Melting Pot

The Melting Pot has been a culinary icon in Portland for decades and I can't believe it took me so long to finally sit down for a meal.... Scratch that, an *experience*! I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate an anniversary & was I right! Hubby & I reserved a table for lunch and enjoyed the "Big Night Out" 4-course meal, which consisted of 3 kinds of fondue + a salad. I appreciated the variety of fondue mixtures they offered with at least 5 options from each course. Settling on an option per course was an opportunity for hubby & I to banter over preferences. ❤️ I would also like to give a shout out to the wait staff. I don't recall the gentleman's name, but he made us feel heard & tended to. Our order was correct, he encouraged our choices, brought each course in gracefully & made sure we had everything we needed, including instructions. 🤭 Needless to say each course was expertly prepared & elegantly delivered. And we loved every minute of it! Now you might think a place like Melting Pot would draw only an upper crust crowd, but I had the chance to observe people pop in in casual attire for a quick bite, aka 1 course. It got me imagining groups popping in late evening for a dessert fondue to finish off the night's adventures. Or families popping in to grab a hearty meal before continuing on with the city tour. Bottom line, it appeared to me like the Melting Pot was equipped to handle all kinds of clientele - as long as you're respectful & not to rambunctious. I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend the Melting Pot!! I can't wait to go back!

The Melting Pot in Portland, Oregon is such a fun, worth it experience! The restaurant is underground with a beautiful entrance, very spacious and lots of seating. We had the 4 course meal at $64 per person, it is on the spendy side plus drinks. Pictured is the Strawberry Sensation adult beverage which hands down is a 10/10, Strawberry salad with lemon poppyseed dressing, house salad with peppercorn ranch, cheddar cheese fondue served with a bread, vegetable and apple board and the feast entree that came with Filet Mignon, pacific white tailed shrimp, teriyaki marinated steak, Atlantic salmon and chicken breast. Annnnnd the dessert board was full of yummy delicious sweets from chocolate dusted marshmallows, rice krispies, strawberries, bananas, waffles baked in maple syrup (under bananas), blondies and brownies all were so yummy. All the food was absolutely mouth watering, savoryness, all the food does come in smaller portions but it is very filling. You do get to pick your choice of the cheese fondue, the broth which the meats cooked in and the chocolate fondue. It does take a longer time as for the main entree you cook your own, which was fun to do! Highly recommend ✨️10/10✨️ for the experience and the food!!

Overall, it was a fun experience. The meat was average, but the selection of nonalcoholic drinks was very good, which is not something you see at many establishments. Different types of meats and seafood require different cooking times, and there’s a QR code that provides a food timer. Unfortunately, I found that my cell phone had no service there, at least for Verizon users. I recommend using a garage for parking, as the area has a two-hour maximum limit on street parking. This place would be great for bringing younger kids.

1st time going and definitely will be going back! Recommend everyone trying atleast once. Great service, super friendly and helpful.The food was absolutely incredible from start to finish. Every dish was full of flavor, fresh, and beautifully presented. You can tell a lot of care goes into both the ingredients and the preparation. Portions were generous and everything tasted homemade and high quality. One of the best dining experiences I’ve had in a long time and I can’t wait to come back!

This place is extremely overrated and expensive. There is nothing notable or special about anything we ate or experienced. I expected a literal "fondue bar" too. We were confused on the menu but our server was extremely thorough on explaining on how to order and eat. She was very patient and sweet. 5 stars for service. No wait time either. We each got the 4 course. We expected fancy dippable items. It's just simple hard bread, raw fruit and veggies. Salad was mediocre- you get a tastier salad at olive garden. The main course is also mediocre. It's a large pot of broth of choice with items you cook such as meat and veggies. Again, nothing mouth-watering or notable taste. Please be cautious if you are cooking meat, especially chicken. We were warned about the inconsistent size in cuts of meat so though the timer says "2 mins", it could actually take 3 or 4 minutes. We did like the option for free refills of the sides, same with dippale dessert items. We were glad to have finnaly experienced The Melting Pot but we won't return. $200+ for 3 for nothing memorable or exceptional and you cook your own food. Food is unseasoned, dessert sides taste like Safeway bought dessert trays. "Hype" did not meet our expectations. I would recommend this place for like a first date. I think it'd be fun to interact, dip and cook items while getting to know someone. ⚠️ Regarding the bathroom: The bathroom is far away and outside the restaurant in a secluded sketchy hall. Have your phone handy with someone to be ready to answer or go with someone just to be safe. Anyone from the outside could easily access that secluded area. You could scream and no one would hear you FYI. Anything could happen down there.

