Mellow Mushroom Columbia — Restaurant in Columbia

Okay, so my co-worker wanted to try Mellow Mushroom for awhile now. She and her husband had visited another in Atlanta and she said the food was good there, this was my first visit. Imagine my disappointment and honestly my anger at how bad the food was there. So, get to the restaurant and get seated. We ordered everything at the same time appetizers ( artichoke and wings) and entree ( steak hoagie and calzone) since it was our lunch and we had to get back to the office. First it took forever for the artichoke dip to come out, when it did it was cold but the plate was steaming? Politely asked our server to place it in the microwave, she stated there was no microwave but she would put it in the oven. Waited another what seemed like forever, she brought it back out and guess what? It was actually colder than it was the first time and the plate, still had steam coming from it. Like How?!! She said she would put it back in the oven but we asked for a whole new artichoke to be made. So while all of this took place we finally got the wings we ordered, they were good, no complaints there, but the time-frame it took for our entrées to finally reach the table. Mind you a couple was seated awhile after we had already been there and managed to get their food long before we received ours.They brought out the calzone, she was pleased with it but she could only take a few bites since we had to return to work. I still do not have my hoagie that I ordered. It finally comes to the table and just wow! We had zero time left and I honestly wouldn't have eaten it anyway. I waited close to an hour for what was supposed to be a hot hoagie but was nothing more than a visibly cold sandwich. I asked for a to go box and proceeded to leave. I was livid with the whole experience .I wanted to get to another sandwich shop to grab something because I was still hungry. My co-worker hung back to pay the bill and you guessed it, wait for the 3rd spinach artichoke dip to come out. She brought my sandwich with her and the dip. On the bright side the dip was finally hot but they gave me buttered bread to go with it. They didn't even bother to toast it. The server was pleasant enough but as i stated before the sandwich was visibly cold, you could literally see that it just sat out the whole time. Why would you even serve that to a customer? Horrible experience for a...

Unfortunately I can’t speak to the food as we weren’t seated. I coach a dance team and we were in town for an event and needed a restaurant for 25. This is a huge group and we understand that so we called ahead to several restaurants to see if they could accommodate us. When we called Mellow, the person who answered the phone informed us they don’t do reservations (not an issue— my husband managed multiple Mellow Mushroom locations for over a decade in GA and I’m familiar with their policies). She also told us it wouldn’t be an issue at all to accommodate our large group and I told her we’d come early at 4pm and we understood if we had to do 2 tables. We arrived at 4pm and when we go there the new hostess told us they’d be unable to accommodate us— even if we waited and even if we did 2 separate tables. I was left with a group of 25 on a Saturday night with no where to eat and little time to figure out backup options. I’m not sure why we couldn’t have been put at 2 tables or why they told us they could easily accommodate us the day before only to backtrack later with little explanation, compassion, or helpful solutions. They also requested we call the morning of to let them know we’d be coming in so I did. And after 7 calls throughout the day— no one answered once. When we got to the restaurant, we heard the phone ring and someone immediately answered. The hostess then told us the phones were down… which clearly wasn’t true. All in all, it was obvious they didn’t want us there and it was incredibly frustrating, disappointing, and unprofessional on their end and we wish they’d have just told us Friday when we called not to come in so we didn’t waste our time. We visit downtown Columbia frequently and now know not to return here. This stinks because we regularly dine as a group at the Mellow near us so just unsure why we were treated this way or why they made zero effort to accommodate our group after saying it wouldn’t be an issue at all. From reading the other reviews, subpar service issues like this seem to be ongoing and remain unresolved. Shame because Mellow Mushrooms are normally great and this one is far below standard...

Ok where to start. We got here...6 adults 2 kids. Long line. We checked in and were told at LEAST an hour. We decided too long with the kids so walked to another place. Unfortunately they were closing ( despite calling and getting time) so we walked back. It was almost a half hour later. We found out we had been removed from the list and had to wait 20 more minutes. We said ok we might as well wait. At this point there were like 2 other groups of 2 outside. We could see many empty tables inside. We finally got called in but we're told we could not sit together. We got tables literally next to each other that could have been pushed together but we're too hungry to question it. There were also several booths across the way empty. At this point there was one table of 2 next to us. There was an upstairs and we did see a large group come down but that was it during our time ( which was very long) Both our tables ordered. Our table wanted the gluten free crust and one regular cheese. I had ordered a medium. When I asked my daughter what they had ordered at our table the server. Kali.. said oh we only have large. All the small and medium crusts are gone. We said ok. Whatever. So the first table got served after about 20 minutes. Our table waited about 10 more. She brought the large cheese and said the other would be a bit longer. After another 10 minutes (at least) we see her coming our way with a small item. We said well that's not ours. She walks to the table with a tiny pizza. I said what???? You said there were only large left? She said oh not the gluten free. Had we known that we would have ordered two. There was no way I was waiting another 30 minutes.( In a basically empty place) so I just said I am getting more upset by the minute. And she just turned and walked away. We ate and left. I did tip...though not much. Maybe it was a bad night for them who knows. But I would definitely not go there again. Both tables of people heard her say oh we only have large crusts. So we were all in shock. You live and...