A new restaurant at Foothills Mall is offering a unique take on grilled cheese. The Melt, which opens this Thursday June 16, is a San Francisco-based chain specializing in all things cheese. The new location at the mall offered a special preview event Monday night, and my roommate and I were first in line to try the food.

The Melt itself is a modern-feeling restaurant with enough San Francisco charm to fit perfectly in Fort Collins. Menus on clipboards, wood paneling and a large recycling and compost bin demonstrate the chain’s attention to detail, and monitors on the walls that display how long it will take to get your order are a sort of technology integration that many restaurants lack.

The menu is both exciting and very college-budget-friendly. Customers can choose between either the classic combo featuring a grilled cheese, soup or salad and a drink, or the burger combo with a cheeseburger, fries and a drink. The menu also offers specialized grilled cheeses, burgers, fries, chicken, mac ‘n’ cheese and desserts.

I ordered the Mac Daddy — a sandwich with mac ‘n’ cheese and smoked bacon — a caesar salad and a soft drink. My roommate ordered the cheesesteak, tomato soup and a drink as well, and we split an order of the sweet potato fries. Filling the drinks was the first surprise — there are no name-brand sodas, only unbranded natural sodas. Part of The Melt’s charm is that all of its food is made using natural ingredients, and the soda helped to enforce this for me. My total came to 12.50 or so, which is well in my budget for a night out at the mall.

The food was really enjoyable. I was worried that I might feel bloated after eating a sandwich with mac ‘n’ cheese on it, but the grilled cheese was perfectly filling and satisfying. The sweet potato fries were also well-cooked, which can be hard to achieve with sweet potatoes. The caesar salad included mini grilled cheese croutons, which made the salad very unique and tasty. I also received a mixture of root beer and black cherry from the soda fountain, and it was fantastic for natural soda. My roommate also seems to have enjoyed his food, and the tomato soup was lovely for dipping my grilled cheese in.

Overall, the food was wonderful, and the experience was really nice at The Melt. The staff were great, and I’m very much looking forward to coming back and visiting again. The Foothills Mall area is continuing to bring in new shops and restaurants, and The Melt is the perfect stop for anyone who enjoys natural food and cheese.

Collegian Social Managing Editor Chapman W. Croskell can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com and on Twitter @Nescwick.