Simply Fondue

Let me begin by saying how sorry I am to see that this place went out of business.
A few months after me and my wife tried The Melting Pot for the first time we came across a groupon for this place and decided to try it out. Although the salad and chocolate fondue a are better at The Melting Pot the meat portion here was a step up in my opinion. Simply Fondue offered a grill option as opposed to the regular oil based fondue for the meat dishes which really gave this an excellent grill taste you can get elsewhere.
The service here was top notch, the food was excellent and the restaurant itself was in an excellent area and very well maintained. I do not believe there are any other Simply Fondue locations around so I guess The Melting Pot will have to suffice going forward.
Thanks for the memories and hope another location will be opened down the line.

When you think fondue, chocolate comes to mind, but it’s so much more! It makes for a great date too because it’s about the experience just as much as it is about the food (we spent about 2 hrs here without even trying).
First, don’t come here without a reservation. I was able to make a same day reservation for 7:45 on a Wednesday but it was still pretty busy. We got seated quickly but it took at least 10 min before anyone came to our table. Luckily our server was really cool and his great service made up for the lag throughout the night.
The place itself is plain on the outside and blends into the shopping plaza that it’s in. But inside, it is casual elegant with dim lighting. Get a booth if you can for a more intimate dinner. Don’t feel like you have to dress up though, it’s very relaxed.
Get the Mediterranean cheese fondue if you like pesto and sun dried tomatoes! It comes with a generous plate of bread, veggies and fruit. We ate every last cheesy drop!
The salads were delicious… the field greens with vinegrette dressing was good and so was the wedge salad. The bacon on the wedge was crisp and not greasy… yum! If you like ranch dressing, theirs is top notch and not thick. I could’ve been good after the cheese and salad but we did the 4 course meal.
They offer 3 ways to cook your main course and we went with grilling. Again, so delicious! Six pepper beef tenderloin was melt in your mouth… no need for the plethora of dipping sauces they provide. Roasted garlic chicken was also tasty but the ahi tuna and pork tenderloin were just ok. It’s fun grilling your food at your table although you come out smelling like garlic.
For dessert we got the Bananas Foster. A white chocolate and banana lover’s dream. The dessert plate includes a few bite sized treats like pound cake, rice crispy treats and fruits. Perfect end to a meal.
Fondue is on the pricey side at about $ 50/​person for the four course dinner. But it’s not your typical everyday meal. Treat yourself!

Groupon is the way to go for this place.
A piece of advice… plan ahead… way ahead… to make reservations. Many times that I wanted to go, even with 3 days notice, the place was booked. Finally I was able to make reservations for a 5:15 table about 1.5 weeks in advance. Once the reservations were made online, SF is pretty good with their confirmation process. I received both a phone call and email reminder a day prior, so kudos for that.
My service was very good. Waitress was very friendly, joking, and making plenty of recommendations and checked in on my party every so often. She explained how the 4 course meal worked, how to cook the food, what the various sauces were, etc.
Food was very good and an overall fun interactive experience. May I suggest the ‘peppercorn steak’ as one of yoru protein choices? Very good and flavorful. All meat was fresh, and Ahi was sushi grade.
For dessert, try the banana fosters and white chocolate fondue. Awesome to roast marshmallows over a slight flambé.
Oh, and bonus points for having ‘real’ Ice-​tea, andnot from concentrate or passion fruit flavor… just good ‘olé brewed tea leaves.
On the down side, which is minor, the tables seem a little cramped, and you may want to dress a bit warm. They must crank up the A/​C due to all the pots at the table, but if you sit under one of the vents, it can get chilly. Also, without the Groupon, it’s a tad pricey. A 4 course dinner for two will run you about $ 90 without drinks. Cocktails and beer are a bit north of average as well, so expect a nice date night to be north of $ 100.
Lastly, make sure you walk around a bit outside… you’ll note that your clothes have a tendency to smell like oil afterwards.

I love making fondue at home so when my sister got the deal we gave the place a try. It was a three course meal first it was cheese fondue, than meat grilling, and last is a dessert fondue.
l think cheese fondue was strictly vegetables as I recall. I still didn’t like it that much since I could taste the beer in the fondue. The portion was a good size but it made it quite too fulfilling to eat the main course later. I think the meat grilling is a waste of time. The meat takes forever to cook and once you had korean bbq I don’t think you have the patience to cook your meat that long anymore.
My favorite portion of the meal was the dessert though we were super overstuffed we couldn’t pass up on the sweets. They had a variety of options when it came to different fondues, and meats which I liked the idea of.
This place has a nice atmosphere though. Seems like a romantic and dim-​light where people take their dates.

This place is not bad. Personally, I prefer the Melting Pot but this place is not bad. If you want to check it out, there are plenty of deals for this place from Living Social/​Groupon/​Travel Zoo. You get a damn good deal for two people for about $ 45.
Can’t get a reservation? Try the bar. You can order off the full menu.

I’ve been here twice and loved both times! I think it is very similar to Melting Pot. Both times I have had great service, especially this last time. The aged cheddar fondue with bacon is great! I get the Gorgonzola salad which is a great refreshing salad and a generous portion. I’ve tried the oil and broth methods of cooking. I prefer the broth– you get a bunch of extra veggies in there. My bf likes the oil because you can batter it like tempura.
The chocolate fondue is my fav… so decadent. I like the smores one the best out of what I’ve tried. They will bring more dippers if you ask. Peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate… yes please! It’s definitely an experience not just a meal.

Went here with the girlfriend because we had a groupon. Food was OK, the 4-​course meal starts out with your choice of salad.
Then the second part of the meal is the cheese fondue, and the platter of bread, grapes, and veggies to dip in the cheese. Try not to eat too much bread. fills you up quick. We had the aged cheddar cheese fondue, wasn’t that bad.
Next after the fondue (which already semi filled me up D:), is the course with the four meats or seafood of your choice. Also comes with 6 dipping sauces. We chose some chicken, beef tenderloin, tuna, and shrimp. We grilled it, and it wasn’t so bad.
Lastly, was the chocolate fondue, your choice of fondue with strawberrys, bananas, pound cake, and another fruit that i forgot. MEH.
I hear the Melting Pot is much better. i won’t come back here probably.

After reading a lot of bad reviews I wasn’t sure what to expect from this place… but I bought the LivingSocial deal and it’s actually a really good deal because of the food you get in relation to the discount.
LOCATION: It is kind of out of the way because it’s near the toll road so if you don’t want to take the toll road you have to drive on surface streets for a while. It’s located in a plaza with a Vons and other establishments.
ATMOSPHERE: It reminded me of a fancy lounge/​restaurant because there was live music playing and a bar section and then high booths where lots of groups and couples were sitting. We got seated right away in a booth, the windows are all fogged up… probably because of the heat and the cold air outside. I thought it was interesting that the silverware was all metal and tin looking, almost like I was in Lord of the Rings eating on a hobbit plate.
FOOD: We got the four course option with wine. To be honest the wine was horrible but that’s also probably because I don’t like wine. Our first course was the salad, I got the strawberry and spinach and my boyfriend got the gorgonzola field greens. Both of our salads were really tasty except my spinach looked very wilted and somewhat rotten so I couldn’t eat a lot of it. Plus, I asked for no almonds but they still gave me some.
The second course is the cheese fondue, we got the Whiskey Aged Cheddar and it was SO AMAZING. The way they prepare it is to boil the beer first and then pour in the cheese and mix in bacon bits and green onions. By the time he was done preparing it, it looked and tasted like a baked potato. It was so good, the dippers were bread, apples, grapes, carrots and celery.
The third course was our main dish. We got the «Traditional» oil and it was basically like boiling oil where you put meat, shrimp or veggies in. It comes with a «tempura» sauce that was kind of spicy but what annoyed me was the tempora batter would slide off of the vegetable and fall into the abyss of the pot never to be found again. After a while the tempora batter also got to be a bit monotonous. Overall though, there were like 8 – 10 dipping sauces, each interesting. We got the 5 pepper beef, regular beef, shrimp and garlic chicken. The pepper beef was my favorite — very flavorful.
The fourth course was the chocolate fondue. We got the dark chocolate one. By now we were pretty full but the chocolate was so good. It comes with marshmallows, brownies, strawberries, bananas and poundcake dippers.
SERVICE: Our server was very helpful in telling us what he recommended and was prompt at getting us our different courses or refills on our water etc.
Overall, a great experience, fun for a date and to do something different. I’d have to say the cheese fondue was MUCH better than melting pot, the chocolate fondue was about the same. If you get the LivingSocial deal, come here, if not… probably not worth the money.

