Simply Fondue

2300 First Street, Livermore, CA

(925)443-6638
http://www.simplyfonduelivermore.com/
Simply Fondue is simply in that the way cooking the food is very simple, just dip your raw or cooked food in cooking sauce or oil, and eat it! The not so simple part though is their selection of food, cooking styles, chocolate sauces, and combination dinners. Oh yes, and did I mention they have over a hundred of different kind of martini cocktails? So for an indecisive person like me to go to Simply Fondue, I relied on the waiter. He was very nice and helpful by the way!

Anyhow, Simply Fondue has a dim lighting atmosphere. The lounge and bar was broadcasting sport channels while people sit and sip on their wines and cocktails and engaged in conversation. The dinning room on the other hand, was much quieter. The whole time I was there, I could only hear and focus on my food sizzling away in the cooking broth. As I mention earlier, the services were good and helpful.

On to the food! I did a four course combination dinner, which started off with a salad. There were four to choose from. I chose the spinach and strawberry salad. It was delicious, but super sweet!

Spinach & Strawberry Salad - baby spinach, strawberry slices, and almonds tossed in sweet cider dressing

Next, I had the appetizer, which was assorted fruits, vegetables and bread cubes with your choice of cheese fondue. There were five different cheese to choose from. My server recommended the Wisconsin Sharp Cheddar, and that was exactly what I have.

Wisconsin Sharp Cheddar with assorted breads, crisp vegetables and fruits - sharp cheddar and Emmenthaler cheeses, beer, garlic and spices

The cheese was very, very rich. I could taste the beer in the cheese, which taste somewhat interesting. It made me want to try eating cheese with beer.

Next, I went onto the entree. I was able to choose six kind of meat from the red meats, poultry and seafood list. With about seven things to choose from in each list, I asked my server once again. I ended up with six pepper beef, beef tenderloin, roasted garlic chicken, sea scallops, ahi sesame tuna, an pecan crusted mahi-mahi. The entree came with some more vegetables and cheese ravioli. I chose the traditional cooking style, as recommended. It was a trans-fat free soybean oil, which served with house made sesame batter and famous stuffed mushroom. The entree was served with seven different dipping sauces. You can pair your meat with whichever one you like.

The combination meal ends with none the less, dessert! Dessert was some serious business because there were 15 different type of chocolate fondues to choose from! Some with nuts in them, some with liqueur in them, and some with fruit syrup. I ended up choosing one with just chocolate, Chocolate Confusion, which as described as "for the chocolate lover who just can't make up their mind. Premium white and milk chocolates swirled together". The chocolate fondue came with fruits such as strawberries, apples, grapes, banana, rice crispy, brownie, and cookies, dusted with powdered sugar. After a couple dip of the fruits and chocolate, I have one word to say...sweeet!

All in all, I had a really great time cooking my food and dipping them into sauces. As much fun as it can get, the portion is pretty small. Basically, I just got full from the rich sauces that cover the actual food. Also, selection and variety is good, but it really took me a long time to read and navigate through the menu. The martini menu was ridiculous long since it was filled with description for all 100+ cocktails. I tried two of the martinis, Sexytini and Peppermint Mint Martini. Both were pretty strong and tasty, which made me want to try others on the menu as well to see how they taste.

I would definitely go back to try everything else that I haven't try, and the fun cooking and dipping part. This is not a place for a quick dinner, so make sure you don't have movie plans even though the theatre is just right around the corner.