Melting Pot — Restaurant in Symmes Township

I couldn't be more pleased with this place...well, other than a discount, lol.

Yeah, it's a little pricey compared to my usual dining choices, but this was a special occasion and required a special establishment. This place exceeded my expectations and earned the price

If you need a "fancy" place for an occasion, but fear things you can't pronounce or combined ingredients that seem like they should be kept apart, this place fits the bill.

On their website they have gifts that you can pre-order that are actually priced lower than expected. A half dozen roses were placed on the table in a vase for my wife. She commented on how nice they were, and she was delighted when I informed her that they were hers to keep I ordered them. They look great. I look great! They also wrote "happy birthday" on her dessert plate. An inexpensive way to raise the bar and much classier and less awkward than waitstaff singing Happy Birthday.

The variety of food you can order is a great selection. They don't get too hoighty toighty and also have basics that any ham & egger can order with confidence.

This is an experience more than a restaurant. Ot fondue!(google it) There's a heating element on the center of the table where a pot is placed. And you cook your entree and dip your other courses in cheese, chocolate, or...idk, I saw chedar cheese and chocolate and settled on that quickly.

The cheese course had a variety of breads, vegetables, and apples. All proportioned to easily be dipped in the warm cheese on the safe heating element on the table.

I was a bit leary, fearing some weird flavor "fusion," but it was delicious! I had my favorite combos, and my wife had hers. They offer more of the bread and veggies if you would like more of something and don't care for something else.

The salad course was great. I mean, we goy a plain ol house salad, but it has good cheeses and mixed greens.

The dinner course is just a bit more complicated but this is a good time to mention the staff. We had 3 people, including our server offer to assist us. They are attentive helpful and give you everything you need to know to enjoy your evening.

The meats, veggies, and seafood come raw. You skewer it with a long fork and place in a simmering pot, we chose court-bouillon, but they have others, and waitress gives you the time to leave each item in the pot. I believe 2m3 minutes for the small chunks of chicken, two for the steak (longer for more done), and 1.5 minutes for the fish and shrimp. If this sounds tedious, it isn't. It's really fun, and we just tossed our broccoli and shrooms in the pot and fished them out when we wanted. The spices weren't wild, and the salmon and shrimp were not spiced at all. All was great. And there's a timer on their website for your phone.

The dessert came, and it needs the least description. Melted chocolate and assorted treats to dip. Berries, crispy treats, marshmallows, and other stuff. Actually, we got the "turtle flambe" (turtle candy, btw lol) and was a site. My wife gasped in delight.

I opted for a picture to be taken, another product service they offer on their site, during dessert. By the time we enjoyed our dessert, the photo was presented to us in a beautiful frame with a small, tasteful logo of the restaurant to commemorate the event.

We were there a couple of hours, and it was an adventure. Everything I feared was unfounded, and the staff was wonderful.

I tipped 25%, and I'm a HUGE 15% regardless guy.

We were both delighted, satiated, and left feeling special.

So, consider for your event or occasion, make an evening of it. The cost isn't bad considering it's more like "dinner AND...." instead of just dinner.

I don't believe you NEED reservations but I wanted the fancier dining room, flowers, and framed picture, so I had reservation. Check the website, but you know what? Get your significant other a stuffed animal and flowers or something with your reservations. It'll make the evening...

Visited Melting Pot last weekend with my partner to celebrate our anniversary. This was our first time doing a dining experience like this, so we went in with no expectations. You can choose from two full experience's or go with their a la carte option.

I did reservations on OpenTable to reserve our time. I highly recommended doing reservations, because they book up quickly. We were greeted by the hostess, which was super sweet and we got seated pretty quickly! I had booked through OpenTable -- for roses to be on the table with candles and a single rose, which was on our table when we got seated. (Nice touch & can be done for an extra cost, see their available packages and pricing on OpenTable)

The restaurant had a great ambiance dim, romantic lighting, comfortable seating. It's really loud in here though between folks having conversations and the steam/sounds of cooking all around you. If you want more of an intimate experience, plan for an early dinner. The later it gets the more folks begin to pour in.

Our server, Matt, was excellent. He walked us through the menu with ease and provided several recommendations when we couldn't decide. Make sure you look over the menu well, you will need to place your whole meal (besides dessert fondue) before your experience begins.

We went with the Classic Alpine for our cheese fondue. It was alright, but had a harsh aftertaste after eating multiple bites with it. You get bread, seasonal fruits and veggies to dip in the cheese. If we went again, we'd probably pick a different cheese option.

We both had the house salad for our next course. It was your average house salad: I got ranch, my girlfriend went with honey mustard. We both wished there was more dressing on the salad, but I ate all of it anyways.

Moving to the entree, we with the "big night out" option with the Coq Au Vin cooking style. We set timers on our food to ensure we were cooking everything properly. They give you three skewers to cook the items. They also bring out a dish with several different sauce options for your meat. Everything was pretty good, nothing over the top though. I wasn't that big of a fan of the Coq Au Vin taste.

For our chocolate fondue, we picked the original (milk chocolate). This was by far the best part of the course. The dippers and the chocolate was delicious together. We would've ate more, but we were stuffed from everything else. Our server brought out a plate with "Happy Anniversary" on it, which was a nice touch.

Overall, it was a unique experience for sure. Our server was very attentive during the whole experience. He kept the food coming out and checked back often to see if we needed anymore dippers, utensils, or drinks. Come with an empty stomach, because you will be consuming a lot of food. The price is the thing that got me. It's a unique experience, but probably a one and done for us unless we come back for a round of...

We visited last year on Valentine's day and absolutely loved it. This year however the experience was completely different. Our waiter was awful. We were seated before the two tables beside us but got our food 30 minutes after them. We didn't ask for anything different or special so there was no reason for a delay. My boyfriend asked for a diet coke and never received it. He also asked about the seasonal beer selection and our waiter didn't know and said he'd check and get back to us, he never did. A woman, I'm assuming maybe a supervisor come and checked on us after about an hour and we asked about the coke. Our waiter seemed dazed and confused. He told me to cook my lobster for 1 minute... lucky we saw that there were cook times on a side menu and went by that. (Seafood is a minimum of 2 minutes cook time). He forgot to bring our frying batter and had to have someone else bring it. He left our oil on high (never came back to check on us) and everything burned. The oil turned a deep brown color as did everything we put in over 30 seconds. My eyes started to burn from the fumes. We weren't told about the temperature controls and we didn't know if we were even supposed to touch them. Eventually we just turned them down ourselves. Unfortunately, it was well into the meal so must of our food had been burnt and I was feeling pretty flustered. Our waiter was no where to be found for the majority of our visit. Meanwhile I watch as the table beside us got exceptional service with their waitress being extremely attentive and checking on them frequently. After about two hours he took my boyfriends cup for a refill and again, never came back... After that he didn't come back to our table at all. We waited 30 minutes after our main course was finished. Our waiter served dessert to the table after us but didn't come to our table or check on us at all. Finally the supervisor brought out our desserts. Than we waited after dessert another 30 minutes just to get our check... Our waiter walked past our table 3 times while we sat waiting and never once even made eye contact. We saw our waiter maybe 3 times in the whole 3 hours we were there. (4:45pm - 8pm) Wait staff shape your whole experience and our waiter was terrible. He never checked on our table or gave use proper service. I was really upset my Boyfriend spent so much money on this special Valentine's dinner ($150 for dinner for 2) and it turned out to be such a bust. I had such high expectations after our first visit the year before which was absolutely wonderful and this visit just ruined the...