The Melting Pot

What a filling deal! Happy hour prices for drinks and cheese and chocolate fondue! The gluten free fondue set-​up was very good (I think the gluten free cheese fondue is much better than the regular) and the staff was very accommodating. When they brought us the wrong cheese, it was immediately taken care of. And what beats chocolate covered marshmallows??? Not much, except a check-​in deal for a freebie premium dipper plate! … Im stuffed

The Melting Pot.
Mike was our waiter.
Mike’s a total hottie.
Mike’s smart, too.
He like took our entire order without writing any of it down. It was hot.
Wisconsin cheese, Caesar salad, Lobster and assorted meat cuts, Borduex cooking pot, dark chocolate with sea salt and caramel. I ate a lot. It was really good. I ate TOO much.
Here’s the thing. Why am I paying so much to cook my own food? It’s a cute concept with delightfully, delicious results. But still. I am, after all, cooking my own food. AND I am paying top dollar to do it.
The service was perfection. Mike forgot my second glass of wine but comped it and ran it to my table as soon as he realized his transgression. That guy. The atmosphere was bustling busy. There were laughs, conversations, and a general comfortable vibe on our visit. I really enjoyed my evening.
And Mike.
Whatever.

Let’s get something out of the way: yes, this place is expensive/​pricey/​upscale so be prepared to bring a C note or two if you come here for a full dinner with drinks and dessert. Keep in mind that you’re not just paying for food, you’re paying for a culinary experience that you’re not likely to encounter anywhere else in Albuquerque. On top of that, you’re also paying for the amount of time you spend here. A typical dinner is about 1−2hrs where Melting Pot will take roughly 2 – 3 hours. Like I said, you’re paying for a dining experience, not just dinner.
That all said, holy cow! This place is the marriage of comfort food, decadence, and choices galore (if you want to pay extra that is). You would think that a plate of shared, bite-​sized morsels wouldn’t be enough to fill the bellies of several grown adults, but that would be a terribly incorrect assumption. It’s amazing how quickly you get full, especially if you’re having drinks.
I would definitely recommend checking out the seasonal drinks and happy hour (M-​F 4−6pm it’s more bang for your buck). This is definitely the type of place for a special (typically romantic) occasion.

The Melting Pot… melted cheese over bread yes please! It’s a fun night out for anyone. I will say up front that as far as chain restaurants go, The Melting Pot is right up there as one of my favorites. I am partial to happy hour in the bar with a few drinks and a pot of cheese or chocolate. Happy hour is from 4 – 6 Monday through Friday. There are drink specials Monday through Thursday and on Friday you can get pots of cheese or chocolate for $ 5 a person which is pretty darn good. Though beware, the Friday bar fills up quickly.
I generally do not eat in the restaurant, and twice have asked to be moved from the main dining to the bar. This place is stuffy and hot. They really cram people in and it’s noisy. If I’m going to spend 70 $ on a dinner for one without drinks… I want to be physically comfortable. The Melting Pot does offer a cozy seating option for parties of 2 but you must make a reservation to eat there and I’ve never been seated in that area of the restaurant. Really the physical discomfort of this place is why I won’t eat a dinner there anymore. It’s like eating in a hot dark cave. I’ll take the windows in the bar and some cooler air even if that means smaller tables. The main dinner portions are good, meats and seafood that you swirl around in broth or fat. The cheese and chocolate are the highlights of the meal so I never miss the main course or salad option.
Super fun happy hour or date night at the Melting Pot if you’re in to the fondue experience. This would end up on an expensive dining option for me so it’s a special occasion place when girlfriends visit from out of town. I’ll return of course, but it’s not a place where I’d expect to be a regular.

Logan’s dessert presentation took the experience from a meal to a show in mere seconds! I’ve never experienced such a romantic chocolate as the table side flambé.

Not worth the money, and the wait staff was poorly trained. Took like 25 minutes for my wine to show up after I ordered it. $ 130 for two. We will not be back. The best part was the chocolate dessert fondue. Do yourself a favor and skip dinner and just go to the bar for drinks and maybe some dessert fondue.

Awesome service was great the manager was the best. The cheeses were a great hit with the family. The pork, duck were our fav Had wife two kids with me was great experience

Melting pot is the perfect place to go to for a special occasion. Especially, if you are with good company. We always come hungry and plan on spending 2 – 3 hours fondueing and engaging in great conversations. I recently attended a Unilocal event here. It is one of the few Unilocal events I have attended where I’ve had prior experiences with the company. Sometimes I feel that the business is going beyond their normal service to drive more business. In this case we got the same royal treatment as we get every time we come in. I love the service and atmosphere the Melting Pot provides and look forward to then next time I’m in the mood for fondue.

