The Melting Pot - Where time and money melt together. And not in a good way.

After this lunch, I'd decided to give up on the blog. That's how bad it was. But then we had a great idea for 2014, so we figured we better finish out 2013. It also helps that I'm slightly OCD, so I have to finish or I'll never feel complete.

For December 2013, we chose The Melting Pot in Troy. And after a slight detour to the Golden Pot, we finally found the place. It seems that some little diner tried to horn in on the Melting Pot name and when you look "The Melting Pot" up on Google Maps, it directs you to a strip mall and a family diner type place. And don't you dare call Golden Pot to ask if they're The Melting Pot. They get realllly pissy when you call and ask.

When we asked the manager at the Melting Pot about it, he said that they had to get lawyers  involved to get the GP to change it's name from Melting Pot to The Golden Pot. And they're still having problems with Google Maps and things like that directing people to the wrong place. In hindsight, we might've done better at the Golden Pot.


Place: The Melting Pot
Location: Troy, Michigan

December is always a hard lunch for us. We also go to the cemetery to visit the graves of several family members that we lost in close succession. We usually try to let off lanterns in remembrance, but it was so windy that day, we couldn't do it this year. We also invite along any other family members that want to go. This year our brother, Philip, came with us.

The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant. They have the cook tops right in your tables and make the cheese and chocolate fondues right there. They also boil Filet Mignon. No you didn't read that wrong. BOIL. Filet Mignon. Boil. Who boils Filet Mignon?

This won't be like other reviews. I'm not going to list what we had or any of that usual stuff. The only thing you need to know is this: It's super expensive (like seriously. Don't come with less than $200 and think more along the lines of $350) And it took THREE FRICKIN' HOURS! Oh. And they had us cook our raw meat at the table. And by cook I mean boil.

The cheese and chocolate part were okay. But the salad and boiling meat part was horrible. And so expensive. The drinks were pretty good. But the waitstaff was not. The dishes were dirty and chipped when we received them. Unfortunately, we didn't notice some of it till it was too late.

I'm not even going to put up pictures. I don't want people getting pulled in by the "fanciness". Cause it was all fake.  We were also the ONLY people in the restaurant. I wonder why?

Terra

Peace on Arth...with sausage factory parking in the rear!

This month (November) we chose Michigan's Little Bavaria! Frankenmuth is an awesome place. Anytime of year really, but late fall early winter is the best time. We went to Bronner's first, because...really? How can you miss the place that has 360 days of Christmas! We all got some great ornaments and we saw some disturbing things. Sexy Santa was something I could've lived without seeing. Ever. Just sayin'.

We did not go the popular route and eat at Bavarian Inn or Zhenders. We chose the Sullivan's Black Forest Brew Haus & Grill on the recommendation of one of Mom's co-workers. We've never really been impressed with the "special chicken dinners" in Frankenmuth and we don't understand the hype surrounding it.

Place: Sullivan's Black Forest Brew Haus & Grill
Location: Frankenmuth, MI (behind Bronner's)

Our first stop was Bronner's. We found so many cute ornaments! We even found one of a Quesadilla for Jeri and we had it personalized with her name! She loved it. The ladies that do all that personalization deserve an award or some candy or something. They did a great job.

When we finally made it out of the mad house that is a Christmas Store one month before Christmas, we headed over to the restaurant. And ordered some drinks!

White Cheddar Ale Soup

Highlights

Teaching Mom about photobombs!

White Cheddar Ale Soup - Three of us ordered the soup. And we loved it. We love cheese as it is, but this soup was so good, I'd go back just for that soup alone. And pair it with the fresh warm rolls that they sent out? Heaven. Especially on a cold day!

Lemons! - Just for the face Jeri makes when she eats them. They had lemon slices with our water. And the water was in some really nice and fancy glasses! Which made us really anticipate the other drinks! Jeri needed extra lemons, cause she has some fascination with them.

Chicken Schnitzel - "I'm gonna order Chicken Schnitzel just cause I like to say "schnitzel" - Marti. And she did too! Also, none of us could correctly describe capers, but Marti got them anyway. Yay! for trying new things Marti!

The Ratings: On a Scale From 1 to 5

Chicken Schnitzel

Waitstaff

I feel like I need to start prefacing this section with an asterisk. *Almost all of us have either been a waitress or are currently waitresses. So we are very critical of this part. So please take it with a grain of salt and with the knowledge that we are going to be more critical than the average person.

Mom - 4; She was attentive when we actually saw her.

Jeri - 2; I had an empty glass! How rude.

Terra - 4; Our waitress was okay, but the boy waiter that stopped his running to the kitchen to take our picture? He was awesome! Overall they seem to have some pretty good staff.

Susie - 3; Not very attentive and it wasn't very busy.

Marti - 3

Food Quality

The Border

Mom - The Border (A taco salad); 5; It's a taco-splosion in my mouth!

