I enjoy the experience at Melting Pot, and the food is decent, but there are some serious service issues which need to be addressed. First of all, there is nowhere close by to park if you’re not already out and about shopping at Legacy Village. We had to walk a considerable distance just to get to the escalator to go upstairs and keep walking in the cold around the corner to get to the front door. Also, on several occasions when I have walked in, there has been no one standing at the hostess stand to greet me, which is very strange. On my most recent visit, I made a reservation for a party of 4 and still had to wait about 15 minutes once we arrived at the time of our reservation before we were seated. Once we were seated in a tiny booth with a single burner, we did not see our server again for several minutes. Once he did reappear, he took our cheese fondue order, and then came back within a few minutes with the cheese, broth, and spices to make the fondue. He also brought a tiny amount of vegetables, apples, and regular bread(we had requested both regular and GF), definitely not the proper serving for 4 people. We asked again for GF bread which he brought right around the time we were done with the cheese, and then another dish of vegetables which arrived as they were taking the fondue pot away… As for entrees, it is difficult no matter what to wait for individual pieces of meat to cook for 2 minutes each. It’s even harder when you have to maneuver around 12 other fondue forks in the same tiny pot. Bottom line there is that you should demand a table with 2 separate burners for 4 people. Anyway, onto dessert where honestly, you can’t go wrong because liquid chocolate makes everyone happy. Unless you have a nut allergy and they bring you chocolate swirling with pecans after you requested for them to leave the pecans out… But overall the dessert was a good experience, with GF cake and brownies offered along with a variety of fruits and marshmallows. The story ends with the server bringing us the wrong check, taking too long to reappear, and then waiting until the last minute to bring us «special» birthday chocolate covered strawberries which you’re supposed to receive as a part of their email club. I received 6 sad looking strawberries in a takeout container thrown on the table as we received our check. Not as impressive as I would have hoped for a $ 130 meal for 4. With all of the restaurant options at Legacy, I suggest you look around before you settle on Melting Pot. They have some kinks to work out, and while I would understand this happening at a newer restaurant, this place has been around for 10+ years. They definitely need some improvements.
Kristen A.
Place rating: 5 Eastlake, OH
The food and service were phenomenal. We had the spinach artichoke cheese fondue which was amazing. The mojo pot was fantastic. And the chocolate fondue was so incredible. The dessert enhancement was way worth it. We had a great time. Unfortunately though this place is only affordable with a groupon.
Joe V.
Place rating: 1 Streetsboro, OH
My experience at the melting pot was the worst Cleveland food experience that I have had in a long, long time. It’s in the top 10 worst ever for sure. Here are the lowlights. Melting Pot is a fondu restaurant in Legacy Village. Their menu includes 3 main options — cheese(appetizer), broth(entrée), and chocolate(dessert). I had heard that it was expensive, and with two under 10, I had counted it out. However, I ended up grabbing a groupon and decided the kids might enjoy it. We skipped the cheese(the whole room smells a bit funky due to the melting cheese) and went right for the entrée. We had purchased the 4 person entrée groupon and figured if it was good, we might go for the chocolate at the end. We each got the«Fondu for you» which allows you to choose 3 of the several meats for your entrée. I chose ahi tuna, shrimp, and chicken. I was pretty excited — this sounded yummy! When the food came out, however, I was sorely disappointed. I take that bad — I was downright mad. The portion was so small that it angered me — that’s ridiculous. I wasn’t mad because I’m a big fatty — I was mad because even after getting a discount with the groupon, I felt like I was being ripped off. I happen to weigh a lot of my food to count calories, so I am a pretty good judge of weight. My guess is that in total I had about 4 – 5 oz. of meat on my plate, and that might be over exaggerating. The double whammy comes when the veggies hit the table. The menu clearly notes that each entrée comes with veggies. However, they fail to tell you that you get one small bowl of veggies per table. So, for our group of 4, we received a little bowl with 1 potato, a few pieces of broccoli, and a bunch of mushrooms. To top all of this off, the brother is not well seasoned(and either is the meat), so you end up boiling raw and unseasoned meat in unsalted vegetable broth. Seriously? I paid $ 60 for the groupon, and that’s a really good price for dinner for 4. I felt like I got robbed — highway robbery I say! So folks, this place is a HUGE no no. You might think I am being a bit too harsh. Just before we were seated I was reading a few Unilocal reviews and was thinking, «it can’t be that bad!» Trust me — it is! Save your money and choose any other place in the entire greater Cleveland area.
