LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Matt Fish launched Melt Bar and Grilled back in 2006 after taking over the former White Door Saloon in Lakewood. His idea for a gastropub featuring craft beer and gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches exceeded anybody’s expectations – including his own.
Fish assumed that he would sell more beer than food, but when the doors opened, the complete opposite proved true.
“I thought I was opening a bar that just happened to have this cute little grilled cheese menu, and I ended up opening a grilled cheese restaurant that just happened to have a really killer beer list,” Fish explained.
It didn’t take long for the Food Network to hear about the hype. Guy Fieri rolled into town with his “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” crew, followed by Adam Richman and the “Man v. Food” team. The airing of those two productions set Melt – and Fish — on a completely different trajectory.
“It did increase our business locally, but it really put us on a national platform,” adds Fish. “We were then known coast to coast of what we were doing, and it was still at that point, a unique and fun concept.”
Fish expanded across town, opening a second location in Cleveland Heights. The idea was to take some pressure off of the original restaurant in Lakewood, but the crowds kept coming. So he opened up another, and another, and another…
“We were on a good clip to open one restaurant a year for about 10 years,” he explains.
Had COVID-19 not stopped him in his tracks, Fish would have gone on top open even more, he notes, with Pittsburgh, Detroit and Cincinnati all waiting on deck.
In the wake of COVID, Fish experienced the opposite of growth, with one restaurant closing after another. Earlier this summer, he announced the closure of the Akron and Columbus locations, bringing the number of stores down to one: the original shop in Lakewood.
And to breathe fresh life into his 18-year-old restaurant, Fish will close that restaurant for a week and reopen on Sept. 9. When guests return, they will find a more polished and mature version of the brand they know and love.
“I want to elevate the food, I want to increase the food quality, I want to go back to basics, and I want to go back to what I originally wanted Melt to be,” says Fish.