Melting Pot (best fancy date night)

One of the very first fancy dates that Kayla and I went on was to the Melting Pot in Minneapolis. This would have been in 2014. We were both around 19 years old, so no cocktail reports from that date. Even though that first date was such a long time ago, one thing that I still remember is how hard the staff worked to make it feel special.

One unfortunate trend that seems to be increasing in fancier restaurants is the idea that customers want a casual experience. I remember when going to Olive Garden meant that you felt under-dressed if you wore jeans or a shirt without a collar. Now we can walk into a place like Pittsburgh Blue and spend $50 per dish and get the same experience as if we went to Texas Roadhouse.

This is hard because there is still a need for restaurants that feel fancy. There’s a certain romantic spark that is dependent on trying to make a night feel special. All too often, Kayla and I will get dressed up, spend a ton of money on expensive food, and walk out feeling underwhelmed because the restaurant staff treated us like any other customer that just wanted a place to make them feel less hungry than when they walked in.

What sets Melting Pot ahead of the other places that we have visited is that they genuinely want to make your night feel special. The very first time we visited, we were broke college students that weren’t old enough to drink. Yes that matters since so many servers depend on tip income based on a percent of the total bill. Alcohol is the biggest “fluff” to add to a bill, and we couldn’t order any of it. Of every table of customers in the building, we were going to be the lowest profit. They didn’t care at all.

Apple in Cheese fondue. Picture is from our very first trip to Melting Pot in 2014.

I can’t describe how well they treated us. Prompt service, excellent table manners, and speaking to us like we were important These little things are not much extra effort on their own, but they still exceed the service that we receive from other establishments. If you need to make a night feel special, there isn’t a better place in the Twin Cities area that I can recommend more highly than the Melting Pot.

We did have one bad experience there. On our second date to Melting pot, around 2015, we got all dressed up and excited to re-experience our night from the previous year. Our server talked to us like we were friends on the street. We had to continually remind her that we had ordered things that weren’t being brought to the table. We were celebrating that night and she didn’t care to make it feel special. We left feeling disappointed.

The following year, I called to make a reservation (instead of booking online like I usually do). This visit was to celebrate our dating anniversary. Kayla had turned out to be the most special woman I could have ever asked for, I wanted to make our anniversary something unforgettable. I spoke with the host and mentioned that last year we had a terrible server that ruined the experience for us.

The host was very receptive and said that she insisted that I speak with the manager on duty prior to her booking our reservation. The manager was awesome. Before I could repeat what I had explained to the host, he asked me “was this server’s name (name of server)? I responded that, yes, that was the name and that I was shocked that he could just randomly choose the name of a server that had served us a year prior. He told me that in his tenure at Melting Pot that they have only received complaints about one server ever. He assured me that she was no longer employed there. He explained that he completely understood why I would call and ask to have a different server. Not to worry, he said that to make up for it that he would book us in a section hosted by an experienced staff person and comp us a percentage of our meal.

When we arrived, they sat us in a private booth with a curtain. The table was covered in rose petals and our server told us that she read notes that explained that we had sub-par service on our previous visit, She took great care of us and left us completely awestruck once again. They even took a picture of us and framed it for free. They more than made up for our one negative experience.

Photo of Isaac and Kayla celebrating their anniversary at Melting Pot.

Any business that takes the feedback from 2 broke college students that seriously and puts in that kind of effort to rebuild our loyalty should be an icon to other businesses. It is still the best example of customer service that I have experienced yet.

Now that Kayla and I are older and more secure financially, we can’t wait to go back.

So there you go. A whole restaurant review that didn’t focus at all on food or beverage. The experience at Melting Pot alone stands for itself. The food is great too, but it isn’t the star. The customer service and dedication to creating the perfect night out is unrivaled. We are so happy that we gave it a shot.

Photo of the picture taken at Melting Pot still on display on Isaac and Kayla’s bookshelf.