If you’re into the whole table side cooking experience, The Melting Pot is your spot.  Located just west of The Galleria, The Melting Pot offers a very unique experience.   There are several dining options at your disposal.  You can go a la carte or select one of the four-course dinners.  If you want to get a proper fondue experience, I suggest the four-course meal.  It will run about $40 per person, but it’s a bit more cost effective to go this route. 
 
The waiter approaches and gives a five minute dissertation about what is about to go down.  Be sure to pay attention… it will come in handy later.  There’s only one fondue pot, so go with someone who has similar tastes or someone open to try anything.  Here’s a run-down of the four-courses me and a friend enjoyed.
 
First Course (Appetizer)
 
The Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue offers a blend of Italian cheese (Fontina) and German cheese (Butterkase), white wine, spinach, artichokes, garlic and other seasonings.  It’s all combined in a steel fondue pot and left to melt into an amazing dip.  The fondue is served with three varieties of bread, tortilla chips, fresh cauliflower, crunchy broccoli and green apples.  Wait a minute….apples and cheese?  Yes, apples and cheese. I was a little reluctant because quite frankly it didn’t sound like a great combination to me, but my inquisitive side took over.  Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed the apple/cheese combination the most. The tartness of the green apple saved this starter from being your same old predictable spinach artichoke dip.  Here’s to trying new things!!
 
Second Course (Salad)
 
The Melting Pot features four different salads that are staples to the menu and one salad (Big Night Out Salad) that is seasonal in nature.  All salads appeared safe, so I went with something that was a little on the exciting side — the California salad.  The highlight of this salad is the homemade raspberry black walnut vinaigrette.  The taste begins with a little sweetness and ends with a subtle hint of tartness.  If I had to do it over, I would certainly choose the California salad again.
 
Third Course (Entrée)
 
Boiled meat in stew/soup — expected.  Boiled seafood — irresistible.  Boiled chicken or beef in a seasoned broth — not quite my thing.  When I think about the entire fondue experience, I imagine grilled meats cut into perfect dipping-sized morsels and served with a variety of hot fondue sauces.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  The Melting Pot offers four broths to infuse flavor into your meat during the boiling process.  The Mojo, a Caribbean-seasoned broth, was sure to be a great compliment to each of the selected proteins (chicken, beef and shrimp).  So, this is how it goes down. The server combines the ingredients for the broth in the fondue pot.  You wait for approximately 8 minutes, until the temperature of the mixture is hot enough for cooking.  When the broth bursts into a slow boil, pierce your protein of choice with a fondue fork, place it in the boiling liquid for about 5 minutes (less for seafood), and eat up!!  The entrée is served with four dipping sauces, each enhancing the flavor of your selected meat.

Fourth Course (Dessert) 
 
This is the course that will keep me coming back to The Melting Pot.  There were so many different options in which to choose.  We wanted a little texture, so the Flaming Turtle was our sin of choice.  It’s a simple construction — chocolate, caramel and chopped pecans, flambéed tableside and served with a plethora of dippers.  Love it!!
 
Now, a little birdie told me that The Melting Pot has a great happy hour.   There’s nothing on the menu advertising their specials or even the fact that they offer happy hour, but a quick phone call confirmed this to be true.  Their happy hour features $5/per person cheese fondue, $5/per person chocolate fondue and a variety of drink specials.  Hmmmm…I feel an eat-peat coming on!!