I had such a BLAST at the Unilocal party! So many new people and so many different conversations. The food was AMAZING and the desert was so so so good! Chocolate everything please! If you are looking for a place to take someone to have a good long conversation and great food then this is the place for you. The seating is open but still slightly private. It is darker with a bit of a romantic touch. They have a full bar and an awesome staff! I can’t wait to go back again!
Parking is not an issue and the restrooms are kept top notch.
Must try!!!

YUMMY! This place is delicious, and fun. I was wavering between 4 and 5 stars. The food is excellent, the atmosphere is nice, and it’s a lot of fun to «cook» your own food. I imagine for people who date this would be a great place to go.
The price is high. I guess you are paying for the experience, which is a good one, but I can’t afford to frequent this place.
I ordered a cucumber mule as my adult beverage, and it was AMAZING. I was disappointed in the presentation, however. I’m a beer drinker so I could be wrong, but I thought that drinks called mules were supposed to be served in that pretty little copper cup with a handle. Mine was served in a hi-​ball glass with a lime. For the kind of money you will spend here, I think your drinks should be served in the appropriate glass. It’s like paying $ 10 for a fruity cocktail by a pool and not getting an umbrella. I want the umbrella!
Overall, it was a good experience. I’ll definitely be returning just as soon as I can find a date to foot the tab. (Not a gold-​digger, promise!)

Last night The Melting Pot hosted an Elite event for Unilocal!,we went and good times were had. Looking at the reviews I was shocked to see I had not yet reviewed them. A little backstory, years ago my brother kept trying to get us to form a group and go, I was like ‘fondue’, that’s a 70’s thing right? We finally went and it was a really great experience a rare treat, brace yourself it’s not cheap, it’s a place to go to celebrate life, friends, love expect to spend a couple of hours doing so. You don’t go here for the traditional wait service, you prepare your own food from a carefully selected array of fondue combos.
Since that time I have been to The Melting Pot in Old Town (now moved to Uptown), the location in St. Petersberg FL. and the new location in Uptown. I have never had a bad experience, in fact, I’ve always had a stellar experience. If you’re new to this dining concept find a friend who has been it will ease your culinary cultural expedition. For new comers my advise is «PACE YOURSELF», enjoy but don’t gorge early on because more is on the way. Just because you’ve been once doesn’t mean you’ve seen it all, the menu continually changes (for each season lets say) and there are several fondue combos for each one. I always recommend a table with two burners splitting two different fondue choices with friends. It allows a great variety. I suppose one of my greatest discoveries, apples and cheese go good together :)
With all the good comes the bad or could be better, there’s no way the «bad» could drag my review away from 5 stars. But here’s my observations:
*) Meat items especially poultry and seafood items need to be cooked for a certain time. Having smart phones around helps but it’s still gets screwed up as everyone is busy having a good time and forgets to time or overcooks an item. My suggestion, it would be really cool if there was a timer on each cooking skewer.
*) Given seating I have no idea how to do this beside musical chairs or a rotating table, it would be nice if the fondue dishes could be more easily accessed from your sitting position. My wife suggests choosing a round table. I don’t know, maybe that’s part of the charm, passing items back and forth and the fun that ensues as cheese is stringy and what not :)
All In all I love The Melting Pot and will absolutely return when the occasion arises. If you’re looking for a special place for a bite give them a try. Thank you Melting Pot and staff you all are great.

Arrived around 6:30pm, place was completely empty, no reservation; one hostess told us we would be seated in one minute, after a few minutes, the other hostess told us that they were booked and that we would have to wait over an hour for a table. Needless to say, we left. Moral of the story, terrible customer service. Not likely to ever return.

Went to the Uptown location last night for our anniversary. Joseph, our server, was outstanding and very attentive, definitely the best we have had in a while. The dining experience and food was great and what we expected.
My problem with the evening is this: The Melting Pot has always been one of our favorite places for an intimate dinner on special occasions. Recently though, there seems to have been a shift in clientele, all of our most recent visits have been ruined by families with unruly young children and/​or tables of rambunctious unaccompanied teenagers. This is not unique to the Albuquerque location, we just relocated from Colorado and had similar experiences in both locations in the Denver metro area. It is getting hard to justify spending $ 100+ for a special night out for two in what has become a McDonald’s style atmosphere. Bottom line, management really needs to look at where and when they seat families and consider establishing a cutoff time to allow adults only dining if they want our continued business.

Two pence, four pence, six pence a Peso… all for The Melting Pot stand up and say so!!!
This is one of my favorite «date» night or special occasion restaurants in town. The food is good, the atmosphere is quiet, and you do not get bombarded by the wait staff! Sure it takes up to two + hours for the meal… but really it is a date night and time with your loved one. We have never walked away hungry after the meal. Pricey… Yes! Good quality food… Yes! Quick… No! Quality time with your loved one… PRICELESS!

