Mellow Mushroom Short Pump — Restaurant in Virginia

Yum! This is an awesome Mellow Mushroom location situated just outside of Richmond with wide space and views as well as optional inside or outside dining! It's also conveniently located if your happen to find yourself in Henrico and surrounded by many nice shops and businesses!

My friend and I opted to sit outside because it was gorgeous outside! Those big fluffy clouds up against the prettiest blue sky was just amazing!

Upon entering there was a stand inside offering hand sanitizer which we always, naturally go to and somewhat expect these days. The hostess at the front was polite and after being seated, our server came to our table and took our drink orders! They have some pretty snazzy drinks they offer! Some interesting ones I noticed were a Blood Orange Margarita, hard to find crafts beers, and Happy Hour specials during the week! They also have "mocktails"! My friend and I both tried the Strawberry Lemon-Limeade which were so delicious! Honestly they tasted like a liquid Jolly Rancher but not too sweet and a little tart! So good!

For starters we chose to split a traditional share-type appetizer but I know every time we visit a Mellow Mushroom my husband HAS to order the mushroom soup! He is quite obsessed with it so I decided to try the "Lil' Greek" which is a smaller size Greek salad that came super fresh with a beautiful array of veggies, olives, and peppers! My salad came perfectly chilled and with a side of signature Esperanza dressing which had a nice creamy, Dijon flavor!

Both appetizers came out quickly and we enjoyed them outside while admiring the weather and making our plans for the day! Unfortunately I ended up getting chilly by the time the pizza came so we asked if we could move inside to finish our last part of our meal (pizza). Our server and the host were very accommodating and moved us inside to a nice large cozy booth!

Only a couple minutes passed and out came our pizza! We usually have similar tastes in pizza so we share one isle addition to our starters and/or dessert. We opted for one of our favorite Mellow pizzas the Holy Shiitake! This pizza comes on their freshly baked crust and it topped come with oil oil and garlic base, assorted mushrooms, caramelized onions and two types of cheese! We both are fine with the onions but asked if we could substitute them for jalapeños which they had no problem accommodating us with that request! The pizza is also garnished with aioli, truffle oil, chives, and shaved Parmesan which give it a nice touch! We ordered a medium so that we could enjoy some at the restaurant as well as at hone later on! We had more than enough left!

I visited the restrooms, which I don't ever take pictures in (sorry), and it was very clean and well stocked. This day there were no a lot of diners so we had a very smooth and delightful lunch without being worried about crowding, or large groups of people!

This is one of the many locations we have visited throughout the US and definitely one of the nicer...

Updated review, we have been to this location several times. We mostly stop by when we are in the area shopping. This particular trip, we called in an order for pick up. The order was simple, large thin crust, half mushroom half house. Well, we had to repeat the order about 5 times and then another person took over the call ( we thought, ok, someone new, no big deal) by this time it is after 8pm, the restaurant closes at 9pm.. the estimated order time is 20min, we arrive to the restaurant sooner than anticipated.. we decide to go inside and request to eat our call in order at a table since our hotel was 15min away... this request caused complete chaos!! It resulted in explaining to multiple employees that we arrived sooner than anticipated, and we would like to eat our pizza here, and order drinks... several employees stated that was not allowed. The 5th person to the hostess stand agreed to place us at a bar top. We were not greeted by a server, so the hostess returned to take our drink order.. once the pizza was ready, a different hostess brought it to the table. Since we did not have a server, I went to the kitchen to get plates, and grabbed napkins from the bar.. we were never greeted by another employee while we ate our pie.. the hostess, that took our drink order,came over and asked if we needed refills.. we let her know we were good but needed to pay for the order. Unfortunately, she thought we had already settled up... we gave her cash.. she returns with a receipt for us to sign, for using cash? And our change was not correct, it was .64 cent over. She explained they did not have change and management had told her to round up to the nearest dollar. Wow! I understand there are new people training, and that restaurants have crazy nights, but what happened tonight, at this restaurant, was unreal... then the bartender starts yelling, asking where the buser went? And why does she have to pay out to him since she has all of these dirty dishes, the bartender continues to yell, asking if he can be fired... no manager in sight.. as much as I enjoy eating this pizza while we are in town, I'm not sure if we will return.. Good food, chill...

I have been coming to this location for years and have noticed a huge decline in cleanliness, food quality, wait time for food, and over all vibes of this Mellow Mushroom. I have waited over an hour for food a handful of times. The managers are constantly seen standing around and complaining about their jobs and personal lives instead of helping out the staff. There is a very noticeable fruit fly problem and I’ve even over heard staff talking about being assigned “ cleaning roach and mice feces”.

Honestly the only reason I would come to this Mellow is the awesome bar staff. But recently the owner fired my favorite bartender, Teryl, for not getting enough positive google reviews. The owner is offering $10 cash prize for any review mentioning an employee in order to make his business look good. As you can see by the abundance of clearly fake reviews, a lot of the staff is getting friends and family to leave reviews that tell you nothing about what an experience at this Mellow Mushroom is like. In reality, you will be waiting 45 minutes to an hour for food and risk catching any number of food born illnesses ( forgot to mention the open kitchen- if you take a look they aren’t wearing gloves!)

If you spend any money in this restaurant you will be supporting a business owner who is willing to fire a woman who is SEVEN MONTHS PREGNANT for not participating in a phony google review scam. There are so many local businesses to support in the area and I’d rather give my money to anyone else. Next time I hope the owner invests his time in improving his guests experience instead of intimidating staff to get him the...