Rated: ♣♣

What do you get when you bring together a high-tech inventor and some comfort food? Apparently, grilled cheese sandwiches! Jonathan Kaplan, founder of the Flip Video camcorder, has jumped out of the tech industry and opened The Melt. Since its inception in September, they already have 4 locations in the Bay Area! Too soon too fast? Only time will tell…

The standard at The Melt is to get a combo - a sandwich, soup and a little bag of chips. They have some set combos on the menu, but you can also create your own. I ordered The Mission combo, jalapeno jack cheese on sourdough with a sweet corn tortilla soup. The sandwich was warm and gooey in the middle and crispy on the outside. It’s obvious they’re not afraid of butter. The spice from the jalapeno gave it a good kick to break up the richness of the sandwich. The soup was thick and sweet with a smooth consistency. They seemed to have thrown in all the ingredients and pureed everything together which I was not a fan of. There were no kernels of corn in the soup and I didn’t sense any tortillas in there either. I would have appreciated a more hearty soup with identifiable ingredients.

Overall, I think The Melt is a solid 2 clubs. Their selection of sandwiches aren’t too creative and the soups are disappointing. However, if I were to rate on taste alone, I would definitely choose The Melt over the American Grilled Cheese.

The Melt
115 New Montgomery St
(between Minna St & Mission St)
San Francisco, CA 94105
Neighborhood: SOMA