My husband and I had gone way too long without a date night. Summer has been so crazy busy. It’s winding down and I was so seriously ready for a nice dinner out. ALONE. Adult conversation. Wine. Quiet. Not asking for crayons. Not picking up napkins. Not caring what’s on the kids menu. That kind of date night. You know, romantic!
We were both so looking forward to our latest date and it was awesome. One of the kids was camping with Grandma and Grandpa and the other one was on an overnight with the cousins…..it was time to go!
We decided to try something all new and go to the Melting Pot in Montgomery. Neither of us had ever been before and I was really looking forward to it. Kevin…. not as much. He said he didn’t like fondue. WHAT? I really had to talk him into it. I mean, melted cheese, meat, bread, food on sticks, frying things in oil, dipping things in melted chocolate. What’s not to like? That sounds like heaven to me!
And I’m happy to announce that he is now a fondue convert. He LOVED it. YES! That means that there will be more cheese dipping in my future.
The Melting Pot has been in Cincinnati for 21 years and it’s in an unassuming storefront, but when you walk in, you’d never know it wasn’t a huge stand alone building. It’s very nice inside with large tables for big parties and also little tables nestled in corners, perfect for date nights. We arrived for an early dinner and were seated at our candle lit table, right away.
Our server, Ryan, came to explain the menu to us and get us started with drinks, and he was an absolute delight. He was extremely knowledgeable about every single thing on the menu and was just great about all of my millions of questions. You should really request him. I’m sure everyone there is really good, but Ryan was spectacular. The servers there have SO much to remember. Almost 25 percent of the cheese spinning engineers (servers) that work there are also classically trained chefs themselves! That’s just impressive!
We started out with Classic Alpine Fondue. Ryan made it right at our table with white wine, garlic, Gruyere, and Fontina cheeses. He stirred in lemon juice and nutmeg all while explaining what he was adding and doing. We happily dipped bread, apples and veggies in this bubbling cheese until it was all gone.
So we ordered another. This time we went with the Cheddar Fondue. AMAZING. It was aged, medium-sharp cheddar and Swiss cheeses, beer and garlic. This was fantastic with the tart Granny Smith apple slices.
So, then it was time for dinner. We decided to share one salad and one entrée. How romantic, right?! We enjoyed the Caesar salad with Parmesan crusted pine nuts and the Pacific Rim entree. It came with Teriyaki-marinated sirloin, honey orange duck breast, Pacific white shrimp and chicken potstickers and we added a cold water lobster tail. It also comes with fresh vegetables; potatoes, broccoli and mushrooms.
Everything comes out raw and you get to cook it in the bowl in the middle of your table. It was so much fun. There are several cooking methods that you can choose from, we decided to go with “Fondue bourguignonne” (I think that’s a French for boiling hot oil). We got to fry our meat and veggies in this European-style fondue. It also came with tempura batter and sesame batter. I really liked the sesame batter with the mushrooms. It was delicious.
The meals all come with an assortment of sauces to dip things in after you cook them. I really liked all of the sauces, but I think the curry yogurt sauce was my favorite. Or maybe the green goddess. Or the sweet and sour. Yes, they were all great. I quite enjoy sauce.
And now it was time for dessert. We ordered the The Chocolate S’mores fondue. It is an amazing flaming pot of chocolate, marshmallow cream and bits of graham cracker. I kind of only ordered this because I was excited about it being flambeed! And it did not disappoint.
This was actually one of the best date nights that I can remember having. Romantic atmosphere, superb service and delicious food. If you’ve never tried fondue or The Melting Pot, I highly recommend it. We can’t wait to go again.
Now, that’s romantic!
Check it out and do some fondue with your honey.
