The Melting Pot

Cheese isn't the only thing that meltsI find very little fun involved in cooking my own dinner at a restaurant.  Let me clarify that:  I find very little fun in cooking my own entree at a restaurant.  Cheese fondue as an appetizer?  Fine.  Chocolate fondue as dessert?  Even better.  Dipping bits of raw meat into a caldron of potentially digit-mangling, molten liquid; avoiding cross-contamination between raw and cooked morsels like some sort of hazmat-suited CDC flunky; then navigating a Pantone color-wheel of sauces just to wind up with boiled meat on a stick?  That’s where I draw the line.  

When it comes with a three digit price tag, I draw another line, extra-thick, with permanent marker.

Melting Pot- 15th and H, Sacramento

Food * Atmosphere** Service **

16 thoughts on “The Melting Pot”

  2. I was in so much pain when I left the place because I ate way too much food in an attempt to get my money’s worth. The overall experience wasn’t worth the expense to me.

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  3. Ditto! How this place stays in biz is a total mystery. Hey, I’m all for hot oil, just not the kind you gotta cook your food in and then watch as bits of shrimp and steak float around in it. At the risk of sounding like Moon Unit Zappa, “grody to the maxxxxx”

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  4. Do you feel the same way about other do-it-yourself establishments — as in, Build a Bear Workshop? (Ahem…Christmas is coming)

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  5. i want to make something clear. when you sit down at a restaurant you fully have the right to leave if you aren’t pleased with what you find. if you read the menu and the prices are too high or you don’t like the fondue choices, pack it up and head to a place that suits you. but writing a review on something you already don’t like going in is just plain worthless. there is not a place in town that springs the prices on you at the end of your meal. do the math as you order.

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  7. In response to Runnergirl, yes, maybe it is the “do-it-yourself” market that these places have cornered that I do not like. Build-a-Bear should be called “Build-an-Anxiety-Attack”, btw.
    b.a.d.

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  8. I know how you feel about this cooking your own entree thing…I went out to dinner the other night and ordered these things called Fa-ji-tas?? I had never heard of them. Turns out it was a 350 degree cast iron skillet of chicken, onions, and bell peppers (come on, in you have to serve on cook wear becuase you can’t afford plates, maybe you shouldn’t be in business!?) Then a bowl of sour cream, cheese, selsie and guacamolee, and a stack of tortillas on the side. Guess what these fa-ji-tas are…TACOS I HAVE TO MAKE MYSELF! What kind of Bull Sh*t is that?? Guess what kind of a tip that waiter got?? Restauants, listen to us!! If we want to make our own dinner, we would stay home and have our wifes cook! Sheeeeshhhh!!!!

    I kid, seriously though, these types of establishnents are supposed to be an “experience” much like the Korean BBQ, or even this steak place I heard of recently you grill your own steaks, and if they miss the mark on the entertainment portion, they fail. If I want mediocre food, and bad entertainment, I’ll save my $30-$50 for Garbeaus. At least there is no chance I will spill hot oil on my groin there.

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  10. TP, for most people, their only experience with fondue is of the cheese or chocolate variety (both good, fun, and indulgently yummy), but fewer people have experience with the full fondue meal. I counted myself in the former group before my first trip to the MP, so, at the outset of the meal, I did not know a) if the price was fair or not, b) if I would like it, or c) if it was worth stopping the meal halfway through with a party of eight seated around me and say “Excuse me, good people of Sacramento, this eating format disagrees with me, and the prices seem somewhat disconnected with that which we are eating; to that end I suggest we depart, forthwith and find preparations more akin to the cooked variety on which we can sup merrily without the oppressive Swiss-ness of this establishment.”

    As idealistic as we’d sometimes like to be, it’s still strange, awkward, and possibly rude to your dining companions to ditch out on your chosen destination because you think the price might be too high before even trying the food. So, keeping that in mind, and to be fair, I prefer a bad experience to no experience at all.

    IF I had known going in that I wasn’t going to like the experience, I wouldn’t have bothered to be so snarkariffic. On the other hand, had I just gone to MP for cheese fondue, I probably would be raving about the experience.

    Life can be so complicated that way.

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