Melt Cleveland Heights - Greatness Comes East

So I managed to wait one day before I headed out to check out the new Melt Bar and Grilled in Cleveland Heights.  Located at the corner of Cedar and Taylor Roads (map is here), Melt has taken the amazingly successful formula from Lakewood and transplanted it to the East Side.  Even though I arrived at just after 11:00am on Saturday, the dining room was already filled up with a line out the door.  Luckily there was plenty of room at the huge bar and so I grabbed a stool and settled in.

Looking around you get something of the feel with the brick walls, the kitschy decor and the warm friendly feel.  One half of Melt is a large open dining room with nice tables and chairs and the open kitchen.  On this day the dining room is packed with families with lots of young kids.  Of note is the wall with all of the old Dairy Queen items.  The feel of the dining room is a bit more basic and open.

The other side of Melt is a large U shaped bar with another set of seating along the wall.  This gives the bar almost as much seating as the original Melt has with all of its seating.  Here the decor is more intense and diverse and mirrors that of the Lakewood location.  Plastic Dracula, snowmen and jack-o-lanterns are strewn about and thin screen TVs above the bar have sports and cartoons showing.  Little details are cool such as the old video game panels that line the top of the beer coolers.  All in all a good transfer of much of the atmosphere of the original along with its own unique feel. 

For those who know the location from when it was Peabody's or one of the other bars that were located there, they have filled in the floor and made everything into a single floor. 

Melt has a huge selection of beers, both on tap and in bottles, I will have to work through these over time.  It will be interesting to see how Melt ends up between bar and restaurant, the food is so good, but this will be a great place to just hang and drink.

So once I had finally taken it all in, I settled in and decided on my lunch.  The menu (which you can see here) has come over with no changes, which is a great thing.  The soup of the day is Dortmunder Mac and Cheese; after checking that it was vegetarian, I ordered a cup and was surprised to get a full mug of very thick, very good mac and cheese.  I would not call this a soup, as it was easily as thick as most mac and cheese that you can get.  The taste was wonderfully smooth, with some nice crispness from the scallions and the goldfish that came on the side.  The flavor was a wonderful combination of cheese with a bit of smoke and a hint of heat.  Over many visits to Melt, I have not been disappointed by the soups and chili.

My main choice was the Wake and Bacon with Avocado subbed in for the bacon.  The sandwich came out perfectly cooked with a huge pile of french fries and a side of sweet slaw.  The sandwich was a wonderful balance of fried egg, avocado and melted cheese between giant slices of bread.  A little hot sauce added to give some heat and this is one of my favorite sandwiches.  The fresh cut fries were nicely crisp and if anything better then what I get.  The sweet slaw was nicely crisp and well balanced.  A huge plate of excellent food at a reasonable price.

Despite the fact that this was only the second day of operation, and a more then full restaurant, the service was superb.  Chris the bartender who served me was knowledgeable about the food and the bar, was friendly and in a great mood.  Surprisingly, after getting used to having to wait for food at the Lakewood location, my food came out amazingly fast.  I wouldn't count on this happening, but even if you have to wait the food is more than worth it.

My first review of Melt in Cleveland Heights is very favorable.  They have managed to bring the fabulous food and excellent service, while retaining much of the fun atmosphere.  Right now it feels a little more divided then the Lakewood location, with the dining room area being a bit more family friendly and the bar side being a bit hipper and rowdier.  As long as they can manage the crowds and keep standards high, Melt East will be a huge success. 

I would recommend that you go give them a try, except that Melt is already very busy and I want to be able to find parking and get seated when I get the urge, so instead think about driving over to Lakewood and leaving the Cleveland Heights location alone.

Notes - Triple D, Melt, Rachel's, Angie's and Lancer

Just wanted to cover a number of different topics. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network finally aired the piece on Melt; it was a very nice segment and the place came off great, although I think they could have shown more of the feel of the place. If you get a chance catch it. Also Melt is coming along with their Cleveland Heights location, so look for an opening in the next couple of months. My mouth is watering at the idea of them being just a couple of miles away; YEEHAW!! Unfortunately it looks like Rachel's Caribbean in South Euclid has closed, the sign is down and there is a small sign in the door for a new place that will be taking over the spot. Rachel's was a great place with excellent food and a nice friendly staff, it will be missed. Angie's Soul Cafe (see review here) has moved closer to downtown at 3894 Superior Avenue. Haven't been down to check out the new location but as long as the food is still the same it will be worth a trip no matter where it is located. Taking the spot that Angie's vacated at 7804 Carnegie Ave is the Lancer Steakhouse which got burned out of its original location across the street. Lancer's has been around seemingly forever, I remember that it was there when I was a kid and my father's material handling business was right across the street. Lancer's is a mainstay of the neighborhood and very popular with our professional athletes. You can get more information at their facebook page here. I will try to get down and give a full review.

Melt - Update

Well Melt has added the space next door and they did fabulous job of making it look like it has been there all along. The space provides a couple of extra tables, which will be used when the patio is closed and a lot more space to allow people to wait for tables to become available. Nice job. I also wanted to mention that Melt has a brunch menu available all day on Sunday and while not extensive, the egg dishes, french toast and waffles sound great and look to be really well prepared. On my last couple of trips here, I have added the soup of the day to my feasting. Certainly didn't need it since the sandwiches are enough to fill up even me, but they sounded so good I had to give them a try. And I was very happy with the soups. The soups are served in one of Melt's many variety mugs and they tasted home made. Thick and rich, without being overpowering and seasoned very well, this is what soup should be like. Finally, I wanted to give a big shout out to the staff at Melt. Everytime I have been there they have been friendly, knowlegable about the food and drink selection and seemingly having a good time despite being busy. It might be working in a place that puts out consistently outstanding food, it might be that the management does a very good job of hiring and training or it just might be a lucky happenstance. In an case we all complain enough about bad service, so lets try to recognize and more importantly reward good service. Remember to throw a little something extra in the tip when you think the server deserves it.