The Melting Pot

Haha I know this is LATE, but THANK GOD this place finally closed down! I’ve had the worst experience in this restaurant.
Food was way overpriced, for their little pieces of bread, vegetables and fruits that everyone can make at home.
There was absolutely no service from what I remember. We’d made an appointment for a party of 6, at 7pm and was never seated. By the time they called us at 9pm, we already went and were just seated at another restaurant.
So the manager offered to pay for our drinks, gave us discounts and extra cheese, eventually my friends and I were lured back to the melting pot. HUGE MISTAKE!
I’m really happy they closed. It was a waste of good space for such a poorly executed restaurant.

Arrived at the restaurant at 9PM and were seated by 903 (I know this because I had just called a friend to see if she had arrived, so I checked the call log). By 915, we had yet to see our server & had to flag down the bus boy to ask where our server might be. Our server finally arrived at 917, full of apologies as she had forgotten our table but promised she would make it up to us.
The «making it up to us» involved adding a little additional cheese in our fondue at no extra charge, but then continuing to make herself scarce throughout the rest of our meal! The food was good, but the service completely ruined the experience. Would like to return, but am hesitant to be ignored again.

This place is over priced and the food is not that good. they charge you by how many people are in your party, not by what you order. It is overrated and it looks like a cave inside. I went with a group of people and some other people just came, to stop by and say «hi». they didn’t eat anything but they were still charged. it took forever to get our check and so eventually we had to go up and pay because they forgot about us. Needless to say I will not be coming back.

After a heavy brunch, we were looking for something light and new to try for dinner. Therefore, we decided to try cheese fondue at The Melting Pot. Firstly, we were truly disappointed at their service. We waited for awhile to be seated while the restaurant was half empty. And it took awhile for the server to come to our table and introduce the menu to us, not to mention that it took forever to find our server throughout the whole dinner. Also, she did not clearly explain the menu, misunderstood our questions and treated us in a rude manner.
As I mentioned, we were not very hungry. So we did not consider ordering any entrée, especially when each entrée was almost $ 30+ for each person, excluding the cheese fondue which was $ 11 per person. Therefore, we simply ordered the spinach artichoke cheese fondue. We were going to order the traditional swiss cheese fondue but the server said it is very heavy and then recommended the spinach artichoke cheese fondue. We decided to take her recommendation.
We assumed that entrees were real, cooked main course dishes as the server did not explain what an entrée really is. It was not until we saw the next table then we realized that that entrees were actually uncooked seafood and meat which you would dip into the cheese and then cook it in there. If the server clearly explained them, we would have definitely tried them.
The server brought cheese, spinach, artichoke, tabasco and other ingredients to our table along with bread, tortilla chips, uncooked vegetables and granny smith apples for us to dip into the fondue. She prepared the cheese fondue by put all the ingredients into the pot until the cheese melted and all the ingredients were well-​mixed.
The cheese fondue was actually very tasty. I am glad we took our server’s advice and went with the rather light spinach artichoke cheese fondue. The spinach and artichoke added a new dimension to the fondue so it was not only cheese, cheese and cheese. It made it a lot tastier and less heavy. Half way into the fondue, the cheese became a lot thicker so we added water into the fondue. We think that the water actually helped to make it easier for us to dip the bread into the cheese and made it more yummy since the inside of the bread was able to absorb more cheese. It is also a bonus at The Melting Pot that you can refill your bread, chips etc. as long as there is cheese in your pot. We refilled like 2 times since there were 4 of us, but each time the portion became smaller and smaller.
One of the reason why we did not order any entrees was because we always wanted to try their chocolate fondue. We went for the pure dark chocolate fondue because after eating a few fondue in Montréal, we realized that the bitterness of dark chocolate actually helps to bring out the sweetness of the fruits you dip into the fondue. It is also less overwhelming.
Our chocolate fondue came with strawberries, pineapples, bananas, two different special marshmallows, cheesecakes and brownies. Although it sounded like a lot, it was not the case. The plate above was for two people; the portion was too small for two people and not worth the value of what you paid for. Overall, I don’t think there was anything special about this chocolate fondue. It was very basic. If you have a few people, I would recommend you to do this at home. You will get even more fun than this.
Since we were really happy with the refill feature, we clearly asked the server is it the same where we can refill our fruits and stuff as long as there is still chocolate in the pot before ordering and she clearly said yes too! After spending 15 minutes looking for her and ask her for refills, she said no refills and each bowl of strawberry is $ 3. We were in shocked because we clearly asked and she clearly said yes. When we confronted her, she said she had never said that and she has worked here for 7 months and would not mislead us in a very rude manner. She even said we have already eaten a 12 people portion of bread (but we refilled for two times only and the portion was really really small). We were really disappointed with the way she treated us.
conclusion:
not roasted.
I would say that if you have never tried cheese fondue, this is a good place to try it for once only. But I found it rather expensive for the small portion and for the services I got. For chocolate fondue, don’t even think of this place. I think a lot of desserts restaurants do better than this.

