TV Restaurants

What Happened to Melt Bar & Grilled After Best Thing I Ever Ate?

Closed verified

As of September 2026, Melt Bar & Grilled has closed — confirmed via the business's own closure notice, July 17, 2026.

Primary source
Wikipedia ·
Secondary source
wkyc.com

Last verified

What the source shows: Wikipedia (revised 2026-07-17) shows the chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2024 and its last location closed by January 1, 2025; WKYC separately reported the location's permanent closure.

Interactive map — loads when you ask for it.

Everything on this map is also in the list below.

© OpenStreetMap contributors © CARTO

What happened after Best Thing I Ever Ate?

The Best Thing I Ever Ate's 'Messy' episode featured Melt Bar and Grilled's original Lakewood, Ohio location, spotlighting the towering, drippy gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches founder Matt Fish built the concept around. Fish opened the restaurant in September 2006 at 14718 Detroit Avenue, and it grew into a Northeast Ohio chain built on the format. According to NRN, Melt Bar and Grilled filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 2024-06-18, citing economic pressure and mounting store closures. WKYC reported on 2025-01-01 that Fish announced the permanent closure of the Lakewood restaurant, the chain's last operating location. Cleveland.com's Plain Dealer covered the company's history in a 2025-01-17 retrospective, describing the Lakewood store as both the brand's original and final address.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives visited Melt Bar and Grilled in the episode titled By Request (aired 2010-02-08), spotlighting the restaurant's gourmet grilled-cheese sandwiches and other comfort food. Melt Bar and Grilled was an Ohio restaurant chain founded in 2006 in Lakewood, Ohio by Matt Fish, who served as the company's chief executive officer; according to Wikipedia, Melt's sandwiches drew coverage from USA Today, Esquire, and National Culinary Review. According to WKYC-TV, Melt Bar and Grilled filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2024, citing economic pressures and store closures, and the company's last location, the original Lakewood restaurant at 14718 Detroit Road, closed by January 1, 2025; WKYC-TV separately reported that the chain held a memorabilia sale after the Lakewood location closed permanently. No reopening, relocation, or new ownership was identified in the material reviewed for this record.

Featured on Best Thing I Ever Ate

Season / episode
Season 6, Episode 3
Original air date
Not confirmed
Episode title
Messy
What was featured
Messy, oversized gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches at the original Lakewood location
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Melt Bar & Grilled
Season / episode
Season 8, Episode 6
Original air date
Episode title
By Request
What was featured
Gourmet grilled-cheese sandwiches and comfort food
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Melt Bar & Grilled

Frequently asked questions

Is Melt Bar & Grilled still open in 2026?

As of September 2026, Melt Bar & Grilled has closed — confirmed via the business's own closure notice, July 17, 2026.

What happened to Melt Bar & Grilled after Best Thing I Ever Ate?

The Best Thing I Ever Ate's 'Messy' episode featured Melt Bar and Grilled's original Lakewood, Ohio location, spotlighting the towering, drippy gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches founder Matt Fish built the concept around. As of September 2026, Melt Bar & Grilled has closed — confirmed via the business's own closure notice, July 17, 2026.

Is Melt Bar & Grilled permanently closed?

As of September 2026, Melt Bar & Grilled has closed — confirmed via the business's own closure notice, July 17, 2026. We publish a closure only with a dated source behind it, and we say plainly when it has not been independently confirmed.

Where is Melt Bar & Grilled located?

14718 Detroit Road, Lakewood, OH 44107. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Best Thing I Ever Ate featured Melt Bar & Grilled?

Season 6, Episode 3 of Best Thing I Ever Ate. The episode is titled “Messy”.

Every status on this site carries a confidence label and a date, and names the source it rests on. Read the Editorial & Corrections Policy for what each label means and how quickly we act on corrections. The questions above are generated from this record's own published fields — we never publish a question we cannot answer from the data.

More from Best Thing I Ever Ate

Every Best Thing I Ever Ate restaurant we track

Other TV restaurants in Ohio

All Ohio locations

Nearest tracked restaurants

Visit info

Address
14718 Detroit Road, Lakewood, OH 44107
Venue type
restaurant
Official website
None found

Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources

  • Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melt_Bar_and_Grilled
  • nrn.com — https://www.nrn.com/casual-dining/grilled-cheese-restaurant-melt-bar-grilled-files-for-bankruptcy
  • wkyc.com — https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cleveland/melt-bar-and-grilled-owner-announces-permanent-closure-restaurant/95-a35b458c-8b16-4232-a571-5fd7bafec03f
  • cleveland.com — https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2025/01/inside-the-rise-and-fall-of-clevelands-iconic-melt-bar-grilled.html
  • wkyc.com — https://www.wkyc.com/article/life/food/melt-bar-and-grilled-garage-lakewood-location-closed-permanently/95-6ac19cd8-f167-4c01-bbcd-9dbd74646230

See something wrong?

We work hard to keep every status accurate and dated, but restaurants change fast and our sources aren't perfect. If something here is wrong — a status, a name, an address, anything — tell us what you're seeing and where you saw it, and we'll check it.

See something wrong? Tell us →

Share this page

Record ddd-0296 · last verified .