**Disclosure: I was invited in by Melt to try complimentary brunch. As always my opinions are 100% my own.***
Melt invited us in on Saturday to their Mentor location to check out their brunch. Mentor started serving brunch about 2 months ago adding it to the list of other Melt locations that serve brunch.
The Mentor location is in the Points East Plaza on Mentor Ave. This location is now the only east side Melt since Cleveland Hts closed. They have tons of room inside with tables and a bar area and they also have a patio area which overlooks the parking lot. This end location in the plaza is perfect because they have room to have the patio and a pretty big indoor space. They have all the old school signs and a huge mural on the wall which it typical of Melt decor. I love the old school yard light ups that also line the walls behind the bar. Aside from the food their decor was something that made me love this restaurant on my first visit so many years ago. It’s so nostalgic and reminds me of my childhood.
We do frequent this location for dinner often so I was so excited when Melt offered for us to come in and check out their brunch. I have never had their brunch and honestly didn’t check out the menu until we got there that morning. I really wanted to be surprised. The menu has so many unique items and I honestly wish I could have tried them all.
We decided to try out a couple cocktails because how do you go to brunch and not. I got the Basic Bean, which tasted just like a spiked coffee. It has Smirnoff Vanilla Vodka, Frangelico, Patron XO, cold brew, cream, whipped cream and has a caramel drizzle. I really enjoyed this drink it was prefect for brunch time. I’m a huge coffee fan and I could taste the coffee flavor from the cold brew and Patron XO and everything else blended very well together. This drink wasn’t too boozy tasting or sweet. My husband ordered the Pickled Bloody Mary for me to try. I’m normally not much of a Bloody Mary fan but I even really liked this pickled one. Most Bloody Mary’s are spicy and/or acidic but this one was neither of those. It had a slight spiciness but the pickle juice cuts the spiciness and acidity. I was so impressed and if every Bloody Mary tasted like this I would order them more often. The Bloody Mary did come with a brunch skewer and a fried pickle, which was hot, fresh and crispy. We also had to get a picture of the Cold Brew Manhattan that was ordered. It has Bulleit bourbon, sweet vermouth, apply brandy, chocolate bitters, and cold brew. It’s on my list to try next time.
Now on to the food. Let me start by saying their brunch options are unique takes on a normal brunch menu and I was so excited to try it all. We had such a hard time deciding. I do feel like we picked some amazing options and I can’t wait to go back to try some other stuff. We started with the Biscuits and Glazy, which is sweet crispy battered and deep fried biscuits. They are drizzled with vanilla glaze and powered sugar and come with a berry sauce for dipping. These biscuits had amazing texture and flavor and the additions of the vanilla and berry sauce just add to the flavor. I will say the deep fried biscuits were very dense but not in a bad way. I could have just had these as my meal, as they are very very filling. I knew we had other food coming out so I only ate two.
For our entrees we tried the breakfast burrito and the salted caramel and banana French toast. For starters the breakfast burrito is battered and deep fried. It is huge and I honestly wish I could be in the kitchen to see how they keep it together while they are battering and deep frying it. Deep frying the burrito gives it a nice crispness and the tortilla doesn’t get soggy which I really liked. There is no picking up the burrito to eat, you must use a fork. It is filled with scrambled eggs, chorizo, potato hash, sautéed onions and peppers and jalapeños. All of my favorites for breakfast. After it is deep fried it is then topped with cheese sauce (I love cheese sauce), a corn salsa, sour cream and scallions. This burrito was huge and is filled as full as it can be with the stuffing. Make sure if you order this you bring your appetite.
The salted caramel and banana French toast was my favorite. Everything else was great but I could eat French toast everyday. Let’s start first with the bread. The pieces are nice and thick. I won’t give away any of the secrets that were shared with us but I will tell you Melt’s bread is made specifically for the restaurant and it makes this dish. If different bread was used I do not think that the French toast would be as good. The bread really holds up to the caramel cream cheese which is in between the two pieces of bread and on top. It is then topped with caramelized bananas, caramel drizzle, and powdered sugar. I was worried this was going to be too sweet but it honestly wasn’t. It had great flavor with some sweetness but it wasn’t overpowering. It also came with a lot of banana slices which I appreciated. They do give you a side of maple bourbon syrup, which was really good but this dish in my opinion did not need the syrup. It just had so much flavor without it.
I feel like Melt is one of those places if your visiting Cleveland you have to try. We really love Melt, their atmosphere and their unique take on grilled cheese. They have vegan and gluten free options and I say it all the time THEY HAVE THE BEST SALADS! But I will say I was also pretty impressed with their brunch as well. I loved the unique recipes on a lot of brunch basics. They put the Melt twist on brunch and I highly suggest if you haven’t you should go give their brunch a try.