Maya C.
Place rating: 2 Novi, MI
I recently traveled to this area of Ohio and met an old friend at the Melting pot. I have only eaten at Melting Pot one other time in Novi, MI. My previous experience was not a positive one, but I was open to trying the restaurant again in another locale. The atmosphere is nice and there was lots of privacy at the table. The wine selection is decent and it also tasted good as well. The server was top-notch! He was fun, attentive and really had a positive impact on the dinner. We had a great time. The downside is that the food is just not good! We started with the cheese appetizer and, although initially tasty, was so heavy and full of oil. The tidbits that come with it were minimal and the raw veggies unappetizing. The meal was tiny and eating boiled meat is just not very appealing. The prices are high! You would think they would, at least, serve a decent amount of food for the price, but they don’t. For one person, your bill will be at least 40 dollars when all is said and done. My bill, for myself, was 67 dollars and that was with one glass of wine. Although my dinner company was fantastic and the waiter was spot-on, the meal just isn’t appealing at all.
Ashly M.
Place rating: 1 Henderson, NV
This was my first time here and deafly my last. You boil your food with everybody else in the same pot how disgusting. They say boil the meat for two minutes or three if well done had it in their three minutes cut into it bloody Raw. Raw chicken on your plate. This place is just plain gross. You can’t even enjoy your meal you cook one piece of small meat or chicken at a time eat it cook another one makes no sense. Very very very extremely pricey
Dieter V.
Place rating: 3 Solon, OH
Communal eating whist cooking skewed meats and vegetables. There is something magical about cooking in a hotpot in a dimly lit room. The cooking is a group activity; does anyone see my potsticker, what color stickers did I have? It is just a fun experience. The food is fresh and raw. It tastes ok and is pretty pricy but the atmosphere is nice.
Amelia D.
Place rating: 1 Cleveland, OH
Talk about a fondon’t! I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself. It was there for the taking. I recently was pretty out of it while browsing Groupon and saw they had a deal for The Melting Pot. I’ve never been, but figured it might be something fun to try for a date night some time. I was wrong. I’ve never actually been out to eat somewhere and had everything go completely right, but still leave feeling totally and completely dissatisfied. I cannot believe the racket that they have going on here. On one level, it’s kind of brilliant. Charge people completely ridiculous prices and throw them some«bread» which is actually a croûton in disguise, bagged veggies, a couple of grapes, some tiny apples, and few meat cubes along with a pot of boiling broth or cheese, and then serve them 6 different sauces out of thimbles. I wish I’d thought of it myself! Also, they charged us for REFILLSONSODA! Even McDonald’s will give you free refills. Had we not had a Groupon, our meal before tip would have been around $ 90. I could have used that $ 90 to buy 12 burritos from Chipotle, 11 slices of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, 9 movie tickets, or yanno, an entire week of groceries for my husband and I which we also would have had to cook ourselves. Perhaps the weirdest part of our entire experience was that there was a magician going from table to table preforming tricks. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think a $ 30 – 40 per person meal really pairs well with something that Red Robin has the market on. We actually left hungrier than we were when we arrived, but our wallet was significantly lighter.
Brittany B.