I’m kinda bummed. The service was very good and I really wanted to love this place since the ambiance is amazing. It felt super romantic and had an awesome vibe. However the food is just mediocre.
I had the deal from groupon for 100 worth of food for 45 bucks. It’s an amazing deal because they provide you with a four course meal for 2 people. You and another each get a salad of your own choice, (which was YUMmmy), and then you choose a cheese fondue to share. THey bring you more bread if requested. The fondue we choose was just okay, the beer taste kinda overwhelmed the cheese. But I got used to it and enjoyed that part. The 3^rd course is some meats that you cook. I felt like this took too long and didn’t even want to cook it. Lastly you choose a desert chocolate fondue. It was just bleh and was soo slow to warm up.
I would only come back for the cheese, but even then I could probably make it at home.

This place is awesome – very comparable to Melting Pot. They recently featured a Groupon for a $ 45 3-​course meal for two with a $ 45 gift card for next time. Pretty good deal for fondu lovers. The staff here is very knowledgable and extremely attentive.
As a vegetarian, I think the price is a little inflated, considering they replace the meat with just more veggies. What’s nice, though, is that they will still offer non-​vegetarian options if one is not vegetarian. The ambiance is very romantic. Lots of couples come here for anniversaries and such.
There’s just a ridiculous amount of food – bring your stretchy pants. My favorite part was the cheese, which is absolutely delicious!

Honestly fabulous. Because of atrocious experiences at two Melting Pot locations, I’ve been against the fondue experience for a while now (yearssss). However, after indulging in five hours of cheesy, chocolate-​y bliss at Simply Fondue, I have been converted all over again.
Seriously. 5 hours. Of non-​stop food. Maybe I’m just a slow eater, but I went in expecting appetizers and light conversation before dinner. Oh my gosh, do I know better now. We finished four courses, double dessert, introspective discussions, and a full bottle of Cab. And cancelled our other dinner plans of course, haha.
I came with a Livingsocial deal. But a four course meal for 2 is typically $ 86. And I could not believe how much food there was. For what amounts to less than $ 45 a person, this is an outstanding deal and a lovely, intimate experience in a poshy minimalist space.
Before I get to food, let’s talk service. Erik is fabulous. FABULOUS. He could be at any other restaurant with a much higher table rotation making 4x as much in tips, and yet here he is at Simply Fondue, serving two chicks at the same friggin table for five whole hours… with a genuine smile and enthusiasm. Are you serious? The service here deserves gratuity above and beyond the usual for their rare breed of commitment.
1) First course is the cheese fondue. We went with the Swiss Chalet, which has Kirshwasser brandy thrown in during table preparation, and it was marvelous. We scraped that bowl clean. Perfect potency in the brandy, with a savory flavor and mild sharpness. With the slightly tart green apple slices, it was mmmmm.
2) Second course is a salad. We both went with the Spinach and Strawberry. I just prefer sweet accoutrements with my spinach, and don’t have much of a liking for croutons or extra veggies. Anyway, this salad was excellent. It comes tossed in a cider dressing which really made the toasted almonds pop. Yumyum.
3) Third course is the big daddy entrée. We opted to cook it on the grill. And I’ve heard they’ve added a considerable bit more to the list of selections for this bit. We had vegetables, beef, shrimp, chicken, etc. But I recommend the six pepper beef. I could have gone with just this as my selection. The cuts were fantastic and the pepper was generous. Definitely my favorite of the night. Avoid the coconut shrimp (bland) and the ahi tuna (not fresh). The chicken is all white meat, so avoid any of those if you prefer dark.
4) Fourth course is dessert. And oh my gooooosh, heavenly! Erik ended up bringing us out a complimentary second platter. And I just about died. We dipped in Campfire Chocolate (which includes melted marshmallow and graham crackers). But in the future, I’d definitely try the White Amaretto. In any case, our chocolate fondue sang with the sweetness of the maraschino cherries and fresh strawberries. Even with the banana slices, and I hate banana. I thought the rice crispy squares were stale, but loooooved the cinnamon sugar balls. Best part of the whole night. Of course.
Clearly, I would return. The service is unparalleled and the experience has easily become a smile evoking memory. What a great dinner. The Melting Pot is just an embarrassment next to the quality and devotion of Simply Fondue. I came here with a Livingsocial promotion and indulged in every minute of my 5 hearty hours and I can’t wait to come back again. ((I promise I’ll try to cap it at three hours this time, haha.))
This type of raving is a rarity for me. But much deserved.

