The Melting Pot

It was girls night out and we decided to come here and boy do I regret it! Our waitress had the worst attitude in history! Hands down! I personally have some diet/​allergy restrictions and she was so inpatient and irritated by the fact that I actually had questions regarding the menu. But that wasn’t the worst part of our night, once again, the food was super bland and had ZERO seasoning. This place isn’t cheap and the fact that I walked out this unhappy and dissatisfied, is a bummer.

My parents and I love the fondue and the brick kiln setting at Larkspur. My Dad loves the classic cheese fondues and could eat a 3 person serving size just for himself. My Mom and I love more of the chocolate and general dessert fondues. Fondue… Yum!

Let’s be clear … you’re coming here for the experience. Sitting in a dimly lit brick kiln where you get no phone service so you have to pay attention to the company you came with, the smell of warm bread, cheese and chocolates wafting through the air. It’s special. And the staff makes it even more so because from the front door they are great so the tone is set. Ambience is half the show. The other half is the food and it’s enough to finish it with a bang. Nothing flashy or over the top … I mean you’re cooking it yourself … but you’re not just creating a meal … you’re creating a memory. And it’s one you’ll remember fondly.

Amazing fondue. The best in Marin County. If you’re spending on a budget, I suggest you order a la carte. The four course meals are affordable (40 – 50) but if you’re like me, you come more for the cheese and chocolate as opposed to the meat and salad. It’s your choice; pick and choose whatever you want here.

First time here last night and it was the best experience. I didn’t know what to expect and for sure didn’t know how to fondue! lol. the waiter was really great on explaining how it all works and the cooking times for the kind of food we ordered.
the place is pretty pricey, there was 6 of us and ended up to about $ 75 a head. well… we did order shots of Hennessy too :] aha.
we were pretty full after the main course and just decided to order the chocolate fondue. yet it was taking awhile and thought about just canceling it BUT good thing we didn’t! … PLEASE leave room for this, it’s so good and topped everything off, so worth it!
I would definitely come here again, but on a special occasion. :)

You have to go here! Not really good for little kids since there is a good chance they could get burnt from the cooking methods.
Great place for date night or romantic setting~*

Love the Melting Pot! Excellent date night place. A little pricey but worth it for the taste! YUM!

Celebrated my daughter’s 14 birthday at The Melting Pot with 6 of her friends last night. It all went perfectly. They were so accommodating answering all of my questions when I made the reservation, as well as during the dinner. The kids had a booth and my friend and I were able to sit at a nearby table. Our server was very friendly and helpful with suggestions. Because the restaurant is a tunnel shape, the sound of the girls laughing didn’t seem to travel to bother the other patrons.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience.

Our waitress Kylie was wonderful!
We visited for our wedding anniversary and we’ve been coming here to celebrate our anniversaries a few times now.
Food is good, waitress is great, and fun atmosphere!
To be totally honest with you, we visited because they send me a emails about complimentary chocolate covered strawberries! It’s really free and delicious! I really recommend this place :)

This is a fun place for kids. Saw lots of people on dates in the front of the restaurant and they had the groups with kids in the back. We had reservations and all went well. It was a nice experience.

Delicious fondue (various cheeses, broths & chocolates), interesting eating in a large hollowed brick kiln, no phone reception, great with 5+ groups so you can try more than one thing. Nice as an early dinner so you can leisurely make your way through the meal. It is a meal to look forward to, probable not one that becomes habitual, maybe once or twice a year.
The atmosphere is both formal and casual, severe lighting, waiter in black vests and white button downs, booth and chair seating, eating shared fondue out of a pot with pokers and your fingers.

The ambiance was nice. Cozy bar and dining room. Then came the meal. The lesson on how long to cook each meat, etc. I couldn’t remember. I thought I’d wing it but guessed wrong and my portion fell apart in the pot. Then I forgot to time when I put in the next one.
If I’m going to pay this much for dinner, I’d rather have someone just cook it FOR me. I can ruin a perfectly good meal at home… for FREE!
Next time, maybe just dessert and drinks.

