Melting Pot — Restaurant in Duluth

this is an edit of a previously given 1-star review. For full transparency, the original review is below, but my rating has changed. Our latest experience was 5 stars in every way.

I was contacted the very next day after our original experience by the owner of the Duluth Melting Pot. He was very apologetic and sincere in his desire to make it up to us. He invited us back to his restaurant for a meal on the house. I was hesitant at first, but my wife and I decided to take him up on the offer. We booked another dinner Saturday night (03/09/24) at 7pm. We arrived promptly at 7 and this time we were greeted by the owner himself. He was very kind and had us sat within just a couple of minutes of our arrival. We were served all evening by Alex, who was absolutely fantastic. He had great suggestions and was very attentive without being overbearing. The meal and the atmosphere were what we have come to expect from The Melting Pot.

I respect and appreciate that the owner contacted me right away concerning my first experience and did not try to explain anything away. He was very gracious and was willing to do whatever it took to show his restaurant was truly a 5 star experience.

Easily the most unprofessional dining experience I have ever had. We had a 7pm reservation for 2 and arrived promptly at 7. We were checked in by a young lady who could not be more unenthusiastic about her job if she tried. My wife and I both commented that we felt as though we were a complete bother to her because we were there checking in. We then sat and watched as the train wreck unfolded. The young lady who checked us in proceeded behind the bar to play on her phone for most of the next 30 minutes. Another young lady (I assume she was a manager or at least in charge that night but I never asked so cannot confirm) began loudly complaining to another waitress about how long someone in the back was taking far too long to get their table’s orders and food out. She then proceeded to take another couple that checked in at the same time we did to a table in the back, only to bring them back to the lobby about 5 minutes later. After another 5-10 minutes, they then sat that same couple again. By this point it was 7:30 and no one had even acknowledged we were still sitting in the lobby waiting. The hostess on the cell phone was so enthralled I am not sure she even realized we were still waiting. At 7:30 my wife and I Made the excellent decision to just leave. Again, no acknowledgement from anyone.

I have been to Melting Pot restaurants numerous times and it has always been our “go to” for a nice date night or special event. We will return to a Melting Pot again based on these previous experiences, but it most certainly won’t be the...

First off 2 stars ONLY because our server was pretty great. We were however seated later than our reservation so it felt very rushed towards the end. My fiancé and I have been to other locations but this was our first experience at this one. Upon entry the hostess was very friendly and let us know that we would be seated soon (our reservation was for 9:30 and we were probably seated closer to 9:45, not a huge deal for a holiday weekend). We did notice that the bar right up front looked slightly unkempt while we waited. When we were finally seated our server came and was super friendly and asked if we had dined before and if we had any questions. My fiancé had booked the Valentine's Day package so there were cute rose petals on the table and a fixed menu was given to us. We chose our food and I also ordered a drink however when I unwrapped my silverware I noticed that a couple pieces didn't look thoroughly clean. We originally picked one option but were quickly told they were out of some of the ingredients. For a busy night this is slightly understandable but frustrating if that was what we had already looked at and planned to order. The first round of cheese, bread and veggies was not terrible but the cheese was super thin and took forever to heat (I noticed the server had to keep coming and turning it up). The meat course was honestly pretty awful except for the shrimp and filet mignon (which there were only 2 shrimp and 2 small bites of the filet for $85 that seemed also completely ridiculous), the chicken was terrible the herb mixture on it was so bad it was barely edible. The lobster tail was small and didn't look very appetizing. We also didn't care for the oil selection to cook in either. When it came to the dessert it took forever for it to heat up and we had to ask a few times to see if we could have it heated more. Our server was great but we could tell it was getting close to closing time and he was getting slightly impatient and making jokes about how we wouldn't want the food to burn us. While this is true it was still so cold it made no sense to eat it that way. Overall the food was very lackluster and the drinks were entirely too expensive. Had I known or were offered other options for the type of liquor I was drinking I would have certainly not picked that or I would have just passed entirely. $45 for 2 double vodka shots and soda is insane, this is not downtown. So for a total bill of close to $300 this was a total waste of time and money. We had not been out in a while but felt like this was a good weekend to celebrate but it ended up being so...

We had an extremely disappointing experience here. When we were seated we informed our waitress this was our very first time at a melting pot and would need some help ordering. She said ok, but very little was explained to us. We chose the Wisconsin cheese and 2 separate ala cart entrees. When ordering I asked if we get cheese and then dip our ala cart meats, veggies and bread in it, and she told me yes. When she brought the cheese and bread to our table I asked if that was all the cheese we would be getting and she said yes. I made the comment so we need to pace ourselves so we have cheese left over to dip our ala cart meats in. She laughed and said yes. We sat for quite a while eating our bread with very little cheese waiting on our meats. Finally she came back around and took our empty bread board and our cheese. By this point it was clear we were going to have to cook our own meat (which was not explained at ordering) so I assumed she would bring our cheese back in a seperate bowl. No, our cheese was thrown away. The various methods of cooking our meat was also not explained. I asked what our options were and she said she recommended like a broth. The other methods were not explained or pointed out to me. In fact, I didn't know i had an option of a cast iron skillet until just now when I read other yelp reviews. When we finally got our meat I went ahead and put all of mine into the broth and cooked them as instructed. Upon pulling out the first potsticker there was a long black hair on it. I flagged a different waitress down and she apologized and went to get me a new dumpling. I started pulling out my other items and more hair came out. At this point I had to ask for a whole new bowl and plate of meat. I should have just left, but we had been traveling all day and we're looking forward to this meal. They brought us a new bowl of broth and me a new plate of meat, but the meat was just horrible. The broth made it chewy and tasteless. My son was so grossed out by the hair incident he didn't even eat his 33.00 entree and the only thing edible from mine was the potstickers. So 130.00 later we left still hungry and vowing to never go to a melting pot again. Atleast our food court pizza at Sugarland mills down the road filled us...