Melt is as popular and tasty as everyone says. However, it's not as grilled cheese as I expected. I would say that they specialize in grilled sandwiches with cheese. I didn't see a single sandwich that looked like a grilled cheese sandwich to me. I expect cheese to be the dominant ingredient of a grilled cheese and that's simply not the case at Melt. This is only a negative to me because it's false advertising, I actually preferred that they weren't overly cheesy. I loved the walleye sandwich that I ordered. I added the garlic which really gave it a nice punch. The fries are very good. Hand cut, dark, and crispy. The slaw that comes with the sandwiches is so-so.
The beer selection was very good (calibrated for Cleveland). Although, as an out of towner, I would have like to see more local beers. I could only find 1 Great Lakes beer and 1 Bells on tap. They had 4-5 different Stone beers on tap. Don't get me wrong - Arrogant Bastard is one of my favorite beers, but common have some pride Cleveland! The Bells IPA that I had was delicious, I would have love to have more Bells or GLBC options.
I fell for the hipster style of this place. It made me feel back at home in Seattle. The menus are pasted to the back of LP covers. We were all comparing which band we got from Jethro Tull to Marvin Gay.
Oh, and no joke on the wait - we waited over an hour. As long as you're ready for that wait, it's worth it. Don't show up when you're already starving.