09/21/09

Not good to say the least

by Link Anderson

My wife and I thought it would be a great place to spend a evening with each other. We heard it had decent food, well to say the least we both were very very unhappy with everything. The service was unreal, (Slow), and the food was very poor, (I would have rather had a cheeseburger from wendys). Then to top it off the bill came and it was over $100.00. For horrible food horrible service, I would recomend Mcdonalds over this place...

• Pros: The best thing about the place was the water
• Cons: Everything

08/14/09

If all I want a nice ambiance, I'd go to the museums.

by SEAMetroPalate

People who like MP maybe the people who have never been to a good fondue restaurant before. The quality of the cheese and meat is very sub-par. People who liked it may have not tasted A-grade meat/cheese or just couldn't tell the difference.

The restaurant probably feels justified to charge the high price because of the ambiance and the unique experience. Well most non-generic reviews here would give this restaurant 5 stars mostly for the experience and the ambiance. But the food...sad to say, unimpressive. Service wise, it really depends on who you get, some waiters are competent and some aren't. I have gotten each of these two types on my 4 visits.

Special events - yes go if you don't care about the food quality and just care about the experience. Then again if you have actually been to a nice fondue place/event, the MP is not that big of an experience.

• Pros: Ambiance
• Cons: Quality of food, service

03/25/09

Slow as molasses

by horseflesh

I signed up just to write this review.

I checked out the reviews for this place the other day, just before I was headed there. I thought the way the reviews were either glowing or hateful was interesting.

Well, unfortunately, you can put me in the unhappy camp.

The food, while good, was overpriced. But, ok, you are paying for an experience so I'll let that slide.

But the service... awful. Dinner for 2 took almost 2.5 hours. The delay between a drink order and then seeing our server again was 30 minutes! And that was typical for the whole meal.

This was the Seattle location, by the way. I heard the Tacoma one is better.

• Pros: Food is good
• Cons: Overpriced and poor service

11/18/08

Good.........but used to be better.

by Elisastevens

I have been coming to the MeltingPot in Seattle for a few years now. My husband and I got engaged there three years ago and we treat ourselves here every six months or so. The atmosphere is nice and private, the food is pretty good, and the service is usually on par. Lately though, it seems like the server (s) we have had in the past keep disappearing from there. We generally request a specific server who we have had in the past who we like and get put into his "area". At seems like these servers we used to request are never there anymore for certain reasons and we are given new servers. The only problem is, that the last two times we have gone we have been given two servers that weren't really all that great. They were okay, but when my husband and I dine there, we are looking for an experience. The server should play into that roll. We used to love Candace as our server, she was really on top of her game, gave great suggestions, and was really friendly. We always asked for her and she was our server for quite sometime. One day, we came and in the hostess told us she no longer worked there. We were seated with another server who we took a real liking to. Once again, the Meltingpot is about the experience and service is important here considering there is a big interaction with your server. So we came back three times and had the same server and things were great there. He was on top of his game, always knew the perfect wine to go with our meal, had a lot of charm, and always made us laugh. We called in for our anniversary two weeks ago and was told he wasn't there anymore. We came in for our anniversary and the service was horrible. We asked what happened to our server (Giancarlo) and our server told us he was let go. That made no sense to me at all! Well anyway, our anniversary didn't go so well. Our server had no idea what she was doing and had no knowledge of wine pairings. How can this happen at a nice restaurant where service is key?

It's hip to dip at this cozy fondue-lover's paradise.

by Contributor

In Short
Booths equipped with tabletop fondue pots are clustered together inside the intimate dining room. Start with a cheese fondue, including an assortment of breads, veggies and fruits for dipping. Entrees include lobster, center-cut filet, fish, chicken and vegetarian selections served with a variety of dipping sauces. For dessert, try the flaming turtle, a mix of chocolate and caramel flambéed tableside, served with nut-covered marshmallows, fresh fruit, pound cake, brownies and cheesecake.

