The Melting Pot

Have been here couple of times and the food is nice but the service is excruciatingly slow. We had a reservation at 9 and we ordered almost immediately as we knew what to get even then we got the drinks after half an hour! The fondue heating top didn’t work properly which meant our cheese was either cold or magma. Now for the good part.
I would recommend having spinach and artichoke fondue and Wisconsin trio. For the dessert, we had yin & yang chocolate fondue which was heavenly. The place is very close to path station and has a nice ambiance.
Slow service lost them the full 5 star.

I’ve come to The Melting Pot twice now– both times on business trips where my meals were reimbursed. The food here is decent but I don’t know if I’d be willing to dish out $ 40+ on my own for their 4-​course fondue, which is the recommended experience you should get if you come.
First off, the venue. The restaurant is located on Sinatra Drive, right along the Hudson riverfront. If you get the right table, you will have gorgeous views of the New York skyline. The restaurant itself is classily decorated and has a high-​end feel to it. Unfortunately, this classy feel does not extend to the bathroom. The disparity between the bathroom and the rest of the restaurant is somewhat jarring– going to the bathroom definitely snaps you out of your dining experience here.
I’ve only ever gotten the 4-​course fondue here, so that’s all I can really talk about. The four courses here are cheese fondue, salad, dinner entrée, and chocolate fondue. Each course has multiple options, so you’ll have some choices to make. The latest time I went, we got the spinach and artichoke cheese fondue, Melting Pot salad, Land and Sea entrée, and bananas foster chocolate fondue. I think pretty highly of the spinach artichoke which was absolutely delicious. Wish there was more fruit and veggies that came with it though. The other choices were ok.
This is the only restaurant I’ve ever had fondue at, and it’s definitely opened up my mind and stomach to the option of getting fondue. After eating at other fondue places, I might revise my review after seeing what else the world can offer in terms of fondue dining.

Honestly a little disappointed.
Have visited maybe 6 times over the last 4 years. Distinctly different each time, and never for the better.
Most recently, we had a reservation for 9 on a Saturday night, just for dessert. We got there a few minutes after 9 & were told it would be about 15 minutes. OK, it’s a Saturday, no worry. Couple minutes later, «it’ll be between 15 & 25 minutes.» Really? 9 PM reservation, and we’re going to wait almost a half hour? … A couple more minutes pass, «it’ll be just 2 minutes.» What? Do you have any idea what you’re doing?
OK, we sit. We’re greeted promptly, by a very friendly server. We’d had enough time to notice though that we had been given dinner menus, not dessert menus. Something I’d be willing to overlook if the host (manager?) had seemed to have any idea what was going on with seating. OK, our server gets us the right menus, takes our orders, delivers our dessert & our wine, and then completely forgets about us. There were at least 3 servers taking orders in the corner section of the restaurant we were seated in. I’m not a fan of this, because it makes it hard for servers to return to all their tables.
Our dessert was very good. Chocolate & peanut butter fondue. We opted away from the cheesecake & brownie due (gluten allergy), and instead had just the fruit. We had more chocolate than fruit, so when we finally saw someone (not our server), as asked for some help. When she brought the fruit over, she did comment that they don’t normally give extra. Really? Will guarantee you each time I’ve visited, I’ve been given a little extra fruit when there’s all this chocolate left.

Came here on a Friday night after dinner for dessert, the restaurant smelled funny, after I asked the waiter what the smell was he told me it was fondue pots, I don’t do fondue often so I guess that what’s it’s supposed to smell like, it was a strong spice smell. Me and my boyfriend ordered the cookies and cream chocolate fondue it was really good the chocolate was very creamy and delicious we got rice crispies, brownies, strawberries, pound cake, & cheesecake to dip into our chocolate. There wasn’t a lot maybe 2 pieces each and they were bite sized. It wasn’t a lot of food and from what a saw at the other tables the cheese ones are the same portions, so don’t come here expecting to be full.