Jeri - Basset Flat Iron; 5; Even though I didn't actually eat anything, it smelled amazing! (She was working a good buzz and didn't want to mess it up. We can respect that!)

Terra - Basset Flat Iron; 3; I loved the soup that came with the steak. They didn't have mashed potatoes till two. But it wasn't mentioned on the menu! So I had to get a baked potato. It was okay. The steak had lovely mushrooms on it, but the steak itself wasn't very flavorful.

Susie - Stuffed Chicken Florentine; 3; It wasn't cheesy enough.

Marti - Chicken Schnitzel; 5; The soup was amazing and the chicken was pretty good too.

Basset Flat Iron

Food Value (Was it worth what we paid?)

Mom- $9.99; Yes

Jeri - $17.99; Yes

Terra - $17.99; No

Susie - $14.99; No

Marti - $15.99; Yes

Drinks (Out of 10)

Mom - Pirates Porter (an ale); 8

Jeri - Long Beach; 10; New favorite! I had 2!

Stuffed Chicken Florentine

Terra - Long Beach; 10; I loved it! It was strong and it kicked in fast!

Susie - White Zinfandel; 10; You can't go wrong with a white wine.

Marti - Malibu & Pineapple Juice; 10; Tasty and you can never go wrong with pineapple juice and Malibu!

Overall

Mom - 5; Fun!

Jeri - 5; The food smelled amazing! I was so tempted to lick it! I can't wait till tomorrow so I can eat it. Tequila!

Long Beach!

Terra - 4; The soup was awesome and my drink was amazeballs. And you gotta love a roller coaster in the bathroom! Right girls?

Susie - 3; I had more fun in Bronner's

Marti - 5; Tequila?! I never know what to say. LOL. 

All in all it was a great time! We got to go shopping before and after. There are so many great little shops in downtown Frankenmuth. If you want to know the back story about the title ( and it's super funny! At least it was when we were bombed on Long Beaches!) or about the roller coaster, ask in the comments and we'll tell you. Want to suggest a place we should try in Southeast Michigan? Put that in the comments too. See you next month.

Terra

Sexy Santa!

Pueblo Viejo's - We Don't Speak Spanish, But We're Pretty Sure It Means "Stupendous Food"...Maybe.

For some reason, this month's (actually September's) post has been difficult for me to get the post out. I think I'm just being lazy.

Anyhoo; This month is Jeri's birthday month!! Yay! Happy Birthday to Jeri! It also marks an anniversary of sorts. A year ago, Mom and I took Jeri out for her birthday to Olive Garden. We decided that we enjoyed it so much, that we wanted to do it again and include Susie and Martha. 

Pueblo Viejo is a Mexican Restaurant in Lapeer, Michigan. It's just this tiny little bistro type place in downtown Lapeer. The decor is so snappy and authentic. We loved it. 

We also had a surprise visitor this month! Ellen Margaret. Jeri's granddaughter. She was so quiet and shy, we barely knew she was there. 

Place: Pueblo Viejo

Location: Lapeer, Michigan

Our Special Guest!

As usual, we love eating outside. But it wasn't going to happen this time. The wasps in our area have been so bad lately, that they made it impossible to eat outside. Instead we were sat a large table by the windows and it was lovely anyway. 

Between the carafe (corrals if you remember Olive Garden) of salsa and the free bling, Pueblo Viejo is at the top of our favorites list. We had a great time and it was very obviously a family orientated place. I would love to go back with my husband and kids. It would be pretty awesome.

Highlights

Green Sauce - It was so spicy! Mom tasted it and her face puckered and she had to get a napkin. I think it was too spicy for her. But it was perfect for the rest of us. I think we actually fought over who go to take the remainder home. The warm tortilla chips didn't hurt at all either! (*Bonus! The sauce came in a carafe! We love that! It makes us unreasonably happy for some reason!)

Big Drinks - By far the biggest drinks we've had. As a matter of fact, everything was big. All the proportions were so large. Some of us couldn't even finish our drinks cause they were so large. And they tasted amazing too.

Free Bling - After the waitress sat us and found out it was a birthday lunch, she brought us some awesome bling. Necklaces with chilies on the end! And Ellie got a a little toy pinata! It was so cool.

Fried Ice Cream!

The Ratings: On A Scale From 1 to 5

Waitstaff

Mom - 5; She brought us necklaces! We love little things like that.

Jeri - 10!

Terra - 5; I'm sad I didn't get her name. She was so attentive and kind to us.

Susie - 5; She brought so many chips! We love chips.

Marti - 4

Food Quality

Portabella Fajita

Mom - Portabella Fajita; 5; "The green stuff was really spicy! The salsa was excellent and my fajitas were delicious. There was so much left over, I had lunch for 2 days after. The steak and mushrooms in my fajita were cooked to perfection."

Jeri - Quesadilla; 10; Very authentic and fresh.

Quesadilla!

