Photos by Chloe Brooks
Location and Hours:910 N. Fifth Street
Phoenix Az 85004
Mon. – Sun. | 12 p.m. – 12 a.m.
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Melt is the latest and sweetest addition to entrepreneur John Sagasta’s Fifth Street empire. Located in the building that used to be RezBot (formerly NachoBot), Melt serves ice cream and sorbet from noon to midnight seven days per week. Though it was open for last week’s First Friday Art Walk, the shop didn’t officially open until the following Monday.
Food: 25/30
I sampled at least four flavors before deciding on one. The Superfarm chocolate ice cream, made with Nutella and cocoa, was thick, gritty and delicious, but I wanted to branch out from chocolate. The cinnamon ice cream was wonderfully rich, and heartbreakingly reminiscent of The Sweetness’s horchata flavor, but was too creamy and heavy for such a warm night. I was roasting and sweaty after the walk from the Downtown Phoenix campus, so I chose the cucumber sorbet. Sagasta said all the sorbets are made with real fruits and vegetables, and I could tell — the cool cucumber ice had a few surprise seeds, but they only enhanced the refreshing, straight-from-the-garden flavor.
One of my friends tried the birthday cake batter ice cream and the Superfarm chocolate in a house-made cone, which began to drip almost immediately. The cake batter ice cream had a nice vanilla flavor, but if you don’t care for rainbow sprinkles, this is not the scoop for you. The homemade cone, though leaky, was crisp and sweet. It was lacking the standard waffle texture — Sagasta said he’s still figuring out how best to make them — but I thought the smooth sides were an interesting twist.
I have never been a huge fan of berry-flavored sweets, but I sampled my friend’s blackberry sorbet anyway. The dark fuchsia scoop had a softer texture than my sorbet, which was still firm and icy after ten minutes outside, and a stronger, more invasive flavor. Though it was probably great for berry lovers, I was glad I’d chosen something different.
Another friend tried the chocolate shake, which was much less memorable than the ridiculously large-diameter straw that came with it. The red plastic tube was at least a half-inch across, which would have been perfect had the shake been frozen into a thick slurry requiring extreme amounts of suction. But, it wasn’t. By the time the four of us had paid for our sweets and walked outside, the beverage was more like a thick chocolate milk, and, melty as it was, an average-sized straw would have done the trick and would have felt more natural to use.
Sagasta said the shop is called Melt because “it’s Phoenix, right? You walk out the door and what does it do?” But the name fits more than I originally realized. The frozen desserts are all disappointingly softer than your typical ice cream, a quirk that is not uncommon for Gilbert-based Udder Delights, where Sagasta buys all of Melt’s ice cream.
My main complaint with the scoops is the pricing. I paid $3 for an aptly-named “mini scoop,” and my friend’s 16-ounce milkshake was $6.50. For that price I could have gotten two iced toddies from Jobot — also owned by Sagasta, and just three doors up the street — and been a much happier, more caffeinated customer. Or for the same ice cream, I could cross Roosevelt Street and buy a pre-portioned scoop from Bodega 420 — another Sagasta venture — for 50 cents less than from Melt. As a sometimes-broke college student, I’m almost always going to go for the better bargain, and Melt just isn’t it.
Service: 29/30
Sagasta laughed at us the minute we walked in the door (Warning: Push the door in to open it.), but his friendly ridicule only made us feel more at home. He offered us numerous samples and chatted at length about the different flavors. And though we took forever to decide which sweets we wanted, he served our scoops up quickly and with a smile.
For now, Melt is manned only by Sagasta and his wife. They will consider hiring more help within the next 30 days or so, once he figures out how much business the shop draws, he said.
Atmosphere: 19/30
Sagasta was nothing but friendly and welcoming, but his shop doesn’t convey the same embracing quality. As is typical of Fifth Street, the space is small, but it is not the same kind of cozy-small as Jobot and Lawn Gnome. This is the kind of small that pushes customers as soon as possible out the door and onto the cobblestoned front patio. The only seating available is in the form of narrow wooden tables and benches on the front lawn, where my friends and I settled ourselves to melt along with our (formerly) frozen treats. The 7 feet of standing space from the front door to the glass case make it clear: This is not a place to linger in the air conditioning over deep conversations.
Wild Card: 5/10
My favorite thing about Melt is the funky flavors. I would never have thought of making a cucumber or watermelon-cilantro sorbet — which, though lacking in flavor, had real potential. Sagasta said he hopes to get a shipment of new flavors, including mint chocolate chip and guacamole, around Wednesday of this week, and I am especially excited to try the last one. I also can’t wait to try the toddy float — a creamy, carbonated version of my favorite Jobot coffee — which Sagasta said should debut sometime in the next two weeks.
Final Score: 78/100
Contact the reporter at chloe.brooks@asu.edu
