Melting Pot — Restaurant in Thousand Oaks

"This makes me very, very sad." That's what my wife kept repeating throughout our meal.

This was our first experience with Fondue and it will likely be our last (until we are able to find someone other than any Melting Pot location selling it!) We enjoy bread, we enjoy cheese, we like eating other food. It seemed like a great idea, so we made our reservation and even joined a club of some sort that supposedly gets you a free dessert.

As soon as my wife, teenage daughter and I arrived, red flags presented themselves on all sides. Two employees were at the desk/podium in the waiting area. The hostess was in the middle of eating a plainly visible salad and told us she'd need to check on our table. She turned and disappeared around the corner while the other employee fiddled with his phone in silence. He eventually walked out of the room (presumably, the awkward silence creeped him out.) Another group walked in behind us and stood around for a bit before wondering aloud where any employees might be. One walked around the corner and returned to advise us all that the bar was not manned and maybe we might all pour ourselves some drinks. After about 5 minutes of standing around, a server came out and asked if we'd been helped. The half-eaten salad in the middle of the podium said nothing. We mentioned that someone was 'checking our table.' Finally, the hostess returned and, having forgotten our name or reservation, checked her computer again and handed us off to the server.

We were shown to our booth in the nearly empty restaurant where a double-boiler sat in the middle on a burner embedded in the table. She turned it on and advised that we not touch it and proceeded to explain that they 'traditionally' are a four-course restaurant and that we should get to picking our four courses. The menus were awkward and confusing and basically steered you toward the $45+/per-person meat plates in addition to your bread and cheese.

We elected to start with the cheese and bread and see what it was all about. For $10-per-person, I envisioned cheesy-bready-heaven. She strongly suggested we get our salads ordered immediately as well, so we went ahead and ordered three of those too.

A few minutes later, our server returned and dumped some oil into the pot and followed it with a bunch of shredded cheese. This she stirred until it was mostly melted. She plunked down two cereal bowls filled with sliced baguettes in two colors and a third small bowl with half an apple, 7 cherry tomatoes, three slices of peppers and two mummified-looking pieces of broccoli. The salads were also delivered at this point. They were apparently made by pouring too-much dressing in a bowl and then throwing some old-ish lettuce from a bag on top until the dressing was covered.

The Cheese was not the liquidy goodness we imagined it would be. It was basically dominoes pizza quality cheese heated to a more viscous state. We dipped our big chunks of bread in and awkwardly stuffed them whole into our mouths. It was on par with the crust from a whole wheat 'healthy' pizza with a little bit of congealed cheese on it -- minus any tomato sauce and minus crispy toasty cooked-ness. All-in-all, pretty bland. We experimented with dipping the ice-cold cherry tomatoes and apple bits in the cheese, but this was mostly just weird.

Our server then returned to find out which meat we wanted. Given the quality of the food thus far, none of us was particularly excited about the prospect of more of the same. We declined the meats, had the passable dessert, paid and left.

Upon further review, our $100 bill was incorrect and, apparently, the server charged us for some sort of combo, double-charged us for dessert and charged us for more expensive salads than we...

The worst dining experience I have had in years, completely ruined our Valentine's day. Had a 9:30 reservation and the staff decided to stop giving their full attention and service at about 10:00, which if the servers aren't going to serve, you should not have 9:30 reservations. Waited 40 minutes after asking for water to be refilled during our meal because it was never offered, ended up having to flag down who I assumed to be the manager to finally get water. Then waited another 30 minutes for some sauces and by the time I had to get up and track down to remind the server and finally got it, the food was gone. The waitress was not busy nor was the restaurant as we were some of the last ones there, so there is absolutely no excuse for this sort of neglect, especially when I am paying this much money for absolutely horrible service and an average meal. Rarely go to fast food restaurants, but I can guarantee even at a horrible restaurant such as McDonalds, I would never be waiting over an hour just to get a sauce and a water!!! It would be one thing if they were busy but the waitress was literally standing right around the corner with other staff members talking for about an hour about their tips and other things without checking in (after we had made requests). There were multiple times when we were going to just walk out, tried to keep an open mind but was an absolutely horrendous experience. From the moment we finished our first course it was obvious that the staff couldn't care less about our experience and just wanted to go home, sacrificing quality of service. This was also obvious towards the end of our meal when instead of being asked if we wanted more water, or other things, we were asked if we were done with our pot (they were obviously trying to get us out of there so they could go home). From the managers, or front house managers' perspective, I must put some blame on them as well as it is their responsibility to keep their servers in line, and if a customer has a reservation for 5pm or 9:30pm, they should always receive the same service and respect as a paying customer, which was just not at all the case in this situation. My girlfriend and I both have worked in the restaurant/ fine dining industry and were absolutely appalled at the quality of service, while food was average, I will never be spending my hard-earned money with this company again and will share my experience to warn others so their nights do not get ruined, and money does not get wasted. Go here if you want to be neglected and definitely come for celebrations if you want them to be unforgettable in...

This Melting Pot location was very disappointing compared to all the others I have been to. The 3 stars are for the great service from the waiter and food. We like to travel the US and have been stationed in a few different states. And we like to visit a Melting Pot whenever we are semi close ( within 1.5 hour drive) to one.

First issue was I went to order my son a piggy bank drink that was advertised on THIS LOCATION’s website and on the kids menu my son had. I was told due to California laws they couldn’t sell those cups. Not sure if that is the real reason I couldn’t order them, but that is what I was told.

Second issue was for the second request of extra dessert dippers ( at other locations they have brought us a lot more extra dippers and NEVER been told there would be a charge) and was told there is an extra charge ($6) for more dippers. I have only asked for a second round of dippers only a handful of times because the first extra request has enough.

Third disappointment was they don’t offer any type of military discount. I completely understand it is a courtesy discount. It was just disappointing this is the only location that hasn’t offered a military discount to us.

Fourth issue was my birthday take home strawberries came packaged in two black styrofoam takeout containers. I was pretty shocked considering in this lobby’s display case they have the birthday strawberries in a nice box with a band that says Happy Birthday. Other locations would have them in a nice cardboard box. I didn’t even care to say anything at this point after all the other disappointing things.

We were extremely happy with the waiters service ( he apologized for everything he could see I was disappointed with) and the food. I did get a piece of pound cake with chocolate and sprinkles on top with a lit candle which I have not seen/received at any other location. There was plenty of parking available for this location which not all locations have. I guess it was the location’s policies I was disappointed with.

The other locations I have to compare this one to was 2 locations in Illinois, 2 locations in Colorado ( Ft Collins was my absolute favorite location of all), 1 in Texas, 1 in Idaho, 1 in Arizona, 1 in New Mexico, and 1 in Utah. We even went to the Irvine, CA location that closed and it was way better than this one. I have been dining at The Melting Pot Restaurants since 1997 so for 20+ years and I know policies and food selection options do change from location to location, but I have never been to one that was as disappointing as...