Melt Bar & Grilled

adamette

Ohio

3.1/5  rDev -25.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 1 | selection: 4 | food: 2.5 | $

Original bar had capacity for 60. A new expanded area can sit about 20 more. The kitchen, however, does not apparently have capacity for more than maybe 10 customers. More on that later. Returned home from there one hour ago. Here is the breakdown.

A Really good. A regular bar with cool dark wood surfaces most everywhere with chalkboard anouncements of specials, soups and the like. Menus are on old album covers which is really cool too.

Q Good for the food and the beer selection.

Service: Not impressed in that four of us ordered grilled cheese sandwiches (each of them come with fries and cole slaw like each of the sandwiches served there) and it took something like 1 hour 10 minutes to get them. We arrived at 4:45 and our order was in before 5pm. I understand that they are a small place but grilled cheese, fries and cole slaw? How long could it take to make that stuff?

Selection: Good with about 20 taps and about 100 bottles of high quality. There was a fun selection of grilled cheese sandwiches as well, about 30 of them I think. They don't have a lot of other food choices but that is o.k., they are a grilled cheese place.

Food: My food was served cold (no wonder with over an hour of wait time) but it would have been great if it were served hot. As mentioned before, there is a fun selection of foods there.

Value: A sandwich, fries and cole slaw for $9. That is not bad. Beers were competitively priced as well. I got a nitro Old Rasputin for $5.50.

11-02-2008 01:25:03 | More by adamette

UDbeernut

New York

3.2/5  rDev -23.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 1 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Went to this place on a saturday night, arrived around 6:30. We were informed by the host that we had an hour wait for a table. While waiting we made it to the bar for some beers. Had a nice selection on tap. Did not look at how many bottles, the tap selection was good. My wife had a few rodenbachs while I had a few troegs pales. We finallly got seated around 7:45. We promptly ordered our sandwiches and another round of brews. The beer was delivered quickly, the food was another story. We easily sat for another hour before our food arrived. The food was tasty and filling, but not worth spending over 2 hours waiting for. Granted it was a sat night, but I have never waited this long anywhere else during peek times. If you go, hit it when it is not prime time.

06-21-2009 21:29:34 | More by UDbeernut

klewis

Ohio

3.53/5  rDev -15.1%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3 | $$$

A small restaurant with trendy faux-art lining the walls and hanging from the ceilings. The punked-out and trying-to-hard-to-be-eccentric clientele looked down at us, despite the fact that my fiance and I were probably the only REAL artists in the place. Typical west side attitude. Rant over...moving on. Overall, I was a bit let down. Good beer and good food, but a bit overhyped. The beer selection is large with about a dozen taps (some good, some not) and 100+ in bottles. The beer menu is not organized well and is a bit ackward to navigate. The selection is on par with the Winking Lizard. The food scores points for originality and creativity, yet it was a bit pricey and took forever to arrive at the table, even during non-peak hours on a weekday. Overall, an interesting place, but not worth going out of the way for.

06-27-2007 21:09:34 | More by klewis

AltBock

Ohio

3.68/5  rDev -11.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $$

Melt Bar & Grilled is situated on Detroit Ave and in between St. Charles and Warren Rd. in Lakewood. It's more near Warren then St. Charles. Just look for a sign with a grilled cheese sandwich painted on it. It about 2 blocks east of Rozi's and the free parking at the Marc's plaza. When I first walked in, I noticed that it's a clean tiny little bar with very limited seating around it. I thought the back doorway lead to another room, but that only leads to an exit. I would hate to see it on a busy day. It's decorated like an average Cleveland bar with pictures of the Cleveland Indians and some kooky stuff like one of those Christmas light up lawn snowmen sitting on top of the bar mirror platform. They say they have over 100 different beers, but that's probably not at one time. They have 11 different taps and a refrigerator filled with 9 beers per rack with only 5 shelves in it. That only equals 56 (bottles + drafts). There might have been more different bottles of beer behind the first one, but I'm doubtful about that.