Place rating: 5 Painesville, OH
Today was our first experience at the Melting Pot and we enjoyed ourselves. The host and server were great and were exceptionally kind to our 3 yr old who received a balloon and special treats which she enjoyed very much. The host and server were very friendly, personable and pleasant!!! The food was very tasty, from the cheese appetizer, to the interesting and cool salads, to the dinner experience with the fondue. I loved the teriyaki sirloin, very tasty… actually everything(and I do mean everything) tasted very good. Despite having trouble finds the place due to the GPS, we definitely had a great lunch date.
Alex R.
Place rating: 1 Picayune, MS
I’ll never return here. I’ve patronized the Melting Pot at Legacy Village multiple times and this experience was unacceptable. I arrived before the rest of my family for a birthday party and was told our reservations were canceled by the manager because we were late. So I waited for my Mom to arrive with the screenshot of the reservation confirmation. No big deal at this point. Thing do happen. The way the situation was handled was unacceptable. The manager still insisted we were late, and was very condescending the entire time. Instead of being apologetic, she put the blame on us. She proceeded to tell my Mom, she informed me that she would still seat us. That was a direct lie. I work in customer service, this is unacceptable from any employee, let alone someone running the restaurant. She seated in a tucked away room that normally sits 4 tables. Brilliant on her part. There was a huge bachelorette party and they were being loud enough to ruin our mood. The manager decided she didn’t like us already and wanted to ruin our enjoyment. They did their best to rush us through our dinner, which is supposed to be experiential. Not so much today. We were flat out told that they were slammed and they acted such. I witnessed the manager walk past the room point out our table and use our last names. Who knows what she was saying, but it is honestly perception that is most important and she was talking about us. The food was good and dessert was great. Our waiter did a really nice job. We were supposed to receive a picture with our birthday package, to which we were reminded but nobody ever came to take. The icing on the cake was when we walked out and the manager turned and made eye contact, yet said nothing. This is how the Melting Pot treats customers who just spent about $ 300 on dinner? You can’t say bye? Or have a nice day? Food was good. Server was good. The manager had an attitude problem. It ruined our experience.
Alessia R.
Place rating: 5 Cleveland, OH
Went for a spa night last night(Mon April 28). Nikki was our server. She was exceptional. She paced the meal perfectly because we also added an entrée to the preset spa night menu. She was funny and attentive. The food was amazing as always.
Sheree K.
Place rating: 4 Beachwood, OH
We went again and had excellent service and the food is consistently very good! No wait this time as our reservation was ready and I highly suggest the front room for party’s of 4 and the milk chocolate fondue! Also, Friday nights they have a magician that visits tables around the restaurant! I really enjoyed it!
Avril B.
Place rating: 5 Solon, OH
LOVED the Melting Pot in Lyndhurst! ASKFORHELENA! She was SOACCOMMODATING and incredibly friendly. MADE our experience! I had all veggies in the yummy Mojo broth & a great salad! My 5 friends all loved their meals(meat, veggies, cheese and desserts) and we love the atmosphere. Just a great night, yummy food and excellent service!!!
C K.
Place rating: 1 Northfield, OH
I hate this place!!! They treat their customers like crap! They made me stand in the lobby and wait until my friend arrived. I recommend that you eat anywhere else.
Gretchen B.
Place rating: 5 North Canton, OH
Laney(spelling ?). Thank you for making things right for us. The ying yang and turtle chocolate fondues were superb! We will be back to give another try.
Natalie S.
Place rating: 3 Chagrin Falls, OH
We had a groupon that we needed to use, but we like Melting Pot anyways, so we were happy to go. Our Groupon did not include the cheese fondue(bummer, becasue that is by far our favorites thing!) so we ordered it anyways. The new pricing is per person, so it is a bit more expensive than it used to be. Howver, our fantastic server, Vince(Vin?) gave us some bonus cheese and bread! SCORE! We also ordered a series of steaks, duck, ahi tuna and lobster. All were very good, except the lobster tail. Perhaps I dont like that cooking style? I wanted to move the pot and cook it hibachi style and was told not to. Booo on fire safety. The salads were fresh and good as always, but they stopped using the hot bacon dressing. We did not get dessert, but had plenty of the leftovers because we had such an abundance of cheese. Since that is my favorite course, I was happy!
