The Melting Pot
Becky and Malayia went with me last Wednesday to have my second labs drawn. We turned it into a girls' evening out, which was good. It made the time pass quickly and those girls could make me laugh no matter the circumstances.
We had dinner at The Melting Pot, something we've wanted to do for a while. We had the 4-Course Experience. Cheese, pretty good. Salads, pretty good. Entrees, NOT good. Chocolate, amazing. We wish we would have known prior and we would have had cheese and chocolate and called it a great experience for less than half the price.
There was a small induction cooktop in the center of the table onto which a pot was placed. You choose a cheese fondue to share. We went with Cheddar - Aged, medium-sharp cheddar and Emmenthaler Swiss cheeses, lager beer, garlic and seasonings. It was pretty good, but a bit bland. It was served with bread cubes (honey wheat, rosemary and white) and raw veggies (broccoli, carrots and cauliflower). If I ever go back, I would try a different cheese, possibly the Fiesta or Spinach Artichoke.
The second course was a salad. We each chose different salads because we all wanted to taste each salad. :-) I had the house salad with tangy house dressing, which turned out to be honey mustard, which was a little disappointing, but good. Becky had the California salad with Raspberry Black Walnut Vinaigrette, which was awesome (well, once the gorgonzola cheese was removed, it was awesome)! Malayia had the Spinach Mushroom salad with Burgundy Shallot Vinaigrette, which was pretty good.
We had to choose a cooking style for our entrees. We went with Mojo: Caribbean-seasoned bouillon with a distinctive fresh-garlic flavor and a citrus flair. We had expected a wok or something similar and that the food would be sauteed. Instead, we got a pot of boiling broth. The waitress added broccoli, potatoes and mushrooms to the pot. She told us it would take the potatoes 10 min and everything else 5 min and that she would be back with our entrees. Oh-kaaay.
Here's our veggie pot, after we added potstickers.
She brought us plates of raw meat and instructed, "Two if by land and one and a half if by sea." Malayia looked at her incredulously and said, "You mean, we have to cook it ourselves?" She said she was thinking, "We're talking! We don't want to be timing food!" We were truly aghast. We could not believe we had gone out and paid for a nice meal and then had to cook it ourselves! And what was the point of the different seasonings on the meat if we were just going to throw it all into the same pot?!
I had PACIFIC RIM -Teriyaki-marinated sirloin, honey orange duck breast, citrus-infused pork tenderloin,and chicken potstickers. The terriyaki sirloin was good, the pork was edible if you were really hungry, the duck was gross and the pot stickers disappointing.
Becky had THE CLASSIC - Seasoned choice Angus sirloin, Memphis-style BBQ pork medallion,Pacific white shrimp (she subbed potstickers for this bc she's not a seafood fan), herb-crusted all-natural breast of chicken, and teriyaki-marinated sirloin
Malayia went with LAND AND SEA: Premium filet mignon, herb-crusted chicken, and Pacific white shrimp.
It was such a pita to time the food, get it out, realize it wasn't done, throw it back in, time it again... We tried to cook like things together: all the beef at the same time, then pork, then chicken and duck, and finally Malayia's shrimp. And all the while we had steam wafting from that pot and it smelled horrible! It smelled like a dirty person who never bathed. It made it difficult to even want to taste the food that came out of it. Lol.
The entrees were served with dipping sauces - green goddess (sour cream and herbs, was great on the potatoes), curry, terriyaki, sweet 'n sour, spicy cocktail, gorgonzola and a couple of other things I can't remember. The terriyaki sauce helped the beef. We mostly couldn't eat the entrees. Malayia liked her shrimp okay.
Finally, it was time for our chocolate! We chose Flaming Turtle, a combination of milk chocolate, caramel and candied pecans flambéed tableside. It was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! It redeemed the injustice we'd been done by having to cook our own entrees. It was served with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, Rice Krispies treats, cheesecake, brownies and pound cake. The strawberries were the best with cheesecake a close second. We each were allowed a refill of our favorite. Becky and I went with strawberries and Malayia had extra bananas.
