Mellow Mushroom Sarasota — Restaurant in Florida

Parking: (like many of the other reviews) was quite an experience...in a not so good way. I pulled in and the parking lot is very tiny and 3/4 of the lot is blocked off for valet. If you like valet and want to use it, great. But I arrived a little early so I wanted to stay in my car and wait for friends to arrive. I searched for a parking spot and to my dismay, there were none.

The lot is shared by the business next store but neither establishment wants you to park in their spots if you're not a patron there. So, I reversed and went up to valet (essentially) being forced to use it. I dont carry cash on me so it was a bit concerning (even if complimentary) because everyone tips, almost always.

Atmosphere in the restaurant: good. Little nosey but that didn't bother me. They have huge windows in the front, and the area we were sitting got VERY hot with the setting sun blaring in on the place. My feedback would be to install retractable shades to give patrons some relief from the sun in their eyes and the hot climate in the place.

Server: super friendly and very knowledgable. Our orders came out correct and very quick.

Food: I'm from jersey..so if you're from the north east looking for some jersey/ny style pizza go somewhere else. But give this place an honest try if you're open minded. The dough is almost pretzel like fluffy, the toppings are super fresh and you can build your own if you want to. Good non Jersey style pizza. Worth the try....

We just carried out the most disgusting food from our Sarasota location. We usually eat in, but today decided not to. We placed our usual order. The pizza was fine as usual but the calzone that we always also order was flat, and soggy greasy. It was evident upon opening the box that it was not right. The dough was much flatter and larger and did not have any rise or height to it. I soaked up 3 paper towels full of grease. All the veggies soaked it in grease too. Crust was hard and chewy.

When we called we were put on hold after explaining that we had an issue with our order for more than 5 minutes so hung up and called back. We explained our hold time and situation again and asked to speak to a manager. After another 8 minutes they came back and told us that the manger "is a little busy" and put us on hold again for another 5 minutes before the manager came. This place was very good in the past..not sure what is happening now. Very poor customer service! Had they handled the situation better, I would not have written this review and chalked it up to a bad day. Too many good pizzas in Sarasota to be disappointed by this place again. Customer service and food so bad we will never return.

Manager did offer to re-make it BUT we had to go pick up again?!?!?!? My entire family has already finished eating by then. Would not deliver! Just ended up taking it off the bill. Don't waste your time or money! So many good restaurants...

I'll give it three starts because it's mellow mushroom and it's a new location. Unfortunately the parking lot was too small and I had to wait about 10 minutes before a spot opened up. Once I received a text that a table was ready (not that long after checking in) I went to the hostess and she sent me to another girl, who then sent me back to the hostess before another girl came up and then said "oh, come this way"

Once seated, my children opened up the kids menus/activity sheet, that was already filled out. When we asked for new ones, they said they didn't have any, someone had made photo copies of ones that were completed already. Obviously the kids were less than excited.

Our server was very nice but it took over half an hour to get our food. The pizza, burger and pretzel bites were excellent though. The food is exactly the same as every other mellow mushroom I've been to, very good.

The beer selection wasn't the greatest, granted, I prefer darker beers, but I was hoping to see more local beers (calusa, jdbubs, etc) on tap.

In addition to this, I did overhear some of the people in line asking why they have been waiting when there are numerous booths that have been open for some time.

I'm not sure of the exact opening date, but I'm hoping that the kinks will work themselves out as I am a big fan...