Megan T.
Place rating: 3 Cleveland, OH
My husband was inspired to plan a date night. Being the fiscally responsible one, I asked him to buy the Groupon for The Melting Pot. We had never been there before. First, we couldn’t find the darn place. We had to drive through Legacy Village a couple of times before we found it. Tip: Look up for signs. It’s on the second floor. Then came the task of finding the entrance. It’s not really near the sign because you have to go up escalators which is where you finally find signage. We had a 7:15pm reservation on a Thursday but it was 25 minutes before we were seated. Once seated there were about five open tables around us so I think we could have been seated sooner. So, finally we got our table and things began to improve. Our cheddar appetizer was delicious and I loved that it was made at the table so you know it’s fresh. We hated dipping the apples. Apples and hot cheese? Wtf? Anyway… I had the California salad… Delicious! My husband enjoyed the house salad. On to the entrée, I had the teriyaki marinated sirloin, pork bbq and andouille sausage. My husband did the duck, ahi tuna and filet mignon. His favorite was the tuna and mine was the teriyaki sirloin. We were warned that the portions were small but we were okay with them. We had the original for dessert. The items to dip are great! It was a neat experience. If we could, they’d get 3 ½ stars. I’m glad we had the Groupon. I don’t know that we would ever consider returning without a Groupon and I’m pretty sure everyone around us was using one too. Our total without the Groupon would have been $ 98. With the $ 30 Groupon we still owed $ 42.
Anna K.
Place rating: 3 Cleveland, OH
We had never been to a Melting Pot but saw a Groupon for 2 so bought it & made a reservation for a Sunday night. At the time of making the reservation we mentioned we had a Groupon as that was required in the terms of the Groupon. We arrived at 5:53& checked in with the hostess. She said she’d seat us soon. A little after 6 we were seated at a booth for 2. Our waitress stopped by, asked if we’d ever been before, and took our wine order. Almost half an hour later the manager came by to drop off our wine– one glass was right, one was wrong, but she took both back with her when we told her since she said she might have grabbed the wrong ticket. We waited… And waited… Finally(and I really never do this) I asked our neighbors’ server to grab us some water since it’d been over half an hour at that point since we’d sat down and we still didn’t have anything to drink. Our server came over in the next few minutes with water and the correct wine, so I told her I’d asked another server for water and to please let him know we didn’t need it anymore. Our server then took our food order. Our Groupon didn’t include a cheese fondue but we ordered one. We also ordered what was included in our Groupon(2 salads, choice of cooking style, & each person chose 3 types of meat/seafood/etc). Our server(after a lonnnng time) brought out what we later realized was the wrong cheese fondue. She also forgot our request to have extra veggies instead of bread. When we realized it was the wrong cheese, we tried to tell someone– anyone… But no one came until we flagged down the hostess. We told her the cheese was wrong– she said she’d find our server… And we waited… And waited… The manager finally came by. At this point my fiancé– someone I’ve never witnessed complain at a restaurant before– was so frustrated by the non existence of staff when we needed them that he spoke up(politely). We explained the series of mishaps and absent service. She said she’d take care of our first 2 glasses of wine and told us our new pot of cheese was warming up in the back. Then we waited… And waited. We thought for sure that would’ve come to an end by this point. The new cheese came out with veggies and it was great(Alpine option). We each had another glass of wine and the rest of our meal went well. The manager stepped in to deliver most of our food & drinks. She did apologize for the mess ups. I did ask her if the sloppiness was bc we had a Groupon– she said no not at all & most customers there that night were there with Groupons. When we were done with our entrée my fiancé had another glass of wine he was finishing and the manager came by and suggested chocolate would go well with it. We said we were pretty stuffed & she said«well, if I were to drop some chocolate off accidentally you wouldn’t be upset would you?» She did drop off some dark chocolate and strawberries/shortcake/brownies/etc. When we got our bill it was $ 48. Granted, we’d had a Groupon, but here’s all the extra stuff we ordered, not to mention the free choc fondue the manager dropped off: –5 glasses of wine(8 oz pours) –cheese fondue –2 add ons of Italian meats for the cheese fondue We also effectively got 1.5 cheese fondues since my fiancé kept eating the first one after we told them that it was the wrong one(hey, we were hungry & the manager said to feel free to eat it). So I’ll say that although at one point I considered prematurely asking for the bill & leaving before we were done, the manager totally turned the experience around. A really nice effort on her part to salvage the evening for us.
