The Melting Pot - Albany

Great place for a date night. If you do the full 4 course meal set aside atleast a hour.

The first time I went to this place, I went with a group of people. That really didn't work out so well for me. The next time I went with my wonderful boyfriend. It was a WONDERFUL experience and now we can't get enough of the place. I will continue to be a very loyal patron, or at least something goes utterly wrong. But for now, I have nothing but terrific things to say about this place. <3

A deliciously different experience. Everything I ate was delicious, and done right on my table, by myself or the server. The menu seems a bit sparse, with two pages of various wines and a small selection of craft beers and another two for everything else. My girlfriend and I opted for the four course menu rather than a la carte. The four cheese fondue arrived first; which we shared and were given a small dish of raw vegetables and cubed pieces of baguettes. A caprese salad arrived next, with greens under thin slices of seasoned tomato and fresh mozzarella with a light drizzle of balsamic glaze. The main protein followed and consisted of small one ounce cubes of filet mignon, sirloin and NY strip. Everything looked exquisite so I set my sights on cooking it in a simmering pot of red wine, herbs and spices. For dessert, we chose the dark and dulce chocolate, which was brought with various fruits and baked treats for dipping. Our server was attentive, if a bit lacking in knowledge. The food was delicious and we were offered more of any fondue accompaniment we desired. I left quite full and very satisfied.

I've eaten there before but a long long time ago, this place tends to be expensive but you come here because the food is really good and it's a very unique type of dining experience. This was the restaurant when I first came here years and years ago that I learned about induction cooktops and I've gotten some induction cooktops for myself they're amazing!

We went here for the first time recently and really enjoyed the experience. The serving sizes were good so there weren’t any leftovers or overeating. This isn’t a meal to rush through, we enjoyed taking our time and enjoying our food. Waiter was wonderful and we will be going again.

i had an incredible experience at this lovely restaurant. my fiancé and i had never been to a place like this before. it is on the expensive side, but you get an awesome experience out of it. the waitress was fantastic, and the food was super fresh, like, really really fresh and well seasoned. it was definitely a memory we won't forget, and i highly recommend it for a special occasion outing. We couldn't be happier.

A real gem. Probably the only restaraunt in the area doing what it does. Servers are always enthusiastic and fun. Ambience is a bit off at first but grows on you. Great selection of spirits. Chairs could stand to be a bit comfier. An excellent place to take a date. I love the mushroom sacchetti. The seasonal dishes are always a treat. Pricey though, be prepared to spend at least $60 per person, but worth it.

A bit over priced but good. Nice and clean atmosphere.

Cool & fun. Not cheap

Fondue is awesome

Went here for an early birthday celebration for me, with my mother, my younger sister, and her boyfriend. It's been some times since I was last here, but our timing could't have been better. We got there just as they were opening their doors, since I forgot they only open at 4:00 pm as they only serve dinner. I love the way this restaurant is set up, it's like a maze of booths. Some booths are so hidden, it's like they have their own rooms. It's pretty cool. Once seated we ordered a healthy severing of drinks, of all which came out relatively fast save for my sister's bottle of wine which came a bit later. We split our party into two to decide on the four course meal options. My mother and I choose the Alpine Cheese Fondue to start out with, which was some of the stinkiest fondue I've ever had. Tasted fine, but the smell was pretty darn stinky. My sister and her boyfriend had the spinach and cheese fondue, which was pretty standard for a spinach and cheese dip. For my salad, since you can each pick your own, I had the caesar salad. D-licious. The pines nuts really worked well for the caesar dressing. After that, came the main entrees. It's pretty nice to be able to cook your own food and talk while waiting, we had a beef broth and frying oil with tempura. Both made for some pretty interesting and tasty meat and veggie morsels, I particularly enjoyed my pot stickers in the beef broth. Finally we had desert. The peaches and cream was good, but I didn't read it had nuts and wasn't fast enough to stop the waitress from pouring them into the mix. The smores dip was pretty nice, and went great on a marshmallow. Overall, we had a really fun time. The bill was equally festive however, in that it looked like we just paid for a three night stay at a marriott hotel. My mother however found the bright side, which was that "the bill would just be another way we'd never forget about this time together." My recommendation. Come here for a celebration of some sort, not for casual dinning. Not unless you want to shell out a grand every time you visit.

If you enjoy fondue you won't be disappointed. It's definitely worth getting a dessert platter as the rich brownies are worth every penny. Their private seating options are especially great.

Pretty good food. Friendly staff. Price range $$$ out of 5. Expect to pay about $40 per person. Be prepared to be there awhile. We got there at 7 and were seated right away (with reservations) didn't end up leaving till about 10. We had the 4 course meal so it takes a long time to get through your meal with all the cooking you do. Good time definitely gets people to put their cell phones down for a bit which is nice. Definitely would be a great place to go to for desert after a movie or date night.

Been here a few times. We usually get several portions of the Classic Alpine Fondue which is great. The Spinach Artichoke Fondue is also quite good (especially if you want something with no alcohol in it). Service is excellent and the fondues are delicious. If you don't want a fondue, then it is not that great as the salads are good, but quite small.

