Mellow Mushroom Carmel — Restaurant in Carmel

We've been to this location a few times and we love Mellow Mushroom in general because of the fresh ingredients and menu options. This location seems understaffed every time we're there and not as organized as other locations we've been to, but the food is good and it's a casual restaurant, so we're patient and just roll with things. We tried to dine in last night and asked if we should sit at an open table, and after being told yes, we had another staff member tell us actually they just hadn't put the sign up, but it was reserved and we needed to get up and move. The waitresses seemed young and it was just a mistake, so when we asked where to sit instead, we were told to sit outside at tables in the sun on the patio. It was 80 degrees, so I asked if we could move a table into the shade, and we were told no. They said we could wait for another table but didn't know how long that would be like we were being annoying by asking for a different option, and we said you know, thanks, but we would just try again another time. Our young kids were hungry, and it was already about 7pm. Her response was a rude "Ok bye!" in a snarky tone. We are not rude customers and we were trying to be flexible, so I was surprised especially because this woman seemed to be the only actual adult in charge of younger staff. It was not the best experience for us. We were embarrassed frankly, since we were just trying to sit down and eat and tried to be flexible about moving, and it was not the best example to set for younger staff either. Good friends of ours own several restaurants, and I just can't imagine any owners would want their staff to be so unwelcoming and not try to accommodate diners. We might get take out in the future because MM pizza is great, but I'm not sure it's worth the hassle of dinning in at...

Writing a review after our second trip here... still unimpressed. The food is dry and service is slow and inattentive. Young employees seem careless about quality of service.

First trip: we ordered a Thai-style pizza. The chicken was dry. The curry had good flavor but the dryness of the chicken overpowered the few high-points of the meal. We sat in the bar area and service was better here than in the main dining area.

Second trip: Sat in the main dining area. We waited for 5-6 minutes before being greeted by our server. After ordering, the food took a very long time to come out. We first had jerk chicken wings. The wings are baked and tasted like they only sauce them before they go in the oven... surprise, surprise, they come out very dry. My boyfriend ordered the steak hoagie and I ordered the meatball hoagie. His hoagie was very dry, desperately needing au jus. Since our server hadn't been to our table since dropping the food off, I had to go to the counter to ask for au jus. Not surprisingly, the girl behind the counter didn't know what it was. I asked for marinara instead, and I watched from the counter as the cook took a container from the shelf above the line (not a heating or cooling well) and carelessly poured marinara into a ramekin. So appetizing. Wonder how long it had been sitting up there? Our server came back only to drop off our check. We didn't get any refills throughout our meal. Maybe it's self-serve and we didn't know?

We were hyped to try Mellow Mushroom and even came back a second time to see if the dryness was just a fluke. Sadly, we...

Decided to try this location after having had MM for the first time in Gatlinburg and loving it. This visit measured up pretty well against the one at the Gatlinburg location. (Here out, only talking about the Carmel location.) The service was a little slow, but (in their defense) they did have a help wanted sign out front and the servers looked spread a little thin. It seemed like our server was working tables in our area and in the bar on the other side of the restaurant, so benefit of the doubt here. Server was friendly and helpful. As for food, I had a pizza with ham and pepperoni. I wound up pulling the ham off. Personal preference, tried something new and didn’t like it, there was nothing wrong with the ham. Otherwise, I enjoyed my pizza. I really, really love their crust. Hubby can’t remember the name of his pizza, but it pretty much had everything on it. He found no fault with it at all. The problem arose with our daughter’s hamburger, the patty and the bun were pretty charred. She took one bite and refused to eat it. Hubby tried it and liked it, but he thought the char added to it. I only tasted a non-charred part and thought it tasted ok. (No, we didn’t complain to server about it, per daughter’s request. She didn’t want another hamburger and didn’t want pizza.)

I wish they had a location here on the southside, because the pizza is good, but I’m not sure it’s good enough to make the trek to Carmel too often. I would certainly recommend it, if you’re in the Carmel...