I’ve been wanting to put a review for this place since it is my favorite place to eat at. I have been taken here for pretty much all special occasions and it has not let me down once. They start you off wth a cheese fondue and give apples, bread and cheese for dipping. I usually get the lobster shrimp and steak it fills you up. Once done you get a dessert pick which I always get the smores mix. This comes with rice krispes, brownies, angel cake and man is it delicious. I will always consider this my favorite restaraunt. Just know you really don’t get any phone service inside, it’s a cute building too goes great with the meting pot name. I rate this place 5 stars.

I really enjoyed the sauces which came out with the meats, without them the entrée would have been forgettable. But the yellow curry sauce, and others were bursting with flavor.
The artichoke cheese fondue was SO good. Those two things were my favorite.
The chocolate wasn’t impressive. It was nice quality chocolate but there was something about it that was one note. I couldn’t take the other flavors. We did the pecan/​sea salt combination. Prior to ordering our dessert we specifically asked if it could be prepared without the alcohol. Our server said yes. She returned table side and within a blink of and eye I saw her throw in alcohol and light it on fire. I was annoyed. She said «it’s just for the flame effect and cooks out». Well I didn’t need the flame effect and didn’t want the alcohol. That’s my choice. So I was annoyed.
When you walk into the restaurant you’re hit with a nasty smell of old carpet. If you have a sensitive nose, you will notice it! It was gross. They need to rip that carpet out asap. It smelled.
I can see this being a fun family experience for parents with school age kids. The table next to us with young boys seemed to be having a great time as a family, enjoying the interactive dinner.
Pros:
–nice quality meats, duck, steak
–Great savory sauces
–Great cheese
Cons
–Stale bread. Who wants stale bread to Dip in an awesome sauce? Maybe the theory is it won’t crumble and withstand the heat of the sauce. However I prefer soft warm fresh bread.
–Dirty carpet. Stunk.
–Dessert plate was lack luster, almost an afterthought
I’m torn becuase they did have some great menu items but I really disliked how stinky the carpet was. It took away from feeling like I was having a nice dining experience. Oh and it was SO cold in there!
I’ll probably return in 8 years with older kids and let them have fun with the experience. As for a nice dinner with my husband I’ll likely go elsewhere.

Oh Lordy. I’ve been dying to try this place for EVER now. I can finally check it off my bucket list.
Before reading this review, just know I have never been to any fondue spot before so I had no expectations on how this should or shouldn’t be.
My husband and I went last night for an early Valentine’s Day dinner. We were terrified that the place would be packed and we arrived 45 mins before our reservation. But after looking at the parking lot and seeing that there were a bunch of empty spots, we decided to go in instead of waiting anyways.
The building is amazing. It’s a little warm inside but I’m sure it’s due to all the steam on everyone’s table from the pots. It’s very cozy. The halls are brick with lights strung up all over. It feels very classy, romantic, and intimate. (I was super glad I dressed up the way I did) To our surprise, we were greeted and seated right away & there were a bunch of tables open.
The booths are closed off so you don’t have to stare at another person eating which was just another touch of intimacy. PERFECT for Valentine’s Day!
We had a wonderful server. (I’m so sorry I forgot her name) but i swear to you she was the best. I just have a horrible memory. She was very kind and helpful. She checked on us often but not to where it was annoying. She even offered to take our picture (which came out awesome)
The FOOD. I thought I was for sure going to explode by the time I left. Looking at the meal I thought I would leave unsatisfied because of my huge appetite. I was soooo wrong. I even had to get a cup of coffee at the end because it made me so sleepy. Our server explained cooking times for each item which made it easier for us to do and by the time we were at our last course, my husband and I had a system down lol.
By the way, I see that some people made complaints about stomach aches. I’m POSITIVE that it’s just because they did not cook the food long enough. In dim lighting, I’m sure it was hard for them to tell. with certain items I made sure to keep it in the pot for an extra amount of time just in case and everything ended up being cooked perfectly.
For Valentine’s Day, of course there was a special menu. I regret to say that our bill came out to more than $ 200!!! For only two people. BUT we did order quite a few drinks. I also can never put a price tag an AWESOME service on top of top quality food. My husband and I aren’t wealthy, but we felt that EVERY dollar there we spent was well worth the experience.