Love the chocolate/desert fondue. Salads are a perfect size to share and a great appetizer before jumping into desert. The overall three course meal is different but worth a try if you don't mind spending a little extra. The chocolate has us coming back for those special occasions.

Very average food. Not worth the price

It was very different but good a must try.

Friendly and timely service. Thought a bit over priced.

Been to many melting pots very good this one took 3hrs for us to get our food and service.was slow

Nice...but just to eat dinner is 2 hours min..moved so slow...service is nice. Seemed to have knowledge of their job, which is a plus. I went with children...I would recommend go only if they are 2 n older depending on your child. Food is raw so you have to cook your self...portions are small..could have went next door n spent half the price n left with a full stomach. If I do it again I will eat before I go.

$60 dollars per person for melted cheese, boiled meat and chocolate.

Extremely overpriced, great staff. You don't even realize your paying for kid portions.

Food is good but the service is slow. To put things in perspective I was 26 and a striking young man when I entered. By the time we had the check I was 36 and felt I pissed away the best years of my life, all for some salted caramel fondue. I subtracted another star because the price is over the top for a mall restaurant.

Very little food for the price paid and I can't imagine why given the quality of the food. The classic Alpine fondue was good but the chocolate fondue was plain bad (tasted more like chocolate syrup than actual chocolate ). Our server, however, was attentive and personable.

Looong serving times. The server takes hell lot of time between the different courses. If you have like a lot of time and are not tired after your shopping , then you may visit. The food quality is OK.

Our party of four waited 20 minutes past our reservation to be seated just to be stuffed into the corner table for two next to the bar. Three hours and $240 later the only thing that made it worth while was the company we brought with us. Note to management, quit skimping on the alcohol, with the profit margin you have you can afford to make an actual drink. I'll blow my money as a fire starter before I ever set foot in this place again.

Absolutely the worst customer service, not recommended at all.

Very expensive for not very good food.

I got food poisoning.

Found live worm in food.

Ridiculous. Over priced for small portions, and food quality is poor.

It is ok to ask if you have resevation.however they did after I have waited for half hour. Also there is no remind anwhere.

Came with friends took about 3 hours. We all have been here several times never this slow. Not sure I would put myself through this again.

Overpriced for small amount of food. We had to go to food court upstairs to get more food. Would not come again.

If I could rate a zero I would since the only experience had was waiting for a hostess to seat my party of 3. After waiting 10 minutes for someone to seat us and the couple in front of us I finally decided to find someone myself. After another 5 min wait we were told they would be right with us. 5 mins later and we get told they don't accept walk ins until 730pm. YOU'RE A MALL RESTAURANT! If you don't want my money or are willing to inform your customers promptly of this "walk in" policy, then there are plenty of other places that will happily accept my patronage.

We just had our first and last experience at The Melting Pot. I did read reviews and we still decided to give it a chance. The negative reviews are spot on. Service was slow even though the kitchen really doesn't make the food for you. It's raw meat and vegetables that you boil yourself at the table. We asked numerous times for our waitress to explain the whole experience and were left on our own to try to figure things out. For the cost of the "meal" you would expect something much better, considering the portion sizes are what I feed my kids and you do all the work.

I went there on New Years Eve and was not happy at all with the service. For starters I had 8:30pm reservations and was not seated until 9:40pm. I watched customer after customer that arrived after my party be sat and we were still waiting to be seated. I asked if we could go to the bar to sit and wait because there was no seating in the waiting area and I was told that she didn't know if there was any available seating. Every other guest that came in after i asked about the bar was told they could go wait at the bar and if they wanted they could also order their food from the bar and would not have to wait. This ruined my whole night and because we had to wait over an hour our plans for the rest of the night were canceled because we missed them due to the restaurant being so far behind. Not to mention they didn't even offer to take something off the bill for our inconvenience. I could understand if we had just walked in and wanted to be seated but I had called and made reservations days in advance. I more than likely will not be returning and I will be telling my friends and family about this experience in this establishment. Indya

My girlfriend and I went to the Melting Pot in Crossgates because she found a Living Social coupon. When we arrived there it wasn't busy at all but they kept asking us if we had a reservation (and it was a Sunday night). It took about 10 minutes for us to be seated and another 10 minutes before someone came to ask us what we wanted for drinks. We didn't order our meal for another 20 minutes, and after we had finished our salads our waiter disappeared. We spent an hour in the Melting Pot and decided to leave, because other people who had come in after us were being served faster and we never even received our entrees. In fact, the majority of the fondue had literally evaporated by the time we decided to leave. Afterward my girlfriend put it quit nicely, the staff made us feel invisible.

Place was disgusting, splatter marks from floor to ceiling, food ALL over the rug and sticky. When we sat down, there were tons of fruit flies. The burner was constantly beeping when it was on which was extremely irritating, difficult to even have a conversation. Waiter didn't know which wine was which, so we got the wrong one (but seemed like the flies liked it). By the end of the night, we were scrambling to get out of there. Had a great experience a couple years ago so this was really disappointing, can't see it open for much longer.

I would give this place a zero. I came today with my family of 5 and we spent 200 dollars for pushy staff and a HUGE stomach ache afterwords, not to mention the 3 hours it took for the meal. Would not and will not come again, its overrated. I suggest melting the cheese in the microwave and cooking your own meat where you know its safe to eat.