Meltingly Marvelous Food At The Melting Pot – Irvine
Dining out is one of my passions. My husband always jokes that he doesn’t need to buy me diamonds or purses to keep me content. He Just takes me out to eat and I am a happy girl! For a long time I have wanted to dine at The Melting Pot as I had never eaten there before and I really enjoy Fondue at home.
Luckily for me, I was invited to try their “Shop Til You Drop” special on black Friday. Finally, my wish had come true. I brought my whole family and when we first arrived we were greeted by a gorgeous Christmas tree. It was so elegant and pretty and it really set the tone for our dining experience.
After we were seated our server Sydney explained the process to us and got us started on our drinks and appetizers. I ordered the “Love Martini” and my husband ordered a glass of white wine. They even took the time to shape the strawberries in my drink into the shape of a heart. So cute!
To start with we tried the melted cheddar cheese as well as the swiss cheese fondue . Sydney heated up our bowls and placed them on the burners and we watched our cheese turn into an ooey gooey melty delicious soup. We had bread cubes, apple slices, cauliflower, broccoli, and mushrooms to dip.
Let’s Face it, life is always better dipped in cheese. At least that is what my son said!
After our cheese fondue we enjoyed some salads. I had the California Salad which had Mixed baby salad greens, Roma tomatoes, candied pecans and Gorgonzola cheese with Raspberry Black Walnut Vinaigrette. This salad was delicious although a bit heavy on the dressing. I would suggest asking for your dressing on the side.
My husband had the Caesar Salad which had Crisp romaine lettuce, shredded Parmesan cheese, crispy croutons and an added touch of Parmesan-encrusted pine nuts, tossed with Caesar dressing. He so said his dressing was a bit heavy as well.
Finally it was time for our main courses. But before I share I want to add that there is a great children’s menu at the Melting Pot. The entrees are called big dippers and little dippers and kids have to choice of just cheese, cheese and chocolate, or a combination of all three. They also get a fun coloring page and crayons.
Sydney arrived with our main course and explained to us how to cook our meats and exactly how long to time it for. She was very thorough and constantly checked back with us to make sure we were doing OK.
My husband and I had all-natural chicken breast, filet Mignon, citrus marinated pork and wild mushroom sacchetti. My sons had teriyaki chicken and pork and beef. We all enjoyed cooking our own food and we had a good laugh at the search and rescue spoon that Sydney showed us to fetch our vegetables.
It was nice to engage in some great family conversation while we waited for our food to cook.
Here is that search and rescue spoon I was talking about. Basically you let your vegetables float around in the broth until they are done and then you use this spoon to find them.
Speaking of broth I chose the Bourguignonne borth. A European-style fondue in cholesterol-free / 0g trans-fat canola oil. Served with tempura and sesame batters. I absolutely loved this. It was rich and flavorful and it was perfect for both meat and vegetables. Even my shrimp tasted good in it. My husband kids had the seasoned court Boullion which was a fresh seasoned vegetable broth.
All entrees come with your choice of sauces. I personally loved the Ginger Plum Sauce with red and green bell peppers, ginger and just a hint of plum that is delicious on chicken and shrimp.
We also tried the Curry sauce, A mild, yogurt-based curry that complements fresh vegetables and salmon. The Green Goddess, a blend of cream cheese, sour cream, onions, chives and parsley that is great on vegetables and makes an excellent stuffed mushroom, and the Teriyaki Glaze. a teriyaki glaze with garlic, ginger and onions.
All of the Entrees together.
At last, it was time for Chocolate. Although at that point we had Sydney wait a few minutes to bring it our because we were so full from everything else.
We chose the S’mores chocolate, and the milk chocolate with peanut butter fondue. First we melted our chocolate and then sydney put in the peanut butter .
And the Marshmallows. mmmmm….
Then we waited for it to melt all together. It smelled so good.
For dipping, we had strawberries, coconut marshmallows, chocolate marshmallows.sliced bananas, brownie bites, and cheesecake bites. My kids were in heaven!
We dipped, we ate, we stuffed ourselves.
But it was worth every bite. This was by far one of the best meals we have ever had. The whole experience from start to finish was outstanding. We were at the restaurant for almost 3 hours and time seemed to fly by.
For more information you can visit. www.meltingpot.com.