I hosted an Unofficial Unilocal Event (UYE) on Ladies Night Out (LNO). For those who don’t know, LNO takes place at this location every 3^rd Wednesday of the month, and guys are totally welcome. We had three ladies, plus one guy. Service was impeccable as always. Our server Oscar did a stellar job answering all our questions. We had the LNO 4-​course experience, which I highly recommend. It includes cheese fondue, salad, entrée, and dessert.
Remember to come early around 5pm and allow yourself ample time to fully enjoy this uniquely tailored, interactive experience. In addition to the unique ambiance of this place, I love how it brings people together of all ages. I also love how they provide unlimited dippers for the cheese and dessert fondues. My favorite part of this epic experience is dessert. I always get the flaming turtle, which is flambéed tableside.
Fun tip: If you have 4+ people dining together, you can choose two flavors to dip from… something for everyone. Luckily for us, we chose Flaming Turtle and Yin & Yang ~ irresistible! For our cheese fondue, we also chose two flavors (fiesta & artichoke). I like fiesta cheese since it’s less cheesy, and reminds me of nachos when dipping with chips. We chose two cooking styles as well (Bourguignonne & Seasoned Court Bouillon). The evening was full of laughter and great conversation.
The surprise of the evening was our plate of culinary art designed by the one and only talented Crystal. Shout out to Crystal for a job well done (see pics)! Thank you for making our LNO extra special and memorable. I’m bummed I will be missing out on next month’s Mardi Gras themed LNO. Perhaps, I can make the one in March… think green for St. Patrick’s Day (wink, wink).
‘Til next time ~ SYOY!!!
P.S Congratulations Wendy, always great to see you Mark!

After a weekend skiing in Tahoe, we had a fondue craving.
When we found out this was located in an old brick kiln that provided the bricks in rebuilding a lot of SF post earthquake, I was willing to overlook the fact that this was a «generic» chain restaurant. We were able to reserve a table in the more private section of the restaurant dubbed lovers lane. On a rainy Sun evening, we embarked on our fondue adventure.
The restaurant was absolutely beautiful. You could also feel the history as you walked in and stood under brick archways. There was a nice wine cellar fully stocked.
We were led to our table. Although the table was a bit shielded from the other tables, it definitely wasn’t any more private than a normal booth. We started with some bubbly and the alpine cheese fondue, which was made with a white wine base, garlic and a blend of cheeses. Unfortunately, the cheese fondue was very mediocre. The cheese was very one dimensional. It came with a variety of bread, some cold veggies, and green apples (which felt a bit strange with cheese).
For our main entrees, we ordered filet mignon and the vegetarian platter that contained tofu, mushroom ravioli, and a mix of other veggies. This course was significantly better than the cheese fondue. We had a lot of fun cooking all the food in the broth. This was very similar to a chinese hot pot experience. We were too full and had to skip on dessert.
Overall, fun experience but would skip on the cheese fondue course.

Usually come here once a year. It’s really all about the chocolate fondue, which is awesome, as they have a variety of cool fruits, brownies and marshmallow-​type stuff to dip. The dinners are fun, complete with many cool dipping sauces, though they are a bit pricey and it’s kind of a pain in the butt when you lose your food trying to get it around other forks in the pot.
As for the cheese fondue… what do you say about melted cheese – it’s awesome. Though I usually skip it in favor of the chocolate. Takes a brave stomach to indulge all three fondues in one sitting.

