Grilled Cheese Anyone? Melt Visit #2

Continuing with our visit to the Cleveland area to see our grandsons and the rest of their family… Following our first class museum experiences, David II took us out to lunch.  He had a place in mind that we’d eaten at previously, only this was a new location for this particularly popular local operation…

This is the Mentor Ohio location for Melt Bar and Grilled.  Laurie and I had visited the first iteration of Melt Bar and Grilled in Lakewood Ohio back in 2010.  At that time, we noted that the place was extremely popular…but we just weren’t impressed.  You can check out our earlier comments on our visit to the original Melt Bar and Grilled if you click on this link: http://bigdaddydavesbitsandpieces.blogspot.com/2010/12/diners-drive-ins-dives-disappointment.html.

You may have noted the reference in my blog link to Guy Fieri’s TV show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives”.  Not only has Guy featured this restaurant on his show…but so has Adam Richman on his show, “Man vs. Food”.  Adam won the Melt Challenge, taking on and consuming the restaurant’s monster grilled cheese featuring 13 different cheeses, 3 slices of grilled bread and a pile of hand-cut fries and slaw…actually over 5 lbs. of food!

This is an interior photo that Laurie took at the Mentor Melt Bar and Grilled location.  It is a bright and colorful restaurant with a lot going on visually…

Melt Bar and Grilled was founded by Matt Fish, a sometime musician and professional local chef for 18 years and counting.  Matt had planned to open his own restaurant for quite a while. His concept for Melt—a combination of “comfort food dressed up,” and beer—started from a fairly simple idea…he was always a big grilled cheese fan.  The initial idea evolved from Matt’s observations of different restaurant concepts during his years as a culinary school/restaurant management student, chef and touring musician.

As Matt has described his restaurants, they are “like reliving all your favorite childhood memories again… Only better! The ultimate comfort food fantasy land where all your grilled cheese dreams become a reality!”

This was the Hot Italian…grilled salami, honey ham, pepperoni, sun-dried tomato pesto, roasted garlic, banana peppers and provolone cheese. ($10.50)

This is Melt Bar and Grilled’s 8 oz. cheeseburger/steakburger…with cheddar cheese. ($10.00) It was cooked as requested…medium rare and it was a very nice burger.

This is the Wet Hot Buffalo Chicken sandwich… ($11.00) This is made up with a crispy breaded chicken breast, spicy buffalo sauce, a fresh blue cheese and celery slaw, blue cheese and it comes with a ranch dip.

Emmett Lee isn’t into much variety at this early stage of his life.  This is The Kindergarten…fresh baked bread grilled with American cheese. ($6.00)

If you wanted to 'step out' and try some unusual combinations, Melt Bar and Grilled offers some interesting combos: Chorizo and Potato with fresh ground spicy Mexican sausage, potato hash and sharp cheddar cheese. ($9.00); the Cleveland Cheese Steak consists of slow roasted thin shaved beef, garlic wild mushrooms, provolone, sautéed onions and peppers. ($12.00); The Dude Abides is constructed with homemade meatballs, fried mozzarella cheese sticks, rich marinara, provolone and Romano cheeses. ($12.00), and; Gyro Melt with slow roasted beef and lamb, tzatziki cucumber yogurt sauce, fresh tomato plus sweet onions, feta and muenster cheeses. ($11.00)

This is a better view of the Hot Italian…as two of us ordered the same sandwich.

When we left ‘Melt Bar and Grilled’ this time, we found ourselves a bit more neutral than after our first visit.  We felt that the food was OK, the quantity of food is plentiful, the slaw was quite good, the French fries were just 'so so' and the service was OK… But we still don’t quite understand all the hype.  Our opinion was that our sandwiches were better than during our first visit but I believe that it was because we stayed with more basic creations this time.  As before, the Hot Italian was fine but it still didn’t ‘sing’ to our taste buds.  The ‘Tokyo Tuna Melt’, which had previously disappointed us, was gone from the menu.  Actually, although the sandwiches all included cheese, only Emmett’s lunch was a true grilled cheese sandwich per se.

This location of the Melt Bar and Grilled is located at 7289 Mentor Avenue in Mentor Ohio.  Phone: 440-530-3770.  The company’s website can be found at http://meltbarandgrilled.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave