The Melting Pot, Annapolis MD: Bad food at very high prices

[axelaxe]

Visited the Annapolis Melting Pot on Saturday night for my daughter's birthday. Although we were surprised at how bad the food was, we were shocked when we got the check: $203 for two glasses of wine, 4 softdrinks with two / three refills, 2 cheese fondues with bread and 5 fondue entres. The entres we ordered were $20 to $22 each and each person in our group ordered one. The best we could figure is that they either charged us by the minute (we were there for 3 hours!!!) or they were charging the kids $5 each for lemonade refills.

Anyway, unless you really love the novelty of fondue, I would suggest finding someplace else. I honestly can't remember a more DIS-satisfying dining experience.

[Cathy]

Was the food so bad that you merely ordered and then drank beverages and then did not eat and left most of the food?

When you were ordering, did you not look at the prices?

[rainroosty]

"the check: $203 for two glasses of wine, 4 softdrinks with two / three refills, 2 cheese fondues with bread and 5 fondue entres. The entres we ordered were $20 to $22 each and each person in our group ordered one."

To be honest about it, I read the quoted words above and I was surprised at how low the price was for all that you got. I thought it would cost another hundred dollars....
I like the Melting Pot very much....it's fun and different, and I really love the food. :-)

[sockii]

>The best we could figure

Well, if you were shocked at the price, did you look over the bill to see how exactly it was tallied? Because it should be fairly clear there what each thing cost. I calculate at least about $130 on the 5 entrees+2 cheese fondues, you didn't specify what the wine was per glass (say maybe $7-8 minimum?) and they might have added a fixed service charge for a group of that size.

Not arguing about the quality of their food or lack thereof (though you didn't really explain how or why the food was bad); just that the bill for that size party doesn't seem really that out of line given their pricing and what you ordered.

[roro1831]

And depending on the cooking pot flavor you choose, there is an additional charge for a couple of them, at least one that I know of.
The place is NOT cheap, considering you are doing the cooking. What you are paying for is the experience and the time there. Most meals I have had there tend to last at least two hours. When you aren't flipping tables, you have to make it worth it to have people there that long.