202 West NC Highway 54
Durham, NC 27713
(919) 544-6358
Interior View
This is a review of a fondue restaurant called Melting Pot located in Durham, North Carolina. They recently moved from a location directly across from Southpoint Mall to the other side of the highway. It's not really easy to find since our GPS took us the opposite side of the strip mall where it's located. It's on the left side of Kroger. We have been to their old location many times and we use to frequent the Raleigh location before the Durham location opened. Since it's so expensive, we only go one to three times a year for our anniversary and our birthdays. Also, it's difficult for my husband to sit still for a two to three hour dinner. I love leisurely four course dinners, so it's a real delight for me! It will take a minimum of two hours for their three and four course meals. It can be done in about two hours, if you order as soon as the wait staff arrives and you ask for two more fondue forks per person during the main course. I recommend allowing yourself time for a three hour meal, so that you don't have to rush. If you only have two hours, go with the three course meal instead and order right away. We frequent the Durham location the most since they have lunch hours whereas the Raleigh location is only open for dinner except during the holidays. The Durham location is open Monday through Friday from 5 pm to 10 pm. Saturday they are open from noon to 10 pm and Sunday they are open from noon to 9 pm. I highly recommend you make reservations for their dinner hours. You may be able to get a table during lunch without a reservation. We were seated right away when we arrived for our 2 pm reservation last month. We were also guests this year back in June at their old location.
We knew what we wanted, so we ordered right away. Often they change the menu, so you may want to look online to decide what you would like prior to arriving at the restaurant. They have private booths for two which are very cozy, and dimly lit. Also, they now have a section with a more open atmosphere with larger booths and natural light as shown above. If you want a private booth, be sure to ask for that when you make your reservation. That's where we sat. I ordered the Land & Sea and Hubby ordered the French Quarter which both feature four courses. The four courses are cheese fondue, salad, meat & seafood and dessert. For the cheese fondue we usually choose the Fiesta which features aged cheddar, emmenthaler, lager beer, salsa and jalapeño. It's served with bread, chips, apples, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower as shown below:
Fiesta Cheese Fondue
It's so very tasty, a real treat. I like dipping the bread in it the most, followed by the chips. Be careful, when you get to the bottom it will be much hotter. I recommend keeping anything you didn't eat for other servings. The apple is wonderful dipped in the chocolate for dessert. You can also eat the vegetables with your main course, cooking them if you prefer.
The second course is salad. Hubby always orders the Caesar and I always order the House Salad with the house dressing. Their house dressing is scrumptious! You can even purchase a bottle of it to take home. Their salads are always crisp and fresh. I recommend asking for a bit more salad dressing, they haven't been using much of it lately or you could ask for it on the side. Here's photos of our delicious salads with freshly ground pepper added:
Caesar Salad
House Salad with House Dressing
The third course is the most time consuming. You'll be cooking your own meat and seafood. You'll want to get out your phone or watch to time your cooking, so that you are sure it's cooked properly. You'll also need to chose what liquid you want to cook your food in. We always get the Bourguignonne since we love to fry the mushrooms and shrimp in batter. Below you can see our uncooked meat and seafood:
Land & Sea - $39.95 (Four Courses)
The Land & Sea comes with filet mignon, pacific white shrimp and herb-crusted chicken. Sometimes I'll skip the steak and order twice as much chicken since I absolutely love their curry sauce and it's so scrumptious on the chicken. Below is the French Quarter which features cajun filet mignon, cajun pacific white shrimp, smoky andouille sausage and cajun chicken: 
French Quarter - $42.95 (Four Courses)
Hubby absolutely loves the spices they use and the sausage is a real treat. If you're a first timer, the wait staff will instruct you on how long to cook your food and what all the dips and sauces are. You must ask them for instructions on how to stuff and fry the mushrooms, oh my gosh, it's so delicious! Also, place the potatoes in the oil right away since they take the longest to cook. After three courses you will be very full and you may or may not want to go for the forth course. Sometimes we don't order dessert since three courses is very filling. If you are only going a few times a year though, I recommend not skipping the forth course, just arrive very hungry. So then the forth course comes along and we usually chose the Flaming Turtle. It features milk chocolate, caramel and candied pecans. They light it on fire with alcohol for this special effect:
Flaming Turtle
It comes with a large selection or goodies to dip in the chocolate. As you can see below it comes with banana, pound cake, Rice Krispies Treats, strawberry, brownie, blondie, pineapple, toasted coconut covered marshmallows and cocoa covered marshmallows. In addition, they serve some cheesecake, if it's a special occasion and you tell the wait staff at the beginning of your meal when they ask. Look at all the yumminess:
Dessert
Most people visiting the Melting Pot are celebrating a special occasion. This is what they served me for my birthday in September:
Happy Birthday
We had a belated Wedding Anniversary dinner in June since we were relocating back to an area that has Melting Pot restaurants and it was worth the wait. There aren't that many locations across the country and it's really our go to place to celebrate. Here's the wonderful creation they presented to us during our Wedding Anniversary dinner:
Happy Anniversary
To our surprise, they generously presented us with champagne at the end of my birthday celebration meal:
Champagne with Strawberry
Have a PEACEful Day!
Everything was so very delicious and as always it was a wonderful experience. The wait staff is very attentive and friendly, they only hire the best. If you are planning on visiting soon, be sure to sign up now for their emails to receive notifications of when they are offering discounted meals. Make sure that you pick the location you prefer, since each restaurant has different specials. They also make announcements on their Facebook page. If you sign up for Club Fondue, they will send you a coupon via email for free dessert for your family birthdays and your anniversary. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring my birthday coupon for a free box of six chocolate covered strawberries. I've had them before, they are very tasty.
I highly recommend this restaurant chain and the Durham location. What's your favorite splurge restaurant for special occasions? Before you go, be sure to check out my review of the Raleigh location.
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Have a PEACEful Day!
1 comment
I've heard of Melting Pot before but never really knew what it was about until reading your post. Looks like it'd be a fun eating experience.
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