Melting Pot Restaurant

The Melting Pot is a fun place to celebrate a birthday, anniversary or a special date night. The fondue experience makes for a pleasant evening, and the relaxed pace gives plenty of opportunity for conversation with family or friends.

Although the Melting Pot is a chain of restaurants, the fondue experience provides a fun evening that makes this Uptown neighborhood restaurant in the Uptown shopping center anything but run of the mill.

The restaurant's interior has warm lighting and consists of many small, intimate spaces, each containing a few booths spaced far enough apart so that conversations are kept private. Booths are deep, well cushioned and comfortable. In the center of each table is a cooking area.

The menu has three levels of courses, each containing of a cheese fondue, a salad, an entree, and dessert. Entree choices for dipping range from vegetables to lobster, and everything in between. There are vegetarian and gluten free options

The cooking itself is the heart of the experience. Fondue pots are assembled with ingredients in the kitchen, then brought to the table to cook. For first timers, the helpful wait staff explains the process. The cheese course consists of a delicious wine-flavored swiss cheese sauce with plenty of bite sized pieces of bread, vegetables and apple for dipping.

The entrees are great for sharing with someone who has the same taste. We had a bit of a problem with one of us being vegetarian, so we got two separate entrees. The vegetarian course lacked flavor and seemed overpriced, but my companion's seafood entree was good.

But the dessert fondue makes the meal worthwhile. Choose your chocolate, from dark to milk, and enjoy it with strawberries, marshmallows and truffles, each cut into savory bite sized pieces. The dessert is so good many locals skip the meals and come just for the chocolate experience.

The Melting Pot receives high marks for its service, as the wait staff gave great instructions and efficiently managed multiple tables when there was a crowd. Overall, the Melting Pot is a welcome addition to the Albuquerque dining scene.