Last night DJ and I joined some friends at The Melting Pot to celebrate my cousin Nicole's birthday. This was our first time there but not for some of the others we went with. It's in Darien which, by the way, is my absolute new favorite town in Connecticut. Now I realize that I will probably never be able to live in Darien, but it's a good goal to have. Maybe if DJ writes the next Harry Potter. Anyway, we took the Merritt to get there. It wasn't a bad ride at all. We got there a lot faster than I would've thought. Darien has a train station, is close to Norwalk, is close to New York, has a cute and quaint downtown, and is near the Trumbull mall. Can't go wrong. We went up with Josh and Mirissa. The restaurant has a parking lot and is located near a bunch of little shops and cafe-type places. I was surprised to see that all of them were closed because it was only around 5:00. Who knows what these people do in these towns. Either way, I can't wait to plan my next trip there.
We arrived a little early so we waited in the bar area. It seemed dead at the bar but then when we walked into the actual restaurant portion, it was packed! The configuration of the restaurant was odd. It seemed like you had to walk down these weird hallways and none of the rooms were very big. The owner did tell us that they want to expand and are hoping to open a new location soon. Possibly near Buckland Hills Mall. There were 10 of us and we were seated at one of those half booth - half tables. It was a snug fit but wasn't too bad. Naturally, Josh and DJ squashed into the booth while Mirissa and I sat across on the table side. We were given our menus and our drink orders were taken. I had the "deep south tea" which read as a southern twist to a Long Island tea. It was delicious. I checked with the waiter before ordering. I don't quite remember which liquors were used in this cocktail but it looked really cool. It was layered so it looked like green, white, and red from the bottom up. Very good. We were confused by the food menu and the whole fondue concept. Marla tried to steer us in the right direction but we just went on our own; live and learn.
They offer a 4-course meal so that's what DJ, Mirissa, and I did. Josh had to go it alone due to his allergy. Let's just say he is much braver than I. We ended up ordering the same thing. So our 4 course thing was around $40. This included a cheese fondue (we chose the bacon jalapeno) with bread, veggies, and apples, a salad of choice (out of 4 options), an individual meal, and a dessert fondue.
The cheese fondue was delicious. They bring a pot over and mix up the fondue of your choice right in front of you. DJ and I must have popped a whole bottle of Lactaid that night. Which it may be TMI, but I did not have to use the bathroom at all that night! Our table was very large so it had three "burners" for the pots. We had the bacon jalapeno- fabulous and Nicole's pot had the classic alpine. They give you the fondue forks and you can dip raw veggies, breads, and apple chunks. It was very tasty. After they clear your pots away, they bring out the salad. I chose the Caprese (fresh mooz and tomato) while the others in my 4-course chose the house salad. It was good but not the best choice. I already had a pot of cheese fondue and then I added some fresh mooz to the mix. Next time I'll get the house. And then came the part of the night I did not like...
They bring out whatever protein you chose for your main entree raw. Yes, raw. Our option had chicken, shrimp, and steak. I wasn't really a fan of having to handle these raw meats and having to worry about contaminating my food. You choose a type of broth and they put that in the pots. Our waiter told us that anything that walks would take 2 1/2 minutes to cook and anything that swims would take about a minute and a half. Now I know this is wrong. How could chicken take the same amount of time to cook as steak? I'll answer that for you. It doesn't. Those meats did not cook within that time. This also dragged out the time of the meal because you have to wait for your meal to cook about two pieces at a time. Our broth was the coq au vin, which I thought would have been lovely but it just added to the confusion. The red wine in the broth turned all of the meats purple so it was a challenge to know if it was cooked or not, so I was a nervous wreck with every bite of chicken. I was not a fan of the entree portion of the meal. It is cool, in a way, to cook your food in the fondue pot but you're essentially just boiling all of your meats. Boiled dinners suck. That's why people don't do them anymore. The chicken freaked me out and the steak tasted a little too meaty for me. I find when you have a high quality meat that it tastes too meaty. I can't quite describe it. It tastes like the smell of raw meat. Just give me some "can be eaten by humans" taco bell meat and I'm set. Kidding. Well, sort of. I do enjoy a taco bell and I don't always like those grass-fed organic beefs, but I still consider myself to be a bit of a food snob. So I didn't eat all of my steak but I did go to town on the shrimp. The shrimp were safely cooked and delicious! They also give you about 6-8 different dipping sauces that you can dip your meats and veggies in. My favorite was the teriyaki followed by the cocktail sauce. Lots of horseradish.
After the entree, they brought out a dessert menu. We chose the classic fondue- chocolate and peanut butter. Marla and Joe had the turtle fondue and Nicole had the yin-yang. I have to just say that I absolutely loved it! I'm not a huge fan of dessert but for some reason I could not stop eating this. They bring out a whole tray of dipping items- Rice Krispy Treats, blondies, brownies, pound cake, bananas, strawberries, pineapple, marshmallows, and I requested some apple slices. The cup with the apple slices had a hair on it. It grossed me out.... but I'm not going to lie, I ate them anyway. The hair wasn't touching any of the apples and it was more of lash or loose eyebrow hair. I could not stop. If it wasn't getting late and the waitstaff were not rushing us out because they had a party of 20 coming in after us, I would've burned my tongue from licking the fondue pot clean. It was good.
To sum up, I will definitely go back again. I will either skip out on the entree and just order cheese, salad, and dessert, or I will only get shrimp. No more chicken or steak for me. I will continue to ask for extra apples, I will order the deep south tea again, and I will pack my Lactaid again just in case. It's a great place to go if you are looking for an activity to do while you eat. You are no longer just limited to hibachi. I also love Darien so maybe I'll make a day out of it. I definitely would not recommend going there in a large group because of the tight quarters or if you are on a tight schedule. If you have the time and want to go out with a total of 4 or 6 people, then you're golden. While we were there, there were some girls with their parents out for their birthday. They were ridiculously loud and obnoxious. I would say they were about 13 years old? Once they left it was much nicer but overall, I had a great time. I'm very happy to be have been introduced to this restaurant so thank you Nicole and Jim for doing so. Check this place out! Until my next bite..
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