Mellow Mushroom St. Louis — Restaurant in Sunset Hills

Edit: this happened a year ago and I still have never been back to Mellow Mushroom with how terrible of an experience this was for me and my family. I think about it all the time. I hope they changed management and practices.

They prioritize to-go orders and grubhubs over customers sitting in their restaurant. Do not choose this location for dine in options.

It took me about two week to decide to write about my experience here, but I just cannot let it go. Love mellow mushroom, but this experience was truly worst restaurant experience I think I've ever had.

I arrived about 10 minutes before my party. Once everyone was there at 5:30 we ordered at 5:45. We ordered 2 pizzas and a preztle for my 2yr old. After 30 minutes we inquired about timeline and we're told it was in the oven, 7-12 minutes it would be out. We had an event so one person had to leave about 6:30, we understand this was cutting it close but mellow mushroom usually we are in and out in 45 minutes. Person 1 leaves at 6:30 and we are told again 7-12 minutes "it's in the oven"

Once 6:45 hits and we've been repeated that it was in the oven and would be out 7-12 minutes a couple times, the other two people in my party had to leave to catch the event.

It is now me and my 2yr who hasn't eaten dinner besides the peanut butter crackers and fruit cup we brought.

We had already paid because I had asked for boxes to be brought out and our checks so once the food came we could crush it down and head to our event.

At 7 I went to ask for a full refund to go get faster food, and the food came out during the refunding process at 7:02.

The manager was useless and only helped becsuse i was making asking for it. There was no offer of apologies or offer any sort explanation until asked. He did not offer me and my party anything for our time but "allowed us" to take the pizzas we were waiting for.

The excuse was they were down two pizza guys... but seemed to have plenty of hands on deck.

I made a living in the restaurant business for a while and this was truly an awful experience for seemly no reason.

I made sure the server was tipped and taken care of since once we were done, I was at the table for almost 2 and half hours.

They have absolutely Zero respect for their sit in customers.

I did end up missing my event and the others 3 eneded up missing dinner. But that doesn't matter to anyone...

We have a Mellow Mushroom back home in Cincinnati that we love, so we wanted to celebrate my husband's birthday here while on vacation. Located in a beautifully colorful and interesting building, Mellow Mushroom is a unique sight to see. Outdoor and indoor seating is available, as are souvenirs near the entrance (of which we would have bought if they'd had my husband's size shirt). The interior is wonderfully weird and offers multiple seating options (booths, tables, high tables with barstools).

Mellow Mushroom specializes in pizzas and offers vegan and gluten-free options, and almost all menu items can be amended to be vegan-friendly. I substituted vegan cheese for the feta on their bruschetta and it was--no joke--the best meal I have eaten out in years. Presentation on the bruschetta was particularly impressive (see photo). My husband ordered a vegan veggie pizza on gluten-free crust and really enjoyed it. We were absolutely enthralled with the food here.

Our waitress--Morgan--deserves a special shout out. She was so friendly and helpful, even getting the brand name of the balsamic vinegar for me. I should note we ate here with another couple, of which the wife proved to be a difficult customer (complaining, ordering three separate dishes at three separate times, and generally being miserable), and Morgan did not let it bother her and offered everything she could to make her experience better. Thank you, Morgan, and I apologize for the poor behavior of this other guest--we are going to try not to go out with this woman again because dining with her was as miserable as she tried to make it.

Overall, we highly recommend Mellow Mushroom, and this location was just a delight. Morgan deserves a raise, and the young man who seated us (unsure of name) was a joy as well. It was a...

Cons: Do not like the paper straws. My kids had them destroyed. It was gross. They don’t hold up. I wish they had a more diverse kids menu and better sides other than apples or broccoli. My one son isn’t a pizza fan. He usually loves mac n cheese from everywhere, but not here. He said it tasted funny. They could stand to add chicken tenders, grilled cheese, or something to the kids menu. There was an older lady hostess working with black straight hair. There was a special needs gentleman standing beside her that appeared to also be an employee. She grabbed our menus and literally pushed him out of the way to get around him, pushed her hand on his chest. I found that to be incredibly rude. My son also wanted to sit in a booth so he got upset and went and sat at one across from our table as we were ordering our drinks. The same lady tells him “you have to move because we are setting these tables up”. That was a total lie. No big group ever came in and we watched as they sat groups of just 2-4 there randomly. This lady could use a course in manners.

Pros: Calzones are huge. We had an appetizer so, I ended up getting 3 total meals out of it from what I took home. My one son loved the pepperoni french bread pizza. He wishes they had fries for a side. They could also offer the tots or chips with kids meals since they offer those with sandwiches. I felt the prices were reasonable. Patio looks really nice

Just fyi- The pretzels are not pretzels. They are dough. More like breadbites, but the beer cheese is awesome! They should offer a pizza with the beer cheese...