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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I’m all about the cheese fondue! Yummm!!
No matter how great the food, I ALWAYS make dessert (and chocolate) the priority. And if I can have dessert first, all the better! 🙂
chocolate – chocolate – chocolate!
I’d enjoy the chocolate course all by myself, as my husband doesn’t like chocolate.
I love the melting pot! I went with my husband for our one year wedding anniversary last year. I am hoping to get to go for my birthday this February. I love the dessert course. We had s’mores last time. I also really enjoy the salad with the seasoning that they provide.
CHEEEESSSEEEE!!!
All of the courses look absolutely delicious, but I would most look forward to the desert!!! Yum – now I really want to try that Creme brule!! It would be awesome to win the gift card 🙂 thanks for sharing!!!
I have actually never had fondue, but I am a cheese lover-so probably the cheese!!
CHOCOLATE dessert!! Yes Please!! =) I love the melting pot!!
The dessert fondue! Chocolate fondue is my absolute favorite!
Cheese! Definitely!
Cheese please!!!
I LOVE the melting pot! I have only eaten there once…but loved the melted peanut butter fondue for dessert, and I would love to have it again 🙂 What a fun date!
The chocolate of course……
Would LOVE to win this we were just talking about a weekend trip to do some shopping at the new outlets in Oklahoma city and one of the stops I also want to make would be to the melting pot there.
Definitely the Chocolate!
I have never been! I would love to try the cheese. I recently expanded my food choices and cheese is one of them 🙂
I would love the chocolate fondue!
Entree!!!!! AND the exact one that you got. YUUUUUUMMMMMMM!!!!!
I would be most excited for the cheese course, definitely! The skinny dipping menu sounds pretty great too, though!
I’d probably devour the entire meal, but I’d really enjoy the entree course! I love how the slow pace of cooking each piece would allow for some quality time together and great conversation!
I would LOVE to try the options off the new skinny dipping menu, especially the chocolate selections!
Apples with Cheese with Bread. Chocolate with more chocolate. Shrimp with teriyaki. More cheese and definitely more chocolate.
We have one of those in my town and I can’t believe I’ve never tried it! Seeing this post makes me want to go there, now! I would absolutely have ordered the brie and bacon with the apple bread sandwich 🙂 mmmm
I love every course at the Melting Pot, but especially their salads, I crave them!!!!!! I’ve even bought their dressing to recreate at home, of course it didn’t taste as good as when someone else prepares it for you 🙂
At first I was going to say the entree course, but upon thinking about it more… CHEESE course I love the sound of trying it with the apples!!
I have never been but I would probably say the cheese and chocolate! Two of my favorite things!
Oh man! I love the melting pot!!! I love the chocolate course!! 🙂
I would definitely look forward to the dessert…..but major calorie-burning workout beforehand of course!! 🙂
Definitely cheese! The brie and bacon sounds aaaaaamazing!!!
I’ve never been to the Melting Pot but I would love to go sometime! I’m going to say cheese!!! 🙂
I would look forward to the cheese course for sure!! I can never get enough cheese =)
I love the Melting Pot! Of course I’d have to choose the cheese course!
I’ve always wanted to go to the melting pot! I think I’d enjoy the cheese course the most :]
YUM! I would have to say it would be a tie between the cheese and the chocolate, those are two favorite things! I would love to go to the melting pot, I’ve never been!
The cheese course. Always the cheese course!
The Melting Pot has a smores chocolate dessert that is to die for! Well worth the extra run you have to put in. Try it next time, it’s amazing.
No question…the cheese. Bacon+brie = heaven!
The cheese 🙂
I can’t choose between the cheese and chocolate because they are both so delicious…as well as the entrees! But, this is definitely a place where I save room for dessert because their chocolate fondue mixes are superb!
My favorite course is the cheese!!!!!!! Oh my goodness, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!
I’ve not yet been to the Melting Pot, but we talk about going all the time! I would have to say I’m looking forward to the cheese course the most, especially with some veggies 🙂
It would be hard to pick! I think I would have to go with the meat actually. This is an awesome giveaway that I would love to win because I have been wanting to take my fiance out on a fancy date for a while but we are saving for our wedding in April so it just hasn’t been in the cards lately but I have had my eye on the Melting Pot!
seriously what is better than a dinner made up of cheese and chocolate. I cannot really think of anything! This would be so amazing to do again on a non-occasion night 🙂
I just passed the Melting Pot up in Myrtle Beach yesterday and thought about your blog! I’ve never been but I love cheese, so I’m thinking I would love the bacon & brie! I also love chocolate and anything sweet-I’m torn, I just want it all!
The cheese!!!! You can dip anything and everything in it 🙂
For me it would definitely be the chocolate! My fiancée was just reminiscing about how when he was little his Nana would make fondue for the whole family and they would all sit outside around the campfire and make fondue for dessert! I would love to take him on a date to do so!
OOoh love it! I’d love to try something off the skinny dipping menu but probably some sort of cheese would be my favorite. I’ve been to a melting pot once before and it was really fun and different.
I love the spinach artichoke cheese!!!
I LOVE the apple and cheese combination!
I’d definitely love the chocolate part the most!