Stay Away from This Place
The Melting Pot, Framingham is OK, if you want to spend an arm and a leg for dinner, all night and you have to cook your own food, and be insulted by poor service.

The cheese fondue is good and gooey, provided the server that you have that evening is paying attention to the consistency. A little too much cheese in the base and you scooping out big blobs of semi-solid greasy yellow stuff onto carrots tat are white from fridge burn (i.e. old and not enough moisture in the storing?). If the server made the cheese correctly, and the bread is somewhat fresh, and the cauliflower isn't brown, and if the carrots aren't white...it's definitely worth what you pay.

The wine list is too extensive for average joe schmoes that want to sit and enjoy a glass of red/white with a meal. Again, if you get a knowledgeable server, you may be in luck with a good wine suggestion; otherwise, they tend to look at the menu and pick the most expensive one and suggest it.
The main meal is OK, if you don't mind doing your own cooking. You get to choose from a pot of boiling water with dried spices dumped in it, or a pot of hot oil in which to fry your meats and veggie in. The times the server rattles off to you when they present are completely off from the time you actually spend cooking all your food. The veggies all take different times to cook enough where they are all palatable, but you are only warned about the potatoes. The more forks you have in the pot, the longer everything takes, and whatever the server tells you, you can overcook in the broth! Tou keep lobster, shrimp or salmon in the pot for too long, they get really tough and mealy, yum!

Chocolate was definitely worth the wait, because everything leading up to that point was such a chore to get through, all you wanted was something simple, a pot of warmed chocolate with a plate of stuff to dip in. The Yin-Yang is definitely the way to go, the dark isn't all that bitter, and the white isn’t all that creamy/milky. And don't be afraid to ask for more dippers, pretty much all your refills are free, but be careful, if you ask for a whole extra plate, they will charge you!

Words of warning however:

1. If you go in for just dessert, the server you have will become very bitchy and snobbish, and ignore you once your pot is dropped off, so make sure you ask for more dipping stuff up front!

2. Stay away from the new male bartender, several of my friends have had horrible drinks from him, including martini's, and all that it is, 3 oz. of pure alcohol poured over ice, and he'd mess them up all the time. I know you're learning and all, but come-on. It's supposed to be upscale, have better service. The girl bartenders, however, are very good. Young, but they know how to make a good drink.

3. And speaking of service, once in a blue moon, you might get one with personality. If you sit there long enough, and believe me, you will, the same canned speech that was exhaled at your table is spit out at the one next to you, and the one next to them, etc. And the forced conversation that they have to make when they come out and "make" your cheese is sometimes so painful, you just want to ask them to please be quiet. The women there are better them the guys, as it is at the bar, so just request one, but good luck. If you become fond of one particular server, don't be surprised if they are gone the next time you go in (if you go back to the establishment - ever). Apparently the turnover there is a bit higher than at most restaurants, which leads me into the last warning.

4. It's not surprising that the restaurant can't keep good help when you meet the manager/owner. There are two of them, and they're related somehow. The server will proudly tell you that they came east to open this one in Framingham from Cincinnati, and after talking to at least one of them, you wonder how the other one managed to stay in business. One manager is snobby, and haughty and thinks he knows everything and is very bullish when he speaks to you. If you have money, he's dripping with personality. The other one? Uhm well, you're lucky if he can make a complete sentence, and again, drips with personality when he finds out you may have money.

So overall, do your homework before you go in, research and don’t be put off by the bad bland-boring service, and pretend you own a house in the Caribbean, and the managers will love you!

Just save your money, or go in with just a big group for cheese and chocolate, or just the chocolate!    [11 Mar 2007 12:18:52]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: the chocolate.

     ­Anonymous