Melting Pot — Restaurant in Florida

I am extremely disappointed in this location of the melting pot. My girlfriend and I have ate dinner at this location 3 times in 2020, once before the outbreak and twice after it’s re opening including last night.

The first time we had a very like able server that moved the meal a long at a brisk yet acceptable pace. However the last two times our servers have been outright disappointing.

Two weeks ago we had a 5pm reservation, our first round of drinks and cheese came out in almost record fashion, but the meal quickly went down hill from there. Our cheese pot sat empty for almost 10 minutes before our salads were brought out, and my girlfriends second drink took over 35 minutes before we finally said that we didn’t want it anymore. After it was all said and done we left the restaurant at almost 830pm. As a former server at multiple melting pot locations this would be a completely unacceptable turn time for a 2 person table.

Last night our server took almost 10 minutes to greet us after being sat down, she then came back to start our loaded baked potato cheese by pouring the base and potatoes into the pot before walking away for another 10 minutes. (Again at both melting pots I worked at this was a huge Nono). Then when I asked for tortilla chips that customarily come with the spinach artichoke cheese she informed me “we stopped ordering those after we re opened.” (Yet somehow just last week when we were there we were able to get them for our cheese). Toward the end of the cheese she attempted to take my melting pot mule mug from me, even though it was still 1/2 full.

She then proceeded to bring out a cooking pot that had dried bouillon all over it that looked like it hadn’t been washed in multiple days. I gave them the benefiting the doubt because she carried the romulater with only one had (again a big Nono) so I assumed it must’ve just splashed out onto the sides.

It then took her another 10/15 minutes to finally bring out our entrees.

Finally comes the chocolate. We ordered cookies and creme but with white instead of dark. The server dumped so many Oreos into the chocolate that it was pretty much Oreo with a little white chocolate.

Not even 1 minute after dropping off the chocolate she comes back with the bill saying “no rush” (but we felt very rushed because who brings a bill one minute after dropping off desert?).

And to top it all off she comes back less than 5 minutes later with her little POS machine and makes us pay and tip right then and there while we were in the middle of eating our chocolate and she stood over us watching as we entered the tip and signed. Yet she couldn’t return to make sure to turn off the burner so that we did not burn ourselves on the scolding hot chocolate.

Perhaps my biggest dissatisfaction is that the manager never once came to check on us throughout the meal at which point we would have voiced our frustrations instead of me writing this long winded...

My boyfriend and I came here for date night/to celebrate our anniversary last night. Heard great things about The Melting Pot so we decided to give it a try.

When we walked in for our 9:30 reservation, there were several employees standing at the front door chatting, and the host greeted us, "two?". We told her we had a reservation, and then stood there awkwardly for what seemed like forever while she tried to figure out which of the roomful of empty booths she'd seat us at.

Our server was very nice and polite, didn't catch his name but he had dark hair and a long beard. He asked if we had been before, and I told him I had not. He explained how we choose a cheese fondue to share, choose an entree each and cooking style, etc. He also asked if we were celebrating anything special, and I said yes, our 2 year anniversary. He congratulated us and offered us more time with the menu.

I was still a little confused about the menu, but ordered something I figured I'd like: the steak lovers combo. My boyfriend ordered the steak/chicken/shrimp dinner. We had the loaded potato cheese fondue to start, which was good. Not overly exciting, but good. Next, the salads. I had the house with peppercorn ranch, his was the caesar. The peppercorn ranch was delicious! The server suggested adding the garlic seasoning blend, which was awesome as well. Then, dinner came. When my steak plate came out, I was pretty unimpressed with the tiny slices of steak, paying upwards of $40 for the plate I guess I expected a better portion. But to be honest, it didn't matter because I ate 4 pieces and was over it. I guess people come here for "the experience", but cooking tiny slivers of steak in a pot of oil and broth just isn't my thing apparently (especially if I'm paying $40 for it!). My boyfriend's plate came with 3 pieces of shrimp, a small portion of chicken/steak; again, left a lot to be desired. Out of the 6 dipping sauces, one was desirable. I guess I just felt like it was overpriced for what it was.

After dinner, our server had us order our chocolate fondue. We opted for the classic, milk chocolate with crunchy peanut butter. Tasted amazing. I guess I assumed our server would have acknowledged our special occasion in some way; I've seen friends of mine post pictures of the nice messages they write in chocolate, "happy birthday", etc. Also noticed the couple next to us even had rose petals scattered around their table (maybe they brought their own? That's not weird or anything). Anyways, I was a little disappointed about the fact that nothing was acknowledged, almost like what's the point of asking in the beginning if we're celebrating anything special?

Our check plus 30% tip was $160 (we work in service industry). I left feeling hungry and with a box of raw steak bits to cook in my cast iron skillet at home. Guess it just wasn't worth the hype...

Let me preface this by saying that I generally love Melting Pot restaurants - I've been to several locations over the past 8 years probably around 20 times, and I am constantly bringing new people to experience the decadent fondue. However, the staff at this restaurant was incredibly rude to my boyfriend and I when we went there tonight for my birthday that I feel compelled to write my first Google (and yelp) review.

I put in a reservation online for 8:30pm through Open Table, almost 2 hours beforehand. While it was a long wait, this was a special night and the experience I imagined getting at this restaurant would be worth it. We showed up on time for our reservation only to be told that our table wasn't ready and that it would probably be more around 9:00pm or later until we could be seated. I asked if they had any seats open at the bar, which they didn't but said there was a now a new table available. I said we'd take it, since we were both very hungry at this point.

The place they sat us was against the wall connected to an emergency exit and had extra chairs, children's highchairs and slings stored around the table, and was much darker than the already dimly-lit-for-mood room. I noticed a table was clean and unoccupied right across from us in a much more pleasant area and asked our hostess if she wouldn't mind moving us. She told me that that table was reserved for a party at 8:45pm, which was 15 minutes after our reservation. I asked if they had specifically requested that table and she said no, but they assign tables per reservation and that the table we had been "assigned to" originally was still occupied by a couple celebrating their anniversary. Still confused, I politely asked if we could move over there since the table they had originally set aside for us wasn't ready yet and we had an earlier reservation that the intended occupants. She huffily explained that each table is assigned per reservation and that's how they do it here and then rudely asked "Do you understand now?" I was so taken aback that I didn't even know how to respond, I have never been spoken to so rudely in a restaurant. My boyfriend was so offended by how she spoke to me that we both agreed to leave and try to turn my birthday night around at a better, more professional establishment. I have never left a restaurant after being seated before, but I did't feel like giving our business to this restaurant when the hostess may as well have spat in my face with her sharp, condescending tones.

I will never be coming back to this location. Such a disappointment from what is normally such a wonderful restaurant. This moody adolescent should be replaced with an employee who knows how to treat guests at an upscale...