Totally worth every calorie and gram of fat.
We had dinner at The Melting Pot, something we've wanted to do for a while. We had the 4-Course Experience. Cheese, pretty good. Salads, pretty good. Entrees, NOT good. Chocolate, amazing. We wish we would have known prior and we would have had cheese and chocolate and called it a great experience for less than half the price.
There was a small induction cooktop in the center of the table onto which a pot was placed. You choose a cheese fondue to share. We went with Cheddar - Aged, medium-sharp cheddar and Emmenthaler Swiss cheeses, lager beer, garlic and seasonings. It was pretty good, but a bit bland. It was served with bread cubes (honey wheat, rosemary and white) and raw veggies (broccoli, carrots and cauliflower). If I ever go back, I would try a different cheese, possibly the Fiesta or Spinach Artichoke.
The second course was a salad. We each chose different salads because we all wanted to taste each salad. :-) I had the house salad with tangy house dressing, which turned out to be honey mustard, which was a little disappointing, but good. Becky had the California salad with Raspberry Black Walnut Vinaigrette, which was awesome (well, once the gorgonzola cheese was removed, it was awesome)! Malayia had the Spinach Mushroom salad with Burgundy Shallot Vinaigrette, which was pretty good.
We had to choose a cooking style for our entrees. We went with Mojo: Caribbean-seasoned bouillon with a distinctive fresh-garlic flavor and a citrus flair. We had expected a wok or something similar and that the food would be sauteed. Instead, we got a pot of boiling broth. The waitress added broccoli, potatoes and mushrooms to the pot. She told us it would take the potatoes 10 min and everything else 5 min and that she would be back with our entrees. Oh-kaaay.
Here's our veggie pot, after we added potstickers.
She brought us plates of raw meat and instructed, "Two if by land and one and a half if by sea." Malayia looked at her incredulously and said, "You mean, we have to cook it ourselves?" She said she was thinking, "We're talking! We don't want to be timing food!" We were truly aghast. We could not believe we had gone out and paid for a nice meal and then had to cook it ourselves! And what was the point of the different seasonings on the meat if we were just going to throw it all into the same pot?!
I had PACIFIC RIM -Teriyaki-marinated sirloin, honey orange duck breast, citrus-infused pork tenderloin,and chicken potstickers. The terriyaki sirloin was good, the pork was edible if you were really hungry, the duck was gross and the pot stickers disappointing.
Becky had THE CLASSIC - Seasoned choice Angus sirloin, Memphis-style BBQ pork medallion,Pacific white shrimp (she subbed potstickers for this bc she's not a seafood fan), herb-crusted all-natural breast of chicken, and teriyaki-marinated sirloin
Malayia went with LAND AND SEA: Premium filet mignon, herb-crusted chicken, and Pacific white shrimp.
It was such a pita to time the food, get it out, realize it wasn't done, throw it back in, time it again... We tried to cook like things together: all the beef at the same time, then pork, then chicken and duck, and finally Malayia's shrimp. And all the while we had steam wafting from that pot and it smelled horrible! It smelled like a dirty person who never bathed. It made it difficult to even want to taste the food that came out of it. Lol.
The entrees were served with dipping sauces - green goddess (sour cream and herbs, was great on the potatoes), curry, terriyaki, sweet 'n sour, spicy cocktail, gorgonzola and a couple of other things I can't remember. The terriyaki sauce helped the beef. We mostly couldn't eat the entrees. Malayia liked her shrimp okay.
Finally, it was time for our chocolate! We chose Flaming Turtle, a combination of milk chocolate, caramel and candied pecans flambéed tableside. It was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! It redeemed the injustice we'd been done by having to cook our own entrees. It was served with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, Rice Krispies treats, cheesecake, brownies and pound cake. The strawberries were the best with cheesecake a close second. We each were allowed a refill of our favorite. Becky and I went with strawberries and Malayia had extra bananas.
Totally worth every calorie and gram of fat.