The Gilly McGee Show: Mellow Mushroom


"Mellow Mushroom, Pizza Bakers, Anderson, SC"

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I don't even know what to say about this place guys. Where do I start.

Now, I'm not a food critic. I have no expert opinion about any of this, but lets just say, I eat a lot, and most of the time, it is outside of my home. So all the OPINIONS expressed here are mine, and reflect my views only. I can say that we were really, really excited about getting a Mellow Mushroom in Anderson, SC. We usually have to go to Greenville, SC and go out to eat with our family at the restaurant they have there.

It was just an overall disappointment, and I was left, honestly, wanting to go eat somewhere else so that I could go home full.

The restaurant is located in downtown Anderson in a newly remodeled building. The city is trying really, really hard to revitalize the downtown area, and since I moved to Anderson in 2005, the changes have been noticeable, and it is coming along quite nicely. So, the actual building and ambiance was nice. It's in a good location, and it should do quite well when foot traffic returns to downtown Anderson. I can say this. It's just loud in there. Something about the smallness of the restaurant, and all the concrete, brick and metal, it just had a lot of echos, and we could barely hear ourselves talk to one another at our table. And, just so you know, I'm 27 and not on social security, so I really don't mind loud noisy places, but this one was noticeable.

The service was much to be desired. It took us forever to get a waitress (which was strange considering they looked overstaffed by about 5 people), and when we did find one, she just acted like she hated being there, and didn't really care if we ate or not. Throughout the meal, she never topped off our cups, and asked only once if we were okay after another lady brought us our pizza. The rest of the time, she was in the back talking to her friends and play with her phone. I don't expect much from a pizza joint, but it was very unprofessional.

The food. I'll give them this, it is very good. But the portion sizes, what the hell man?? It was just the two of us, so we ordered the 10" pizza, thinking that would be plenty for us to eat on a Tuesday night dinner. It didn't come with anything. No bread sticks. No garlic knots. No side salads. Nothing. Just with a $10.75 bill!! Really? And when we got the pizza (half was cheeseburger for me, double-cheese for my wife), it was barely four slices!! We just paid $10.75 for four slices? But like I said, they have crazy nice pizzas. The cheeseburger pizza is out of this world, and they had tons of specialty pizzas that I would not mind trying, such as but not limited to: Loaded baked potato, Hawaiian Pizza, Triple Meat, tons! But the portions sizes are just not what I expected. They have bigger pizzas, yes, but also bigger prices.

The thing that blows my mind, is that I can take that $11.00 and go to Little Caesars, and come home with a Large Pizza and Crazy bread with sauce, and still have some change left over for a 2-liter Mountain Dew!

This is why I'm fat. Good food at good prices.

I don't know. Call me old fashion. Call me a cheap. Whatever. I work for a living. I give away my life for a wage in exchange for a trade that I perform, and I just look for the biggest bang for my buck. And my final bill being $12.75 after tax, and then leaving a $2.00 tip, just doesn't work for me. If I had a family, I would like to feed them. And if I don't, I wouldn't mind having some leftovers to stick in the refrigerator.

Would I go back there? I'd have to say yes, but as a group with family, and order bigger pizzas, and mostly because I enjoy our downtown area now and what they are trying to do with it. I'm going to write off the bad service as an do-over, because the place is fairly new, and maybe they just need some time to weed out the bad personnel.

That's all I got. Be sure to check back, because I will always have more reviews to come. Like I said, these are purely opinions, and express my views on that particular night only. AND, if I do go back, and it's freaking awesome, I will report back here, and let Mellow Mushroom redeem themselves. Or....................they can just pay me to take down this post. hahahaha!!

Thanks for reading guys, and please remember to always look twice and save a life, motorcycles are everywhere!

~Gil