Ryan and I went out on a fondue date last night!
Our first date night of 2013 took us to The Melting Pot in downtown Ocala.
Downtown Ocala is still decorated for the holidays, so we had fun walking around the square before dinner and taking in the holiday sights before they’re put away until next year.
Once we meandered over to the restaurant, we were immediately greeted by the hostess and escorted to a cozy booth.
Drinks!
Tipsy Turtle + Blackberry Bourbon Bramble
Ryan and I planned our date night after I received a press release from The Melting Pot inviting me to try some of the dishes on the restaurant’s new Skinny Dipping menu. The Skinny Dipping menu features three courses – a salad, fondue entrée and dark chocolate fondue dessert – for less than 700 calories. I selected a salad and entrée off the Skinny Dipping menu last night and loved both of my choices! (I veered off the Skinny Dipping menu for the cheese and chocolate fondue courses.)
Our meal began with the cheese fondue!
Ryan and I selected the special of the day which included a big pot of brie and bacon cheese fondue, served with bread, tart apple slices and fresh vegetables for dipping.
Oh cheese fondue, you are so fabulous!
Our waitress suggested placing a piece of bread and an apple slice on our fondue forks at the same time before dipping it into the cheese and the flavor combination was fantastic!
Salads were delivered to our table shortly after we finished the cheese course.
I ordered the spinach salad topped with baby Portobello mushrooms, red onion, chopped bacon, Roma tomatoes and a warm burgundy shallot vinaigrette. Though this salad came off the Skinny Dipping menu, it didn’t taste lightened up at all! The toppings were quite generous and the dressing was delicious.
When it came time to order our entrees, I decided to go for a combination of shrimp and teriyaki-marinated sirloin.
At first I thought the portion looked rather small, but as I started eating, I filled up fast. (I think I had a head start on filling my belly with the cheese course!)
Every entrée comes with fresh vegetables to cook in your fondue pot and I couldn’t get enough of the mushrooms! They were the best, especially when dipped in the various sauces.
Ryan and I both agreed that the five dipping sauces that came with our entrees added so much to our meal. My favorite two sauces were the teriyaki and the mild, yogurt-based curry sauce.
And then it was time for dessert! The shining star of any fondue experience!
It didn’t take much convincing from our waitress for us to order the crème brûlée white chocolate fondue for dessert.
Caramel shavings were sprinkled atop creamy white chocolate and set afire before we cracked the caramel coating with our fondue forks and dipping items.
I am normally not a huge white chocolate fan, but the caramel component of this fondue took it to another level. Ryan and I used our spoons to get every last bit of chocolate out of our fondue pot. Incredible!
And now here’s the really fun part!
One of YOU will win a $100 gift card to The Melting Pot to enjoy your own fantastic fondue experience! (To find a location near you, you can visit The Melting Pot’s Locations page.)
To enter this giveaway, please tell me what course you would look forward to enjoying the most if you won the gift card. Cheese? Chocolate? Entrée?
I will randomly select a winner on Tuesday.
Good luck!!!
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Chocolate chocolate chocolate!!! I’ve never been there but have always been intrigued!
I am a huge fan of the Melting Pot, I always have amazing dinners there! My favorite is always the cheese course.
Their entrees actually look really good!
First of all, downtown Ocala looks like Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls! So cute!
I would definitely choose the dessert course-yum, yum, chocolate!
I love the melting pot and the chocolate is my fave!
Definitely the cheese! EVERYTHING is better with CHEESE!! 🙂
I am a dessert girl so I would love to try all those yummy choices.
Definitely dessert…love the flaming turtle:)
what kind of bag are you carrying? I’m looking for a black handbag and yours looks great. As far as the melting pot, I would want to try the white chocolate fondue.
Cheese fondu is always the best!! I absolutely love the melting pot! 🙂
Normally I would immediately say dessert, but your salad and fresh shrimp and steak looked amazing! I’m not very adventurous with cheese, so ultimately I’d go with the entree because of the sauce choices.