Nice wine display (they have a decent wine list here)…
Décor is warm, very nice & classy. +1
Service was just ok… waitress was kind of cold…
Hostess had put us next to the kitchen door which sucked because there was a big cold draft whenever someone would come in /​out of the kitchen. So I asked to have us moved to a better table. They had all these empty tables so why did they have to put us there in such a crappy place? –1
They don’t give you much meat s here; only small pieces, but they try to fill you up w/​pieces of breads instead.
Spinach & strawberry Salad was good. a bit on the sweet side, but still good… so if you like your food to be on the sweet side, you’d like this.+8 pts =)
Meat was on the salty side. +4 pts
Shrimp & chicken was good +7.5 pts
They had ran out of Ahi Tuna… Boo =(-1
They don’t put a good amount of cheese into the pots here, they add more oil than at The Melting pot, we kept having to scrape the pot of more cheese because we would run out @ the end & have so much left over food & no cheese left. –1
Dessert Fondues:
Raspberry dark chocolate fondue was good +8.5 pts
Rocky Road chocolate was just ok, a bit an over kill though…+4 pts.
They dont give you much strawberries/​fruits for the Dessert Fondue ;-(
Without the Groupon deal, this meal definitely wouldn’t be worth it; prices here is high compared to what you’re getting for your meal.
All you are eating here is mostly cheese w/​small bits of veggies & bread. And small bits of meats & fish /​shrimps in oil /​seasoned broth.
This kind of cuisine is good for dates or once in awhile dinning experience. This is not a place you would go often.
Overall, I think that The Melting Pot & Shabu Shau places beats this place on quality & quantity of food… plus service too. =)
Here’s their menu:

Got the $ 45 for $ 90 Unilocal deal and decided to try this place. We had been to the one in San Juan Cap, which has unfortunately closed down, but never been to the Mission Viejo location.
The first thing I noticed was that the restaurant was fairly small. When you walk in, there is a beautiful entry way with a see through wine rack but very little seats if you’re waiting for a table. I think there were 3 seats total. There’s a small cozy bar on the left and the restaurant on the right. They had live music playing in the bar but it was really loud. We could hear it loud & clear in the restaurant. The restaurant itself was very loud with everyone trying to talk over themselves and the music. The restaurant is also very bright, not dimly lit and quiet like The Melting Pot.
The service in general was terrible. The hostess was on the phone when we first arrived and after she got off the phone, she barely greeted us. No, «hello» or «how are you», just «what’s your name»? After we were seated, it took 15 minutes for anyone to come to our table, and that was after I had to wave the General Manager over to our table. He told us our waitress was coming, but I asked if we could just place our order with him.
After we placed our order, the waitress finally came to our table to deliver the 1^st course meal (the salad), and she didn’t even greet us or tell us her name. She just said, «who has the wedge salad?» Omg, this staff really needs some lessons on customer service!
I’m giving this 3 stars instead of 2 because the food was actually pretty good. We got the 4 course meal, with the seasonal (Mediterranean) broth, wedge salad, aged whiskey cheese, 4 different types of meats and the campfire chocolate fondue for dessert. All of the food was delicious. With the Unilocal deal, we only paid $ 45 but it would have been $ 86 + tax without it. We also brought our own bottle of wine and they charged us a $ 15 corkage fee.
Warning: after the meal we totally smelled like the broth. The steam blowed right into our faces and clothes and we could smell it on us the rest of the night.

