The Melting Pot

No, not the good ole US of A, but rather the restaraunt. John and I went there Saturday night with our friends Brian and Ann. Ann and I had been talking about trying something new for awhile and finally got our schedules to coordinate. Now, as we're both married to men who like their brontusourus steaks delivered with a huge side of mashed potatoes, we kept the cook your own food in a boiling pot of broth thing a secret until we sat down at our table. At which time things began to fall apart.

Clearly John and Bri were none too happy with the thought of having to cook their food in a fondue pot. They became downright testy while trying to decipher the menu. Which, I have to say, is a pain in the ass. We're not slow people, but it did take two servers to expain it to us to a point where we were somewhat sure of what we were ordering.

Basically, you order an appetizer which is some form of cheese fondue and it is served with bread pieces, apples and veggies. Then you have a salad (which you eat with a normal fork and not the long skewer thingy you stick in the fondue pot), then comes your main course of numerous types of cut up meats, fishes, and pastas. This is served with many different dipping sauces. Finally, dessert is a fondue of chocolate with fruit, brownie and cheesecake dippers.

We started our entree and soon discovered that we'd be at The Melting Pot all night if we didn't make some adjustments to our cooking process. Sticking one piece of filet mignon on a skewer into the fondue was not going to feed us anytime soon. Brian and John were getting a bit ansy, so we soon were dumping in large portions of beef, poek, chicken and shrimp to cook together while we ate a couple of raviolis. Once we got the hang of it, it was fun and very interactive with lots of passing of sauces and sticking fondue forks into each other's pots.

Dessert was a big hit with Brian, as he quite enjoyed the chocolate fondue. However, things spiraled downhill rather quickly when our server, Heather, popped over to check on us. Heather sat down at our table and launched into a 3 minute hard sell about donating to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. While we were eating. Now, we are all in agreement that St. Jude's is an outstanding organization that does truly wonderful work. But to have a server ask for a $50 donation during our night out was entirely inappropriate. I understand that she was instructed by her supervisors to do this, who in turn were instructed by the owners of the restaurant (which is a large chain, BTW), but we were appalled by the request. I wouldn't have any problem with a card attached to our bill which mentioned they collect for St. Judes, but this was ridiculous. Especially considering that our dinner bill was 300 dollars! How about taking a percentage of our bill and donating it yourself, Melting Pot? I mean, WTF?

Lucky for me, a comment card was left on our table. I was able to enter my comments on line. I gave our server high marks as she was very attentive and the food recieved high marks as well. But I made it absolutely clear that the request for donations was uncouth, inappropriate and in very poor taste. I also said that we would not be returning to their establishment and that they should seriously reconsider the way they request donations. All we wanted was a fun night out so we could forget about all the ills in this world and to be accosted in such a way left a bad taste in out mouths.

And just for the record, John and I have certain charities that we hold very dear and we give to quite generously. The same for Brian and Ann. Had The Melting Pot put a box, jar, container of some sort in their reception area, all of us would have been happy to slip a few bucks in. Instead, they get nothing.