Oh goodness the chocolate portion! I can’t get enough of the marshmallows and strawberries!!
I would love to try their dark chocolate fondue!!
Chocolate fondue by far! I love the white chocolate fondue especially 🙂
Cheese, please!! I’ve never been but have always wanted to go!
I definitely would look forward to the chocolate!!!
A fondue dinner is my family’s Christmas Eve tradition! When I was little I did not like cheese fondue at all but now it is my favorite! But in the end any fondue reminds me of wonderful nights with my family, so I love it all 🙂
The cheese appetizer sounded delicious! I’ve never been to a Melting Pot, it looks fun!
I absolutely love The Melting Pot. In high school, my close group of girlfriends always went during Christmas time to exchange gift. I just recently discovered they have Girls’ Night Out, that I take advantage of with my teacher friends. The cheese and chocolate courses are my fave!! I can pretty much skip the entree part
Yum!! The chocolate and then the cheese is a close second! The Melting Pot is my favorite!
bacon and brie cheese fondue!!!!! that sounds AMAZING
Normally I automatically say the chocolate course, but the brie cheese reminds me of studying abroad in France, so I would pick the cheese course!
I have never been to The Melting Pot but I LOVE cheese! I would love to win this gift card so I could finally give the restaurant a try.
Omg cheese all the way! I love it
I think chocolate should be the main ingredient in every meal! 🙂
I’m totally a desserts kind of gal but the Teriyaki beef sounded soooo good!
I would love to try the cheese course! I have always wanted to go, but the menu just seemed a little pricey..
The entree course looks awesome! I would go there all the time!
I have never been to The Melting Pot and would love to check out the entire menu! If I had to pick, I’d want to try the meat dish with the different sauces (to help me stay on my higher protein resolution…)
I love their desserts!
The entree…mainly for the mushrooms and green godess saucen yumm!
I’d definitely be looking forward to the dessert. But, I’d be excited to try everything since I’ve never been there!
Entree…with dessert coming in a (very!) close second. 🙂
I’ve never been to the Melting Pot..but I’d love to try the chocolate! 😀
I’m all about dessert!
I love the skinny menu idea! My hubby and I are celebrating our two-year anniversary at TMP on the 15th, and I would love to try their entree version. Perfect portion size (and looks fairly guilt free!).
I think the Entree as I am A HUGE fan of shrimp. But everything looked amazing!
loving the chocolate so dessert would definitely be it!
have NEVER been to the Melting Pot, but have heard to come with an empty stomach and an unlimited time frame b/c half of the fun is the experience/ambiance (other half food!)….favorite would be the entree (especially b/c I think this would also be my husband’s favorite as well)…all of those proteins with the various dipping sauces leads to tons of flavor combos 🙂
Have been looking forward to trying Melting Pot for a long long time…..especially the cheese fondue!
The chocolate is always the best part of the meal, but I also enjoy the cheese 🙂
I am definitely a dessert girl! Chocolate all the way. Although they all look delicious
I’m a total cheese-aholic!!! I would love to go for some cheese fondue!
I would be most excited about the dessert!
The melting pot is one of my favorite restaurants! My favorite course has to be the cheese. Yum!
I would probably give the gift card to my parents to use. Date night! Answering for them, I think the cheese fondue would be my dad’s favorite part, and the chocolate my mom’s.
Chocolate…definitely chocolate 🙂
The Melting Pot is one of my favorite places to go. We haven’t been in about four years, because my husband joined the Army and there hasn’t been one close. They just opened one about an hour away and we can’t wait to make the drive to go. All the courses are amazing, but I say the chocolate course is probably my favorite. 🙂
Mmmm….. Hubby and I love The Melting Pot. So hard to pick my favorite course ~ probably chocolate first and runner up… cheese 🙂
My favorite course would be dessert–I love chocolate!