TV Restaurants

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

Best Thing I Ever Ate, Season 6 Lakewood, Ohio

Current status

Closed

As of October 2026, Melt Bar & Grilled has closed — confirmed via Wikipedia, July 17, 2026.

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. How we decide a status →

What happened after Best Thing I Ever Ate? 2 episodes

Best Thing I Ever Ate, Season 6, Episode 3

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, Season 8, Episode 6 Aired

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.

The episodes Best Thing I Ever Ate

Episode 3
Air date not confirmed
Title: Messy · What was featured: Messy, oversized gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches at the original Lakewood location
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Season 8, Episode 6
Aired
Title: By Request · What was featured: Gourmet grilled-cheese sandwiches and comfort food

Also in Season 6 Best Thing I Ever Ate

Season 6: 33 of 43 still open

All 7 Season 6 episodes →

Nearest open restaurants By distance from 14718 Detroit Road

  • Greek Village Grille

    Lakewood, OH 0.7 mi away

    Food Paradise · Man v. Food

    Open

  • Good Company

    Cleveland, OH 3.2 mi away

    Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

    Open

  • Happy Dog

    Cleveland, OH 3.7 mi away

    Best Thing I Ever Ate · Food Paradise · You Gotta Eat Here!

    Open

  • Parkview Nightclub (Parkview Nite Club)

    Cleveland, OH 3.7 mi away

    Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

    Open

  • Astoria Cafe & Market

    Cleveland, OH 3.8 mi away

    Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

    Open

  • Mason's Creamery

    Cleveland, OH 4.2 mi away

    Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

    Open
All 113 TV restaurants in Ohio →

Before you go: 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 we checked 5 references

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melt_Bar_and_Grilled
  2. nrn.com https://www.nrn.com/casual-dining/grilled-cheese-restaurant-melt-bar-grilled-files-for-bankruptcy
  3. 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
  4. cleveland.com https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2025/01/inside-the-rise-and-fall-of-clevelands-iconic-melt-bar-grilled.html
  5. 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.

Tell us →

Share

Record ddd-0296 · checked by Cal Marchetti.