<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Hi Everyone - 

Thanks for the feedback about 
eating at The Melting Pot!  I 
got very mixed responses - some
patrons found the restaurant to 
be very helpful in finding items 
or making items to be gf, others 
not so much.  It must depend on 
the location and luck of the draw 
of who's there.  I did email the 
restaurant here and they were 
very quick to respond to my 
questions; however, they did not
offer to make any of their 
regular items gf for me.  Altho
to their credit I did not ask
that specifically in my original 
email to them.  I plan to go
along with my friends this 
weekend to be social, but I
do not plan to eat (based on 
the restaurant's response to me).
I don't need to pay $20-$30 
just to have plain chicken 
and a salad.  Just my personal
preference.  I've included the
responses I got back:

from The Melting Pot:
Hello Angie,
thank you for your thorough description, following are the answers:
 
- chicken: we have plain chicken breast available (no marinade)
- all of the cheese courses - they are not gluten free
- tortilla chips contain gluten
- you cannot have any of our bouillon cooking styles, you would need to use 
the cholesterol free oil
- you cannot have any of our salad dressings and you cannot have any of our 
dipping sauces
 
In short your dinner could be along these lines:
- no cheese
- salad (with either lemon or oil & vinegar as dressing)
- chicken, beef, seafood without batters and oil cooking style only
- none of the dipping sauces
- only fruit with your chocolate - none of the other dippers
 
Hope this helps and thank you for contacting us!
Happy Holidays!

from St Louis:
They are very helpful.  We went 
there for our anniversary in November 
and I had no problems.  Well, they 
did try to tell me that the chocolate 
had gluten in it, but that was not 
correct.  My hubby and I ordered a 
cheese and they did not put the 
flour in it.  It did not affect the 
taste just consistency.  I brought 
my own crackers and they served 
veggies and fruit for me. There is only one kind of oil, 
if I remember correctly that we 
could use.  They seemed to know 
what was gf and what wasn't.  
It was a great experience.  
Pricey, but good.

>-call ahead- bring you own bread-only have the greasy, oil-based fondue 
for your main course. You can't have the wine-base fondue.

>I have eaten at the Melting Pot in Bellevue, Wa. When I called for 
reservations I told them that I have Celiac and couldn't eat gluten. They 
were very knowledgeable about it and when I arrived they made sure 
everything I ordered and ate was GF. The meal was great!

>I went there once and explained my situation (and I was with my family so 
we were all gluten-free). The waiter appeared to understand, but then when 
he came out to mix the cheese fondue we were asking him about it and the 
cheese had flour on it. I think you could have the hot oil fondue, but you 
would want to make sure no one dipped anything with gluten into it. 

>I would avoid this fondue type of restaurant like plague.  It is almost 
impossible to avoid cross-contamination.

* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *
Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC