Melt Bar and Grilled
| Address: | 840 N High St, Columbus, OH 43215, USA |
| Phone: | +1 614-453-1150 |
| Site: | meltbarandgrilled.com |
| Rating: | 4.5 |
| Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–10PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 5
MI
Michael Brian
Melt Bar & Grilled is a gourmet grilled cheese bar/ restaurant located in the Short North area of downtown Columbus. From outside, this place is not hard to miss. The front of the restaurant is mostly glass that allows you to see into the large dining space and bar area. Inside the place feels very open and inviting with the high ceilings and the spread layout of the dining area. The bar on the right wall can seat at least 25 people. The restaurant has a sizeable waiting area for patrons for times when the restaurant is busy. When me and my friends arrived, the host quickly took our names, telling us the wait would be 10 minutes. After about 10 minutes, we were seated and the waitress quickly greeted to take our drink orders. Decided to have a sprite with my meal that night. Since this was a grilled cheese place, I ignored the salads and other sandwiches they had on the menu. I decided to order the Mighty Macaroni. The waitress was kind enough to give us more than a few minutes to decide on our orders. She promptly answered the questions I had since it was my first time there. Since we arrived there at dinner time on Friday night, the wait time was about 10 - minutes from the time we placed our order to the time the order arrived at the table. When my order finally arrived, I almost instantly regretted ordering the full sandwich instead of half a sandwich. Didnt think that a grilled cheese sandwich was going to be that large. The Mighty Macaroni is a large patty of macaroni and cheese that is slightly battered and deep fried. It is layered with a creamy cheddar cheese sauce. I opted to add Swiss cheese to add some salt and a contrasting cheese. Biting into it, I first experienced the crunch of the toasty bread then the fried macaroni and cheese with the creamy cheddar sauce binding the sandwich together. The Swiss cheese was a good choice as it provided an element of salty to avoid everything tasting too similar. It reminded me of eating mac and cheese bites, but much better. Next time youre in the Columbus area, check this place out. Its definitely worth the trip.
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Robert Fisher
I really want to like this place. Its one of just a few large restaurants in the Short North and is kid-friendly...something that is difficult to find in that neighborhood. Ive now been there twice and I will not be going back. We had two issues with the restaurant on our first visit and we thought the second might be better, but it was not. (1) Both times we ate at Melt, the weather was warm (upper 70s / 80s), but the restaurant was frigid. Im fairly hot-blooded and I like restaurants to be a little cold, but this was ridiculous. I didnt have a thermometer, but I would guess the air temperature was around 60 degrees and all of the ceiling fans were on. We complained to the waitress and she told us that the fans were on their slowest speed and theres nothing she could do. The reason the restaurant is so cold is that the thermostat is in the entrance area where the sun through their huge windows is intense. Simple fix: move the thermostat!. (2) The bread. Grilled cheese should be on grilled bread...usually 1/4-1/2 inch thick. The dry (almost stale) bread that Melt uses is flavorless, very lightly grilled, and very thick (3/4-1 inch). The inside of the sandwiches are great, but with so much bread, you can barely taste it. Not to mention that the 2 inches of bread makes the sandwiches nearly inedible if you want to retain any sort of dignity while trying to make it fit in your mouth. Simple fix: use a reasonably-sized bread and grill it properly to give it some flavor. If these two things were fixed, I would definitely go back. The ingredients are great, they cater to dietary restrictions, the service was wonderful, the drink selection is impressive. So close to being great, but some work needed!
MI
Mina Doss
Food was fantastic! If i can rate the food separate from the service I would. My wife and I decided to go here with one of our other friends. When we arrived, it was absolutely packed, but they told us we would be seated in 30-40 minutes. Even though we were starving, we decided to wait because we heard the food was worth it. An hour later, we were still waiting even though there were 4 tables empty. The hostess looked so confused every time she had to seat someone, it was borderline funny. At least 2 tables were sitting there empty for at least 20 minutes. It was very frustrating. Eventually she called someone to help her and they started moving a littler faster. An hour later, we were seated. Once we were seated, we were made aware that they are currently running 1 hour ticket times. So not only did I have to wait an hour+ to be seated. I wasnt informed until after I sat down that I would have to wait another hour to get my food. I voted to walked out, but my wife and my friend wanted to stay. Our food was a completely different story that the service. Food was amazing! I had the Cleveland Cheese Stake, one of the best things Ive ever tasted. I would go and get take out from there, since its down the street from work, but I would never go and eat there again.
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ang halla
Food: Mediocre. Sandwich was soggy on the bottom. I didnt eat the leftovers. Was not worth $15! Ive had bigger and better Cheese Steak Hogies for under $7. Speed: Took more than 50 mins to get 1.5 sandwiches and fries!! The restaurant wasnt even half full, so I saw no reason for such a long wait! Service: Our waitress did a fine job, however, service was so slow I got very aggitated. Most of the staff looked like they should work in the circus. I personally didnt care for the "anything goes" atmosphere. Cleanness: I witnessed a waitress occupying a bathroom stall, flush the toilet and walk right out of the restroom without washing her hands. I proceeded to watch her serve several tables. It grossed me out so badly that I requested that she not deliver or touch my food/plates. Ive NEVER seen a waitress not wash their hands in the restroom. For this reason alone, Im leaving a bad review. Please train your staff to wash their hands OFTEN!! Im sorely disappointed, as Ive been waiting to try Melt for over 3 years, and now Ive had a bad experience all because of careless, unprofessional staff. Sorry, but I wont be back and I wont be recommending to my friends.
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Rebecca Damsen
Was lured into eating here because the line was short, every other time weve been by the wait is monstrous. I dont understand why. The food is decidedly unimpressive, actually kind of gross. There is too much bread, soaked in a greasy imitation butter. I ordered the kindergartner combo with sharp cheddar. It wasnt even real cheese - it was processed squares. Id say there wasnt enough cheese compared to the thick greasy bread, but the cheese was so tasteless it didnt matter. Fried green tomatoes were more batter than tomato with no seasoning. Buffalo chicken chowder had a definite processed flavor - nothing fresh about it. I generally eat healthy, but love some good junk (the Ohio State Fair is a favorite place to go off diet). This was just bad - not tasty, not well done, not quality ingredients. There was a lot of it - mostly left on the plate. The service was enthusiastic but not enough to make up for the absolutely awful food. And $40 (including tip) for two sodas, a burger & fries, and my combo was ridiculous. If you grew up on Wonder Bread and Velveeta, this is that - on steroids. If you like real food, go elsewhere.
