A Melting Pot adult meal typically consists of four courses -- a cheese fondue, salad, fondue entree, and chocolate fondue dessert. The kids meal includes a main entree only. We went for the gusto, especially since our particular table was equipped with two hot plates, meaning we could have two different fondue pots at the same time. We shared a Cheddar and a Spinach & Artichoke cheese fondue among all of us. My little guy, who is 7, is frustratingly picky, to the point that he pretty much will only eat chicken nuggets, fish sticks or pasta. My 10-year-old daughter is more adventurous, despite her love of Chef Boyardee and Ramen noodles. My 11-year-old is inconsistent, supremely picky one day and happily eating something new and different the next. The cheese fondues worked well for all of them since it came with bread chunks, apple pieces, fresh vegetables, and tortilla chips for the Cheddar cheese fondue. Ethan, our server, mixed the cheeses and other ingredients right at the table. My older kids tried the bread and apples, loved the chips, and happily turned the vegetables over to us. My little guy assembled an appetizer plate of chips, apple pieces and bread cubes -- all was good in his world.
For the main entree fondue, we really mixed it up -- two kids choose chicken kids meals, my adventurous daughter chose salmon, teriyaki beef, and chicken for her kids meal, my husband chose a combo of tuna, beef and duck, and I chose the signature teriyaki sirloin. Ethan set us up with two pots for cooking; we chose oil for one and court bouillion (vegetable broth) in the other. He arrived with a massive tray filled with our individual plates of raw meat cubes (yes, raw, but he warned the kids about touching), a variety of sauces in petite bowls, long-handled forks for each of us (each person has their own color so you don't mix up your forks while they're cooking), funky plates with two large main sections and then small sections meant to hold different sauces, and bowls of vegetables. Even better, he brought a small bowl of batter, so my two boys could create their own batter-dipped chicken nuggets. I was apprehensive but it really worked quite well -- no issues with the oil, which is well-contained in the curved pot, and the chicken nuggets got two thumbs up.
At first the plates of meat look small, but it ended up being way more than I could eat. We dropped the vegetables into the broth and let them cook, while we each took some sauces and speared a meat cube on our forks. Then, into the oil or broth they went. Ethan suggested 2 minutes in the broth for sirloin, and only 30 seconds to a minute in the oil. Since I was busy helping the boys batter and cook their chicken cubes, some of my sirloin pieces ended up cooking in the broth or oil quite a bit longer than that, but it was still tender and delicious. The broth is quite salty, which gives the meat an excellent flavor, but can be a little overpowering if you let the vegetables cook for a long time. In a major coup, my super-picky son really enjoyed his batter-dipped fried chicken. My husband got creative and dropped the potatoes from the vegetable bowl into the oil to make fries -- sure to make any kid happy. (Ethan said in the 5 years he worked there, he'd never seen anyone actually make fries with the potatoes!) My daughter finished off every bit of her salmon, sirloin and chicken, experimenting with different sauces.
Although we were all pretty full, there was no way we were leaving without trying the chocolate fondue! It was great having two hot plates because we were able to get a pot of dark chocolate for the guys and a pot of "The Original" (milk chocolate and chunky peanut butter) for the girls. Each pot comes with a large tray of strawberry, pineapple and banana chunks; cut-up pound cake, blondies and brownies; Rice Crispie treat squares; and marshmallows. It was sinfully delicious.
From now until August 31, The Melting Pot is featuring a "Kids Dip Free" promotion. For every adult entree ordered (which range from $14-$24), get a free kids entree ($12.95) for children 12 and under. Your table must also purchase either a cheese fondue for 2 ($9 per person) or a chocolate fondue for 2 ($10 per person), and there is a maximum of 4 free child entrees per table. (Be sure to mention "Kids Dip Free" when making your reservation.) If you would like a salad, they are $6-7 per person (FYI, they're quite small), and if you choose a premium pot of broth/oil, it's an additional $5. The Melting Pot also offers four-course meal options, which include cheese fondue, salad, entree and chocolate fondue for $32-45 per person (entrees include options such as shrimp, duck, marinated sirloin, ahi tuna, salmon, filet mignon, pork and even lobster). The four-course meal is huge and very filling, with a wonderful variety of flavors.
Our meal took almost two and a half hours but the staff was absolutely delightful, especially Ethan and Cate, and my kids said it was one of the best meals we've ever had out. My daughter absolutely loved the different meats she had chosen for her kids meal, and they all could not get enough of the chocolate fondue. I was worried my picky ones would leave unsatisfied but we all rolled out of The Melting Pot filled with good food and good memories of a special family evening!
The Melting Pot is located at 213 Burlington Rd in Bedford MA. If you take the Rt. 62 exit from Route 3 and turn left, the restaurant is on the right side, just before the right turn that takes you to the Burlington Mall/Middlesex Turnpike. Reservations are recommended; call ahead at 781-791-0529. They are open for dinner only seven nights a week. Be sure to tell them you heard about them on Macaroni Kid!
The Melting Pot provided me with a portion of our meal for free to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.