Read all of the Unilocal reviews before coming here, so I was a little torn on the experience we would have. But I decided to come with an open mind, clean slate, and my experience was that everything was great!
As with many others, came here with a living social deal. This place was way off the freeway and in a random plaza, so I’m sure this place is getting alot of business from all of the deals they’re offering. As with any deal, tons of reservations were booked. We weren’t able to book a reservation until 9:30 pm on a saturday.
–Service was great, our waiter was super attentive and gave great guidance on how to fondue
–Had the Mediterranean cheese fondue as suggested by our waiter, totally enjoyed it
–We got the traditional oil for our entrée, didn’t really care for it, because I got spattered by the oil, and felt like I was eating oil most of the time. The tempura batter sounded pretty interesting, but in the end, the stuffed mushrooms kind of fell apart in the oil and messy.
–For dessert, got a white chocolate fondue with caramel and pecans. YUM. But at this point, I was pretty food coma-​ed. And pretty much waved the white flag of defeat.
For $ 45 we got a huge amount of food! We packed our salads to go after eating about half because we were already getting full by the cheese course.
The waiter offered us refills on any of the vegetable dippers, but we were way too full to ask for anything else.
Overall, a very enjoyable and enlightening fondue experience. We’ll probably be backf for a special occasion. But we’ll probably just do a cheese course and dessert…

I went here a week ago with my boyfriend and we loved it. This is the kind of place you go to if you want a long dinner with multiple courses. I think we were there for about 3 hours, just talking and eating. They don’t rush you. The place is really nice and classy and the server we had was really nice. Just a quick tip: make sure you make reservations. If you don’t, there’s always a bar area you can go to and receive basically the same treatment but sometimes even the bar is full.
My boyfriend and I had the $ 45 deal from Travelzoo. We got 4 courses.
Salad Course:
I got the spinach and strawberry salad which was so yummy. I’m normally not a salad person but this salad was delicious. Boyfriend got the classic caesar salad which was good too.
Cheese Fondue:
We got the Wisconsin Sharp Cheddar cheese fondue. This was the only course we didn’t finish since they give you a lot of cheese and a lot of bread and veggies to dip. Besides, I was full off the salad and I wanted to save room for the main course. The lady was so nice while she mixed the garlic, spices, cheese, and oil. She explained what she was doing and chitchatted with us for awhile.
Main Course:
We opted for the grilled cooking styled (there were 3 to choose from – fried, boil, or grill). They give you a plate of meats that you choose (you get about 4 choices of meat) with some vegetables as well. It was a good meal, not too much food which was okay since we were slowly starting to get stuffed.
Dessert:
The dessert was my favorite and the main reason I wanted to go here. We got the Original Milk Chocolate Fondue which was great. There were other chocolate options with peanut butter, caramel, white chocolate, etc. but we wanted something simple. This was a great choice since they brought out an assortment of fruit and snacks to dip. I feel like if we picked any other kind of chocolate fondue, it would have been too sweet.
Overall a lovely restaurant and I totally would come here again. Wait for the deals they sometimes put out on living social, travelzoo, or groupon. But hey! Unilocal offers the deal too :)

Came here on a double date, and both my boyfriend and his friend had bought the groupon deal that made our meal about half off. $ 45 for a four course meal and two glasses of wine instead of the 80something dollars it would normally be.
We started with the salads. They were absolutely delicious and pretty big. I was expecting appetizer starter size salads but this was like a whole plate. I got the strawberry and spinach which was soo good. Afterwards, we got the cheese course. My boyfriend and I ordered the white cheddar, while his friend and girlfriend got the whiskey aged cheddar. Thank goodness we got to share because the whiskey cheddar was way better.
For the meat course, I definitely recommend the traditional route with the oil. Everything tastes good dipped in the tempura sauce and oil. We also got a grill since we had two groupon deals. The grill was perfect for the tenderloin orders that we got. My favorite meats were probably the bacon wrapped tenderloin, the mahi mahi, and the coconut shrimp. We also tried the ahi tuna and herbed tenderloin, which were pretty good too. Make sure to cook all of your meats but save room for dessert! If anything, you can always ask for a box to take home your cooked meats and veggies.
And of course, we finished the meal with the delicious melted chocolate pots. We ordered the white satin and the peanut butter one. I loved the white satin because I really like white chocolate, but the boys really liked the peanut butter one. The peanut butter one is similar to reese’s pieces if you like that. It was pretty cool when we first got our dessert, and our waitress told us to roast our marshmallows and poured some 151 on them and set them on fire! I think this last part of the meal was everyone’s favorite part. Our waitress was also superb and super friendly. She explained everything in great detail and was very attentive! I wouldn’t come and pay full price, but I hear that these deals happen quite often so I would jump on these discounts!

Fondue sets, martini shakers and juicing machines: three things the world could live completely without — Doug Coupland
I once was part of a CompuServe bulletin board exchange with the bard of Gen X, Douglas Coupland, around 1995 (just after the Big Bang origin of the WWW) and he came off a bit pretentious and narrow minded about his conclusions regarding my generational cohort. However, he also had unique insights and the thrashing he took by the CompuServe community was unwarranted.
And he is definitely on target about the previously mentioned «popular» hosting gifts. You might even expand on that to wonder if Fondue restaurants are really needed especially in a world of Korean BBQ and Shabu-​Shabu.
Certainly Simply Fondue must be wondering that. They have closed the SJC location (indefinitely per their website) plus their websites menus have not been updated in awhile especially their wine list. Plus, they have run several discount specials lately like Travelzoo (which I used on my visit) and Living Social (which I also purchased for a future visit).
Fondue is definitely overpriced which is why these specials are popular on the deal of the day sites. And even with discount, you order wine, extra drinks and with tip you are still pushing total cost of $ 80-​$ 90…a fair deal for a four course meal but more realistic than the retail listed price would have been around $ 140 or so.
On our visit service was a bit off. Greeting from hostess was almost non-​existent. She seemed really shy. Our server had that «Is he sincere, or is he secretly a serial killer with someone tied up in the basement» personality that makes you think he is sticking pins into customer voodoo dolls on the side. The bouncy canned music made no sense in a classy fondue restaurant and thankfully was turned down.
Having said all of that (I know, I know… geez Sidney can you say something about the food and stop this writer word diarrhea!) the meal actually tasted very good. We started with excellent Gorgonzola salads that were flavorful and quite large. Next was whiskey cheddar cheese fondue with excellent dippers and a nice crunchy bacon consistency. We decided to go with the cast iron grill for the 4 part meat course and the downside was it took forever to cook! But the meat was excellent and I loved the ginger sauce. The ending was a classic dark chocolate fondue flambee and they gave us second helpings of dippers.
Wine list was overpriced and mediocre but I did like my Pinot and Malbec. However, the glass cost was more than the retail bottle cost so next time I will just pay corkage and bring a bottle.
So maybe there is still hope for Fondue. The experience is definitely classier and more romantic than K-​BBQ. I look forward to using my Living Social deal here next.
So 4 stars if you have a discount; three stars if you pay full price.

The food here was so mediocre, that I decided to buy a fondue set to show them how it’s done.
My fiancé is a huge fan of fondue, so for our anniversary, I decided to take her to Simply Fondue. I also had a sweet Groupon to use here, so the choice was pretty easy. I don’t know what it is about fondue that attracts chicks to it; the tub of cheese? The romantic setting? The long 3 hour dinner conversations about feelings and where they see us in the future? Shoot me now.
Simply Fondue is your typical fondue joint. They bring out melted cheese with breads, veggies, and fruits to dip in. Then repeat with beef, chicken, and shrimp in a broth. Everything is pretty bite size and I think I had a total of 3 ounces of meat and a couple of stems of broccoli to eat for dinner. It terms of fondue, they give a good amount of food. But in terms of fatty’s like me, dinner here is like a 3 hour long appetizer.
Out of all the fondue places I’ve been to, I think I like their rules and prices the best. They do allow you to BYOW, but there might be a small corkage fee on some nights. There’s a grocery store located across from this restaurant, so it’s convenient to go over and grab a bottle of nice wine. As a rule of thumb, restaurants mark up wines by 3x the actual cost. So if you do the math, you’re better off getting a nice bottle and getting dinged by the corkage fee. They also have various specials throughout the week, (ie ladies night, free dessert w/​meals, free corkage, etc) so check with the restaurant before going.
Overall, I had a good time. Service was great, and the restaurant was fancy looking. If you’re dating a chick that’s a hopeless romantic, you might get lucky afterwards. BUT, beware of the 3 hour long meal and 100+ dollar bill at the end.
A little about my credentials:
I first got into cooking & food when I was in college. After being rejected by numerous girls and getting zero action, I decided it was time for a change. I needed a new makeover to boost my geeky, engineering image. I applied for a cooking position at a Mediterranean-​Italian Restaurant near my home and learned to cook all sorts of pastas and dishes. I never became a professional chef, but I continue to enjoy & love food. 8 years later and 55 lbs heavier, I am now an engineer that travels all over the world trying new foods and learning about different cultures.

