The Melting Pot

Something is different about this location and not in a good way. We typically go to this Melting Pot 3-4 times a year and until our visit last night have had excellent service and dining experiences.  

The place was not crowded at all. We had reservations and were seated immediately with our menus. After a bit of a wait our waitress took our drink order: one mixed drink and one craft beer.  Then nothing for a good 10-15 minutes. Finally two glasses of waters arrive but the 'drinks were being blended'. After another 10+ minutes, some one who I can only assume was the manager came by to let me know they were out of the beer I selected. OK, how about a different Brown Ale? Nope. Another craft beer.  Nope. I was told their deliveries are not coming until tomorrow so they are out of a lot of things until then. I settled on a Guinness.

Our waitress comes back and takes our order for the cheese, salad, and main courses.  Another 10 minutes or so and the drinks arrive. So, we're 30+ minutes into the evening and finally have drinks.  Now, the Melting Pot is definitely a relaxed, no-rush place which is part of the appeal but this seemed excessive. And it got worse.

Another wait and the cheese course arrives and it's prepared per usual at the table. Our waitress forgot the pepper mill. So she'll be right back. We can live without fresh pepper so we start dipping. I honestly don't know how long it was until she returned with the pepper but she was not 'right back'.  By the time she was back we had about 1/2 of the dippers gone. Soon enough we were done with the cheese but no sign of the waitress. By the time she came back with our salads the cheese left in the pot had burned. She did apologize for it but it was a bit late for that.

The house salads were OK at best. They seemed a little bit skimpy and the veggies were on the down side of being fresh. My dressing was either not stirred enough or was just watered down. We finished our salads and another wait commenced until our waitress came back to get our salad plates, delivered the pot for our main course, and would be 'right back'. It was over 20 minutes before she came back with the main course meats, the seasonings, and wine for the Coq Au Vin. Now the broth had boiled down for over 20 minutes and adding the vine and the veggies had us waiting another 10 minutes before it was up to temperature to cook our meats. The waitress did come and check during on us while we cooked our food, and another staff member filled our waters. No one checked if we wanted another drink. Once we had cooked and ate our main course, another waitress swung by to ask our dessert chocolate selection but left the plates.

We waited another 10-15 minutes before our original waitress came back to take our dessert chocolate order (again). The other waitress didn't know what we ordered apparently. Our waitress did clear our table but it was another 10 minutes before we had dessert.  

The dessert, per usual, was excellent. Although they've changed their dippers with no more graham cracker covered marshmallows. And for some reason they now include pretzel sticks. OK, there is no possible way to use your dipping fork with a pretzel stick - so you're either risking a burn dipping one them hand, you're risking a burn using a spoon, or you're just eating them plain. I don't know if they were running low on strawberries but they were cut into less than 1/4's - so small it was nearly impossible to keep them on your dipping fork. There really isn't a 'search and rescue' spoon during dessert so you can tempt fate and use you fork or spoon to get it out. Which puts you at risk for a burn again (see above).

Another wait for the check and we were out of there after 3 1/2 hours plus. So if you stuck with this review so far, I'll wrap it up with a few observations/comments:

1) If you don't have things in stock let your staff know. Waiting 30+ minutes to find out you're out of something is not cool.
2) In previous visits the managers have ALWAYS checked on how things were going. No one stopped by our table with the exception of telling us what beer they didn't have.
3) If beverage supplies were running low, I am guessing so were their produce supplies - that would explain the less than stellar salads, and the obviously stretched dippers.
4) The staff didn't seem as coordinated as in past visits. Previously, multiple persons served you in your dining experience. Even managers pitching in filling waters, etc. This was not the case last night.
5) Lastly a number of small things were different too. The best example would be in the bathrooms. I recall the paper towels in the bathrooms being almost cloth-like, very thick, absorbent, and with the 'Melting Pot' logo on them. Last night they were the cheap, non-absorbent kind which felt closer to sand paper than a paper towel. The kind you expect in an off-brand gas station out in the middle of no where. Cost cutting or low supplies? I don't know.