Fondue expands the art of dipping one food into another beyond classic combinations such as cookies and milk, fries and ketchup, and sardines and radish juice. Get to dippin' and sippin' with today's Groupon: for $25, you get $50 worth of eats and drinks at The Melting Pot, a storied fondue establishment in Crossgates Mall.
Fondue is a game-changing way to feast, letting diners dip morsels of meat, bread, fruit, and vegetables into melted cheese, gooey chocolate, and flavored sauces. At The Melting Pot, fondue isn't just a haphazard dunking affair: it's masterfully pairing dip and dippee while washing it all down with a selection from its award-winning wine list.
Start with a classic cheese fondue ($16, $8 per additional person) and a salad ($6). Cheese fondues range from the traditional swiss cheese fondue, made with Gruyère and Emmenthaler cheeses, to the unorthodox fiesta cheese fondue, made with cheddar cheese, Mexican herbs, peppers, adventure, and spice. Every cheese fondue is served with mouth-sized pieces of fresh bread, vegetables, and apples for maximum dippage. Salads include the California salad, spinach mushroom salad, and Caesar salad.
Entrees range from $18 to $28 and include bountiful meats harvested from the land and sea. Each entree is cooked tableside in your choice of four cooking styles and comes with multiple dipping sauces, ensuring each bite is different than the last, like channel surfing among four different tasty programs. Landlubbers can choose from chicken, filet mignon, pork tenderloin, and duck in various combinations. Seafarers might prefer meats that are acclimated to the chill of the abyss, choosing white shrimp, scallops, cedar plank salmon, or lobster tail (add to any entree for $8.50). For the conscientious objectors, The Melting Pot offers a munificent vegetarian entree, which includes edamame or onion rings, artichoke hearts, asparagus, portobello mushrooms, spinach artichoke ravioli, and more ($20).
There's also an entire menu dedicated to desserts and another to dessert drinks. The dessert dippers include fruits, cakes, marshmallows, brownies, and more ($16 small, $32 regular). Choosing the fondue can be an excruciating choice, as even their names induce salivation: cookies 'n’ cream marshmallow dream, bananas foster, and chocolate s'mores, among others. Check out all the menus at the Crossgates Mall location for more details on the gooey goodness.
Reviews
Yelpers give the Crossgates Mall location of The Melting Pot a three-star average. Three TripAdvisors also give it an average of three owl eyes:
- … the dessert here is not to be missed. – Danielle F., Yelp
- If you like fondue, and a lot of food, this is a great place to go, whether on a date or for a special occasion. – Croff1, TripAdvisor
The Melting Pot
When The Melting Pot originally opened in 1975 just outside Orlando, the location was cozy and quaint, but diners had only three options: swiss-cheese fondue, beef fondue, or chocolate fondue. However, as the restaurant grew in popularity, so did its menu selection and atmosphere. The restaurant first expanded four years later under the leadership of a Melting Pot waiter and enterprising college student named Mark Johnston, who teamed up with his brothers Mike and Bob to open a new outpost in Tallahassee. This location grew in reputation to pave the way for future franchise expansion. Today, the company—now owned by the trio of siblings—reigns as the premier fondue, wine, and drink restaurant, stretching across North America with more than 140 restaurants linked by underground tunnels. The restaurant's menu has also ballooned, and patrons can now expect six varieties of hot dipping cheese paired with salads, meats, and molten chocolate.
On a given night, groups of foodies gather around tables to nosh on signature four-course meals, from cheese-fondue appetizers and various salads to steaks and seafood cooked in a choice of healthy broth or oil. Birthday revelers, holiday party goers and couples can share decadent evenings at private tables, capping off meals with chocolate desserts that have defined The Melting Pot for decades.