I would give this zero stars, except that’s not an option.
Made reservations online for dinner on Friday March 15. Drove 45 minutes from downtown Toronto, only to find a sign on the door that says «Closed for inventory count».
Are you kidding me?! It’s a Friday night, they were taking reservations and it’s not even month/​year-​end — and they’re going to close the restaurant and not notify customers on the website or stop taking reservations? I don’t really believe that they were closed for inventory on a Friday night — that’s just bad business practice especially not telling customers who made reservations… is this restaurant still open or has it gone out of business?
Goes to show the kind of service you can expect, based on management’s example, if you were to ever eat here
No thanks — I won’t be trying again — I’ll have better luck driving to Buffalo which is the next closest one.
Lesson learned — no more trecking to the ‘burbs for a meal.

me and my other 13 friends went this weekend, it is the worse restaurant we ever had! none of us was happy with our food and service!!!
I had to ask 3 times for my water.
sits are pretty tide!
charge $ 2 for hot water with one slice of lemon!!! (for such a pricey restaurant… is it an organic lemon??? or what!!)
$ 5 for hot tea…
anyone who says this restaurant is good must never tried the real food!!!
will never recommend this place! and will never be back!!!

Monday night my girlfriend and I tried The Melting Pot for the first time. Our server was Dustin and server assistant Mike. They were great at explaining the menu and provided excellent service. We started off with a bottle of Chardonnay I believe, which did not matter to me but my girlfriend found it excellent. When we first looked at the menu I was a little skeptical thinking about having dinner at a fondue place. When I think Melting Pot I instantly think Cheese Fondue or Chocolate Fondue. Not a four course meal. That is exactly what we ordered that night.
We started off with The Traditional Swiss Cheese Fondue which included Gruyère and Emmenthaler Swiss cheeses together with white wine, garlic, nutmeg, lemon and Kirschwasser and some Brandy. There were sides of apple slices, nacho chips, bread, carrots and broccoli. We felt that the brandy made the taste of the cheese overwhelming. I pretty much ended up eating the whole pot of cheese to myself. Oh well, being the guy in the relationship, I expect it and am used to it. :P
Next up were our salads. I got the Spinach Mushroom Salad which contained Fresh spinach, baby Portobello mushrooms, red onion, chopped bacon and Roma tomatoes with a warm Burgundy Shallot Vinaigrette. She got the California Salad which included Mixed baby greens, Roma tomatoes, candied pecans and rich Gorgonzola cheese with Raspberry Black Walnut Vinaigrette. I found the salads pretty good but at this point I started to get full. Don’t get me wrong, the salad was very light but I think the Cheese Fondue was hitting me.
Third course was the entrée. It was a plate with Sesame-​crusted sushi-​grade ahi tuna, succulent white shrimp, seasoned choice angus sirloin, herb-​crusted all-​natural chicken breast and teriyaki-​marinated sirloin. Our entrée cooking style was the Coq au Vin which is Burgundy wine infused with fresh herbs, spices and mushrooms. I was full but once I saw the food I got a bit excited and began to cook again. My second wind came and I was eating again I tried out the meats with our sauces. There was Curry, Gorgonzola port, Green Goddess, Ginger Plum, and Teriyaki Glaze. Each meat went well with different sauces, its all a matter of trying them out, each person has their own taste buds. So many different mixtures.
Finally Fourth course was the Dessert. We got the Flaming Turtle which was We consider it Fondue Candy. It’s an irresistible combination of milk chocolate, caramel and candied pecans flambéed tableside. There are no words to explain how delicious this dish was. This is what gave this review a rating of 5 stars.
It was a bit pricey but I would definitely wanna come back. I would go back to try the Fiesta Cheese Fondue, and maybe consider trying a new dessert but I doubt anything will beat the Flaming Turtle. This is a great place and I recommend it.

