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 think that the brie with bacon would be AMAZING!!! it makes me hungry just thinking about it!
The dessert course sounds incredible!
Dessert!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love this place!!! The cheese course is always my favorite!! 🙂
By far the chocolate is always the best part!
I woul love the cheese! Mmmmm!
It’s a toss-up between the cheese and chocolate courses…I love cheese but I also love chocolate!
Chocolate for sure!! My husband and I have been to the Melting Pot once before and LOVED every second of it!
The chocolate is the winner for me! I’ll eat almost anything covered in chocolate 🙂 the skinny dipping menu sounds awesome and I’d love to try it. Great date night!
The cheese definitely! It’s been way too long since I’ve been there!
I have always wanted to try the Melting Pot, it looks so good! I would say the cheese course would be my favorite too try as I can’t say no to dipping anything in yummy gooey cheese:)
I would look forward to the dessert course the most! I would go for the dark chocolate fondue!
The chocolate!!!! Yum, I’ve always wanted to try The Melting Pot but have yet to do so!
I have never been to the Melting Pot before so it all looks wonderful! It is definitely a toss up for me between the cheese and the dessert! Your salad does look amazing though!!
Def. cheese! I have a bad obsession with anything cheese. When I lived near my family, we used to go to the melting pot for my birthday every year. We have gotten out of doing it now that we have moved away but it is one of those places I still always think about for special, special occasions.
EVERYTHING- I LOVE the melting pot!!! But i would especially love having a date night with my husband- those NEVER happen with 4 small children!!
I’ve been to The Melting Pot once before and the chocolate fondue was my favorite!
I love the Melting Pot! Whenever I go, I only do the cheese and chocolate, so I would like try the main entree.
Cheese! Or chocolate! I can’t choose cheese an chocolate are pretty much my favorite foods haha.
The cheese course for sure. I love my meats and cheeses! The Melting Pot is super tasty.
The dessert is by far my favorite, they have the best dessert combinations around!
We’ve been to The Melting Pot once for our 1st anniversary and loved it. Such fresh food! MY favorite was the cheese fondue. Followed closely by the meat… Hello lobster!
Fondue is my absolute favorite! I am always most excited about the cheese!! I’ve never had brie fondue – that sounds incredible!!
The cheese fondue looks amazing!!
Your entree looks amazing! I also love all things cheese!
Fondue sounds SO fun- I’ve never been! The chocolate course sounds delicious! 🙂
Chocolate!!!
I think the cheese or dessert would be what I would look forward to the most!!
The chocolate course!
I’ve been wanting to try Melting Pot for a long time now! What I’m most looking toward to? A tie between the cheese and chocolate courses.
I’m a huge chocolate lover so I would choose the chocolate!! Dark chocolate fondue-count me in!
Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!
Melting Pot is so delicious. I have tried many times to make my own chocolate fondue, but nothing compares to theirs! Every time I go, I look forward to the dessert portion of the meal the most.
Definitely chocolate!
Cheese and bread are my life…. well and dessert, you know, all that healthy stuff.
I love the melting pot. Their salads are THE BEST! But I look forward to the entree the most because of the mushroom which I get all to myself because my husband hates them
I recently started reading your blog and I am hooked!
I love the Melting Pot and am so excited that they have a skinny menu! Although I can’t leave a meal without indulging in a little chocolate, the cheese fondue is amazingggg at the Melting Pot and I would definitely look forward to eating a pot of it!!
I would love to try the bread dipped in cheese!
I’ve never been to the Melting Pot before, but I just saw online that there is one in the same city as my university! All of the courses look delicious, but I would most look forward to the cheese fondue! It looks amazing.
Cheese please. Thanks for all your posts. You are too fun!
The cheese course. Yum!!
Tie between cheese and chocolate!!
Hands down the chocolate!! Specifically the s’mores one!
I’m definitely looking forward to the chocolate! As a Wisconsin girl, the cheese is also quite enticing!
I think the chocolate looks delicious!
Chocolate! 🙂
CHOCOLATE! They have a turtle chocolate fondue that is out of this world!
DESSERT!!!!!! 🙂
The cheese fondue for sure! I am a huge sucker for Brie… or a any cheese for that matter
The CHEESE! Sounds so yummy. The only cheese fondue i’ve ever had was my grandmas and that was pretty darn fantastic so I’m sure I would love this. We just moved into a new state and I was happy to see we have a melting pot downtown. I would be the same way with the mushrooms, I just love them. : )