Mellow Mushroom Decatur — Restaurant in Decatur

Mellow Mushroom was my favorite pizza place for 20+ years, but my recent experiences with them suggest that the chain is in decline. At the Vinings location, my pizza was served with slimy "grilled" chicken that reminded me of summer camp food. A friend and I visited the Decatur location around 7pm on Saturday night and business was unexpectedly dead--it was a little eerie. I soon came to understand why so few people were there.

I ordered a small cheeseless pizza with spinach, mushrooms, and ground beef. My friend ordered a small house special. About 20 minutes after we ordered, the server brought out my pizza and informed us that the kitchen staff hadn't yet started on my friend's pizza (the server was not sure why and was apologetic).

My pizza had about 1/2 the toppings that it would normally have, all squished together in the center of the pie. I asked if they could add some more sauce and the server took it back to the kitchen. When the pizza came back, it had about 3 additional small squirts of sauce, still leaving generous space between where the toppings ended and the crust began (see picture). I asked the server why they didn't fill in the empty space, she said she'd watched them squirt it on and asked them to add more. She didn't know why they were being so stingy with it but she brought me a ramekin of sauce to make up for it.

Thankfully, my friend's pizza appeared normal save some very wet tomatoes. Also, our salads were great, albeit too large for the tiny bowls they were served in (the server said they didn't have any larger bowls).

After both meals (slimy chicken and sparse toppings), I filled out MM's feedback form, letting them know of the disappointing experiences. Both times I received this exact email:

"Hi

Thank you for taking the time to complete our survey. Based on your valuable feedback, we're genuinely sorry that your recent experience with Mellow Mushroom didn't meet your expectations.

We take all feedback seriously and strive to provide the best service, highest food & beverage quality, and an inviting atmosphere for our guests. Your comments help us improve and ensure that we deliver a truly Mellow experience every time.

We appreciate your patience and aim to make things right.

Thank You & Stay Mellow,

The Mellow Mushroom Team"

The vagueness indicates to me that no one actually looked at my feedback. In the past, MM offered a $5 off coupon for feedback, but now it's just this sorry boilerplate message.

I'm sad to see MM going down the drain like so many other businesses that are focused on cutting corners to line the pockets of those on top. I thought they were one of the...

I live across the street and love their Great White pizza and their Enlightened Spinach Salad used to get the pizza just about every week. I stopped going 6 years ago because I got tired of waiting 35-40 minutes for a $26 pizza (the cheaper cheese pizza is so bad I wouldn't feed to my dog).

My partner and I went again for the first time on Friday night, mainly to sit on the nice deck. No such luck. The deck is only 2/3 full of tables and all the tables were full. Except they weren't: two different tables had another, completely empty, table attached to it, and nobody was sitting at them. We were told they couldn't be separated, even though there was TONS of room in which to put the empty tables. So odd!

So we had to sit at the outdoor bar, where, unlike every other restaurant, we could not move to a table when one opened. Why? Because the bartender would not be able to get her cut, somehow. Of course: that's more important than satisfying customers.

So we sat at the outdoor bar window. After a minute, the one, lone, bartender came and opened the window and plopped menus down. In the process she quickly muttered something under her breath that was supposed to represent her communicating with us. No idea what she said. And she quickly walked away. She didn't even give me time to ask if I could just go ahead and put in the order for the pizza that will take 40 minutes to cook.

After waiting, she swung back by and mumbled something else at us. Again, no idea what she said.

After waiting longer, I waved her down and asked if I could just put in the pizza order to get it started. She muttered some single word or two and walked away. Again, no idea what she said.

Then we sat, waiting, watching her mix drinks.

Finally, we thought it was all too tortuous and was going to take forever, and decided to leave. The restaurant has great food overall. Great atmosphere too. But it screws up the service each and every time. Maybe we'll try again in...

This was a Thursday Spring Break. On a good day, I understand service industries are hurting for staff. This was a very bad day. My 5 YO daughter and I were having a day date, and she had Mellow Mushroom on the brain. We walked about .3 miles to avoid parking troubles. When we entered, our potential server let us know he was running the floor alone, but we were welcome to chill and “enjoy our stay.”

We sat 15 min. This in a place with a cool outdoor seating area that connects to the bar. Like many MM, this gives it a neighborhood pub feel. On a hot day in a pizza kitchen, mosquitoes and sweat are a consideration. There were four tables in various stages of service and a few folks at the breezeway bar. At 30 minutes with no drinks—no further contact—another table had three stops, a solo who came in after us went to the bar for service, I put in a to-go order online. We had been there an hour. The wait on to-go pickup was 45 min. We needed 15 to walk back to the car. My baby’s vote was for pizza, so I put in the order and took the gamble the kitchen might beat the 45 min estimate.

We waited 20 minutes watching a show on my phone and then approached togo at the bar. We went potty (zero TP). One guy picked up his order with no salad. Another guy picked up his order with no wings. The bartender and floor manager tried to help with my order, but I got the feeling the time estimate was optimistic.

My girl had waited 1.5 hours for pizza she never got. I was saddest she rooted for pizza the whole time and finally gave up hope. I paid for my order online (idiot) but what is pizza compared to a boot on your car? We left, walked .3 miles back to the car, and went through a drive thru. I know what it feels like to be in the weeds, but this was a DISASTER that’s worth all the bad karma I deserve for sharing. Do not count on this place when it matters. 1.5 hours and not even a water. Nah, we didn’t...