If you enjoy waiting forever for everything in a mostly-empty restaurant, this is the place for you! $422 for 4 people for their house 4-course meal and one drink each (which we got the pitcher for to bring the price down to only $14 for each drink, what a deal!) Reservation for 7PM, weren't sat until 7:20. Server sarcastically explained the menu to us like we were 5-year-olds without taking a drink order, didn't have drinks on the table until 30 minutes after we had sat down as he was way too busy bussing other tables instead of taking our drink order, but hey, priorities! We were at this place from 7-9:50PM - unreal how slow it was. The only saving grace was the entree course as the steak quality was solid and the cooking broth was good. The Wisconsin cheddar fondue was meh. Wouldn't recommend and probably won't be back.

The food was good and Justin our server was very attentive and helpful. Unfortunately the first look the floors were dirty and walls need a fresh coat of paint. The girl at the front desk with a mask told us it would be a few minutes. As she stood there doing nothing for 10 minutes she took us in with many empty booths. I don't understand why it was on her time when we were the paying customers in a near empty restaurant

As always, The Melting Pot provides you with a culinary "experience". 2 hours of pure delight. Fun for all ages. I find the cost a bargain in comparison to the experience and fresh food. It is fun, delicious and out of the ordinary. And I will happily address a few negative reviews I have read. Atmosphere: yes, this place is graceful aging. The seat cushions are pretty much nonexistent. However, the server did say they plan on a future remodel. Lighten up people.... things get old. Remodeling is expensive! Tough meat: I say "learn to cook". If your meat was tough, you overcooked it. Or perhaps try cutting the meat in half. Many of the pieces are bigger than bite size. I can assure all of you, the steak is very good quality. No flavor: Did we eat at the same restaurant? Either your taste buds are numb from cigarettes smoking or you're a very typical salty food lover. Everything we ate was a punch in the face of flavor! Left Hungry: How is that possible? If you can truly say you left hungry, you need to be concerned with your physical health. Obviously overweight and unhealthy. Cost: seriously? $130-$200 for two people spending 2-3 hours of fun and enjoyment. In downtown Portland.... Devouring a mountain of high quality food. If you think this is expensive..... you clearly are not use to going out on the town. To all of you reading this... take the negative comments with a grain of salt. Try this place one time and you will understand how fun it actually is.

I had high expectations for my dining experience at The Melting Pot, but unfortunately, I found it to be somewhat underwhelming. I ordered the cheese and one a la carte option. While the cheese dip was nicely presented with fruits and vegetables for dipping, I found it to be a bit underwhelming for the price vs the portion size. Taste meh at best. The a la carte option we chose was the Pacific Rim, and while the six different sauces were a nice touch, I felt that the portion sizes were quite small. Again over-price and taste meh at best. While the staff was friendly and accommodating, I found the overall experience to be lackluster and not quite worth the high price point. Although The Melting Pot delivered what was advertised, I expected a more unique and memorable dining experience.

So, before I begin, I have never been here before or anything quite like it. At first, I was a bit put off about it. I will give it 3.5 to 4 because I liked the idea of it. The service was very good, the atmosphere was nice. The fondue was great! The food itself was ok. I just could not get past boiling all the different entrees in the same pot, which made everything taste the same. The presentation was great, but for a table of 4, it got cluttered quickly. Again, I enjoyed the experience but will go just for the fondue and dessert next time.