The Melt Howard

The bacon cheese fries were the way to go.

I’m not sure which makes me happier: delicious grilled cheese or super nice people. If you also have a hard time with this, fear not! You’ll get both of those things here.
I’ll admit I have a full-​on girlcrush on the beautiful and amazing Regunique, who goes out of her way to just be fly every single time I come into contact with her. There are good vibes bouncing all around this place (even if the corporate office voyeurs, I mean employees, are watching everything from above, which is a little weird but not weird enough for me not to come here). It’s quick, efficient, budget-​friendly and delicious.
The Mission with jalapenos instead of mushrooms is (enter heart-​eyed emoji here). The well-​dressed fries are gluttonous and divine. The burger is pretty damn good, too. I haven’t tried the salad… because honestly, who orders a salad at a grilled cheese spot? (Though they do have grilled cheese croutons, so…)
Again, grilled cheese. Super nice people. GO HERE NOW!

I ordered the MAC Daddy and it was delicious. Service was alright… we walked in and it took them awhile to great us and help us out. Overall though good food and will defiantly come back.

The Melt @ Howard got me melted! From the staff to the food, it was definitely amaze balls! I had the barbeque bacon burger with fries (no bun, diet. eek)! Was off the chain! Please please extra extra MELT SAUCE, you can use this melt sauce for your burger and for your fries!
I will definitely go to melt to be melted in awe again!
Thank you to the staff for being super dooper nice!

This was my first time there. The place was busy. I ordered the classic grilled cheese. It only too a few minutes. The sandwich was hot and tasted really good. I’m very satisfied with my first experience.

Clean place, friendly service and awesome food (I ordered original burger and naked fries)! Will definitely come back again for lunch!

I got the Campbell’s tomatoe soup (which was watered-​down and damn near probably came right out of the can). I also ordered the well dressed fries which were okay but I could have gotten better quality well dressed at IN and out. Not going back to this low quality place.

This place was super clean and modern. Had the bacons bbq, very generous with the bacon and the bun was really soft mmm. I had the well dressed fries which were DELICIOUSSSS. Oh and the lemonade was nice and tart just how I like it.

I liked that you could order on a machine and watch the board for your name to be called as it allowed me to see different combinations and additions I could do and easily see the impact to the cost, but the food itself was blah. Had a classic burger with fries and it was nothing to rave about. There was nothing wrong with it outright but there was nothing special about it either.

This a great location. It was 10 minutes before closing, the staff had clearly cleaned all the grills and were close to being done for the night.
Hesitant, I politely asked if they could still make me something. I received zero push back (or snob attitude, maybe a slight bummer vibe knowing they finished cleaning :) and was told they only had chicken left for burgers, I was craving grilled cheese. It was delicious.
One employee playfully teased another and there was laughter, smiles and a bit of sassy push back. My type people.
Great closing crew, good vibes and even when «that» customer comes in and you want to go home, still friendly. This is exactly the type of coworkers to have when you work what seems to be the under appreciated fast food service industry.

I’m a fry lover and when my friend said this place has good fries, I had to try it. With a smile on my face, I walked up to the counter and said, «One side of fries please!» (smiley face). «We’re sorry, we’re out of fries». W. T. F. It’s 1:00pm on a weekday and you’re out of fries? I ended up getting the salad which was pretty good so I didn’t walk away completely disappointed.
On my second attempt, I ordered the fries and cheeseburger. The fries were perfect in taste and texture. The cheeseburger was perfectly cooked and the bun, oh yes, the bun was good too.
Good food, good service.

The food is good. The chocolate shakes are good. The employee who dropped a bun on the floor, picked it up and made a sandwich which was served to a customer moments later is not good.
Please train the staff to dispose of any dropped food.

Really, really liked The Melt when it initially launched, but not a fan of the many menu changes they’ve made over the past year or so. Because of that, it’s gone from a place I go once every few weeks to one that I go to every few months (despite being located just outside my office door).
They seem to have done a pivot towards being just another burger & fries place, and on that front they don’t really distinguish themselves from any other burger place (e.g., Super Duper). Burgers are solid but unspectacular, and very, very heavy. Ditto on the fries.
Loved the egg in a hole and other breakfast options, but they ditched all of those. Really like the grilled cheeses, but they’ve cut the number of options there. Loved several of the soups that have recently been abandoned.
With all the things that made them unique slowly disappearing, I can’t see this place going back into my regular rotation.