Terra - Grilled Chicken Salad; 5; The chicken was marinated perfectly and

there were warm tortilla strips mixed in with the salad. Yummy! There was so much left over I had lunch for two days, like Mom. It was the best salad I've ever had.

Susie - Deep Fried Chicken Tacos; 5; The tacos were very tasty, and they had bacon on them! The White Blanco sauce we ordered for an appetizer was amazing. It went with everything on the table. Marti and I poured it over our fajitas and tacos, it was so good!

Marti - Cholula Fajitas; 5; There was BACON in my fajitas. Bacon! And the white sauce was so awesome.

Look at the size of this salad!

Food Value

We all agreed our meals were worth the price we paid. The sheer amount of left overs alone was worth it. But really, the taste and quality of the food was pretty awesome. We could've eaten the chicken and steak just by itself without any toppings or condiments.

Drinks (Out of 10)

Mom - La Bamaba; 9; There was no frou frou in the drink, but it was large and very tasty.

Jeri - Peach Sangria; 20; "I LOVED my glass. And the drink was really good too!"

Terra - La Bamaba; 10; It was nice and fruity.

Susie - Zalamero; 10; It was pink and fruity. Very Yummy! And I loved my glass too! It was so big.

Marti - Mexican Lover; 10; "Imma call you Sancho" It was so good, she gave her lover a name.

Fried Chicken Tacos

Overall

Mom - 5; I would defintlely come again.

Jeri - 10; "They gave me a free Fried Ice Cream! I loved it."

Terra - 5; I would love to go back with my husband and kids. I think we would have a great time and it wouldn't break the bank.

Susie - 5; "I love my necklace!"

Marti - 5

Cholula Fajitas

Another lunch, another success. My only regret is that I didn't mark down our waitresses name! We love when we can give a shout out to good staff and let the management know what good and dedicated employees they have. Maybe she remembers us though and if she's reading this, let your boss know we loved our experience!

Terra

The Lunch That Almost Never Was...And We Kinda Wish Hadn't Happened

This month was tough. We almost didn't even make it. We had to reschedule three times. When we finally got it right, it ended up being dinner.

It was a bad dinner too. We didn't even take pictures. At all. We chose National Coney Island. A common refrain from the night was, "Not at this location." This was the answer to several questions. Beer? Not at this location. 24 hours? Not at this location. Wine? Not at this location. Good service? Not a this location. Warm food? Not at this location.

We did have one awesome highlight. We got to have dinner with Aunt Wilma! Yay! Aunt Wilma is always fun.

That was really the only highlight. I actually don't have any others. How sad.

Place: National Coney Island

Location: 23 Mile and Schoenherr, Shelby Twp, MI

Because of various scheduling conflicts, we had to wait till the end of the month and make it a dinner. Mom needed to meet up with Aunt Wilma, so we invited her along. 

This month will be different for several reasons. No drinks. No pictures. And no highlights. So let's get to it.

The Ratings: On a Scale From 1 to 5

Waitstaff

Mom - 2

Jeri - 3

Terra - 2

Susie - 1

Marti - 2

Aunt Wilma - 3

Our waitress was Molly. She said she'd been working there for a year. It seemed like it'd been only a week. We weren't impressed at all. Jeri had to get her own water. When our food was ready, she took some of it out from under the lights, put it on the counter, then got the rest and brought those plates out. She left Jeri's and Mom's food on the counter. Out from under the lights. It was cold when it finally reached them. The cucumber sauce and ranch dressing we had ordered had to be asked for twice. It wasn't busy either. I think we were just forgotten.

Food Quality

Mom - Gyro w/Baby Greek Salad; 4; There were too many onions on the salad. The gyro arrived cold and missing the cucumber sauce. The salad was tasty and even cold, the Gyro was tasty as well. 

Jeri - Gyro w/Chili Cheese Onion Rings; 2; All of my food came cold. There was almost no cheese or chili on top. I prefer it when my food comes warm.

Terra - Hani Special w/Fries; 5; My food came out nice and warm and the fries were tasty. The sandwich was great. I love the pita.

Susie - Patty Melt w/bacon and Fries; 4; The bacon was crispy and my food came out warm

Marti - Chicken Bacon Ranch Hani w/Chili Cheese Fries; 4; It was warm and tasted good.

Aunt Wilma - Mr. Pop's Favorite w/Fries; 5; Burger was excellent and I asked for my fries to be well done and they were. (I did not know you could do this. I love crispier fries!! - Terra)

Food Value

Mom - $9.38; Yes

Jeri - $10.28; No

Terra - $8.49; Yes

Susie - $8.00; Yes

Marti - $10.89; Yes

Aunt Wilma - $10.00; Yes

Drinks

Not at this location!

Overall

Mom - 3; "Oh My Goodness! Mom!!! You've never given a 3 before!" - All of us

Jeri - 3

Terra - 3

Susie - 3

Marti - 3

Aunt Wilma - 4

Overall we weren't impressed with this location.  But we did learn one very important lesson. You can ask for crispier fries!