After browsing through the OC Restaurant week list we decided to check this place out. We came during midweek so the place wasn’t that packed. We were prompted greeted at the door by the lovely hostess who escorted us to our little booth. The place reeked of oil since there was no exhaust above each table from all the fumes off your personal heat plate/​pots. But anyhow we were prompted greeted by our waiter who explained the different types of cooking styles this being our first time here.
For our first course we had the Mediterranean cheese fondue: Sharp cheddar, beer, tomato pesto, garlic and sun-​dried tomatoes. It was kinda cool watching the waiter mix up the yummy mixture in front of us. This was probably our favorite course. It was served with a basket of bread and a plate of assorted raw and pickled veggies. hrmm these portion of cheese was kinda skimpy though so you really had to ration your dips or risk running out before you finished.
For the main course we ordered Beef tenderloin, Black tiger shrimp, herb crusted pork tenderloin, pecan crusted mahi-​mahi, sea scallops, Jamaican jerk chicken, ravioli, Shiitake mushroom, squash and yams. We got the traditional cooking style: Cooked in canola oil and served with our house-​made sesame batter and famous stuffed mushrooms. Upon delivery of the plate the portion sizes seems pretty small. You literally get 2 pieces of everything. aka 2 pieces of meat, shrimps, scallops, etc. My favorite was the pecan crusted mahi mahi. But sadly the pieces were so small i literally had to savor every single bite.
Third course dessert we got the raspberry Cabernet. It was kinda cool seeing the waiter light the top on fire with the dash of 151. But the selection for dipping was kinda sad. Where’s the fresh strawberries? We literally got 1 strawberry cut in half. um ok. The chocolate was ok but because of the lack of good things to dip in it it was just meh.
So overall i would i probably wouldn’t come back again especially if i had to pay full price for the measly portion sizes. Also don’t expect to get much service from the waiter. One of our cooking forks was dirty and the guy never brought me a new one! We also never got any refills on our drinks so if your mouth was burning from the hot food too bad cause you only get 1 glass of water.

So my only experience with fondue has been pretty limited, once at Forever Fondue and once at The Melting Pot. I’d have to say that I really enjoyed Simply Fondue more then the rest!
First off, I highly suggest that you make reservations. I had a groupon for this place and it was expiring in two days, so I headed over to Mission Viejo on a Saturday night with no reservations. Hey, this is MV not some hot A list restaurant in LA. So we get there and they are booked for the rest of the night. BOOOO!!! So I ended up making reservations for the following day, Sunday at 8pm!
So I returned the following night… drove all the way to the boondocks of MV for some fondue and I’m so glad I did because it was so yummy!
I ordered the 4 course meal for $ 44, you get salad, cheese fondue, meat fondue and dessert!
Course 1: My salad was pretty damn good, I got the greek salad and it was delicious.
Course 2: The Cheese Fondue, we picked the spicy pepperjack which had monterey jack cheese, cayenne pepper, tapatio sauce all mixed in with some beer! We had, bread, grapes, apples and olives to dip! I loved the pepperjack, it had the perfect spicy kick to it!
Course 3: The meats, which was beef, chicken, scallops and shrimp with veggies that included, potatoes, sweet potato, green peppers, mushrooms and cheese ravioli. We picked the traditional cooking style which was cooked in trans-​fat free canola oil served with lots of different sauces! We killed it all… it was so good! My favorite sauces were the curry sauce and thai peanut sauce!
Course 4: Dessert! We ended up picking the Reese’s Peanut butter fondue! This was flambeed with 151 and dipped with pound cake, marshmallows, rice crispy squares, pineapple, strawberries, bananas and brownies! Oh boy, 5 stars all the way… it was the best part of dinner!
So even though this place is all the way in Mission Viejo and it was a super rough start… I still gave Simply Fondue 5 stars! Because the food was all fresh and great. The peanut butter chocolate fondue was absolutely amazing and the service and venue was top notch!
also…they have an organic and gluten free menu upon request! Plus over 100 amazing martini choices!