Love to fondue? You must come to the Melting Pot! Be warned, EVERYTHING is fondued (is that a verb?) … well except the salads. The whole idea of fondue, other than melting things, is sharing, and this is a wonderful way to bring friends and families together. The first time I came here we were a group of 8 (including 2 young children) and we had to be seated in 2 adjacent booths. Because every table must have one burner it makes it a little difficult to accommodate large parties. Also, due to people’s preferences, or desire for variety, it is best to have 2 different burners.
The food then remains standard; it all depends on your choices of cheese, broth for the seafood and meat, and chocolate. You will be given MANY food options to dip and cook. Remember you cook everything! We all had a great time including the children.
Since then I have been back with others to enjoy just drinks and cheese fondue, or sometimes just for dessert, or again for a full meal. Either way I have been FUNdued every time!

Even though the experience was a delight, I don’t think I will be coming back here.
Overall, I did not feel it was worth it to pay the price of $ ⁸⁶⁄₂ people for something I can make at home. The cheese fondue was nice, but accompanied with chopped up apples and bread. it should not cost so much.
The meat platter with your choice of cooking style was a disappointment. I do not see the point of dipping already marinated meat into a broth that would just wash away the flavor. The meat ended up kind of bland and very rough (as you would expect from boiled meat).
My favorite part of the meal is the dessert — we ordered the flaming turtle fondue, and it was delicious! However, I’d like to point out again. not worth it for the price. I’d prefer spending this money on a nice steak house.

Amazing food service ambiance and wine selection i will def. 100% come back !

Never a big fan of Fondue but The Melting Pot is a nice surprise. It was clean and staff was friendly. We ordered the Spinach Artichoke Cheese fondue and the chocolate smores fondue. The Cheese fondue was pretty good with the nachos, bread, carrots, veggies and green apple. The dessert was kind of sweet even for my standard and I love sugar. But I did manage to finish it all. The chocolate fondue came with strawberries (best part), pineapples, 2 graham crackers (which was kind of stale), 2 brownies pieces, 2 pound cake, bananas, 2 type of different type of covered marshmallow (my least favour) and 1 decent size cheesecake. They have a special on Tuesday for half the price so I will def return on Tuesday to try another flavor next time. It was a fun and interesting experience.

got spinach and cheese fondue and the chocolate smores fondue at 9 dollars each for the tuesday promo. the cheese fondue was oober awesome and definitely would return. though sadly we ran out of cheese before the toppings which was surprising. chocolate fondue nth special for me, but a nice dessert. would like to try their other stuff, but at their original prices, kinda hefty. I’m glad to see a fondue shop in town though.
update: looks like the tuesday promo special no longer available. :(

This is a must-​try place for cheese fanatics! I was so happy that there was a new cheese fondue place in town, and finally this US chain has hit the GTA! If you love cheese, there’s no reason not to go here — it’s the perfect place to indulge in cheesy goodness, a unique experience with friendly and attentive service, and good classy atmosphere to hang out with friends.
I ordered 2 cheese fondue pots amongst my group of 5. I chose the Winsconsin Trio Cheese Fondue, however, it had a VERY strong alcohol taste to it. It was still good but not my personal preference as it overpowered the taste of cheese (good if you like your liquor though!). As suggested by our server, the Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue was the way to go, even if you don’t like veggies! I highly recommend this one!
Overall, the experience is very interesting (they make the cheese fondue in front of you from scratch, let it heat & mix, which was cool) and it’s a good snack place if you’re with a group of friends and want to share a bite. I didn’t try any of their entrees and seeing as they specialize in fondues — I’d stick to that.

