Simply Fondue in Livermore has been opened for a few months now, and everytime we pass by, we're always curious about it. We've called many times to make reservations, and it seems that every time we call, the place is booked up until about 10pm. To get a reservation in Simply Fondue you really need to make the reservation at least a week or so in advance. They also tell you to try and keep your meal to about 2 hours, as that is all the time you have - a little strange!

So we made our Simply Fondue resevation, and it was for 7:30pm on a Friday night. We were very excited to go, and looking forward to what should be a good meal. We arrived right at 7:20, and we were surprised that downtown Livermore was so packed, and was so busy, we couldn't find a place to park! Once we parked, and walked a few blocks, we entered Simply Fondue, and were immediately sat down at our table. They took us to the very back, and we noticed that the restaurant was absolutely packed.

The waiter was very friendly, and asked us if we had eaten at Simply Fondue before. We told him no, so he explained how everything worked. We went with the couples dinner that was $44 per person. This included a salad of your choice, a cheese appetizer fondue with dippable bread and assortment of fruits and vegetables, although there were many more vegetables than fruit. It also came with 2 selections from each category, of chicken, beef, and seafood. For desert, there was a chocolate fondue of your choice with dippable items like cut up Snickers bar, cheesecake, fruit, and various little desert items.

The salad at Simply Fondue was so-so. I went with the house salad tossed in vinaigrette dressing. There was not much salad, and the lettuce seemed a little welted. I should have gone with a different salad.

We ordered the Sharp Cheddar cheese appetizer, and as mentioned it came with dippable bread and vegetables with some hint of fruit. The waiter started off with turning on the heat, and poured a base of beer into the fondue pot. He then added garlic and some seasonings. He then added shredded cheese, and melted everything together right in front of us. When he left, we proceeded to dip our food in the cheese fondue, and I must tell you, the beer flavor was so overwhelming I was about to ask the waiter to re-do it for us without the beer base, and instead a broth base. We decided just to live with it, and didn't say anything, but definately do no like the beer flavor when you are dipping fruit into cheese.

For the main course we ordered 2 dishes from each category, beef, seafood and chicken. We had the teriyaki steak, beef tenderloin, coconut prawns, tiger prawns, jamacian jerk chicken, and teriyaki chicken. Everything came in chunks on a plate, and we were supposed to cook everything ourselves in a peanut oil. Out of everything we ate, the coconut prawns were the best, and everything else was just ok... it kept reminding me how we spent $44 per person on this meal.

The dessert came, and we ordered the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Fondue. Sounds good right? Wrong. The chocolate was not so good, and you couldn't taste the peanut butter. The slice of cheesecake in the middle of the plate of dippable items tasted like it came out of the freezer, and was defrosing for hours. Nasty.

Overall, I will not be coming back to Simply Fondue. The concept is good, the atmosphere is fun, but the food just isn't worth $88 for two.

Yuck! I was really excited about this place, and we waited for a celebration occasion to go becuase its really expensive. We ended up with a tab of well over 100 bucks for two people! Oh and we tried to get reservations... make them at least 2 weeks in advance for a fri/sat unless you like to eat at 10pm (not I!)

Okay so for the food....the only meat dish we had that was okay was the coconut shrimp..everything else was not good fried! the cheese has beer in it, which perhaps our waiter just put too much into the bowl...but that was gross...and desert we ordered the reeses chocolate...didn't taste like peanut butter nor chocolate? only thing that was really good was the toasted marshmellows...but that wasn't in the chocolate.
Go someplace else if you want a good evening out. This is not the place to go unless you like eating crappy food that is going to make you feel really bad after eating it, and you like paying over a 100 bucks for it...
only thing that was nice was the atmosphere

2nd Update: After officially going back to try the broth based cheese fondue, I can now say order the broth based instead of the beer base (which I think comes with all of them? I could be wrong on that, but again, the broth base is NOT on the menu, so make sure and mention it). You can actually taste the cheese, and it does not taste nearly as bitter. The beer imo battles the cheese. We opted for the grill with our main meal, but I don't recommend it at all. I thought it might be a better alternative to the oil, but we ended up uses a butter/olive oil mix on the little skillet which splattered all over the place! The traditional oil at least doesn't splatter all over the place. Plus the mushrooms don't come stuffed, so that was a bummer. Also, I should note that the coconut shrimp doesnt cook as great on the skillet. However, I do say that the best meat option is the coconut shrimp, so make sure and get that one!
The dipping sauces really could/ should have a BBQ style/type, but I get the whole exotic different dips thing that is being done...I would perfer some meat sauces for the steak however.
For desert this time we didnt have the banana foster only because its white chocolate, but instead had the caramel dessert (I forget the actual name)...it was better. I thought the last time we were there it came with a slice of cheesecake? I could be wrong, but I thought it did...this time it didn't have it. But we were pretty stuffed by then so it didn't matter much.

The bar does a great job of making drinks, and as I order virgin drinks, they are actually able to make more then just the plain stuff, so that was a nice extra bonus! And the gorgonzala salad is a pretty yummy option.

Come here for: gorgonzola salad, broth based cheddar fondue, and the coconut shrimp...
Update: I felt I needed to update my original review, as the owner has been very diligent in making sure I have a good experience with them. I can really appreciate that in a restaurant. So for those going soon..there is a broth based cheese called the garden vegatable, which is not on the menu but you can order it. It comes highly recommended as does the banna's foster by the owner himself. I will be going back to try both of these dishes and then I'll be back to update on my 2nd experience.