I had good service here because we were almost the only ones in there. I think the bartender knew what she was talking about, but just ask to see their beer menu because that has all the information you need to know about the beer. In the beer menu they list the country or state of origin, style, and alcohol content. The bartender knew how to pour the beer, but they pour all of their beers into an average pint glass. I sure hope I'm not sounding like some kind of beer geek by saying that I would have liked to see more of a variety of glassware than just your run of the mill 12 oz. pint glass.

I believe they serve breakfast here all day, but they specialize in toasted cheese sandwiches. I never knew you could keep a restaurant in business with mostly toasted cheese sandwiches on the menu, but they do. They have a big variety of toasted cheese sandwiches, from just the basic to on with different kinds of meats on it. They have 6+ different kinds of cheeses you're allowed to choose from to put on your sandwich. I just got the basic with the Smoked Gouda and that was just great. You get two sides with your meal, hand cut fries and slaw. The fries were good, but I hated their slaw. It tasted like you were biting into a big Vidalia onion. Yuck! The waitress asked why I didn't eat it and when I didn't respond quickly, she asked if it was too healthy for me. All I did was just smile back.

When I was there, their tap list consisted of Old Rasputin, Bells Two Hearted Ale, Breckenridge 471, Arrogant Bastard, Blue Moon, Dogfish's 60 minute, Pyramind Apricot, Great Lakes Dortmunder, Guinness, Delirium, and just one more I don't remember. It might have been Miller, but all I know is that it wasn't any kind of decent micro. Their bottle list consisted of Stone's IPA and Oaked Bastard (last case they had), Stoudt's, Victory, Buffalo Bill, Great Lakes, Bell's (including Consecrator Doppelbock and Hell Hath No Fury), Great Divide (including their regular Yeti), Weyerbacher, Abita, Clipper City, Harpoon, Celebrator, Brooklyn, Rogue, Lagunitus, Founders, Chimay, Hoegaarden, and more. That more is including a couple more bottled Belgian beers.

I didn't think their prices were all that bad. I thought some of their sandwiches were on the pricey side, but their beer was pretty good. Draft micro beers were $3.50 a pint while Old Rasputin was $4. Their bottled prices differed, like any other place, but were also not too bad. I enjoyed my stay at this small little bar in Lakewood. I would go back again in the near future, but next time I would say hold the slaw and double down on the fries.

02-17-2007 22:54:40 | More by AltBock

alebird

Ohio

3.68/5  rDev -11.5%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5 | $$$

This review concerns the Melt location on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights and may not apply to the Lakewood location, although if it is the same company, one could assume that the same operating procedures are in place. And those procedures are CHEATER PINTS. Enough said, right? As I've stated in other reviews, CHEATER PINTS are a conscious, calculated decision to short-shrift the consumer, to take more of your money for less of their product. The beer selection is solid. The food is waaaay above average, awesome even, but CHEATER PINTS are CHEATER PINTS, and anyone who is interested in a fair exchange should avoid places that SERVE BEER IN CHEATER PINTS.

10-26-2012 00:40:49 | More by alebird

Deuane

Pennsylvania

4.05/5  rDev -2.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Melt is a very nice place with a respectable beer menu. This place was suggested to us by the folks down the block at Rozi's, good suggestion!

An eclectic place for sure with art deco stuff all around and old album jackets use for menus...cool.

Around 20 draft beers with another 120+ bottles. Enough choice to make anyone happy. Our table of 3 all picked the fresh GLBC Nosferatu.

The service was prompt and friendly. Certainly nothing to complain about.

Food was the best feature. An upscale sandwich joint. I got home made pierogi's with a cup of Pumpkin Curry soup. The soup was made in store and wonderful. Thick, rich, creamy and spicy to the point of letting you know it was!

One of my companions got a Monte Cristo that came with a referral to a local cardiologist and the other a mushroom melt with enough shrooms to make an entire parking lot of DeadHeads happy and enough cheese to float a boat!

All in all a pleasant experience and good recommendation by the folks at Rozi's. I will certainly visit again when in town. Maybe for the very interesting looking Sunday brunch.