07/28/08

Not impressed...

by jea1979

I heard of this place from friends who say "Don't waste your time and money". It cost them $400 dollars + 4 hours of time to eat in this sauna of a restaurant. They said that the boiling broth on their table was like having a facial while eating. "Gross"-Of course I was reluctant to try it out considering I do not understand the appeal of eating "boiled raw meat" in the first place- but even if I could wrap my head around that sounding appetizing, I was really confuse how a restaurant that requires you to cook your OWN food can justify charging $400 to feed 5 people who all said to me that they were still hungry when they left this place!!! ... I had appetizers and dessert here myself in hopes of giving this restaurant a chance. In the first 30 minutes I saw a couple sit down in the bar, look at the ridiculous prices of $16 for a bowl of cheese, and leave the restaurant. We ordered 2 Cheese appetizers and dessert...I must say, I was extremely disappointed to find that the bread was stale enough to break in half when I pricked it with my dipping fork, and the vegitables were even worse considering some pieces were too small to be picked up with the fork and the edges were shriveled and dried, not to mention the taste was not good. The cheddar cheese tasted decent as long as you like garlic flavored cheese that no longer resembles cheddar. The Nacho cheese was better because I happen to like processed Nacho cheese, which is what this tasted like. The service was good- Not great, but I couldn't complain about that after the lack of food quality. Then dessert- YAY! Chocolate/Peanut butter dip was good! I felt okay spending the "Happy Hour" price for this which was $8.00. However would NEVER spend the real price of $16 (Was not that Good!!) They sure know how to make money here! Serve minimal food, make you cook it yourself, and charge as much as gold for it! Don't waste your time and Money, they should be ashamed with the food quality verses their prices! Ridiculous!!

• Pros: They have Valet.

05/12/08

Bad Mother's Day Experience

by Justforfun

We took my mother and dad for Mother's Day and had a really bad experience. We arrived on time for our 4:00 pm reservation and we were seated on time. There were 9 in our party and the table was meant for 8 (or 6). One person was never able to reach the fondue burner. The server was so busy he flew by with menus and was very abrupt. When we finally got his attention, he mumbled a response and then took off again. He did not ever figure out our correct order and we just finally gave up. The menu had only three high priced entrees choices and it took us forever to get our food. The food was good but not anything worth the poor service.

We were ther more than THREE hours. Boiling broth was left on our table for 35 minutes while we waited for the main course. It felt like we were in a sauna. Dessert took 25 minutes to arrive. We kept asking if the air conditioning could be turned up but to no avail. We were thrilled to get out of there. I did complain to the manager and she took some off our bill. But we will not be trying this restaraunt again. Too bad because other fondue places we have tried, we have loved! There are several in Vancouver BC which are wonderful.

• Pros: Could be a great romantic spot is service improved
• Cons: service was terrible, hot and stuffy inside

03/17/08

My new Favorite

by Aaronlovesfondue

I'm not sure what these people are talking about when they say this place is bad. I thought it was such a cool, interactive experience that was worth the price. The food was delicious and the service was great! For those of you that thought the food was bland, you can blame yourselves, you cooked it! Choose a more flavorful option then! Definately a great restaurant all around! I love Fondue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Pros: Everything, especially the dessert
• Cons: Not good on a time crunch

04/26/07

Worst Birthday Ever-Never again

by uwhuskygirl

I had made reservations for our group 5 weeks in advance for a birthday party. They made me sign a standard contract, saying that if we were there past 15 minutes late then they would give away our table and charge us still. They were almost an hour late seating us. They didn't make any accomodations for our group while waiting. When I brought this up to the manager's attention he said "What do you want me to do about this?"

The food is sub par, over priced and not worth it. The service is horrible and slow. The managment needs to take a couple classes in managing a restaurant.

There are so many other restaurants in Seattle that are so much better. I will never again set food in this horrible place.

• Pros: None
• Cons: rude staff, rude management, bad food that's over priced

03/04/07

Boycott until this place is no longer in Seattle

by yobye

Here's the deal....take a bowl fill with some Ramen noodle flavor packets and throw in some raw meats, vegtables and bring to a roaring boil. Ooooh YUMMO! Wow, what Mc Culture can do for you. If you believe you've found a real gem all the power to you.

Perhaps, we need to think about what a restaurant is considered to be now days. This is not a restaurant...no...no.........please don't let curiosity lead you to disapointment, nausea, and utter disgust.

• Pros: zero
• Cons: super overpriced, nightmare place all around