I love the melting pot. I prefer the Westwood location among all others however this one had a groupon so we figured we would give it a whirl.
Firstly, MAKE SURE YOU MAKE A RESERVATION AND TELL THEM AHEAD OF TIME THAT YOU HAVE A GROUPON. Sorry for the caps, but they can get down right bitchassness on you if you don’t and it can be a real hassle to get them to take your groupon. That being said that amount of food was just right for the price we paid considering how much it would have cost without the groupon.
Cheese was made very well, albeit with the awkward 3 minute chit-​chat from the waitress. Salad was slamming and the meat quality was very good. Service was attentive and the water glass never touched the bottom.
All and all a good night, however nothing compares the experience and ambiance of the Westwood locale. However if you see a groupon for this joint you won’t be dissapointed.

So we purchased a groupon for this place to try it out. Thankful we did because I would have been irate had we spent full price, which we pretty much did with extras and the 18% gratuity they helped themselves to.
We sat down probably at ten after eight. The waiter who I will refrain from using his name decided to make his way to our table at about 8:30. Being that you get two drinks with the groupon, we each ordered a glass of sangria. Also, I got a coke and she got a water, which the Sangria came out at 9 o’clock. No coke, no water.
We started off with the Artichoke fondue, which was really good, one of the few positives, but the proportion was rather small, which I was going to assume because there was still a dinner salad and entrée to come. Once we were done, the waiter came and cleared the fondue and asked if we needed anything. I said yes, the coke and the water. Well the dinner salad came out, again, a very small proportion but I didn’t mind as the entrée was still coming.
Well our dinner finally came. I chose 3 of the entrée selections, filet mignon, angus sirloin, and a teriyaki sirloin which consisted of 3 tiny cubes of the filet and teriyaki, and two tiny strips of the angus. Wtf… seriously, I’m not a bird. So I just sat there and thought, well maybe it will be very good. It was mediocre at best. Guess what, still no coke, and still no water after I had asked about four times.
My coke finally made its way out at about 945 when we were presented with a dessert menu. Although we really wanted to try dessert, we refused to sit there another hour while our waiter decided when and when he didn’t want to make an appearance. We just asked for the check which took about 25 minutes to make its way out. Our bill had 31 $ in extras on it with some drinks and stuff and an 18% gratuity of the entire bill, with the groupon not included. So our 31 $ bill had a 21 $ tip accompanied with it. Now, I’m normally a 20% percent tipper on a bad day but this waiter deserved 5 $. It would have been the first time in my life I have ever strayed from the tipping I normally do.
The décor is really nice. Service is absolutely atrocious. Food is ok. I’m sure you are paying more for the experience because the groupon was a 98 $ value and we couldn’t have had more the 12 – 15 $ worth of food. No way I would recommend this place to anyone, unless you are trying to kill time and want a comfortable seat. I would have understood if the place was packed but it wasnt even half full.

We got a groupon to go to this Melting Pot so I figured, let’s go on a Friday night! So we went and I think we were the last people to order. We got a mix of small items, including the mahi-​mahi, the andouille sausage, the teriyaki chicken, the beef, etc. It was all pretty cool and the service was pretty good. I believe they got one of our orders wrong and they corrected it immediately.
They also had a good selection of wine and I believe that was also part of the groupon deal.
Biggest minus was when we actually decided to have coffee (we never have coffee) at the end of the meal. My lady had the cappuccino and I had the irish cappuccino. They both tasted terrible — I think they may have ran out of milk and just mixed it with water.
So all in all, I would recommend this melting pot, but stick to the stuff that they’re well known for — the entrees, the appetizers and the dessert. It is not a coffee house!

if you’re into the whole fondue experience, i guess it’s okay. I didn’t enjoy my experience for a few reasons. if you come with a big group, you have to agree on the same cheese/​chocolate/​etc since you share pots. The salad was about half the size of a side salad and it was nothing special. The fondue foods were not bad, but probably not worth it. The service was terrible (he was also doubling as the bartender at the bar) and he did a lackluster job setting up the fondue. For the price and experience, I would probably not come back here.

I have been here numerous times and each times it gets exponentially worse. The service was so slow and inattentive! Naturally slow enough to allow the 3 hour $ 5 parking validation to expire (had to pay $ 15 for parking, and they could care less that we sat waiting for about 30 mins for the check, each drink, the food, etc). The service truly was horrendous!
Went in with a groupon and still paid almost $ 150 — plus the $ 100 paid to groupon! Not a deal at all. Also, they automatically INCLUDED a 20% (possibly 22%) gratuity which seemed excessive as the service stunk and the minimal 15% would have been acceptable! Needless to say, I will be only going to Westwood’s Melting Pot location from now on.
I considered giving two stars because the food was still delicious… cheese and chocolate, cannot go wrong! But the service and time it took was so aversive — one star it is!

