I want to love this place. This is all opinion based, and I should tell you off the bat, of all the places I've dragged my husband to for grilled cheese, this was one of his favorites. But me? Nah, I'll pass the drive from Akron (or Central PA, since really, that's where I drove in from) and kep going to my other grilled cheese staples.
So this place is really popular. Like it's got an hour and a half wait and is packed to the max in the waiting area right at 5PM popular. I've never been somewhere and dealt with over an hour wait, ever. Wait, actually once, but there were other bars and restaurants around and they called my cell to tell me to come to my table. Here, you have to wait around the restaurant. I suggest getting a beer and stalking the bar and eating there. Also, come as like a group of 2-3. Coming as a group of 5 was not smart on my part - we got smashed into a 4 person table which made eating fun and had to wait (even though 2 of us got seats at the bar.)
Their beer selection is pretty darn great. While there, I got an Ace pear cider which I haven't seen on draft in Ohio yet, so that was a nice surprise. Bar was crazy busy as well though, so there were constantly people kind of just standing on top of us.
The place is really decorated and bright - it's got this super hipster feel to it. The way they reserve tables is by giving you a name tag of whatever fictional character they like. We got 'Ron Swanson.'
The menus are all printed on old records, which is a pretty cute idea, but made for a crowded table as the giant squares took up a lot of room. The menu is fairly simple - grilled cheese with tons of things stuffed inside. Everything from just cheese to stuffed with BBQ chicken or pierogies. We ended up trying the buffalo tofu as an appetizer, a grilled cheese with cheddar, bbq pulled pork (you have to add the BBQ sauce to the pork), mashed potatoes and onion straws, and another grilled cheese - the specialty at the time which was a grilled mac and cheese sandwich with bacon and caramel port onions added.
The plates come with french fries and 'sweet slaw.' I asked for no slaw, yet it still came. My husband's didn't and he got extra fries - I was jealous. As was everyone else because not a single one of the 5 of us liked the slaw - even the guy who normally likes coleslaw. The fries are good - thick cut with seasoning, although one spice in their seasoning is still really throwing me off. The grilled cheeses are huge - and I physically could only eat half. They only have one type of bread which actually knocks it down a bit for me - it's really thick and kind of rough and cut my mouth up. Not a fan of that. The toppings inside were all pretty darn good - the pulled pork mashed potato mix up I created was better than the grilled cheese one. Those caramel port onions are REALLY sweet and will almost over power anything you put them on, so only get them if you are getting something else that is as strongly flavored.
Service was pretty decent. You had to feel bad for our poor waitress going in between so many tables. But out plates and glasses kept stacking up, and with 5 people at a 4 person table, we needed all the room.
My husband chose to end with fried twinkes as a dessert. They are not fried twinkies - they are just fried cream puffs. And bad cream puffs at that. The dough was too tough and the cream was over cooked and separating so it was almost curdled and just really gross. Totally got knocked down a star for the terribleness alone.
In the end, was it good food? Yes. Was it the best grilled cheese I have ever had? No. Was it worth the drive? For one time, sure. But never again. In my search for the yummiest grilled cheese place, this just wasn't it. Cincinnati still has you beat on this one, Cleveland.