10-26-2008 06:57:10 | More by Deuane

jmdrpi

Pennsylvania

4.1/5  rDev -1.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

Ate lunch here on our way through Cleveland. Had seen it on Man vs. Food tv show, and come for the food. Didn't realize their crazy huge beer list until we go here.

They had about 15 beers on tap, and then pages and pages of bottled beer. All good craft selections.

Service was fine, our waiter forgot my wife's drink for awhile, so it was on the house. We had some of their famous crazy grilled cheese sandwiches, were were huge and tasty. I had a bacon egg and cheese version, by wife had a peanut butter banana cheese one.

Definitely a unique place and one I would stop at again

06-12-2012 18:49:23 | More by jmdrpi

Dogbrick

Ohio

4.13/5  rDev -0.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 5 | $$$

(Visited 03/2011): This location of Melt is in Lakewood on Detroit Ave north of I-90. Street parking is available in the surrounding area.

The interior is comfy, made more so by the seemingly endless crowds trying to get in. The bar is on the right side after weaving through tightly packed tables. We were quoted a 2+ hour wait but thanks to my friend being on crutches we were able to get a couple sympathy seats at the bar pretty quickly. Cool blue tin ceiling with hanging star-shaped lights. Precarious journey downstairs to the restrooms.

The beer selection is solid, with around 20 taps with beers from Rooster Fish, DFH, Bells, Southern Tier and Stone. The bottled selection exceeds 100 with many NE Ohio brewers represented such as Hoppin' Frog, GLBC, Thirsty Dog etc. Other craft brewers such as Rogue, Stone, and the like, plus a good amount of imports.

Service was about as good as could be expected given how busy it was. With all the production around the challenge the bartender did a good job with refills and beer knowledge.

Food is the main draw at Melt, and they deliver in spades. My friend took the Melt Challenge and didn't make it 1/3 of the way through, but he got 3 delicious meals out of the deal. My sandwich was excellent as well.

Overall this place is pretty amazing although I would recommend going at an off time.

11-15-2011 04:46:28 | More by Dogbrick

MrDanno96

Ohio

4.18/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $

This place has been on Food Network and Man vs. Food, so I had to go when I visited Cleveland. My girlfriend and I were shocked to find that the wait as over an hour when we got at 7:30 on a MONDAY. However, we took this to mean that the food was probably worth the wait and stuck it out.

Melt is a pretty small place and appears that it isn't quite ready to handle the immense amounts of business it gets. It looks like it was once just a typical bar and when they got famous they just tried to cram as many tables in as they could (which isn't really that many). The bar's great beer selection made is easier to wait: Founders, Stone, Abitta, Bell's, Dogfish, and many others on tap, along with a decent bottle list. When we finally got seated the food was also worth the wait. I got the Wake and Bacon and it was quite good - pretty much a grilled cheese breakfast sandwich. The service was friendly and prompt as well. While I was there I also saw someone at the bar get the 3 lb grilled cheese sandwich that Adam Richman attempted to eat on Man vs. Food. I had difficulty finishing my normal sized sandwich (the bread is HUGE!), so I can't even imagine trying to eat that much cheese. Overall, I'd say this is a pretty cool place to grab a beer and dinner; if you're willing to wait that is. Prices were very good too!

03-12-2010 05:52:26 | More by MrDanno96

babyhobbes

Ohio

4.21/5  rDev +1.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | $$

This is another good beer bar in Lakewood! The have 100+ bottles and are continually adding. We were told they hope to surpass the old Warren Tavern in selection! I'll believe it when I see it....but they certainly sounded sincere and excited.

The servers were very friendly and chatty and handed me the beer list rather than pointing at the fridge.

The bar is quite small and I'm not sure I could stand it if busy, but it was pretty cozy and friendly at lunchtime, midweek. The specialty it grilled cheese, but we didn't try anything. I'll be sure to update when we do.

This is a nice addition to the west side bar scene.

06-16-2007 19:24:34 | More by babyhobbes