Oh, The Melt, how I wish I could give you more credit. It hurts me to write a negative review but I’m reminded that you can’t improve without valuable feedback.
Likes:
Clean and inviting establishment
Great locations throughout the city
Reasonable Prices
Dislikes:
Cramped and awkward dinning area
Burgers are a mess, difficult to unwrap and hard to eat
The majority of the offerings are bland and soggy
Wasteful, melts are wrapped in a napkin, parchment paper, then a paper bag, placed in a paper bag
The Mission Burger, which is what I got today, not only looked awful, but sat on the counter for 7 minutes as the staff was running around in circles resulting in a cold, soggy mess
The food is just not good… It’s as simple as that. The Melt needs to take a step back and work on improving their food, not their web ordering system.

Ordered the classic grilled cheese with tomatoes and the sweet potato fries.
Sweet potato fries sprinkled with Parmesan cheese was absolutely amazing. The bread was nicely spiced which made it unique from the other grilled cheeses I’ve had in SF. The restaurant looks very clean and nice and the food comes pretty quickly during the lunch rush if you’re on a timer.
There aren’t too many places to sit but the people finish eating quickly and there are usually empty seats.

UPDATED REVIEW — see below for my original review
within 10 minutes of my original post i was contacted by Jenna & Jason who were both very apologetic and kicked down a couple of free meal coupons.
Went back to the Melt today, ordered the exact same meal, sat outside and enjoyed a delicious burger. Jenna, Jason — thanks for taking care or me on this. Super friendly staff, service is quick — most importantly they pay attention to their customers.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: (1 star) Huge disappointment. Showed up early — 1145 — not busy just 3 – 4 people ahead of me and no line behind me.
I was craving a burger and took the 5 block walk to the Melt. Ordered the Original w bacon and a side of fries (naked). Get back to my office and find they forgot the patty. THEY FORGOT THE PATTY. so now I have a bacon Lettuce and cheese sandwiches… Huge Let down.

So came here for an expecting experience and a great grilled cheese sandwich!
Heard and Saw Aawesome reviews from the News and Other outlets, even became shocked when I realized there was a location near my office.
So went there today for lunch 4÷15÷15 2:34p
Beautiful deck core
Food smelled delicious and fresh
So I stood in front of the registers
Because there was no line, and waited.
Saw the staff was a little busy so I continued to wait.
For a staff of three no one knowledged me or told me «one minute please»
Rude I started to think.
A full five minute complete song played on my IPhone the whole time I was there so I decided to go across the street to Subway after a full five minutes of no customer service.
Really disappointed for my first time coming to try a new business.
I’m looking forward to my next visit
2 Stars for a second chance

I came here yesterday with my husband to try out The Melt. We came here for dinner. It turns out this location is the main headquarters, and you can see people working upstairs in their offices.
This location is small with a few seats available inside and outside. The restaurant is clean and well maintained. The service was nice, fast, and friendly.
I had the original burger melt. The burger was cooked to a perfect medium rear and served on a potato bun that had cheese melted on both sides. Inside the burger also came with lettuce, sauce and tomato. On top of the of the burger came a pickle.
I also ordered the naked French fries. They are cut in thin slices and tossed with secret spices. It was a served hot and crispy.
It was good but, nothing stood out for me.

Love this Melt location! Small, efficient, and tasty — this is a great quick lunch pit-​stop. They have a great system that keeps you up-​to-​date with the status of your order — displayed on a tv screen with your initials.
So far I’ve tried two grilled cheeses and both were pretty good. I got the Truffle and the Italian and both were extremely flavorful and cheesy. Bread wasn’t the best, but for what they’re priced, it’s a pretty great deal. Keep in mind these are messy sandyz, so perhaps not the best lunch idea pre-​big-​business meeting! Unless your client is really into cheese.

I was visiting a friend in the city, and based off of recommendations we decided to try The Melt.
This location is unique because on the second story when you walk in is The Melt’s corporate office. Super funky and fun! We were undecided on what to get, and the manager Tim (I think that was his name?) was AWESOME! He made some recommendations for what we should try, and it was out of this world! Thanks, Tim!
I ordered the Truffle melt, with the tomato basil soup. Hot, oozy, melted cheese with seasoned slices of bread dipped into the fresh, creamy soup! So. freaking. delicious. I’ll definitely be back the next time I’m in the city!