If there are any Glee fans out there, they will understand my reference to how during this whole dinner I was singing in my head, «Fondue for twooooo! Fondue for twoooo! That’s some hot dish YEAH! fondue for twoOoOoOo!!!»
My girlfriend surprised me to dinner here and made reservations for us at 5:30, a little after they opened at 5. It was a couple days before christmas, so people were filing in shortly after us and the place was quickly packed! The restaurant is very dim, but quite beautiful. We were seated in our cozy booth, adorned with christmas lights strung between the small hallway. Our waiter Brage was great! He checked on us, was upbeat, friendly, and told us a little about the restaurant. For each fondue, the waiters come to your table with the ingredients (various cheese, wine, bacon, or whatever else that goes into the fondue you choose) and then start preparing it in front of you by throwing it in the pot, stirring it, and explaining to you all the things they put in.
We started off our meal with the Bacon Gorgonzola cheese fondue. My favorite part about this fondue was that it had a white wine base that really brought all the flavors in this together and you could really taste the difference the wine made. For our main course, we had the memphis bbq pork and filet mignon. Once you choose the meat you would like, you then choose a «cooking style» which is basically the flavor of the broth you will be cooking your meats in. We had originally wanted to try the mojo style because many reviews suggested it, but we decided to leave it up to our waiter on what would be best with the meats we choose. He suggested we choose to cook our food coq au vin style and there were no regrets, it was delicious! I almost wished I had a spoon to drink some of that broth. It had a little spice to it which I really liked. I would really recommend the filet mignon, it was sooo tender! They give you various sauces to eat your meat with and I think the sauces really made the meal. Favorites were the green goddess and some other sweet plum one. Onto dessert, we ordered the chocolate cookies and cream dream. Desert comes with a plate of strawberries, rice krispies, pound cake, graham cracker crusted marshmallows, bananas, pineapples, brownies and blondies. They also have an option to «enhance your dipper» which basically means they give you a plate of raspberries/​blackberries, cream puffs, pirouettes, and cheesecake to also dip. We really really regret doing the extra plate of goodies because the normal plate of stuff was so much better and was already a lottttt. We were struggling to finish it all, but it was all so good!
TIPS:
–make a reservation when they open at 5, it’ll be less crowded
–don’t order the extra «enhance your dipper» plate for dessert! Unless you have a bigger party who can finish it all, because it’s too much for just two people
–they can refill whatever you need to dip, as long as you ask (extra bread, extra pound cake, etc)
–no service inside! The walls are so thick, you’ll need to step into the bathroom to maybe get a signal, but stepping outside would be best if you really needed to
–come hungry! it’s a lot of food to consume
–give yourself lots of time! At the end of our meal we were surprised we were there for a little over 2 hours. We’re usually fast eaters, but the process of dipping and all of that just makes eating go slower.

Fondue originated in Switzerland because the Swiss needed to get rid of leftover stale bread and cheese. Leave it to the Americans to turn it into a high-​class dining experience.
My friend and I came on a Sunday and got put into the super intimate corner with high booths and hushed conversation (I believe it’s called Lover’s Lane)? We sat as far away from each other as possible, which wasn’t very far. Our waiter took a while to arrive, and we’d already determined our strategy for approaching the menu by that time. We ordered the Pear Brie and tried three different meats for the entrée: ahi tuna, filet mignon, and BBQ pork medallions. That’s only $ 20, by the way. I mistakenly thought the entrees were also charged per-​person.
You honestly can’t hate fondue if you love cheese as much as I do. Our waiter made a big show of sprinkling in various cheeses, the wine base, and the pears, but at the end of the day it’s all cheese to me. It tasted delicious on the apple dippers; I couldn’t really taste the pear.
We cooked our meat in the complimentary bouillon soup. The filet mignon was tasteless, and I think the ahi tuna might have been just as good raw. But the BBQ pork was a great choice; it was tender and so flavorful! Make sure to get that. It’s a seasonal item, so I don’t know how long it’ll be there. The sauces were also fantastic. My friend wanted to taste the soup, so the waiter was nice enough to pour him a bowl. He took a tiny sip and said it was too salty.
We also got the bananas foster fondue, which is so good! You get a pretty wide arrangement of dippers, and it was particularly delicious on the rice krispies and strawberries. Bonus is that you get the bananas they give you as dippers AND the bananas already in the fondue pot! Score! Also, the waiter set it on fire and made little sparks by sprinkling on cinnamon. A fire show during dinner is a great way to get customers.
I compared this place to Simply Fondue in Livermore, and I just don’t think it warrants the price. My bill was $ 60, which wasn’t too bad, but still kind of ridiculous for melted foods. At Simply Fondue, the portions were a lot bigger. I was full after the cheese, and the prices are about the same. Still, the ambience is 50% of the meal. It’s dark, cool, and romantic here, so it’s a failproof place to court your S.O.