This is my first American «hot pot» experience. We had the full 4 course:
1. artichoke spinach cheese dip (they make this in front of you) — comes with pieces of different types of bread– rosemary, whole wheat, plain, raw veggies
2. house salad (i needed this as everything else was so heavy)
3. cajun broth — i liked the lobster tail, salmon, pork medallion
4. white chocolate — cheese cake, pound cake, strawberry and banana slices. (if you are already stuffed, just order one order! — more than enough)
overall, the meat and seafood was too overseasoned for me, but the experience was fun.
Our bill came out to be about 60 dollars per person. I’m not sure if I’d come back as everything was so heavy (minus salad), but i could make this happen: once every 5 years just to experience dinner in a different light.

GO ELSEWHERE…
So I, like many other reviewers here, grabbed a groupon and decided to try this place out, and silly me for not checking reviews first… The place is nice, the food is good, BUT we ended up spending $ 100, for only my husband and I. That is $ 50 for the groupon, $ 20 for chocolate fondue, and gimme a break because for $ 20 all you get is 4 (LITERALLY) strawberries cut into small pieces, 4 marshmallows, 2 pieces of pound cake, a very miniature piece of cheesecake, and 4 rice krispie treats, and while it sounds like a lot, these are all bite sized pieces! And then they get you by charging 18% gratuity not on the $ 50 groupon but on the original price which is around $ 100, so another $ 20 tip and almost $ 10 tax… For $ 100 we could have gone somewhere really nice in the city and gotten a lot more for our money!

I saw another GROUPON for this place and I knew I had to finish (& rush) this review to get this information out to everyone… I ALWAYS check on Unilocal for their reviews before purchasing a groupon… and I specifically search for the word groupon in reviews just in case… on to the review:
We went in with a groupon to try this place out. I’ve never been to a Melting Pot before but heard about it several times in the past. So I thought a groupon would be a great way to try it out and check out what they’ve got. Sadly, from the moment we mentioned we had a groupon, their demeanor pretty much completely changed. (Keep in mind with the groupon you MUST make reservations and tell the employee that you have a groupon while making your reservation. They have two huge tacky 8.5×11 printed paper signs posted on their entry doors.) Staff became inattentive and disappeared. Why would they need to work for their tip? They already know they have a guaranteed 18%.
The sad part is that we barely got to taste any of the food… as many of the other Unilocalers noted, as a groupon user you don’t really get a $ 98 value! You only get a few slices of meat per GROUPON… not per person. I was listening to nearby orders just to compare. And other patrons ordered comparable meals to what we were supposed to get on our groupon that would have made it the $ 98 value! One individual’s single order of 3 fondue items which if I recall correctly was around ~$ 30 was more food than BOTH of our fondue portions. They just tried to play it off by putting our food spread out across a larger plate. (The new groupon looks like a different deal than the one I got. Instead of a beverage we got a three item entrée. Which means even less food!)
Sadly I already purchased the groupon when reviews for their groupon started showing up on Unilocal so I couldn’t back out after I read those poor Groupon experiences from Unilocal.I came in on one of the last days that the groupon was valid for and I was hoping that they would have already fixed this problem by then. No luck… As I said before, as soon as I got the groupon email I had to get this information out ASAP. Unfortunately as of writing this review, they already got 230 people who purchased. I’m sorry to you guys but I believe if you guys cancel your orders soon, you may be able to get out of this headache!!!

