My friends and I had planned a "Girls" night out with our daughters in December to go to the Melting Pot, but...it snowed, so we had to reschedule. We planned to go last Friday, but.....it snowed. Then we rescheduled for last night....but, it snowed! Are we seeing a trend here - maybe that is what is causing all of the snow!!! Our plans! Well we decided to break the pattern last night and actually go.
We had dinner reservations for 12, at 5:30 pm. There were 6 adults and 6 children. We were shown to our table which was in a very nicely decorated back room. We were seated in a long table which was fine, but not conducive to conversation. We ordered the Featured Dinner which was an "Alpine" special. It came with your choice of cheese dip, salads, the Feast - which is a main course of meats and your choice of boiling broth, and your choice of chocolate dessert. (we had a coupon which was dinner for 2 for $65 - or $35 each) At the suggestion of the waitress, we ordered the "mini" feasts for the children which includes all of the above, minus salad and a smaller portion of meats and ravioli for $18.95 each. We figured this made sense because if we added them to the cheese and chocolate portion at $8 a pop we were almost there as it was.
We ordered two bottles of wine a Malbec ($24) and a Pinot Grigio ($19). We were informed it was Wine-Down Wednesday and if you ordered a bottle of wine that was $50 or more it was 1/2 price. BUT we couldn't use our coupon, so we nixed that.
NOW the saga began...............THREE hours later, yes, THREE, we were finally paying our check. The cheese came out promptly and we had four pots and had the Cheddar Cheese Dip in 3 of them and Swiss Cheese in the 4th. This was served with apples, bread and veggies for dipping. It was very good. Our salads were served with this course. We all ordered the Alpine salad and I have to say, it was really, really good with candied almonds, cheese and a shallot dressing. Then the wait began....
About 20 minutes later our main course or Feast arrived. This was a broth like mixture that came to a boil in front of us and we were served a platter of raw meat that included chicken, beef tenderloin, ravioli's, sausage, and shrimp. The kids actually loved this part of cooking their own food. All of this was served with an assortment of sauces and mustard with a bowl of veggies (broccoli, potato's, and mushrooms) thrown into the broth for cooking. It was a ton of food and I enjoyed it as well. The meats that were pre-marinate were much tastier to me, and had a better flavor. The sauces were ok - I liked the mustard the best. The veggies were ok - not great, but there was a ton of food....so I skipped them after tasting each type. Our dishes were cleared......
Then the REALLY long wait began. Seriously it was 40 minutes until our chocolate desserts were brought out. We ordered the special one - which was chocolate and peanut butter, a flaming turtle sundae type, and flaming marshmallow oreo cookie one. They were served with an assortment of dipping items such as strawberries, banana's, pound cake, rice krispie bars, cheesecake, brownies, and strawberries. Of course this was what we were all waiting for and it was GREAT....but at 8:00 pm - it was getting really late.....I had asked for our check to be given to us before we even got our chocolate dessert. It showed up after we had already finished our dessert. We figured out how much it was per person - split up 6 ways and provided our credit cards. 30 minutes later, yes, 30 minutes!!! We got our credit card slips to sign! They actually sent another server back to tell us they were having a slight problem and it would be a little longer for our checks. At this point, our daughters were literally dancing around the room....the poor couple who were seated in our private room with us must have wondered what sin they had committed to be stuck in a room with us! I have to say they were good sports about it. We asked for the manager who gave us $15 free chocolate coupons for another visit......as I sat there fuming about my 3+ hour dinner.....it occurred to me that no matter how good the food was, and it was, fresh, tasty, and fun.....I probably would not come back. And I told her that - she then amended the free chocolate to dinner for 2 on them for each of us. That was better and we all accepted it. But to be honest.......I have to really consider whether or not I will actually use it! I mean - we cooked our own food - they didn't even have to do that....and I know they must prep cut the stuff. That was a LONG evening thank goodness that school was delayed for two hours so I could let the Pea sleep in!
Anyone else have a similar or different experience - was this the norm or an anomoly?
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