Melting Pot — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

This restaurant is overrated.

The food itself is just fine, nothing remarkable or exceptional. It is however overpriced for the experience.

We had problems with our burner at our table, not getting hot enough and constantly turning off or being unresponsive. Nothing crazy just a small annoyance.

About halfway through our experience, (after eating salads , cheese fondue) our entrees arrive. We have an assortment of steak, shrimp, chicken etc. we selected the "big night out" package as this was our first time here and we wanted to try everything. We chose to cook our food on the skillet. The skillet did not heat up as expected due to our burner problem, we eventually got it up to temperature. Like I said small annoyance, nothing crazy. We quickly ran out of oil on our skillet and had to ask for more as our food was starting to stick. We asked for salt and pepper as none of the meats are seasoned other than the teriyaki beef.

The meats themselves were delicious, but very small portions. You'll pay about $110 for the "big night out" package and we just expected more. We got about 1/3 the way through our entree when my date and I both agreed that this is just not for us. The experience was off, and you feel bad for spending such a large amount of money for a date and it's headache after headache. If you are looking to cook your own food, a Korean BBQ restaurant is a much better alternative to this place.

The only reason we tried this restaurant was because of reviews that we have heard and our conclusion is that it is more of a gimmick restaurant than a date night restaurant.

Our server Sophia was amazing and very kind. The manager of the restaurant, Carson, was not professional at all. We asked our server if we could talk to the manager as we felt paying $110 for a meal we didn't even eat half of made us sick to our stomach.

Now, we ate our salads, cheese fondue, an appetizer and two drinks. All of which were fine and I was perfectly fine with paying for as we actually consumed them. When the check came around we were stuck with the $110 charge for the "big night out."

I politely asked Carson (Manager) if there was anything that could be done about our check as we honestly did not like the experience at all. He replied in a smug attitude that there is nothing that can be done as the food was out at the table already. I explained to him that we are not trying to get one over on him or the restaurant, that we stopped in the middle of dinner and were ready to end the experience and just call it a night. He wouldn't budge on any reasoning and did not extend much courtesy or empathy. At the end of the exchange he offered to comp our two drinks for $20. I explained that we both drank our drinks and weren't looking for that, as a matter of principle we wanted to work something out on the dinner. He would not show an ounce of empathy or any customer service.

So long story short we paid $115 for two drinks, some bread and cauliflower dipped in cheese fondue and a charcuterie board.

I understand that part of this is my fault as this was our first time and didn't know what to expect. This is definitely not for us. If you want to cook your own food go to Korean BBQ. If you want fine dining or a date night go literally anywhere else without the frills.

This has to be by far the most overrated restaurant I've...

Came here for Birthday&Anniversary dinner combined, wanted a fun and new experience as neither of us had been to Melting Pot before, and had only heard good things in the past. Our dinner reservation was at 4:30, we showed up a little after 4, and got seated quickly before the designated time, which was nice

We got seated, the lighting was a little dim for my preference, but that's okay. The server showed up quickly, but once we stated we hadn't been there before, he seemed less than thrilled to explain how the whole process worked, and what to expect while dining, and talked a bit faster than expected. He explained how ordering worked, and what was recommended and what meal was popular, which was fine.

We got our first course, the cheese fondue, bread, some vegetables, etc., and it was all delicious. A little thrown aback by the mixing of the cheese being done by a simple dinner fork, and if that was my only issue would not have been reason enough to even talk about. We finished our first course, and I had done no research before coming, so I foolishly didn't realize the cheese was just for first course, not also for the meats, so I used it a little sparingly to make sure I left some for the rest of the meal. When the waiter showed back up for the main entree, asked if we were done with the cheese and to my surprise, grabbed it from the table and walked off with it after I said, in my confusion "...uhh yeah?" Which was the beginning of the bad time, honestly.

Once the main course came out, we were explained to which meat was which, the sauces, vegetables, how long to cook everything, that went well. Most of the meat was good, the Teriyaki Steak was oddly tough, like trying to chew rubbery leather, nearly killed my appetite. Not enough to cause a scene, shrimp and chicken and other steak tasted fine.

After the main course, we had still held on, through tooth and claw, to the last of the first course, a few pieces of bread, a couple apple chips, and some cauliflower were all that remained. Looking forward to trying the apple chips in some chocolate fondue, when they came to clear the table prior to the dessert course and stole our tray of appetizers without question, and quicker than we could process, we were again, disappointed. After such a long, and really, stressful night, we both had a good laugh about the ridiculousness of the whole situation.

Finally the dessert came out, we got the Dark&Dulce and was the only redeeming quality of the whole meal, it was delicious, as chocolate should be. Then, like getting smacked out of the air, took so long to see our waiter for our check, and being already so frustrated, had to ask the hostess to find him for us.

We mentioned the occasion for our visit at the beginning, also stating on the reservation, and never had any mention of it from the waiter the whole meal, while the table next to us recieved a fancy birthday plate from their waitress, who seemed much nicer to them from what was overheard. This was very upsetting to my other half, and her being upset was the worst part of the whole night.

Not to mention, it all costed $135 for one of the sorriest dining experiences in a long time. But we were from 2hr away so won't have any worry about thinking about...

Went here for dinner last night, and made at 7:15 reservation for 4. The food was delicious but the service was not good. I saw other waitresses serving tables around us and I think we just drew the short straw. Our server seem to not have any idea about the menu or what really was going on. My Mom, Husband, and I did the restaurant week special, which came with a salad. When ordering my mom asked for the Lemon Poppyseed Vinaigrette Dressing. The waitress said “we don’t have that here” and we showed her on the menus where it was. She just awkwardly laughed and and said “uhhh ok well I don’t know I’ll have to ask” When bringing out our Cheese fondue she had accidentally dropped some of the shredded cheese in my sweet tea which she saw happen and again awkwardly laughed about it. She didn’t apologize or offer to bring me another tea considering mine was halfway gone anyways. I ended up just fishing out the cheese. She brought back our salads 45 minutes later and still had yet to offer to refill our drink. Three of which were empty with no ice because it had melted and we drank it because we were so thirsty. When returning with the salads. We asked for a refill on our waters and 1 sweet tea. She returned 15 minutes later refilled one water, left with the sweet tea, came back and we had to ask her to please refill the other waters as well. When the entrees came out she quickly explained how they needed to be cooked and left, and did not return for 35 minutes, again we were completely out of drinks and she didn’t offer to refill them. She was supposed to return with a spoon she’d forgot and never did. Our table sat full of empty plates and cups waiting to be taken away which I even nicely stacked to the edge of the table. Eventually dessert came out, and that was fine. We then had to wait until the chocolate was gone and practically burning to the pan for her to come over to the table. Even the table behind us commented “what is that burning smell” When she did return she was again just awkward and giggly asked “do you want the check?” We said yes, and she said “uh okay do like do you want 1 check or what?” I felt like we had a 14 year old server who didn’t care or didn’t know what the heck was going on. I spent many years as a server and understand which someone is new but this was just ridiculous. We didn’t end up leaving until 9:40p and it wasn’t because we are slow eaters. We ate everything and didn’t waste any time because we were all starving, but it would be 30-45 minutes between seeing our waitress and it was about an hour in between the cheese, the entree, and the dessert. We as a family pretty much decided that we will most likely not be coming back because we were not expecting to be here from 7:15-9:40p. This wasn’t our first time here but it’s probably going to...