The Melting Pot

Anthony and Jay were amazing tonight and the other night we were here... they have a great personality and they are great bartenders. you guys are lucky to have them and thank you for there incredibly service to viera.
they are a great team ! we will be back to see then both !

An expensive but fun and tasty experience.

Visited on 4-25-21 at 12pm. $168.22 got us a four course dinner for two and a wine flight. Kids eat free on Sunday! Reservations are encouraged. Covid guidelines are being followed. Our server Gino was very attentive and friendly. The restaurant could use a deep clean.

Course #1: Cheese fondue. We chose the Wisconsin cheddar which was made fresh at the table. It came with green apples, bread, carrots, celery, and zucchini. The fondue was creamy and sharp. I figured the cheese would just slip off the more slick items like celery but it stuck to everything. It was so much fun stabbing the food with the long forks and dipping!

Course #2: Caesar salad. It was fresh and cold and dressed perfectly. The croutons were seasoned. Unfortunately I'm a moron and didn't know there was a fork wrapped up in the silverware roll and I ate the whole thing with a fondue fork which took a while. The only thing I found odd is the sweet candied peanuts on top...they were an unnecessary and unwelcome addition.

Course #3: The "bigger night out" grilled meats and veggies. It came with shrimp, chicken, steak, mushrooms, potatoes, salmon, and a whole lobster tail. The meats were fresh and already seasoned/marinated. Grilling was so much more fun than broth or oil and I'm glad we chose that cooking method. The dipping sauces are great...my favorites were the cocktail sauce and the curry yogurt.

Course #4: chocolate fondue with chunky peanut butter. It was served with pineapple, strawberries, brownies, blondies, rice krispie treats, waffles, pound cake, and marshmallows. We were feeling gluttonous so we also ordered the "sweet additions" upgrade which came with cheesecake, macarons, and cream puffs. Every single dessert was decadent and fresh.

I had the $22 classic wine flight which I loved. For each course they brought me a different glass of wine perfectly paired for the course. Course 1 was a Mezzacorona Pinot Grigio, course 2 was a Ste. Michelle Rosé, course 3 was a Meiomi Pinot Noir, and course 4 was a Decoy by Duckhorn Merlot. Each wine was tasty and the portion size was perfect.

I would not go back...once in a lifetime is enough. But it was definitely worth it.

Writing this review out of sheer hope it will help the restaurant, not out of need to bash. 3 of us came in yesterday and sat at the bar around 2 pm. The bartender was very nice, but she was literally serving the entire restaurant. There was no AC on and there were fruit flies everywhere. We sat there shooing them away from our face the entire visit. We ordered a bottle of wine and it was out. Ok that's fine. Tried something else that was offered as a replacement and it wasn't good. Ok that's fine too. Bartender said it's just easier to ask me what we have in stock. We sat for 30 min and watched her make probably 15 cocktails. We were never given a food menu and  just realized they are cutting too many corners to stay afloat. The restaurant is dirty. Surfaces, floors, bugs. Not sanitary as stated in several reviews. I truly think if you can't offer a true melting pot experience then it's time to offer a limited menu or change your hours. One person can't possibly serve an entire restaurant. We went to the pizza place next door. We had envisioned a nice bottle of wine and delicious interactive lunch experience. It's better to close your doors for the day than to have disappointed customers that will  never return.

I've been dining at the Melting Pot for 20 years. Wonderful experiences until last night (12/19/2021). This staff was overrun and inattentive. It was 35 minutes between courses. It was my wife's birthday. 3-hour total time in a very high-temperature area of the facility. There was no care. The staff were dismissive and stressed. The young lady who served us said their GM just quit, and she tells her father that this employer is a bad example of how to run a business. I had a candid conversation about my experience, and she could have cared less because she was covering six tables. The Asti Spumante was served warm, they did not clear the table, did not clean the table between courses, and barely spoke several words to us. First-world problems, but when you pay for a night out to make your wife happy on her birthday, you shouldn't have to suffer through this level of poor service and ambient mediocrity. At least she was a good sport and the chocolate was good as always. I wanted her to have an excellent experience, and for $200, I could have given her a much better experience at home or at Culver's.

We wanted to like this place.  We have been to a Melting Pot in another part of the country so we expected the high prices and thought this would be a fun experience.  The service was not great and the food just okay.  We had the 4 course dinner and think we would have just the cheese course and dessert next time, if we go back.  We also felt things were not terribly clean.

