The Melting Pot - Cincinnati

Great location. Great staff. Was on vacation and wanted to introduce my brother in law and his wife to me and my boyfriends favorite spots and they happen to have on in Cincinnati. Such a great experience and our waitress was beyond amazing. Must recommend to try if you haven't.

Had an amazing time here.  We enjoyed the Big Night Out.  Fondue was incredible and very flavorful.  I highly suggest the Turtle Chocolate Flambé Fondue.

I want to preface my review by saying that I know these are difficult times for everyone and businesses are doing their best. I try not to complain in general and especially right now but my experience was so disappointing that I felt the need to leave a review.

I usually love going to Melting Pot. It's great for celebrations with family or a nice date night. I especially love that they offer vegan fondue and gluten free options. I've been to this location many times over the past few years and always had a good experience until Saturday 12/5/2020. The first issue was that we were seated 40 minutes after our reservation. There were just 2 of us and the point of a reservation is that you will be seated at a reasonable time close to when you scheduled. We were told the wait would be 15 minutes but it ended up as 40.

Another major issue is that I know what I can eat on the menu since we eat there a lot and I know my dietary restrictions are a lot for wait staff to handle so I always tell the waiter up front what to bring me to avoid confusion and putting pressure on them to figure out what is gluten free. Despite this, the waitress brought me my entree with gluten on the plate with my other stuff. She said the manager told her the popettes are gluten free when they are clearly marked as not on the Melting Pot menu and allergen guide which is why I requested she not bring them in the first place.

We waited 20 minute increments between courses. This on top of our late seating caused us to not be to our dessert fondue at 9:40. We were told by our waitress and then a manager that we should take our chocolate to go instead of at the table due to curfew at 10pm. Yet the curfew states we can still be eating at 10pm, we just can't be served after then. We had been there since 7:30pm and us still being there at almost 10pm was due to the staff, not us. We were not eating leisurely at all. We even felt rushed with our entree because it was brought out so late and as we were finally eating it, we were being told we had to be done with dessert and gone by 10pm.

I literally can not get any answers via phone calls on anything going on. I had simple yes or no questions and I was placed on hold of 20 minutes *twice*, even when I told them the second time I didn't want to wait on hold again. Go to Dayton, they actually answer their phones and are helpful.

Very nice place to enjoy some snacks. Me and my wife came hear for our Anniversary. And we had a wonderful time. Our waiter Matthew was awesome treated us very good. We will most definitely be back.

My husband and I had dinner here last night for our first time. I have to say it was AMAZING. Excellent service and the food was great. Didn't have to ask for a thing. Definitely recommend this place for a date night if you have a little extra cash. We'll definitely be back

Ordered the complete fondue experience for 2, and what an experience it was. Everything was delicious but the cheese course was definitely the favorite. We recommend the house favorite cheese, the alpine. Also, a great place to celebrate a birthday as we received complimentary glasses of champagne. Definitely recommend this place as it is a unique and fun experience.

My girlfriend and I came in for a unique experience and good quality food. This is what happened.

We had a reservation. After waiting 30 min to be seated we were greeted by our server who asked if we had been there before. After about 1 minute of explaining the choices for how to order food she asked if we knew what we want to drink. Since we had only had menus in front of us for a total of 3 minutes we did not. She offered to just start us with water, however I would have enjoyed an intro to the drink menu or a recommendation.

Drinks were delivered in a timely fashion and then we were asked if we knew what we wanted to eat. Again I would have enjoyed a recommendation or some enthusiasm about what they have to offer. It is kind of a create your own experience so we went with it. We placed our order with the order taker and it came out in a timely fashion.

When the first course came out the cheese was already melted in the pot which was not what we had been told to expect. When we tried it, it was remarkably bland to our surprise given the description on the menu. Beer cheese is usually very bold in flavor but this had none. The 2 carrots on the plate were strange as they were cut down to the nub and shaped with intention into small identical cones...? It left us wondering where the rest of the carrot may have gone to. They were also cold which was even less concerning at this point. The 2 pieces of broccoli were also cold, which may have been the intention, but why? The bread was bread, but I will note that the pretzel bread was as if it were out of a freezer bag.

When the main course came out they went over the sauces and gave us the cheat sheet. Our plates were set in front of us along with silverware which was dropped haphazardly on them so that they rolled off to the side in front of us. The pot was simmering and our order taker brought a vessel of wine which they swiftly poured into the pot and said "wine" before asking if we needed anything else and excusing themselves. The portions were large which was good, except for the 3 small potatoes witch we rationed fairly. The broth was also good.

As we were working on our meal the order taker came back to clear plates and removed all the sauces while I still had a full plate of food. The meal became rushed at this point and after deciding that we would just box the rest and take it home since there was no more sauce the dessert came out. It was average and a very large portion.

The service had been so lackluster at this point with no care given to cultivate a $200 experience that is designed to be unique and fun that we ate a few bites and left to go drink at home.

We weren't looking for anything fancy, but for the price we did want a somewhat engaging server who would take time to go over the menu, introduce the experience, make recommendations and perhaps place silverware carefully, if not give us new utensils for dessert at least. Even the salads were brought out by someone who did not know who's was who's. At a table of 2 seat numbers are very easy. If we're not paying for food quality, and not for enthusiastic, knowledgeable service, then we're just paying to cook our own food in a booth instead of on our stove at home. It wasn't worth the money or the time and was very disappointing given the expectation. If it had only cost $80 even, I would not have spent the extra time to write this review.

The tip was also automatically set to 30%, which is not industry standard by any means, not even during covid. It's 20% for good service, 30%+ if the guest feels that the staff was especially attentive and skilled or that the food quality was superb. We left 20% because we don't feel the establishment took enough responsibility in training the staff to meet these expectations so it is not their fault.

Our waitress was extremely polite and informative. The food was great. I had the steak meal, and loved every piece.

Brandon was training a waitress and they managed to provide service second to none! The food was AMAZING it's expensive but you get what you pay for! They were very happy to serve us and it made for a fantastic 1 year anniversary with my girlfriend and if I wasn't heading out of town for college I would keep giving them business!