I Tried the Patty Melt at 4 Chains and the Best Was Cheesy Perfection

A patty melt is the perfect combination of ingredients. Burgers can come in all different shapes and sizes, with a wide variety of toppings. Patty melts are generally just cheese, meat, and onions (particularly caramelized or grilled onions), on two pieces of flat, toasted bread. How could that be bad? Here, we tried 4 patty melts from a few quick chain restaurants and fast food stops, to tell you where to get a good one when you're craving something similar to a burger, but not quite a burger. Aka, a delicious buttery patty melt loaded with grilled onion.

Friendly's Patty Melt (without the side of fries)

I stopped into Friendly's to try one of their patty melts because they actually have a traditional one on the menu with rye bread, swiss cheese, caramelized onions, and a burger patty. It seems like many restaurants offer their version of a patty melt that is usually a bit different, so if you're looking for a more traditional one the way it's meant to be served, this is a fantastic option.

The Look:

Right away, it looks pretty good and smells delicious. It's on rye bread that I wish was a little more toasted. It's a bit squishy and soggy, but it still smells buttery and delicious, so we'll give it a try and see how the bread holds up to the toppings.

The Taste:

It's a little greasy and buttery, and the rye bread really comes through, masking the other flavors a bit. Overall, it's pretty good. The caramelized onions add a tender, slightly sweet flavor, that's almost the consistency of a jammy sauce.

Price Point:

Cost of item: $15.99

Sonic Cheesy Stack

When you're going to Sonic to pick up more of their famous nugget ice, grab yourself a patty melt in the meantime (they call them stacks). You can order a single or double and they add a little bit more pizzazz to their patty melts than some other chain restaurants.

The Look:

As mentioned before, a patty melt usually has swiss or provolone cheese and grilled onions on top of the patty. Sonic does it a little differently, topping their patties with American cheese, mayo, mustard, and grilled onions. Instead of using regular toast or rye bread, they use Texas toast.

The Taste:

The buttery Texas toast has a little more heartiness to it in my opinion. I personally enjoy the Texas toast over rye bread. It let the flavor of the burger shine through. I would definitely get this again!

Price Point:

Cost of item: $8.68

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Burger King Classic Melt

Burger King calls their patty melt something a little different. It looks like a griddle breakfast sandwich from first glance. Burger King just calls them melts and they come in a variety of options. Their Classic Melt has American cheese and stacker sauce (and mine came with grilled onions). The Spicy Melt has all that and jalapeños. The Bacon Melt has American cheese, crispy bacon, and stacker sauce. The Philly Melt has Swiss cheese, royal sauce, and grilled peppers and onions. They even have a Buffalo Ranch Royal Crispy Chicken with crispy chicken, buffalo ranch, Swiss cheese, and bacon, but that's going in a whole different direction. Technically, if you want to stay traditional, you would do the classic melt and ask for Swiss cheese, but any of these options are great.

The Look:

I think the Burger King melt looks delicious. It appears toasted around the crust, but the center of the round bread is white and pillowy. It's topped with plenty of American cheese, onion and a flavorful special sauce on top of two patties.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

The Taste:

The flavor is certainly there, highlighting Burger King's famous flame grilled patties. I had fairly low expectations, but this is probably one of the best out there, and the least greasy.

Price Point:

Cost of item: $5.49

Five Guys Grilled Cheese, Add a Burger Patty and Grilled Onions

I'm admittedly cheating a little bit here, but after doing some research, Five Guys technically has a patty melt, just not on the official menu. Essentially, you order a grilled cheese and add a beef patty and caramelized onions if you're craving a patty melt over a burger. When I went to order the grilled cheese, I barely finished saying "and I'd like to add" before the cashier finished my sentence and said a patty and grilled onions. It's a popular order!

The Look:

For their patty melt, they flipped the burger buns upside down and grilled the flatter side. This is what they generally do for their grilled cheese, as well. The juicy patty is added, but it's fairly thin. It was enough for me, but if you're really hungry, you might want two patties. Overall, it looks and smells fantastic and I can't wait to taste it.

The Taste:

This one is the best flavor-wise with really buttery bread and caramelized onions. It was really rich and heavy, but let's face it, we're not really looking for healthy here if we're ordering a patty melt. It's quite messy and greasy, but definitely has the most flavor out of all the options we've tried.

Price Point:

Cost of item: $9.69

Truthfully, these were all close contenders. Nothing on this list was bad at all, and it was really hard to pick a favorite, but all-in-all, I felt like the option from Five Guys had the best flavor. If we didn't try your favorite, drop it in the comments!

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