Out of all the simple comfort foods available, grilled cheese is not only my most favorite, but seems to have taken a more serious take by cooks, chefs, and restaurateurs alike. That is why I have such high praise for The Hangry Spartan (can't review them because they're a food truck with no specified base location) for their numerous gourmet takes on grilled cheese.
However, I always hoped there would be a regular brick-n-mortar restaurant that served gourmet grilled cheese. Sure there are restaurants that have grilled cheese on their menu, but it is always "an option" compared to being "the base for the rest of the menu."
Thankfully, there happens to be a gourmet grilled cheese restaurant in my home county, Planet Grilled Cheese. And though they definitely scratch a certain gourmet grilled cheese hunger itch, just like how grilled cheese is an option for other restaurants, Planet Grilled Cheese is an option, too.
Located in the food court of Melbourne Square Mall (which is surprisingly one of the more successful malls around), Planet Grilled Cheese (which I will shorthand to PGC for the remainder of the review) now occupies the restaurant space formerly occupied by Subway. If it helps out, they are in between the iconic Gyros & More and Pizza Palace (formerly Sbarro).
PGC's menu consists primarily of grilled cheese options, specialty drinks such as smoothies and lemonades, and sides. I had three of their grilled cheese options. The first is their classic grilled cheese sandwich called the Four Cheese Melt, a sandwich consisting of cheddar, mozzarella, provolone, and American cheeses between two slices of bread. The second was their Wing It Melt which had their boneless chicken wings with choice of wing sauce, provolone and mozzarella cheeses between two slices of bread. I had another sandwich but it was a specialty sandwich and I can't remember what it was called. I also had their mango lemonade along with the sandwiches.
Prior to that, I had their Mac N' Melt and Mozz Stick Melt (imagine the Four Cheese Melt with Mac and cheese in the middle in one and mozzarella cheese sticks in the other), too.
Firstly, the first three sandwiches on the menu really don't have anything to differentiate from each other in terms of flavor. You'd think that the difference between the three - macaroni in the Mac N' Melt and mozzerella cheese sticks in the Mozz Stick Melt - would add some sort of change, but really, it doesn't. What you are really eating is three versions of the Four Cheese Melt with varying cheeses and textures. Also, the cheeses are simplistic with no standout flavor differences. Melt the four cheeses in the Four Cheese Melt and what do you get in flavor? Well, a lot of melted cheese that taste like cheese but doesn't have any distinction between each other.
The Wing It Melt was good and had a lot of flavor inside the sandwich, and that is when I realized one glaring issue with PGC: they do not grill their sandwiches, at least the traditional way with butter on a grill top. Is there such thing as an air griller? Also, where is the butter?
Nothing much to say about the mango lemonade. It is good but as a thirst quencher with whatever sandwich you buy.
Other things that must be pointed out is how long it took for the sandwiches to be made. I waited almost 15 minutes for my grilled cheese sandwiches. Wouldn't mind if I weren't the only one in line, but there was just only one person ahead of me. Also, they are grilled cheese sandwiches? I can make my own four cheese melt at home in less than five minutes, how long does it take to make theirs?
Overall, PGC is a-okay. Like I said, it definitely scratches a specific itch but only if there are no other other grilled cheese options. Not bad, not excellent, but I would consider them again. Maybe after another visit or two, I will take into account any other changes. read more