Melting Pot for San Francisco [Moved from S.F. board]
Diagonally across from the Crowns Plaza Hotel...high up on the building at Powell is a banner proclaiming Melting Pot to open.......are there any others in the Bay Area? Is it a local or national chain.....and ultimately is it any good? Fondues and such
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It *is* a chain, and it's actually moderately priced compared to other non-chain fondue restaurants (i.e. La Fondue) that give a more hoshy poshy atmosphere. Down in So Cal, it is often represented in the Entertainment Book, so it can easily cut down the price of the evening by a third. Hopefully they'll have the same discount up in the Bay soon. It's not a bad place to eat at, but is best experienced in a group or a romantic setting. Service can be excruciatingly long in between courses, so hopefully you like the person you're with enough to withstand long conversations with them. You have to go in with the understanding that you are paying for the experience, and not just for melted cheese and bread.
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I'll be in the minority and actually note that I do like the Melting Pot (and my dining friends prefer it over other fondue places, chain or not.) Yes it's pricey, and that's why it's a once-in-a-blue-moon thing for me (and usually only if I have a coupon/discount of some sort.) But I probably would disagree with JK about it being that way overpriced. For us it was about $35pp for a four-course meal --- pricey, sure, but not exorbitant (then again, I'm in LA -- where $50+ pp dinner in Chowhound board barely bats an eye...)
And my friends like it because it's consistently good... which is more than they can say for some of the other local French or Fondue places around.
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rworange
Jul 28, 2006 05:25 AM
Definately a chain. So far more people dislike it than like it.
I stopped by the Sausalito restaurant and asked about it on the board. The restaurant itself in Sausalito is very appealing in terms of ambiance. Here's recent posts prior to the software change when chains were discussed on the SF board.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/300969
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...In SF, I would try Matterhorn first and South Beach Cafe's Wednesday night fondue before Melting Pot ... though I would try Melting Pot before Fondue Fred.
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JK Grence the Cosmic Jester
Jul 27, 2006 07:54 PM
It is a national chain. The quality is nothing special, and they are way, way overpriced. For what you pay for a dinner for four there, you can go out and get everything you need for a fondue dinner (including the fondue pot!) and still have a significant chunk of change left over.
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jupiter
Jul 27, 2006 07:28 PM
I am pretty sure it is a chain, since i was at a conference at Sir Francis Drake and my peer and i kept looking out the window at the sign and fantasizing, and she is from Texas and said that she hoped it was the same chain of fondue places as the one in Dallas (?) if so, the here is the link:
