The Melting Pot chain of restaurants offers an experience quite unlike any other. Focusing around a shared eating experience with fondue, melted chocolate, and various cooking methods for the main course the restaurant is the premier fondue experience. Dining options are a bit unusual with the ability to have a full four course meal consisting of cheese, salad, meats, and chocolate, the just as popular simple cheese and chocolate option, or to choose variations on those options or entirely different ones. This restaurant is fully licensed so parents can have a glass of wine with dinner or anything else they desire. Reservations were easy to make and greatly smooth the experience as there is some prep time required for tables. The decor of the restaurant gave a comfortable and proper feel that when combined with everything else made for a superb dining experience.

The Melting pot offers a wide range of dining options within its respective meal types. In terms of fondue they offer everything from Hispanic inspired cheese dips to those focused on Mediterranean and European influences. Offered with the fondue are shared plates of breads and fruits along with a small selection of vegetables. Salads are good but nothing special, I found that my Caesar salad was a little too sweet for my tastes but that may have just been me. In terms of meat they offer a wide selection of pork, poultry, beef and seafood options along with a variety ways to cook them. Cooking is done in a style reminiscent of fondue where you can select a variety of broths, a pot of oil, or a grill all for cooking. The last course of the meal is focused entirely around desert with chocolate fondues of all sorts being brought to the table. All the food was delicious with everything from the broths to the cuts of meat to the chocolates being some of the most delicious things I have personally ever tasted.

Both the service and the ambiance, or tone, of the restaurant were fantastic. Our waitress checked on us frequently but not too much so. Pots, drinks, and food was all brought at perfect times while the clean up between courses was also perfectly timed. A restaurant that seems sleepy and dim lit at first became much livelier as the night progressed. While the restaurant wasn’t decorated particularly lavishly it did have a sense of properness to it which let your surroundings sink truly into the background and for you to focus more on the food and experience itself.

The Melting pot was overall a fantastic experience. While everything was a bit pricey the cost was well worth it. The only other negative to the restaurant would have to be the drive with one location being all the way in Gaithersburg and the other being in Reston Virginia both about an hour away.  The restaurant offers a little something for everyone, vegetarians and meat eaters alike, granted you were willing to share. The reservation process is simple and the service is amazing. Perfect for special occasions or even simple dates I would absolutely recommend this restaurant to anyone I meet.