Mellow Mushroom Jacksonville - River City — Restaurant in Jacksonville

I recently had the unfortunate experience of dining at Mellow Mushroom, and I’m still reeling from the appalling treatment my partner and I received. We were at the restaurant to celebrate a special occasion—our anniversary—and decided to play our wedding song on the jukebox to add to the joy of the moment, an Alvin and the chipmunks song, completely innocent. This is where the nightmare began.

As soon as the song started playing, the restaurant manager, David, approached us with a condescending tone, stating that we were "not allowed" to play that particular song. He didn’t explain why, didn’t offer any alternative, just made it clear that our request was unwelcome. When I politely asked why, he grew increasingly hostile and aggressive, speaking to us as if we were some kind of inconvenience to him.

What struck me as particularly disheartening was the tone and attitude David took. There was no kindness, no empathy—just outright dismissal. And I can't help but wonder if this treatment was influenced by the fact that we’re a male gay couple. We've been to countless restaurants and bars where we've been treated with respect, but something about this encounter felt deeply off. His coldness, his refusal to listen, and the palpable discomfort in his voice made us feel like we were unwelcome.

We were simply trying to relive a beautiful moment in our lives, but instead, David’s actions turned what should have been a joyful, simple request into a humiliating experience. If Mellow Mushroom wants to maintain any shred of credibility as a welcoming, inclusive place, they should seriously reconsider the behavior of their management, particularly someone like David, whose blatant lack of hospitality is beyond disappointing. It’s 2025—this kind of treatment is unacceptable.

I’ll be taking my business elsewhere, and I strongly encourage anyone looking for a respectful, enjoyable dining experience to...

To start off I work in the food industry but tonight takes the cake. Came in with a party of 15 ( I understand food will take a bit) food took an hour to get to us even with one of our party only having a salad. Place was not busy at all. We have been there a couple of times and loved it so was like what is going on. Server was Kate after the drinks were initially delivered we no longer seen her until a remake drink had to be delivered and from there all the way till the food was served not a single refill , check up anything. Upon getting the food every item was like warm , kids chicken tender meals were cold , I had to get up and go find a manager , he was a big help took care of some items , and tried to help out. Everyone was so over it and just tired they got to go boxes. Here comes the even better part, checks come 18% gratuity added automatically which I 10000% respect and expect if I had received the actual service , one round of drinks and for the most part the manager and other lady bringing most of the food and still no help from our server Kate really. Essentially with everyone in our group that came to about 60$ in gratuity for 1.5 hours worth of service that was obsolete in every way possible , give the card and it seems every thing is moving at slow motion takes 10 minutes to get our cards back and her response glad yall got fed. By far the worst service I have received in a very long time and to spend 100$ still with comps on our ticket alone for food that was cold and like warm is unreal. Only reason I didn’t throw a fit is cause my wife was ready to go and asked me not to. Words of advice if your server can’t handle a party of that size don’t put them, or make it 2 servers per party because waiting that long for food and still cold is...

After a very unpleasant experience in November, I decided to give it another shot hoping it was just an "off" visit. We used to dine here pretty frequently and I will say the food is ALWAYS great. I was happy when we walked in because there were only a few people dining and a lot of people working. My drink order was wrong (not a big deal) but our waitress must have been on the other side of the restaurant for the next 15 minutes because she never came back. Easy fix- I went to the counter myself and got the right drink. We wondered where our appetizer was after about 20 minutes but saw our waitress coming with food and figured she had our app. It was our entrees. I asked where the appetizer was and she said hadn't realized we never got our appetizer. No problem, just take it off the bill. Then, I see my mom (who despises eggs) picking all of the eggs off her sandwich and asked her why she ordered a sandwich with eggs. She said she didn't, it was supposed to be a French toast sandwich (like a grilled cheese) with cheese and ham grilled between two pieces of French toast. Weird, so I went and grabbed a menu and sure enough the sandwich description says nothing about having eggs and there was supposed to be cheese (there was no cheese on her sandwich). We mentioned it to the waitress but that didn't go over very well. So in summary, as many people struggle in this economy, eating out is becoming a luxury and I will be more selective in where I spend my money on...