Nothing like being ignored and then having to get up and go to the bar to get a drink and then being served a disgusting watered down dirty martini.  To make matters worse I waited and waited and waited for my bill.  I was seriously contemplating just walking out but I'm not a thief.  I hunted them down and paid for my $13 disgusting martini.  I went with the intention of ordering some food but not with that service I was getting. Sorry Melting Pot this visit was a FAIL!!

We wanted to do a "special" celebration of the end of summer, so we headed to Viera and landed at the Melting Pot.  Little did we realize how wonderful our experience would be!   We started at the bar with drinks made by Kyle, who later created his own version of a drink that was the best!  Our server, Cyrena, was such a big part of the success as well - informative, kind, funny, and very quick to respond to any questions or needs.   We weren't able to eat two full entrees, so we WILL return for trying other items.  The Wisconsin Trio cheese fondue was superior - we would have eaten two bowls if we could.   The meat fondue was very tasty - and the sauces were varied but so good!   We highly recommend this restaurant, and if you can get served by Cyrena and have a drink made by Kyle - you'll know they are the best!

This was always our go to for family celebrations. Today we made reservations and when we ordered our food, we were shocked at how many items they were out of! No apples, no potatoes, very limited vegetables. I ordered the vegetarian plate and was brought basically a mound of bell peppers. This place is going to be out Of business if the manager doesn't get her act together!! They blame covid yet no masks and seriously? They easily could have run to the store for staple ingredients... god knows they charge enough!! AWFUL.. absolutely unacceptable

I sat at the outside bar around 4 pm today. My guest talked me out of several other restaurants as she wanted to come here for the cheese fondue. The outside patio had 3 customers. There were 2 bartenders working. Ordered a coke (because they were out of Coors Light) & a martini for my guest as well as a Wisconsin Trio Cheese Fondue. The experience was bad from the get go. One bartender was just plain rude the entire time. We had to move around until they found a hot plate that could actually melt the cheese fondue which had no taste at all. The veggies and apples had brown spots and tasted if they were cut a day or two before and not stored correctly and the size for the price was a joke. I personally am not interested in cooking my own food especially at these prices. Prices would indicate fine dining but there was nothing fine about this.

What an overall disappointing experience.

For Christmas, I bought my wife a $100 gift card, that came with a year's worth of "free" chocolate fondue, one for each month. Side note here, it's not really "free" in that you have to purchase $30 in food/drink AND it can only be used Monday-Thursday.

We made reservations for Sunday afternoon lunch before we realized the chocolate couldn't be redeemed today. OK - no big deal - still looking forward to cheese and salad, as we haven't been here in over a year.

First problem - we wanted 2:00 PM, but were told there were no tables. That was strange, in that, when we arrived for our 2:45 PM reservation, there were only 3 other tables filled in the entire restaurant.
Maybe there's a staffing shortage, though. Because from the time we arrived until the time we left 1.5 hours later, we were left waiting for long periods of time on several occasions:

- From the time we sat down until we were able to place our order, about 15 minutes.
- From the time we ordered, the waitress turned the burner on, and we finally got our cheese cooked so we could eat (we were hungry!), another 25 minutes.
- From the time someone else cleared our table (someone else, our waitress was nowhere to be found) to when we got the check, another 20 minutes (I jokingly asked my wife if I should call the restaurant to remind them we were still there!).

So, all in all....very slow and poor service. The waitress didn't go over any specials, suggestions, etc. She DID mention that today was the apparent last day for some type of cheese fondue that had been served over the Holidays. My wife and I were really interested in that, but this wasn't even mentioned until our cheese was cooked and ready to eat.

The food was just "OK", nothing special. In addition to the cheese fondue (good) and salads (good, but smaller than we remembered), we ordered the charcuterie board and were VERY disappointed. 4 crackers of some type, a sampling of mustard, a few chunks of sausage and a few bites of prosciutto, along with a couple of small pickles and some type of peppers (?) - none of which were explained. So not worth the $12.

I rarely write reviews, so you know when I do, I've either been wowed by the product/service OR was so underwhelmed that I had to speak out. Unfortunately for Melting Pot of Viera, it's the latter.

Even with the "free" chocolate fondue coupons, I doubt we'll be returning to this location. We'll pick another in Orlando in the future.