I came here twice, each time with a different group of friends. The setting is nice and dressy. The restaurant is freezing cold, they crank up their air conditioning probably because each table has 1 – 2 stoves in front of them. So even if it’s humid outside I suggest you to bring a light zip up jacket
During my first visit I went went with 5 other friends. All six of us ordered the 4 course meal. We had a friendly waiter that tried really hard to learn everyone names. As for the food. The cheese fondue was delicious it came with bread, nachos, apples, and vegetables to dip with. The salad, main course and chocolate fondue that came following were okay. It’s wasn’t exceptional good. It’s not worth what you pay for. Not including tips it was $ 50/​person including tax. Although it was a 4 course meal what they give you isn’t worth what you are paying for. For example for the cheese fondue it’s just a small cup of vegetables, apples, and nachos with a ton of bread to soak up all the cheese. Although this course was good I wouldn’t say it’s worth it.
The second time i came with 8 other people. They charged a mandatory 18% gratuity on our bill which i thought was ridiculous. I understand they charge 15% for larger parties… but 18% is a bit much. So with tax its a extra 31% charge on your meal. And because there was a mandatory gratuity the waiter really didn’t care about his service. He gave us attitude. I had to ask him for water 3 times before he remembered to refill our cups with water. I asked for a refill since the cheese fondue, then finally at the end of my 3^rd course (the main course) he finally brought out a jug of water. Since there were 9 of us we were at two different tables. The other table didn’t get their main course till literately 30−40minutes after we got ours. It took our waiter another 30 minute to give us our bill. So we just put down the exact change so we could leave right away. We were there from 6pm till just past 10pm. So it was a LONG LONG dinner.
Since we know that the 4 course meal was expensive amongst the 4 at one table we shared ONE cheese fondue order and we each ordered a main course that came with the salad. Yet the bill came out to be $ 44 including tips and tax. Which I thought was ridiculously expensive.
Be prepared for it to be minimum 3 hour meal. Its a huge waste of time and money. Unless if you need to kill time do NOT come hear. After my second visit I have decided I’ll never return here again.

Awkward service, and weird restaurant layout.
The restaurant is like a maze. Not that it affected me, however I noticed a couple of customers get assisted back to their seats. The placing of the «burner» was a discomfort as well because you had to stand up to get to the last bit of the fondue.
Service was just awkward. I was reminded three times about the more expensive menu (up-​selling much?). And being visited every 2 minutes to be asked how we’re doing is annoying as well, especially when your mouth is full of food.
Im not too surprised by the service as it is a chain restaurant, and not anywhere near to being a fine dining establishment.
Food was alright, the fondue was quite bland. If their stock would be more seasoned, then it would have been quite good. Condiments were lacking in quality as well.
The chocolate fondue was better and more enjoyable than the savoury version.
Then again, you cant really mess that one up.
I wouldn’t recommend this place for any event. Quite pricy as well for what your getting. I found it amusing as well how they try to get you to tip 15% of the bill when paying with visa. Even you click «Enter another %», it still pops up as 15%.
The owners must be quite greedy with their customers.
if you want fondue, spend the money and buy your own ingredients and have your own little fondue dinner. It will be much more enjoyable.