Sharon K.
Place rating: 4 Independence, OH
Purchased a Groupon for this place last week. Decided to try, but I wouldn’t recommend the cheese fondue just by seeing others try, the bread looks like croutons. Anyways my sister and I had a salad each and to choose 3 noodles/meats for the soup entrée where you cook the choices in a broth. It came with 2 cheese dips and 3 sauces, a mix of curry and fruit jams. My sister was not full after her meal, so it might not be enough food for some, she chose mainly meat-steaks and shrimp and I chose 2 pastas and duck breast. I think it’s a nice experience to try once or twice and service was good. No one answers in the front so you would have to walk back and have someone notice your party. I really like it and may Groupon again later.
Dave M.
Place rating: 3 Cleveland, OH
Melt a hole in your wallet. If you have never been to the Melting Pot then be aware that it’s a «cook yourself» style restaurant. Meaning there is an electric hotplate embedded in your table, akin to most Korean BBQ style restaurants. How can anyone go wrong with melted cheese? Here’s how, charge an arm an a leg for that cheese. One statement I don’t think you’ll ever hear me say is «I have a craving for the Melting Pot» It’s difficult for me to justify the amount of money they charge for quality of the meal that is given. Even if I made a six figure income, I wouldn’t be able to justify the pricing tier. Going to the Melting Pot is like watching a fun movie where the hero dies in the end. Don’t get me wrong, we had a great time with our friends, the staff was very friendly and it’s an experience to try, but only once. However, the prices will keep me away indefinetly.
Candace M.
Place rating: 4 Littleton, CO
We just went for dessert, so I can’t comment too much on anything else(in fact, the last time I went here was… 7 years ago? Yikes.) Overall, we were pretty pleased with the experience. When we walked in(on a rainy, gross, blustery Sunday night in Cleveland), we were promptly greeted. We were asked if we had been there before; my significant other hadn’t, and I might as well not have been because it’d been so long. We had eaten dinner elsewhere, so we were just hoping to try some of the chocolate fondue. Our waiter was very excited, and launched into a long description about the menu options once we were seated. We weren’t able to get a word in edgewise; specifically, to tell him that none of that really applied to us, as we were only there for dessert. After we told him, he sighed loudly and went to get us a different menu. Fortunately, it was all uphill from there. Our waitress was pretty attentive, making sure we were aware of the options. She took the extra time to talk to us, even asking us how long we’d been together(d’awww). We really liked the fruit dippers(strawberries, yummm) and the chocolate(oreo?) covered marshmallows. I had warned my date that the melting pot was a little pricey, though I couldn’t remember exactly how much so(and it’s a little bizarre that the menu doesn’t have prices for the chocolate fondue, IMO). When the check came, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it only came to about $ 17. I convinced him it was $ 50, though. You know, to ease the blow. He was relieved to see the actual cost! I think I would come back again for dessert, though I might try the cheese fondue, too, because I remember that being good. I would have rated it higher, though I was a little disappointed by our initial waiter’s attitude toward our preference to just get dessert. I didn’t think that was unusual. Hopefully next time it’s a little better!