cooked by you, at your table, using one of 4 different cooking options. Fresh vegetables are provided which included potatoes, mushrooms, and zucchini

Horrible experience. One of the only times I've left a dining experience MAD. It's Thursday, Feb 13th, 2025. Boyfriend and I are having Valentines day experience. First, we sit down and get handed 1 pink piece of paper for the Valentines day special. I asked if we could see a regular menu. We were told ONLY this menu ALL weekend, with ABSOLUTELY NO exceptions and NO substitutions (keep this in mind for later). The entree included shrimp and pork. I don't eat seafood and it was like pulling teeth trying to substitute it, even with me saying I was okay with anything but shrimp. They finally substituted it on mine with chicken, and told my BF to just cook his shrimp last. This is after they were told about the issue, and then still tried to bring me the shrimp. Keep in mind, our "set menu" was 1 appetizer, a "one bite salad", a choice between 2 cheese options, a set entree, and a choice for whatever chocolate for dessert. It took 20min to get a drink. We started getting served food and I had to remind our waitress that we also asked for waters and hadn't even received those. My $18 drink looked nothing like the picture. It was even a different color. It should've been orange (due to grapefruit juice being in it), and it came out pale yellow. It was also garnished cheaply (One of the photos). My BF's old fashioned came filled to the brim with crushed ice, and a cheap maraschino cherry. Again, nothing like the picture and not the correct garnish. There was no orange. Extremely cheap for the price it was set at. I asked our waitress her opinion on certain drinks. She didn't know because she wasn't 21. Ok, that's fine. I asked her about the food (the simplest questions. "How spicy is this?" for example). Considering "there was a set menu", and she knew NOTHING, she should've been embarrassed. Our "salad" was a stick with 2 tomatoes and 1 mozzarella ball on it. We received 2 total (so one each). This is the other picture.

The Cheese was good, but not the one we typically get and love. Entree was mediocre. We couldn't understand the strictness of the menu. What if someone had a shellfish allergy? What if someone didn't eat pork for religious reasons?

Dessert was okay. We asked if they could possibly make their banana's foster (previous experiences told us they could) but apparently not that night.

We had asked for the special seasoning. Never received it. Never got checked on once while eating the entree (we wanted more of one of the sauces). Considering our 1 option was $80 a person, and we were ordering drinks on top of that, being checked on once would've been appreciated.

The WORST PART?! As we're eating, the TABLE NEXT TO US literally ordered from the REGULAR MENU. The one I asked for and was DENIED, and told ABSOLUTELY NO exceptions. We were honestly baffled and livid. It's the only time we've left there still hungry.

HORRIBLE experience. BF and I have a ton of experience in the service industry, so we still tipped 33%. I would've maybe spent $50 on this meal, not the few hundred we actually did. It ruined our Valentine's dinner together. The only reason we didn't ask for a manager is because we we're so angry and disappointed, we knew there was 0 excuse. A scene would've been caused, which we didn't want for us nor the establishment.

Even the table 2 over from us was astonished at the cheapness, and they had never been there before. I doubt they'll ever go back, and now I'm unsure if we ever will either. Oh and the remodel took away the coziness the place once had. It now looks like a room for meetings.

The owners should be ashamed and...

My husband and I have been coming to this location to celebrate various occasions for over a decade now. Unfortunately, after the service we received at our most recent visit, we probably won’t be back. We hadn’t been in probably over a year, so my husband booked a visit for my birthday a couple weeks ago. The woman who took us to our table was not super friendly — they usually point out the restrooms, etc., which we were already familiar with and didn’t need, but she made us feel like an inconvenience walking to our table. Oh well, whatever. Our server came over not too long after and seemed nice enough. Unfortunately, while I cannot stress enough that he was very nice, he was not a good server — at ALL. We both ordered a drink from the bar — i got the “modern” old-fashioned, which looked nothing like the picture, did not have the orange peel, and frankly just looked a bit sad. Considering the drink was roughly $15, that is unacceptable. My husband finished his drink by the time the salad came out and a busser came by and collected his empty glass. Mine was gone not long after — I assumed our server would ask us if we wanted another one (and I realize we could have asked if we really wanted one), but he totally ignored it. We both had nearly empty water glasses by the time the main course rolled out — again, he totally ignored them. In our past experiences, there was always someone roaming around topping off water glasses but that didn’t happen during this visit. Our server never once asked us how anything tasted — aside from bringing us our food, he totally ignored us and never checked on us. Usually they come back and ask us if we’d like any more dippers for the cheese course, etc. if they notice we are low on a certain item. He also took an incredibly long time to clear anything away/bring out a new course. At one point, he cleared one course and told us he’d be back with the next and it was half an hour before he returned. Obviously, the full Melting Pot experience does take a good amount of time, but service on this particular evening was ridiculously slow. My husband ended up asking for the check immediately once the chocolate course was delivered —otherwise, we probably would have been waiting around forever for it. All in all, we felt like the evening was a giant waste of money, although at least we had plenty of time to enjoy each other’s company. The food was good, but that’s about it. Like I said, we’ve always enjoyed coming here, but it’s apparently time for a...