Actually a 3.5 (when Unilocal gonna let us give ½ star, coz I kinda have a lot in that range).
In general, very interesting experience but get prepared for a 5 hour dinner.
We ordered two «The big night out» dinners, (5 people), which comes with 4 course (Cheese Fondue, salad, entrée and Chocolate Fondue) as well as the 5 hour dining experience as I mentioned.
For cheese Fondue, we ordered the «Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue» and «Fiesta Cheese Fondue», the later had a spicy flavor, very tasty, especially dipping chips in.
Salad served at the same time. Nice Salad.
After a LONG wait, too long that I even started to wonder the cheese fondue was everything we ordered, the entrees came.
I believe it had a couple pieces of each kind of meat. Chicken and beef were marinated with some kind of sauce (BBQ or teriyaki I think). The dipping sauces were amazing, display wise, not taste wise.
I am not the best person to judge the entrée since I am used to the hot pot style (Chinese Fondue I would say). All kinds of meat were sliced very thin and we never marinated anything with BBQ sauce.
We waited long again for dessert. It turns out to be worth waiting. The dessert is amazing. We had the milk chocolate and the s’mores. I would definitely recommend the s’more to everyone. It was milk chocolate with marshmallows (as s’mores should be) adding a Little bit rum. The waiter lit it up just like the camp fire and the marshmallows started to melt right in front of you with all the sweet smell in the air!
There were fruit, cheese cake to dip in the chocolate fondue. Cheese cake is kinda too much. I wonder if I could ask for strawberry only next time.
The service was great. The waiter answered countless questions and make a lot of valuable suggestions such as the s’more.
Price wise. A bit to the pricy side. $ 40 ish each person for four courses. To me it is better to skip the entrée and just came for the dessert.

The quality of the food for the fondue was suspect. All of the shrimp were small and not deveined. The other items were not evenly cubed and they did not provide a timer for the table. Thank you Windows Phone! The cooking oil was not enough when it came out which delayed the meal by about 15 minutes.
For a family of two adults and two kids the bill came to $ 160. That’s with two domestic draft beers and lemonade for the kids.
The original chocolate fondue with peanut butter was pretty good but how do really screw up chocolate fondue.

Fun and classy «hot pot» makes for a great night out.
For most of us Markhamites, East Beaver Creek is just about the only game in town when it comes to a cool, chic night out (as long as you’re prepared to bring the $$$s). The cluster of restos that have lasted the longest are the slick versions of Alice Fazooli’s, Marlowe’s, Jack Astor’s, Moxie’s and the Keg. The two others that have stuck around are similar –moderately upscale, slightly pricier versions of restos you can get elsewhere in town– and include Destiny, a bubble tea slash Chinese cuisine resto, and Chako, an upscale Korean BBQ joint.
Enter The Melting Pot. Similar in concept to the Korean across the plaza (or the hot pot down the street) but offering a very different vibe. Cook and eat your food at the table with your choice of items with fancy potstickers. It brings the chic but is unpretentious in its approach to the ‘active social eating’ experience. And the food quality is very good to boot, with a thoughtful menu and a varied drink selection.
Atmosphere:
Clean, minimal and bordering on the austere, it walks a fine line between calm, chic family booth-​time and a medium-​lit elegant evening for groups. The walls are cream, mostly unadorned, the booths a lightly patterned, unremarkable wood and the comfortable seats a soft grey that even now blends into my mind’s eye (I can’t visualize the exact colour, ack, that drives me nuts).
The paintings that pop up every so often are abstract — the ones in the bar area mimicking the amazing round cutout lights in the front and the ones in the back are blue polka-​dotted — ahem pointillist– colourfields. Not sure if the arrangement is a work in progress or not, because they aren’t stylistically unified, which I found surprising given the amount of thought given to the layout. And it’s smart.
The resto is good for multiple groups. Small ones like ours (three) at the bar. Tall tables next to the bar for same. Right near the entrance, several big booths for families or groups of 4 – 10. Inside, honeycomb booth style seating for friends with the option of linking two booths together to accommodate a larger group (accomplished by dropping a sliding divider-​wall). Another ‘wing’ has intimate tables for two, with full walls to the ceiling on three sides. Nicely discreet. If your chocolate fondue happens to come with a side helping of smooch, you won’t have grandma next door giving you cuteye for ruining the children.
Food:
Not cheap, but quality. We ordered two fondues, the fiesta and the cheddar. I am no fondue queen. The only fondue I’ve had has been the one you get in your stocking at Christmas, you know, light a candle under the bowl and melt some Chipits from Bulk Barn. Mmm mmm good. But I do know a bit about cheeses.
I was pleasantly surprised at both offerings — at the depth of the flavour of the cheese, the smooth texture and heat of the mixture, and the interesting additions that the lager and the homemade salsa added to the overall taste. I was ready to pay for melty Swiss (it was a friend’s birthday) but it was much better than that. So we invested in a second order of cheese.
The dippers were apple chunks, raw veggies, breads and tortilla chips (yay for sort-​of nutrition?). I am still sad about the lack of Parisian breads in Canada (sob), and really nothing’s going to compare, but I was personally hoping for a little more from the breads on offer, though they were good.
I ordered a nice $ 11 Chianti and a Mill Street Tankhouse (the latter much better with the cheese). My friends ordered the Raspberry Truffle and S’more martinis, which were tasty at $ 9. The standout was the $ 13 Yin Yang which was a delicious iced-​milkshake of alcoholic fun.
Our bill came to $ 79, which is quite good when one factors in four drinks.
Service:
Standout service at the bar. One guy behind the counter, but who needs more? He was a machine, managing to hold down five conversations at one time while handling drinks, making the bar fondues (yes actually stirring and adding spices to them) and fielding drink orders from the floor. Charming fellow with a great personality, we all agreed he made our night extra-​fab.
Overall:
We’d go back for the novelty of the fondue, for a fun group gathering, for a date, or for Happy Hour. Wear something nice but you can leave the heels at home. if you want a lounge walk over to Fazooli’s for a cocktail — Melting Pot will still love you if you’re wearing your flats. Drop in a give it a try — it’s the only one in Canada!
Oh and did I mention that the chef is Chef Corbin from Dinner Party Wars? I had no idea, but he came over for a chat and a pic. Nice fellow.

