Melt Bistro & Bar

This place was so great!

Food: My fiance and I both got the Melt Burger. She got tots, I got fries. The burger was great! Served on ciabatta bread, meat was flavorful and cooked well, the caramelized onions were perfect: Sweet but still had a crunch to them. My fiance got the Blackberry Mustard served with her tater tots (a HUGE Portion that came with the burger) and is now a die hard fan. I'm not much of a mustard guy myself, but she's quite the connoisseur, so I trust her judgment on good mustard...and so should you. I got the fries with my meal...omg, might be some of the best fries in Portland. Very fresh, hot and crispy, with a little skin still on them. These were served in quite a large portion as well with my burger.


Service: The young lady who acted as bartender and server for us was extremely friendly and sweet. We didn't catch her name, but she had green hair and bangs and quite a few rad tatts. I haven't been anywhere in a while that had service this friendly, prompt, and helpful. She was a delight.


Drinks: I got the strawberry lemonade cocktail and my fiance got a drink with Hendricks gin, cucumber, and something else I can't remember...both drinks were made well and were very tasty.

We will definitely be back. Plus they have a yelp deal! $10 for $20! Who could ask for anything more?

Melt is a great place for a low-key dining experience. At my leisure I was able to explore the options of their Happy Hour menu, which in my opinion is great! Melt offers cheap eats and great service. My bill totaled to be about $21 before tip with 3 different portions and 2 drinks. Don't be afraid to get more! Their fries are awesome!

Check out their daily happy hour feature options! Dollar pretzels every now and then!

They seem to have rotated the pot roast sandwich off the menu, but the Burnside dip was much better than most French Dips. See, as much as I love roast beef, it's far from an ideal sandwich food. Too tough to be eaten without a fork.

No such complaints here, plus the sandwicher accommodated my request to chop the onions. Who the hell likes long stringy-ass onions in their sammiches??

But it didn't stop there. Red velvet cupcakes. I asked the waitress to not let me forget to order one. Wow. That is a damn good cupcake. The frosting was tangy rather than sweet and smooth smooth smooth.

The fries are awesome. Medium sized a la McD's and perfectly crunchy, also a la McD's.

As I type this I'm considering downchecking it to four stars because it's a bit spendy. $11 for a sandwich and pop sounds like a lot, but it's a sandwich with fries and a pop. I guess that's reasonable after all. (My bill was $13 with the cupcake. The cupcake was good, did I mention that?

Sat outside for street viewing; nobody took notice. After minutes, we grabbed the menu ourselves. Food took so, so, long, we imagined they had lost the order. Fry cook didnt seem to take any pride when he waved me off after I inquired whether our order was overlooked. With defiant look, mister said "5 more minutes"----5 more?!?!?

Oh man......this is a grilled cheese order, not a Vitaly Paley masterpiece!

Soup too salty, sandwiches that cost $8-9 should be gourmet...ours looked like an 11 year old prepped them at home on the Foreman grill.

Disappointed in the food.....oh well. Can't win them all.
Inside ambiance casual and cute.

Being a newbie to Portland I am still venturing around finding amazing & quaint places to eat. Well MELT is definitely one of my favorites so far! The atmosphere is unlike anywhere I have been before and the decor makes me want go shopping in vintage stores for my own apartment.

The Happy Hour menu is a great deal for what you get, the newly added Coconut Shrimp are fabulous! And their sandwiches are fabulous and no where near ordinary. House wines are tasty & the weed & lemonade is even better.

I used to think my Mom's pot roast was sooo good. I don't want to tell her about this place it might break her heart. I ate here a couple of weeks ago at lunch on a Saturday during a crazy rain storm. Nothing better than comfort food when it's cold and rainy outside.

I was alone in there but several people stopped by for pickup orders. I ordered the Pot Roast with no onions (sorry not an onion fan) and the gravy on the side. I normally don't like gravy but I put a layer on the my sandwich and WOW! Should I have been eating gravy on my pot roast all these years or is their gravy just the best thing ever.

I have been pestering my husband for a week now of when we can go back again. Or can I pick it up on my way home. Anything I just have to have it again and soon!

Food was amazing! I just finished eating & I'm already craving more. My husband had the chicken BLT minus the B with Parmesan fries & I had the grilled cheese with the side salad & tomato basil soup. All of it was to die for. Our waitress wasn't the most attentive, (on facebook when we needed refills) but that's not that serious.
We split a slice of devil's food cake for dessert & it was moist like Jennifer Aniston's woohah.

Ouch....2 stars here!
From the menu on the street, it looked pretty damn good for Happy Hour....I love a great HH!
The inside is shabby chic, lots of mismatch, metal, lights, cool chairs. We sat by the window, the high tables are comfy. The menu looked different from falafel sliders to polenta cups. The polenta cups lacked flavor, and the spring rolls were too greasy. the tots were good with their cajun seasoning, but I expected some more wow by looking at the menu. Well darn....I will probably not be back here..... moving on to the next!

While visiting Portland this past April, my niece and I decided to go to lunch and headed out to 21st street. We decided to check out Melt Bistro & Bar, located at 716 NW 21st street and settled in at a one of the high top tables by the window overlooking the street which was located to the left of the entrance.

She ordered a sandwich with Turkey, Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado, and Swiss Cheese with Melt's Blackberry Mustard and I got the Patty Melt, an Angus Patty topped with Bacon, Melted Cheddar And Swiss Cheese. It also came with a house salad with balsamic dressing. We also got two midday "adult beverages" -- a rum punch and a cosmopolitan... very girlie, I know. However, these "girlie drinks" came with a serious kick. These were not your over-saturated with sugary mixer kind of mixed drinks. They were top-shelf (when it comes to spirits, I like what I like, so skipped the well alternative) lightly shaken beverages with a breeze of mixer for flavor. If you are looking to tie a buzz on, these will definitely do the trick!

The sandwich and patty melt were both solid, decent fare -- not exciting but not disappointing either -- and the balsamic dressing on the salad was lovely and light. The side of fries that came with my niece's sandwich were pretty excessive (the pile of fries was almost as big as the sandwich) but tasted fine.

While the service was a bit slow, the server was very friendly and quite enjoyable to chat with. He was able to answer all our questions about the menu and made good recommendations. Not disappointed on the service front, at all.

While their menu indicates tapas-style options it truly appeared to be more American style appetizers than a true tapas offering

However, if you are looking for a place where you can hang out with some friends and grab a decent burger, sandwich, or drink, I think it is worth taking a look at.

Three Yelp stars is A-OK, which is about all I can say for Melt. No complaints here, but nothing blew me out of the water either. Everything was good - not bad, not great - just good.

We came for happy hour and sat outside so we were able to enjoy one of the last warm days of summer. Melt has a decent beer selection on tap, including seasonal ales (mm-mmm Oktoberfest) and a good food menu. We tried the corn dog bites (mini corn dogs on sticks, ha) and the poutine and they were both quite tasty. The service was friendly and prompt.

Melt went straight down the middle and firmly into A-OK territory. I can see it becoming a decent happy hour standby when you just want a pint and some comfort food.