I think it was the pepper shaker that broke the camel's back

Ok, here is something I don't understand: the fascination with fondue. A while ago we went to this fondue place in Queen Anne (I think it was my mother-in-law's pick). The whole schtick with The Melting Pot is that it's all fondue, all the time.

This is a place for people who think dipping stuff is fancy.

The booth-style seating comes with a built-in electric hot plate thing in the middle of the table--that is to say, a flat, round piece of metal that heats up, not a hot plate as a college student might use to cook meals in a dorm; the waiter/waitress makes a big show of, you know, flipping the switch, and then places a pot of some sort on it. This is apparently supposed to make you ooh and aah as if you'd never had a hot plate brought to your table when ordering fajitas at a Mexican place, or one of the many hot plate dishes availabe in Chinese restaurants. So, ok, waiter brings you the chunks of food you will be dipping, flips on switch, places some liquid in pot, and adds course-appropriate meltables to pot--these may be cheeses for appetizers, or chocolates for desserts, or cheeses and broths for main course, or cheeses and beer for main course, or dessert cheeses for dessert--because let's face it, the repertoire of things that are melt- and dip-friendly is somewhat limited. Waiter stirs. Waiter leaves. Repeat this for each course.

For our main course, the dipping stuff consisted of a beer base, butter, some cheeses, and spices. Since the place makes a big show of setting stuff up at the table (see: fancy switch-flipping above), I expected at least decent spices; but no, the waiter just picked up this generic seasoning powder (like the stuff you might find at Red Robin), and dumped some in. Same with the pepper--this place didn't even have the decency to have actual pepper grinders--the waiter just grabbed the pre-ground pepper shaker, unscrewed the cap, and put a dash in the pot.

This made me sad.

Don't get me wrong, the food wasn't bad--it just wasn't worth the prices, and definitely not the hype.