This was my first time here and I only came here for happy hour so I am not commenting on the food. The menu looked very promising with lots of interesting drinks for $ 5. I think everyone in the party tried a different one so I got to sample quite a few of the drinks off the menu.
The moscow mule’s here are not good. First of all they don’t even come in the glass that they are usually served in and secondly it tasted nothing like a moscow mule. The hawaiian martini and blueberry lemon martini were good however they didn’t even come in a martini glass, they came served in a margarita glass.
We did try some of the fondue and although it was tasty, I wasn’t really impressed. Not sure if I would want to come here and drop $ 100 for a meal. I will likely come back for happy hour and next time I will know what to order.
One plus is that 100.3 was at happy hour and doing a drawing for concert tickets. A couple of people in my party got lucky and won tickets.

I can’t complain.
It was good, excellent staff, my only caveat is that it’s a long meal. We didn’t know what we were walking into, only that our friends said it was nice. We were there very late. Kind of felt like a lot of waiting… but not on service, and by the time we were done we didn’t feel very satisfied. But it was fun and different and don’t regret. But we probably wouldn’t go again.

Best dessert ever! Fondue is so underrated as a dessert, this place really satisfied my sweet tooth craving. I split the chocolate toffee crunch dessert and it was delicious, there was nothing left. There was a perfect mix of fruit and sweets to dip in the chocolate, amazing ! I ordered two drinks and both were very good, but my second drink took almost 45 minutes till it got to me. Thankfully I was busy catching up, but it was ridiculous especially since it was not very busy. Same thing happened to my friend took about 20 minutes till his drink came out and it was actually just sitting there not getting delivered but we didn’t know it was his drink till they grabbed it and brought it over. And the restrooms were very clean which is always a plus !

Here is my problem, I LOVE the Melting Pot food. I really think Fondue is a fun night out and a special way to celebrate but all my great experiences at this restaurant have been kind of overshadowed by a most epic experience on New Years Eve.
I’ve been here probably 3 or 4 times to this location over the past few years. Once for a full 3 course fondue, once for just cheese and chocolate, and most recently a full 4 course for New Years Eve.
The first time we came, it was on a random day during the week to celebrate our anniversary, we had a nice little card waiting on our table congratulating us on our anniversary and the restaurant wasn’t swamped. The Cheddar fondue was deliciously decadent made tableside. There are certain meats I don’t like so they were able to adjust the selection on my main course which I appreciated. We chose the Mojo cooking liquid which, having had it a few times now, is the best one I think!
Our waitress that night suggested the Flaming Turtle fondue (caramel/​chocolate w/​candied pecans) with one modifier, a bit of sea salt on the side which made it so so delicious. I actually dream of this chocolate/​caramel fondue.
We had a similarly good experience the time we came just for cheese, salad, and chocolate!
Fast forward to NYE 2014. We made late reservations for 5 (2 couples and a child) and we arrived at the restaurant a few minutes early. We were told they would be just a few minutes getting our table ready so we headed into the bar for some cocktails. 45 minutes later we were seated in what I can only describe as a sauna. We were peeling off sweaters and putting up our hair it was so hot and humid in there (where is the temperature control??)
The restaurant was severely overbooked and the waitstaff and bussers appeared to be incredibly frazzled like they were having the worst night of their lives. Managers were running around trying to keep everyone happy. It took us so long to get a drink order at the table that the guys went to the bar to buy something and bring it back. We ordered as soon as we were able but what is usually a 1.5−2hr dinner was over 3 hours long and we ended up celebrating the new year at midnight, sweating in our booth, waiting for our dessert to finally arrive. When it did, we were too tired and hot to eat most of it. They did comp us some on our bill, but I’m sad that one of my favorite dining experiences is kinda of tainted now by this night.
Bottom line, don’t go here on any holiday. Celebrate your random days (birthdays/​anniversaries) when the entire city of Albuquerque isn’t booked to eat here in one evening.

Worst customer service. Paid 104.00 for two. Just wanting to enjoy my lunch. And waiter assumed I was pregnant. Even wrote on my check good luck with the baby. I weigh 114 lbs I was so insulted it made me not want to eat but I didn’t want to ruin it for my friend. I will never be back unless I get an apology. What a waste of money that was not the experience I wanted. And will worn my clients now that vday is coming up they may insult there date when their there.

This place is so over rated, but I understand why. It’s the only place like it in town. That being said, beware…
Reservations are pointless. You will wait to be seated for excessive amounts of time, even if it doesn’t look to be busy.
Your server will be aloof and uninterested in helping you. They must make a decent salary, because I can’t imagine the tips are good.
Portions are tiny, and you cook your own food. No lie. It won’t be fresh, it will be bland, and it is SO overpriced. My hubby left hungry, even though he ended up eating what was supposed to be mine because I didn’t like it. The cheese fondue was gritty and had a bad after taste… and we still spent over $ 100 for the two of us, without booze.
I suppose this could be a good date spot based on the atmosphere… but honestly, make your own fondue at home, turn the lights down, and play some baby makin’ jams. You’ll save $ and have a better time.