The Melt — Restaurant in Oakland

I went in for a pickup order last night. I got a double melt burger and it was definitely interesting. It was ginormous so the price was definitely reasonable for the portion but the burger itself was honestly just not good. Some of the flavor was good, but the bun (which I thought would be the hardest thing to mess up) was RUBBERY. I had never had anything like it. I may have encountered a somewhat rubbery bun at a 3am Jack in the Box drive thru but this was something else. It was so chewy and absolutely disgusting.

Surprisingly, that wasn’t even the worst part of my experience at The Melt. Last night, whoever was expo-ing at around 11-11:30pm had some of the worst service I’ve ever experienced. I’ve been working in the service industry for years, so I always try to be courteous to service workers when it seems like they’re busy. I went to the window to pick up my order. The man did not look at me or acknowledge me. He was pretending that I didn’t exist. I didn’t realize he was doing that until he helped 4 people before me, still not talking when he helped them, just shoving food at them. He never once said “hello” or “how can I help you” or “give me a second, I’ll be right with you” or “are you here for a pickup.” He literally never said anything until I asked “is this where we pick up to-go orders?” knowing full well that I was in the correct spot. He then gave me a deadpan “yes” and proceeded to try to give me the wrong order. My order had been sitting there getting cold for an extra 5 minutes, at least, which doesn’t seem like a long time, but it feels much longer when you’re standing there trying to be sympathetic to a late night rush and essentially getting punished for it. I don’t plan on going back, but for anyone who does want to try the melt, if you’re getting a pick up order and there’s a somewhat tall, confused-looking while simultaneously expressionless, man working the take-out window, BE AGGRESSIVE. Otherwise, I swear to god you’ll be there til closing time. This goes for Doordashers or any food delivery as well. Don’t wait for him to acknowledge you. He won’t.

P.S. As someone who works in the service industry, I always tip 20% (even if it’s for takeout or delivery because TIPS ARE IMPORTANT) unless they did a truly abysmal job in the service aspect, so I tipped 20% on my pickup order. Needless to say, the service last night deserved 10% tip maximum, if that.

BEWARE OF THE MELT AND THEIR RUBBERY PATTIES AND THE HORRENDOUSLY LACKING...

My fam & I came on a Thursday. May 2nd. Food was great as always like other locations I’ve been to in SF area.

The only reason I am giving 2 stars is due to the customer service. While placing our huge order, there were 6 of us.

The host taking our order seem to be very frustrated because there had been 6 of us placing an order on the same order.

She had also been very rude. I did not appreciate the tone of voice she used with my mom. She also “assumed” I asked for side order of Mac n cheese & the lemonade (when I asked for the strawberry one).

I am glad I asked if she had gotten the Mac n cheese as a large, she had given attitude in explaining, “We do not have a large…” she went on explaining about the Mac daddy Mac n cheese & the side order one.

She had also made some facial expressions while asking questions about the menu options.

Then I had to go back after receiving my lemonade as a regular one. I mentioned to her at the register, it would be nice for future customers if you may ask which lemonade they would like because I pointed to the strawberry 1 when I was here at the register.

She had stated, “Well I assumed you wanted the regular lemonade.”

I mentioned to her, “I asked for light ice as well, this is not light ice.”

She stated, “That is light ice.”

I have worked in fast food in my past, little Caesar’s & Popeyes. Learning the fact, customers are always right & you have to make the customers happy so they may come back.

I will not be returning to this location due to the fact the way my fam & I were treated with poor customer service.

As a reminder to Host 54, if you do not like working in the fast food industry please find yourself a job you will enjoy working at because clearly this is not the job for you.

The only nice thing she had done was letting my brother & sister move the tables around outside so we were able to have a bigger seating area for all 6 of us.

Thank you to the lady who asked to leave a review because I planned on doing so even after my fam made jokes about how I leave reviews. Very much thank you for the hospitality from you as well with the positivity of leaving a review

TL;DR - Fantastic Ingredients, could be great with a few tweaks

I ordered online directly from the website, which was fast, convenient, and relatively straightforward, the exception being the box to indicate whether or not to include a pickle spear; the option says “NO Pickle Spear” and comes checked by default, which led me to believe that I should uncheck the box if I WANTED a pickle spear. Anyway, I unchecked that box, so I didn’t get one. Lesson learned!

I got my MeltBurger with the default options, but added raw onion. I liked that crispy onions are available at no additional charge, which I’ll get next time.

The burger was pretty high quality, including the bun, which I was glad to see is a potato bun and not brioche. The beef is listed as Angus and Wagyu, but while the patty was well-seasoned on the outside, the salt hadn’t penetrated the entire patty, which was a letdown because the beefiness that did come through was excellent and only could have been enhanced by greater saltiness throughout. While there was a crust on the outside of the patty, the fact that the patty was so large and thick that the browned bits kind of got lost in the under-seasoned middle. That said, the bun was pretty hefty, so it needs a substantial patty to create a reasonable balance.

The cheese (in this case, cheddar) was very well melted, but I did wonder why the default isn’t American, which is created with meltiness in mind. This cheddar was melty in the way that American is, which makes me wonder if it’s been processed in some way (cheddar releases fat when it melts as the emulsion breaks, not the case here), as did its distinctly mild flavor.

The fries were fantastic; crisp, light, and salty and I could easily have eaten a bag of them. The only downside was that it would have been nice for the serving to be a bit more generous, but I suppose that’s better for the waistline :)

All in all, a really great entry into the downtown Oakland burger scene. Prices were reasonable, coming to $15.09 including tax and tip as of June 30, 2022.

Would I eat here again? Absolutely! As other have noted, these burgers and fries are best eaten hot and immediately, so having the outdoor seating...