Grilled Cheese Gallery — Restaurant in Saint Augustine

A very good, if a little expensive, grilled cheese place. It’s probably the best grilled cheese themed restaurant I’ve ever eaten at, but it’s definitely not gonna fill you up if you’re starving.

Order: A Night in Amsterdam, and The Country Boy About: $25

We were down in Saint Augustine, visiting a friend and looking for a place to eat and this restaurant jumped out at us. In the last few years, it seems like grilled cheese restaurants have become the cool thing to do, but so far I honestly haven’t liked many of them. It’s probably because I can make a great grilled cheese sandwich at home pretty easily.

Despite that trend, we decided to give this place a try and were honestly pleasantly surprised. It’s Saint Augustine so like almost every restaurant there it’s a little overpriced and the decor leaves a little bit to be desired but we’re honestly here for the food and it was spot on. My wife and I split the country boy, pulled pork barbecue with macaroni and cheese, and the Night in Amsterdam, which is a traditional grilled cheese, just with really good cheese.

The quality is honestly exceptional, all of the cheese tasted like it was high quality and not pre-packaged kraft cheese, and even the pulled pork in the barbecue sandwich was good. My only two complaints are that it’s a little expensive and it’s not a ton of food. It’s a great lunch-size portion, but I would need at least two of these for dinner.

All in all, I don’t like that many restaurants in Saint Augustine, so this one is definitely going to make the list to visit again next time...

Is this some kind of joke? A social experiment or something?

A sandwich costs $9 online, $11 on the printed menu, and $15 on my receipt.

The sandwich is grilled dry, without butter or anything, and then served skewered on a device that looks like a countertop banana hook.

This means that the sandwich is suspended four inches in the air, which causes all of the cheese to run out of the sandwich and down into a 5oz plastic cup full of marinara that has recently been microwaved - but not quite enough to melt all of the ice.

Thus, the cheese is now a sticky tomato-y mess - and because the marinara is still partially frozen, the cheese is now cold too, a congealed wad stuck to the paper and ramekin.

If, at this point, you retrieve your bread from the hook - mangled and torn, of course, from having been run through with a hook - you can then reassemble your own sandwich by scraping the wad off of the paper with a knife and schmearing it back on the dry, cold, mutilated bread.

At this point, the worker will ask you if it is good. You tell him it is not and he will simply stand and stare at you, without speaking, until you prompt him again. Then, he will offer to remake the sandwich ...

And the whole thing will happen all over again.

When you point this out to the worker, he will simply respond, "That's our aesthetic."

Which means that all of this happened ON PURPOSE.

This has to be an episode of Candid Camera, right?

Update: The owner contacted me and issued a refund. They were...

First of all-- the food. I had the Mondial and I've never had a better grilled cheese. I'm a picky eater, but the combination of mozzarella, fig, prosciutto, and balsamic on anything immediately gets my attention. That's my wheelhouse. They also give you a small taster of a tomato basil soup to accompany your sandwich, but you'll have to order it as a side if you want an actual cup or bowl of soup to eat. The one they give you is more for dipping.

Atmosphere-- being that my early-life music was shaped in the 70's and 80's, I was happy with the upbeat disco music they played, and so was the 10-year-old I was with. It's universally grooving music, so it kind of fit the cheesy theme.

Service-- everyone was accommodating, super friendly, and the food came out quickly. The dining area is on the smaller side, but how long does it take anyone to eat a grilled cheese sandwich?

Location-- Grilled Cheese Gallery is in the heart of the historic district right on King St. It was fantastic enough for me to consider driving four-hours from Orlando for another sandwich soon. Luckily, we discovered there's another #GCG in Mt. Dora, so that won't be necessary. I just hope it lives up to the experience is St. Augustine.

100%...