Diverted to the Mellow Mushroom

It was a Monday, we had winter time, (actually rain and clouds overload), and we decided to go out for dinner.  Laurie had found a Chinese dining option but I recoiled after reading reviews about bad service.  So, I had a Thai restaurant in mind…and off we went.

Wait a minute!  Mellow Mushroom doesn’t sound or look like a Thai restaurant… Well, given my lack clear thinking, I hadn’t bothered to check to see if my Thai choice was actually open on Mondays.  Nope!  

So, Mellow Mushroom is located in the same Farragut Tennessee shopping center as my original choice.  We just walked across the parking lot to our new dining venue. 

I told Laurie that we’d eaten in a Mellow Mushroom a number of years ago, but she just didn't remember it.  When I was telling her the experience that I remembered, she said that was Tomato Head in Maryville TN.  Of course, she was totally correct!  

This restaurant is basically a pizza based operation that conveniently has a full bar as well… The space is colorful and cheerful, but I’m not too sure about that kind of creepy mushroom-like ‘mascot’ at the right of the second photo.  It turns out that this franchised chain of restaurants includes an entire cast of ‘cartoon’ characters.  Check them out at https://mellowmushroom.com/our-story/.

Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers was established in Atlanta Georgia in 1974.  The founders were college students from Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia.  The chain’s 200 or so locations are all locally owned and operated.  Mellow Mushroom’s locations are specific unto themselves…i.e. decorated differently although tie-die and colorful mushrooms are a common theme.

We started out by looking over the “Munchies” (appetizers) on the menu.  I thought that Laurie might go for the mushroom soup as that’s something she’d never gets at home. (I don’t do mushrooms!) Instead, we settled on the Pepperoni Garlic Cheese Bread. ($5.29)

This ‘Munchie’ selection was very good…hot and cheesy with enough pepperoni to add interest and flavor.  On top of that, it really is a meal in itself and the price is definitely right!  We ended up taking quite a bit of it home.  More on that later…

What to eat?  Big salads, stone baked pizzas, local special items, Calzones, sandwiches, burgers and hoagies…there was a lot to choose from.  Laurie opted for a half Italian Hoagie. ($7.79 with a bag of kettle chips) She thought that her sandwich was very good… Note the Moscow Mule in the photo. ($8.00) 

It should be noted that Mellow Mushroom offers diners the opportunity to build your own burger, calzone, pizza or salad.  That’s a nice touch for fussy diners like me…

The only problem we encountered was they were out of what I wanted to order… I was going to order a whole Meatball Hoagie. ($10.79) How does a restaurant run out of meatballs by late Monday afternoon?  Bummer!

In any case, I decided on option #2, a small “Mighty Meaty” Pizza. ($13.99) It included pepperoni, Italian sausage, ground beef, honey ham and Applewood-smoked bacon on top of red sauce and mozzarella cheese.  I paired it with a Miller Lite. ($3.00) 

If not the best pizza in Eastern Tennessee, it was a good second choice in this instance.  There was plenty of meat on it…but way too much crust around the edges.  I ate a bit of that crust (which I shouldn’t have) with some of the red sauce that came with our appetizer and it was tasty. (The sauce would have really worked well with those meatballs!) I ended up taking 1 of the 4 slices of pizza home for use on another day. 

Two days later…here is that hunk of leftover Pepperoni Garlic Cheese Bread from Mellow Mushroom.  I heated it up in the microwave…

…and then I dropped 2 over easy eggs on top.  Even with my usual Tabasco, the result was OK but not great.  I might have been better off if I’d heated the pizza in a frying pan rather than the microwave, but in reality I just don’t think that pizza bread and eggs are a good combination. (Probably not a surprise to most readers!)

The Mellow Mushroom that we visited is located at 635 North Campbell Station Road in Farragut Tennessee.  Phone: 865-777-6768.  The company’s website is at https://mellowmushroom.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave