The Melting Pot

Melting Pot is my jam. I think it’s one of the most fun restaurants ever, despite its super casual and laid back feel.
I’ve been to the Melting Pot in Arlington probably 4 times and it just gets better every time. My most recent trip was for DC Restaurant Week with some friends and we had a great time. The deal you get during RW is ridiculously good so it’s tough to pass up when it rolls around. You are able to get a Cheese fondue, salad, full entrée, and dessert fondue for like $ 35 so you really get bang for your buck. I’m pretty sure our reservation wat at 6:30 and we walked out at about 9:00pm so if you’re in a time crunch of an impatient person, this is not the place for you.
The service here has been sort of hit or miss, but it’s really not that important. They bring you the drinks, cheese and the dippers. They bring you the broth and the entrée. Then they bring you the chocolate and the dippers. That’s pretty much it, so make sure you enjoy the company you go with.

Came here during restaurant week and decided to partake in the normal menu instead. From the moment we arrived, the host was very welcoming. The manager Daniel seated us and was very informative of the menu layout. Our server was Destinee and she was phenomenal! Courteous, friendly, and very prompt! We’re looking forward to our return!

We had so much fun at the melting pot! My husband had never done fondue before so it was really fun watching him try it all. If you are looking for a great date night or girls night out, go hit up this spot. First things first, we ordered drinks. I got the grasshopper. Watch out ladies… that’s a dangerous drink. Not only is it delicious and tiny so you can drink it down in 2 sips, but it sneaks up on you! It tastes just like mint chocolate chip ice cream. Need I say more. After we ordered drinks we decided to order the full 3 course meal. We got their seasonal cheese to start, we got salmon, filet, chicken and tuna for the meat and we got a specially created dark chocolate with caramel for dessert with the upgraded dippers. Holy cow my husband almost had to roll me out of there but it was all so good. I’d go strictly for the chocolate and drinks alone. Run over there and start dipping!

I tried this place during DC Restaurant Week, as it was on the list of places participating and near to where me and a handful of friends live. It was very tasty to say the least!
I got there early and decided to have a glass of wine at the bar. The service, in general, at this place was really slow. It took around 5 minutes just to receive my change for the single glass of wine. What saves the review/​stars on this thing is the food.
The Restaurant Week menu included a cheese fondue appetizer and a main course of various proteins like shrimp, beef, chicken, and sides like mushrooms and broccoli. The bacon-​cheddar fondue was tasty but I enjoyed the Fiesta cheddar more. And, of course, there was desert! The Yin & Yang chocolate fondue was an amazing blend of white and dark chocolate in the same bowl with fruit, brownies, cookies, and graham covered marshmallows.
It was a fantastic opportunity to try all three courses. Between the five of us and splitting two bottles of wine, the total for each person was around $ 52.

It’s my first time here. I tried the restaurant week menu. It allows us to tried four courses with a fair price, $ 35 per person. The entrée impressed me so much. Shrimp was really fresh. Teriyaki beef was juicy and tender. My friend and I tried Yin Yang as our dessert. It consisted of two dark and white chocolate. I think that it did meet my expectation. The waitress was very nice and considerate. In sum, it is a pretty good restaurant.

This place is incredibly average. I’ve had much better food at many different places. The idea is fun, and it is cute for date night if you don’t really care what you’re eating. The highlight of my dinner was probably our waitress, who was very sweet (I think her name is Destiny).
The cheese fondue is decent, but nothing I can’t make at home. I was less than impressed with my entrée (Surf & Turf) with the standard vegetable bouillon broth. If you want hot pot, you’re better off going to Hot Spot in Fairfax ($ 23 a person for all you can eat hot pot… meat/​seafood/​veggies). The broth wasn’t that flavorful and just isn’t anything I really remember.
If you’re going for cheese and chocolate and have ~$ 50 to blow per person and you aren’t super hungry, then this place is okay.

I were recommended by my sister to try at this restaurant. It’s a good try but will not go back again ! As I told the person who took my reservation that I’m coming to celebrate my birthday, I wished the restaurant may do stg special for me; i was very disappointed they juz wish me «Happy Birthday «that’s it?!

If I wanted to cook, I could’ve stayed at home. The only decent aspect of this place is their cheese and chocolate dipping, but still way too overpriced. Getting entrees which we had to cook by ourselves, with tepid infrequent service, and is too expensive. For half the cost, we could eat a decent 3 course meal at comparative dine in restaurants, which would be cooked for us. It’s bad service, bad food, and to add insult to injury, twice as expensive. I’ve never given a restaurant such a low rating and never have I felt like just getting up and leaving. Our waiter was nice but he could’ve given us more attention instead of dropping by every 30 minutes. I’m sorry but I’m never going back here again and to anyone reading, I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant at all. I would’ve been happier eating McDonald’s even though I’m not a fan of its food.

I’ve been here many times over the years. Yes, it’s expensive. That said, I’ve never had a bad meal or experience there. My hubby and I were there just this past weekend to celebrate our 11 year wedding anniversary. We’d just left the movie theatre at Ballston to see Star Wars, so we were decked out in our dorky t-​shirts. At any rate, our server, Marcus, chatted with us about it, and the fact we were celebrating our anniversary. By the end of our meal he brought us a Rice Krispy BB-​8 that he made himself! They gave us a champagne toast at no extra charge, and everyone was just lovely. Every time we eat here, the manager drops by our table to make sure everything is ok. Just great service and yummy food!

Fun concept, but vastly overpriced. I have only been here using Living Social vouchers which puts it into a price range I’m comfortable with, I would never pay full price. The dining room is really dark and the whole experience will take a long time. It’s clear that most parties here are either going for a special occasion or a girl’s night out, so that’s probably not a problem for most of them. They suggest reservations, but that’s easy as they’re on Open Table so you can do that online and they validate for the parking garage below the building so that turns out to only be two bucks.
The cheese fondue is the star of the show here, served with bread and crudités. They are extremely stingy with their salads, which is too bad because they’re actually pretty good. Lettuce isn’t that expensive, so I’m not sure why they give you less than a handful. The entrees come with court bouillon and are «eh» as poached filet mignon isn’t all that impressive. Like with the cheese fondue, there is an upcharge for the others choices such as oil with tempera batter or a wine based sauce, which along with the addition of $ 8−10/person for dessert can make this very, very expensive if you tack on all the extras (not to mention wine!). The sauces are good, but again they give you small portions, though they’ll give you more if you ask.
With a coupon of some sort The Melting Pot is fun and unusual way to spend an evening, but otherwise it’s a lot of smoke and mirrors for a potentially very expensive meal that I’d rather take to a steakhouse or seafood restaurant considering their food costs can’t be that high.

Melting Pot is an occasion restaurant. If you’re going here, it’s almost always for an anniversary, a date, or prom… unless you really, REALLY like fondue. So with that in mind, the high price you’re paying for your food is at least 50% experience.
You’re dipping your own bread in your own pot of melted cheese, you’re cooking your own meat and seafood in your own pot of oil, and you’re trying to contain yourself when they bring you out your own pot of melted chocolate.
When I think about all the times I’ve been here over the years for whatever occasion, the little pieces of bread and meat and dessert they bring out over the course of your 2+ hour meal all seem to be of decent quality. Most everything is fresh, and I can’t remember a time when anything low quality or stale was brought out.
Service has been fine, even great at times, but similarly priced restaurants tend to excel at service and not just be content with «okay».
My main thought here is that Melting Pot is really, really expensive for what you get. You’re paying five star prices for three star food, average service, and a very unique experience. Is that worth it to you? For some people, maybe. But if you’re going to drop this much cash on a dinner, you have other options that, while not being as unique as Melting Pot, offer much better food and service.

This place has the best happy hour option. We had the chocolate and cheese fondues and about three of the cocktail drinks which were half off.

Love coming for Happy hour! Half off the cheese and chocolate pots. Somewhat prefer the MD location since it includes more of the cocktails on special for that time frame. Service was great, restaurant was empty on a Friday evening then slowly picked up. They will validate some of the parking too. Be sure to check in on Unilocal and ask about the strawberries!

I love cheese!
Do not come here and let all that good cheese go to waste. The food offerings are fresh. They serve the fruit/​veggies/​bread in small bowls but you can always ask for more. They aren’t stingy.
The meat is beautifully presented and the fun part is you can cook your own food! I’m usually full by the time the main entrée comes but I’ll be dammed if I let that good meat go to waste.
It is pricey! Do not waste your food. Eat all of your money’s worth.
If you have room for dessert, try the black and white fondue. It IS divine. Rich and divine. Rich like the folks that frequent this restaurant. (Or the same ones balling on a budget redeeming a living social deal.)
I also enjoyed the chocolate covered strawberries. The berries were fresh and ripe. Juice dripping all down my chin.
Wine. On Wednesdays, bottles are half off. Check with waiter to confirm. They carry Dreaming Tree Crush. An easy drinking red wine created by Dave Matthews Band.
Ambiance is loud. You think for a dark and cozy restaurant, it’d be more quieter so you can hear your dinner companion talk. Nope. It’s probably loud from folks moaning after enjoying that good cheese. Yeeesssss!

I rarely visit the Melting Pot these days without some sort of deal; this time I had a LivingSocial. Their prices are simply too high to come otherwise. I was slightly disappointed that the deal didn’t include chocolate this time– I didn’t read the fine print since the last two deals have included chocolate– and I likely wouldn’t have bought the deal if I had known.
However! It was still a great night. We had a really engaging waiter (who seemed to enjoy our weird stories) and I liked that we got a variety of choices for the main course. We started with the fiesta cheese fondue (who knew grapes covered in melty cheese could be so delicious?) and both got caesar salads to start. For the main course, we could choose either one large dish from the entrée choices, or a dish of three smaller portions. Previously with the LivingSocial deals, you didn’t get any choices at all; they just gave you a set menu. We got one large plate of the filet mignon (yay!), and a three small portions of the sesame-​crusted tuna, duck sausage with bacon and bbq pork. It never feels like it’s that much food when you first start eating, but we couldn’t finish it all and ended up taking some home. I always love the numerous sauces you get to dip everything in, particularly the green goddess, and we got a second helping of vegetables too.
For the chocolate, which we added on (because how can you go to Melting Pot without getting chocolate fondue???), we got the dark & dulce– SO GOOD. The big flakes of sea salt, which stayed surprisingly intact in the melted chocolate, added such an unexpected taste on top of the fruit, marshmallows and more.
Am I on the lookout for another deal now? Of course!

The melting pot, as with all fondue places, is nice in concept but impractical in practice. You pay for the raw materials and essentially cook the meal one bite at a time. The cheese and chocolate courses are excellent but the salad and entrée is average at best and way overpriced. For the same price as the meal, we could have gone to a great restaurant and ordered a real filet mignon with sides that is already cooked. Ultimately the price doesn’t justify the fondue concept.
The major issue however, which lowered my review to three stars, was the service. We often felt forgotten while the server disappeared and was not knowledgeable about the items. He told us to cook the tuna for two minutes which frankly is silly because tuna should be seared. He was late to bring my wine pairing and completely forgot to bring my last one.
The restaurant also smells funny, is way too hot due to the pots, and the seats are way too low to see what was in the pot.
Skip this place and go somewhere better for the price.

I’ve been to a couple fondue places over the years and have had mixed experiences. Sometimes it’s a fantastic experience, especially when the cheeses, sauces, and broths are amazingly good, the meat and vegetables top quality, and the service top-​notch. Unfortunately, that’s not quite what I experienced here.
We were in town on a business trip and so we had a pretty large group of about 10 people. In order to make a reservation for that many, I had to leave a credit card number; it was only after I got to the restaurant that I saw that there were plenty of tables for big groups.
The staff in general seemed very disorganized. Three different servers stopped by in the first fifteen minutes and gave us the same introductory speech, and none did a particularly strong job at explaining the menu options nor how to order. We were given different colored skewers so that we could tell the difference when a bunch of them were in a pot together, but they kind of defeated the purpose when they gave three people sitting next to each other the same colors.
Most in our group were from Manhattan, which also means they were NOT cooks. Unfortunately, the wait staff didn’t do much to get to know us not go outside of their memorized script in educating any of us. They just rattled off the different meats and said how many minutes to cook them. Nothing about how it should look, or how it should taste, or what sauces to dip them into. Nothing even about basic things such as why you should cook raw pork longer than raw beef.
The first cheese course was decent, although the layout of the table made the experience worse for a big group, as the ingredients were placed out of many peoples’ reach. I was sitting at the end, and almost every 5 minutes I had to scoot my chair as the server walked around me. Granted there’s only so much the restaurant can do about that given the nature of fonduing, but on the other hand they could have easily mitigated some of the more annoying things by just paying a little attention to detail.
The evening didn’t get much better when the server brought out our fondue pot with a red wine-​based broth and disappeared. Fifteen minutes in, the water was tepid and some in the group started to dip and eat. Later we realized that the fire either went out or was never turned on. We waited for a while but the server never returned, so we had to figure out ourselves how to turn it on. It finally started boiling much later, but by that time a lot of folks had consumed barely-​cooked meat, given that everyone had followed the memorized instructions the server had rattled off.
Little things made the evening even more frustrating. The fondue forks didn’t hold onto the meat very well so a lot of it ended up falling into the pot.
It would have been ideal if the staff had kept an eye on us, saw that we were nearing the end of our entrée course, and had the dessert course ready to go as soon as we finished. Instead, we finished our entrees and had to wait at least a half hour as they prepared the dessert course. The entire evening took about 3 hours, which was far, far too long and painful.
For me, the rating of «I’ve experienced better» is about as apt a rating as I can leave. I wouldn’t say not to go to this place, but if you do go, go with a smaller and more intimate group, go with the right expectations, and plan to make it an all-​evening affair.

Traditional dark wood walls and tiled tables with burner inlays is what you can expect. Also expect a variety of tunes you’d hear no where else on the planet. I’ve hear remakes of Sade and Frankie Lymon that would make die hard fans wince.
This particular location had a large turnover in their wait staff in 2014 and I became somewhat worried I’d never had great service again, however, much to my surprise, the new wait staff is getting up to speed and progressively each month the service has gotten better. I do hope to start seeing more new familiar faces in the wait staff.
The food is delicious and fresh. This is why I love this place! Since you cook your own meats, there is nothing that can be hidden. I typically choose the MOJO cooking style which if you like chicken and jerk flavoring, I’d highly recommend. I can say I’ve tried duplicating the recipe for the fondue at home and haven’t had the best success as the jerk blend in there must be a well kept secret.
This is a great place for those with food allergies of all kinds as you truly know everything in your meal. If you can’t tolerate it, don’t put it in your pot is my motto.

I’m usually not a huge of this chain, because I prefer to just make it myself. The prices are generally way more than I choose to spend, but the food always tastes amazing.
This particular one (unsure if others do it too) had happy hour specials so we ended up paying half price for everything. The bartender was really funny and kept us entertained as we happened to be the only ones sitting in his section. This location is a bit tricky to get to if you don’t have a car!

A friend treated me to Melting Pot awhile back for my b-​day.
I’m incredibly grateful. I’ve been here a few times before, always to celebrate an occasion. It’s a great place to meet with friends as well as, go on a date. The menu is on the pricier side, which is why I only visit during special occasions. The restaurant is clean and organized. I like the dim lighting. Servers are knowledgeable and attentive.
My two favorite parts are the cheese and chocolate fondue. They have a bunch to choose from and it all comes with dippers. The cheese fondue usually comes with veggies, apples, and bread. The chocolate fondue comes with cheesecake, fruits, and marshmallows. Our servers have always been very sweet and refill our dippers for free. Their entrees are delicious as well. Lots of different meats, veggies, and seafood to choose from. My favorite cooking style is Coq Au Vin. Burgundy wine infused with fresh herbs, spices and mushrooms. Yum! Entrees come with sauces on the side. The green goddess is awesome and a must try.
Overall, we always enjoy our meal here and it’s a lovely way to celebrate a special occasion.