Melting Pot — Restaurant in Wilmington

I love the Melting Pot and have been a frequent customer to this location over the last 10 years, but will sadly not be returning. Back in the summer, we came just before 8pm without a reservation. The hostess asked if we had a reservation and we said no. She then told us they were no longer seating for the evening. Hmm, so if we would have had a reservation, you would have sat us? It says they close at 10pm, so we assumed arriving by 8pm would be plenty of time to eat there. No where on the website does it say a reservation is necessary. I assumed it was because they didn’t seem very busy and probably had a lack of staff, so I kind of brushed it off. I did send a message through their website asking for clarification on their reservation policy. No one responded. Side note- we had walked in with no reservation plenty of times in the past. I realize a lot of things have changed in the restaurant industry since Covid, which is why I tried to be understanding.

Fast forward to this week for my birthday dinner. My husband went to make a reservation and noticed that there were later ones available. We opted for a 9:15 reservation because we had drink plans with friends beforehand. My husband received a message through Open Table the day before asking for confirmation. He confirmed. The day of the reservation around 5:30pm, a hostess called to confirm the reservation again. We were then asked if we would be doing a full dinner or just cheese and chocolate. He told her full dinner, and then she proceeded to tell us that would take about 2 hours and they closed at 10pm. She then asked if we could move the reservation up. This is literally the night of the dinner, mind you…right before we were going to leave to meet people.

Melting Pot Wilmington, if you don’t want people to make reservations at 9:15pm, take the option away! Make your last reservation at 8pm. It’s a very simple fix. Or maybe put that a reservation after 8pm has to be made over the phone (so you can clarify that folks are coming for just cheese or chocolate and not a full dinner - AND can be made aware of time constraints then). Calling the night of the reservation to tell us this made us feel totally unwelcome and completely ruined my birthday plans...

I went here to have an amazing experience for my birthday but it was anything but. I knew the concept of fondue but have never had it or been to a Melting Pot before so it was all new to me. the experience though was poor as soon as we walked in. We had a reservation for 4 but 2 of us showed up early. The restaurant was practically empty but the hostess refused to seat us till our whole party arrived. So instead of waiting at our table and buying a bottle of wine we had to sit in the lobby for 30 minutes. The restaurants loss. When we were finally sat we were brought to a tiny booth meant more for 2. Very uncomfortable for 4. The waitress in that section was very friendly but foolishly we asked to move to a more comfortable (bigger) booth where our new waitress wasn't so nice. She wasn't familiar with the menu at all. Couldn't recommend any wine (not even make one up) and either had no menu knowledge or just didn't care. She couldn't tell us what was in the salad we were eating, didn't explain the options on our set menu, stood at our table for 10 minutes in awkward silence preparing the food but not explaining what she was doing, what food was what, or how long we were supposed to cook our food for (so the food could have tasted better if she did a better job). Also our second table wasnt working properly so the manager had to come over multiple times and get under the table (while we were sitting there, kind of awkward) to fix it but not tell us why he was under the table, not apologizing for the inconvenience, and not offering us a different table. Best part about the meal had to be the desert (which was just dipping fruit and rice krispie treats into hot chocolate.) I'm sure under different circumstances (more accommodating host, friendly and competent server, and working tables) it would have been a great experience but this time my dinner was ruined. you'd think that a party of four with a check over 200 buying bottles of wine and trying to have a great evening would get much better service but it seemed no different than eating at the...

Tonight we decided to give The Melting Pot another try for our daughter's birthday after a prior not so great experience. Our minds were definitely changed! To begin, after our last experience I received a call from the owner apologizing for what happened. He offered a discount for our troubles and was very sincere about his concern for his customers. Now this was 2 years ago! To my surprise when we went in tonight that same discount that we had never used was still there waiting for us without even having to ask. How many businesses' do you know of that would honor a discount that is 2 years old? I was amazed to say the least and this showed that the owner really stood behind what he said about making sure all his customers have the best experience. Now onto tonight's dining experience. We were greeted at the front by a very friendly hostess who immediately brought us to our table and wished our daughter a happy birthday. Then we met our waitress Riana. She was definitely an experienced server! She remained attentive and friendly during our entire dinner service and did everything possible to ensure we were taken care of. We were able to enjoy our meal without being rushed. Finally the food and drinks. I chose the Strawberry Basil Lemonade and my husband chose the Tipsy Turtle. Both drinks were absolutely amazing!! Each of our 4 courses were equally amazing as well and were able to be enjoyed by our family. Finally if all that we had already experienced was not good enough Riana brought our daughter out the most beautifully decorated dessert plate with a little cake and candle. This made my daughter's night and she kept saying how beautiful it was. So, to sum things up this experience at The Melting Pot was EXCELLENT! From the hostess who was friendly, to the bartender who really knows how to make a good drink to our waitress who is probably one of the best servers I have seen lately at any dining establishment and finally to the owner who proved by his honesty that he really does value his customers we will...