Let's Call Fondue Fun-due!

We got this coupon in the mail for a new fondue place that opened up in White Plains called The Melting Pot, so we decided to check it out yesterday. Usually Peter tells me to throw these coupons out, but just say the word "Fondue!" and he's all, "Let's GO!"

When we were seated, I cracked open the menu and got completely confused. It's set up with three different priced meals and a whole bunch of options. So I asked the waitress about a zillion questions, such as, "If I get the Big Night Out Meal, I can substitute any of the fondues for the ones on the ala carte menu? And if that's the case, and my husband's a vegetarian, how would we share? Also, I'd like to order to four-course meal, but I have an issue with feta, so can I get a different salad?"

Every time we go to a restaurant and I ask the waitress a question other than,"May I have a Coca-Cola?" Peter starts to roll his eyes and make annoyed noises. He started to do this, so I asked him if he understood the menu. He said yes and told me to leave our poor waitress alone.

So after she left, I asked him my questions and he didn't know any of the answers. And then, he admitted, "Yeah, this menu is not very intuitive."

So why didn't you let me ask the lady my questions?

This happens every time. Peter always gets antsy when he thinks I'm bothering waitstaff, but I used to work at my dad's restaurant, and I never had a problem answering people's questions. Because you want to make sure that people understand what they're getting.

But Peter is a failed waiter (after getting fired the first day) and doesn't understand that the waitstaff is paid to know the menu backwards and forwards, and they are aware that when a person takes up their time, they will get compensated in the size of their tip.

We finally figured out what the heck the menu meant and hunkered down to one of the longest meals in the history of long meals. The whole thing took about three hours!!

Figuring out the menu took half-an-hour. The first course was this great cheese fondue, which was out-of-this-world. But between heating up the fondue pot and the waitress preparing the whole thing in front of us, it took about another hour to finish that course. Then we got a salad, which was incredibly yummy. And THEN, we had to wait for the broth fondue to heat up and cook our food ourselves, so that took ANOTHER hour. Finally, it was on to dessert, which was a chocolate fondue.

By the time the meal was done, we had been eating for three hours. Peter said:

"Wow, this meal was an INVESTMENT OF TIME."

Yeah, about the best investment of time I made all day!