FORGET IT. All the negative recent reviews for this place are disappearing for some reason. Jessica A had a great review that can’t be found when you sort by date. I had to find her review in google (by her profile and then search from there). What you see below is just half of my complaints. I’m not going to put any effort into a review if I’m going to be censored.
Terrible Groupon experience from start to finish. I honestly can’t understand why some restaurants participate in Groupon only to resent customers that buy them. You can’t decide to sign up for a promotion and then treat the customers worse because we are «cheap».
The first thing I see stuck on the doors are two tacky print outs that refuse service to Groupon customers who haven’t made reservations. How exactly does that work? Either a place is too busy to take walk-​ins or it’s not; you don’t get to refuse service for customers based on a perceived amount you expect them to spend.
I peaked my head in and noticed that it was 90% empty. The hostess asked if I could be helped and I explained that while I had a Groupon, I hadn’t been aware of the reservations-​only requirement. She instantly got very snippy and said that they are always very busy and that the Groupon was close to expiring so it’s been crazy. She also pointed out (in an unfriendly way) that the Groupon clearly states that reservations are needed.
I again said I was sorry and was wondering if an exception could be made. She actually had to think about it (again the place was 90% empty and it was the middle of a Sunday afternoon!!). During the awkward pause I promised to eat quickly. She relented and showed us to our table.

We used a Groupon to try out this restaurant. The ambiance and view is amazing. Our waiter was very friendly and explained everything really nicely.
I just can’t understand spending $ 140+ (without the Groupon) for cut veggies, bread, apples, and melted cheese. The main entrée was 4 different meats (shrimp, chicken, lamb, pork) in a watery sauce with herbs. The food is just not worth the price they are charging for it.
A great date spot and place to try IF you buy a Groupon or some other deal. Otherwise don’t waste your $$$.

Going to the Melting Pot in Chicago became a Valentine’s Day/​anniversary tradition for us, since it was the location of our first REAL date. So it seemed natural to carry that on when we moved, and there just happened to be a Melting Pot in Hoboken. What luck!
But I have to say, I miss the one in Chicago. Despite being in the basement, the atmosphere there was better than this one. More cozy and romantic. It’s nothing special here. I also suspect – though I can’t prove it of course – that we were stuck in a crappy booth right next to the kitchen entrance because of who we were (two dudes). We had a steady buzz of the staff talking to each other, and «Corner.’ «Corner, hot pot!» (They say «corner» if they’re going around a blind corner, for obvious safety reasons.)
Our server was OK. He didn’t write our order down, and we had to correct him when he recited it back to us, and then he came out later to confirm what type of dressing was on one of the salads. Our second round of drinks took a long time, but that could well have been due to the bar. Otherwise he was generally professional. The highlight of the service was actually one of the bus boys (or runners or whatever his title was). He was very friendly and was the only person at the restaurant to wish us a happy Valentine’s Day.
The food was good. The V-​Day menu was significantly pared down, with only two options for each course. The non-​vegetarian main course option included meat and seafood, and we’re not down with the fishies. We were able to substitute extra chicken and steak for shrimp and lobster though, which was good. The meats were all done up in some way, rather than being plain. That could be good or bad, depending on your perspective I guess. There was a good amount of food; maybe a bit less than we’ve had at the MP in Chicago in the past, but I usually left that placed uncomfortably gorged, so that’s probably a good thing. The dessert was really the best course. The cookies & cream chocolate… YUM! There was a nice variety of dippers, but strangely no pound cake.
In the end I left satisfied with the food and a bit let down by the atmosphere and service (for which a 20% gratuity was automatically added, BTW). And for $ 80/​person (excluding drinks, tax and tip) was it really worth it? I don’t think we’ll be going back to this Melting Pot next Valentine’s Day/​anniversary. Time for a new tradition?

On Saturday my boyfriend and I went out to celebrate our one year anniversary. He wouldn’t tell me where we were going or even which town we’d be in. After a few slips of the tongue on the day of I found out we were going to The Melting Pot. I was so excited. I love fondue.
I ordered the Love Martini at our waiter’s suggestion and I’m so glad. Y’all know what Hawaiian Tropic sun tan oil smells like right? Ok, now imagine you could drink it. That’s exactly what the martini tasted like: Malibu rum, peach schnapps, cranberry juice and fresh strawberries. It was sooo good.
We went with the four-​course dinner since it was the most sensible way to have everything they offered. We had the fiesta cheese fondue, which was really good. I mean, so much better than just the regular cheese dip. It had salsa and jalapeño peppers and had the perfect amount of zip. Besides, I love me some cheese.
We each had the house salad for the second course with the tangy house dressing. For me, that was the only thing lacking. The salad itself was fine but I didn’t love the dressing. It was tangy but not in a way I liked. I think I was expecting a type of vinaigrette and this had more of a citrus flavor.
The third course was our entrée and we went with the «Mojo» style for our cooking. It had lime juice, orange juice, red diced potatoes, broccoli and whole mushrooms. Ordinarily I don’t like anything with lime or orange juice but the two weren’t overpowering so it was a nice extra layer of flavor.
And then of course there’s dessert. How to decide? My boyfriend wanted the Cookies ‘n Cream Marshmallow Dream and I wanted the S’Mores. We got the S’Mores. Mainly because I’m not a fan of a lot of marshmallow and his choice seemed to be focused on it. We ended up getting the S’mores and it was Sooo good, not that I expected otherwise.
We’ll definitely be going here again.

