The Melting Pot of Appleton: New Menu and Renovation 2023
The Melting Pot – Appleton recently completed a renovation of their entire guest experience. While a lot has changed, an equal amount has stayed the same. We were invited to try their new Ultimate 5-course Experience menu. Click here for a video recap of our meal and let’s dive into the fondues and fon-don’ts.
In a Bite
Ambiance: Fine Dining Chic
Music: Pop
Service: Friendly
Price: $$$
Food Style: Fondue (duh)
Go Again?: Yes
Top picks at a glance:
David – filet with the ginger plum sauce
Lindsay – Teriyaki steak in ginger plum sauce (or no sauce at all because it’s that good)
Kayla – shrimp with the curry sauce
Disclaimer:
Though we were invited to this meal, our intent is to be fair and balanced. Thank you to Jay and Heidi Supplee and the entire Melting Pot staff for the invite and great experience!
The Whole Plate
If you’ve never been before, the Melting Pot is sandwiched between two car sales lots on the west side of College Ave. It surely classes up that side of the railroad tracks. The brand new sign and outer lights make it easy to find. The Melting Pot claims fine dining so we will be a tad nit picky.
Ambiance
If you’ve been to here prior to the renovation, the layout is pretty much the same: long hallway to the hostess stand, bar lounge for while you wait, flanked by tables and private rooms beyond.
The first change you’ll notice is the colors: less bold and more neutral grays. This is amplified by canvases of black and white photography showcasing local landmarks. Taken by a local photographer, I might add! Weird flex but I knew where every photo was taken. Our favorites were the bald eagle and the airport. These changes turned the atmosphere up a notch.
They had some nice holiday decor. The trees and lights were tasteful. The snowflakes hung from the ceiling felt a little unnecessary and not as classy as the other decor.
You know what is magical, though? The new fire wall. You read that right. Dividing the main dining area is a wall of fire. Don’t worry, no need for an extinguisher, it’s a fog with an red LED backlight. It still looks like wispy flames. It’s a wow centerpiece that also brings some more privacy to the tables. A great addition.
Two other additions worth noting. Every large table now has two induction burners on them for faster cooking and more flavor options for larger parties. Second, for the more intimate parties, they added “Lovers Lane,” an aisle of quarter-round circles for two with only one burner.
The front of house manager gave us a tour of everything before finally seating us in the Globe room at the very back. Named aptly for its globe chandeliers over each table.
Service
Overall, the service is great. Our waitresses were Destiny and Destiny (insert Spongebob joke here for those that would get it). Personable but not over chatty. Waters were filled regularly. It was a set menu for the experience but we did get to choose a pre-dinner cocktail and a salad. Everything came out right.
One major change is the fondue is no longer mixed at the table. It’s mixed in the kitchen, kept warm, and only a dash of ingredients at the table. This change was to try to speed up the dining experience due to complaints of it being too long. Some people near us were sad cause they really enjoyed that part of the experience. We can understand both perspectives.
Food
Let’s dip into the food: their ultimate five course celebration meal with two cocktails mixed in.
The first course is just a bite. It’s a cherry tomato on a spoon with bacon, their signature Green Goddess dressing, and single chive. It’s a well composed little starter.
The first of the two new cocktails came next: the Tropic Haven Punch. RumHaven coconut rum, sour mix, pineapple juice, passion fruit puree, blue curacao, and Red Bull served bubbly and smoking thanks to some dry ice. While fun to look at, it was very, very sweet and red bull dominated. Not something we would order again.
Next out is the cheese fondue course with something new. You normally get to choose what cheese you get but we were given the Wisconsin Cheddar, a classic mix of aged cheddar, swiss, and some flavor bombs. This is served with the standard first dunks but now you get the Double Dippers!
The Double Dippers are a fun addition to the appetizer. It’s six textures to dip after you’ve dunked in the cheese. From best to worst: pickle chips, bacon, parm, green onion, everything bagel seasoning, and beet fries. I love everything bagel seasoning but this one was too salty for the cheese. The beet chips were a great crunch but the beet flavor is prominent so you better like beets. Pickle chips? Perfect acid and crunch add to the cheese.
Word of warning: even though they melt the cheese together in the kitchen now, don’t go dipping right away. You still have to let it heat up a bit, otherwise it won’t stick to the dunkers. We struggled with some broccoli early on…
Following the cheese is the salad. We had our choice so we had Caesar, California, and orchard on the table. I personally enjoyed the orchard with its candied walnuts and apple slices. Lindsay and I both thought our salads were slightly overdressed but we’d rather have it overdressed than underdressed.
Between courses we had the other new cocktail: The 1975. Aptly named for the year the Melting Pot first started, it’s a take on the French 75. The drink is poured at the table into your martini glass with cotton candy and edible glitter. The cotton candy disappears in a blink and replaced by the shimmering glitter. Give it a stir with the rock candy stick and you just got wow’d. While we were impressed with the presentation and liked it slightly better than the Tropic Haven Punch, we’d still prefer to try other drinks before we’d order it again.
Prior to the meal our party of three tried the Lemon Berry Mojito, Love Martini, and Modern Old Fashioned. We felt that the cocktails need the most improvement on the menu. We’d be curious to hear what you think.
The entrees were served next and we had our choice of cooking method. With two stovetops per table, you can get fancy with the cast iron grill and a stock pot, or double stock pots! We went double stock with the Coq Au Vin and the Mojo. I wanted to try the tempura fried but got out-voted.
Unique to the celebration menu is the center-cut filet; my favorite part of the entire meal. Big cubes of tender steak to simmer until just medium-rare and you’ve got yourself a flavor bomb ready for saucing. In addition to the filet, you get teriyaki steak, herb-crusted chicken, and shrimp. There is a step above this option that includes a lobster tail but we did not try that.
The true star of the show though is the new dessert: chocolate explosion fondue. You thought your cocktails had some razzle dazzle? Shaboom! Now you’ve got fireworks coming out of your chocolate fondue. Do I wish it was chocolate fireworks? Yes. But people usually like to keep those clothes stain free so I understand.
The surprise kicker though is the red velvet bundt cake with chocolate chips nestled in the raspberry chocolate fondue to hold the firework. It was deliciously flavored with a tender crumb. You still get the full tray of classic Melting Pot desserts. That bowl was squeaky clean once we were done. There is a birthday cake version of this as well with confetti cake that I’m interested in trying the next time we come.
Taking It to Gojo (get it? Because we ordered Mojo?)
Our experience at the new and improved Melting Pot was truly the ultimate one. The new look matches the fine dining experience. The new food options bring a fun twist the familiar dip and dunk experience. While there are a few cracks when held under the fine dining microscope, new and old guests alike will be delighted to enjoy an evening at the Melting Pot. We will definitely be fonduing it again sometime.