Chocolate Fondue… Skip everything… go straight to the Chocolate Fondue with a shot of liquor ($ 6) at The Melting Pot!
For $ ¹⁸⁄₂ and additional $ 9 per person… You can share a «To Die For» Dark Chocolate fantasy with your friends and love ones! Strawberries, Pineapples, Marsh mellows, Cheese Cake, Crackers…
I did try out other things at The Melting Port… but I found especially for the Main course entrees we had, they were kind of disappointing.
The Shrimp & Sirloin ($ 26)
The French Quarter ($ 29) — best of the ones we ordered as the spices gave them a good kick
The Seafood Trio ($ 28) — Small pieces of Ahi Tuna, Salmon and Shrimps. really small portion
The Land & Sea ($ 28)
The above all came with a Side Salad… The salad are just Meh…
The sauces came with as dipping, not really helping in enchancing the taste or experience…
I do love the set up of the restaurant. The booths have a lot of privacy… and they also have private rooms if you want to have a little party?
The staffs are friendly and wonderful.
I probably come back just to have Fondues… and more Fondues… And be in a Cheese and Chocolate Coma… and fight with my friends with my little fondue fork… over a bottle of wine!

Let me begin by saying that i’m soooo happy Melting pot FINALLY opened in Canada! I had to go all the way to the states before for my «western» style hot pot! haha
There’s many choices on the menu and they also have combos. cheese fondues, entrees (you choose the soup base, items) and for dessert? chocolate fondue! (even this, there is many chocolate combinations to choose from)
we had a four course classic it was $ 86 per couple (fair price for all the things you get) and was very filling. got to customize and choose practically everything. My fav is definitely the cheese!
the service is amazing, the waiter really knows what he is doing, and comes around once in awhile.
For the price, you can go to an Asian AYCE dinner for much less! but this is really different, you get to choose cheese fondues and chocolate fondues, however if your only here for the entrée part and do not eat cheese or chocolate, then skip this :)
for the meat, please eat it quickly before it start going bad.
If your ready for the whole package, then it’s a must try with some friends.