It’s a bit cheesy (no pun intended), a lot overpriced, and yet it’s just plain fun. I love going to The Melting Pot and was happy that the fiancé noticed the Hoboken location for a recent weekend together.
The «pure» chocolate fondue is more akin to a heavy chocolate sauce and I don’t even care. It’s good. And I love that the cheeses mostly all come from Roth Kase in Monroe, Wisconsin (I have some home pride!).
Our waitress was friendly and not pushy. The hostess was a bit annoying and checked in too often around the restaurant, but this was a great fun dinner out.

I’d been to fondue places before, but this was my first time at the Melting Pot– thanks to a Living Social deal. I went with my friend on a Saturday night around 8:30 and it was pretty crowded with a couple of larger parties going on.
Although we were brought to our reserved table right away, it took a few minutes for a server to come to us (with several passing right by our table). The wine tasted a little watered down and the salads were very small. However, the cheese with the appetizer was delicious (we chose the Wisconsin trio) and the meat selection and dipping sauces with the main sauce were very flavorful. I wish that the server had explained the cooking directions a bit more clearly, it seemed like he was in a rush. Overall, a fun night out, but too expensive for the amount of food you’re actually getting unless you have a deal/​coupon.

Man ohhh man! This place was my first ever fondue experience and was it a HIT! The service was amazing, its like they are excited for you to eat! They wanna watch you enjoy putting those delicious food in your mouth.
What did I have when i went here with 10 of my friends? We had dinner and we ordered meat fondue special! It basically had, beef, chicken, vegetables! What you do is they give you forks that has different colors so you dont mix it with your friend’s forks. You then cook the raw food yourself in a boiling hot water! Yeah I know RAW food, argh, not a big fan of cross contamination if you know what I mean, all this raw food mingling around near your clean plates. Ehh, its for the experience though. Oh yeah it takes a few minutes, ok maybe like 6 to 9 minutes depending how you like your meats & veggies. Now that you have all this time waiting, its a perfect time to catch up with friends, tell your stories and drink some wine. Too bad this is Bring your own Alcohol, so make sure you go to a liquor store before coming in here and grab yourself some wine to go with your meal.
MY FAVORITE part of the night was dessert fondue! You get to choose from like 6 different kinds of chocolates that are melted in your pot. They then give you, pieces of pound cake, cheesecake, brownies, strawberries, and many more, basically its INSANITY! The chocolate melted pot that I had was dark chocolate with amaretto! Mind Blasting I tell you! I must have dipped like 10 pound cake pieces and brownies in this batch of melted chocolate heaven!
Please, dont ever miss the experience that I had! I want to share it with you, so make sure you stop by here at least once in your life. ;)

It was my first cheese fondue experience after all the hype. It’s like hotpot for Chinese, but American style.
I decided to go here for my double date, and the place is surprisingly nice inside, not to mention a great view of the river and Manhattan across the way.
So we got the Wisconsin Trio fondue (which was MUCH better than the runny/​watery swiss cheese fondue). The waitress brought the pot and all the fresh ingredients and made it right in front of our very own eyes. It was pretty cool, and she taught us how to dip our fruit and breads.
We ordered the signature selection which came with filet mignon, white shrimp, teriyaki sirloin, breast of chicken and salmon filet. It came with a plate of assorted sauces/​marinades and we would drop our raw meat into the pot of boiling water (hence my comparison to hotpot).
The meats are very tender and taste great when cooked.
Another best part of meal was when the dessert tray came out and we got to dip in chocolate fondue. They had rice krispies, bananas, strawberries, brownies, cookies, etc. Awesome.
I’m usually not the type to go to a «chain» but I made the exception since I’ve never been to Melting Pot before!