Ballantyne Restaurants
Mellow Mushroom Opens to a Packed House in Ballantyne Village
BY Head Food Critic
Gwen Poth invited me down to the friends and family party at the beautiful new Mellow Mushroom in Ballantyne Village on Saturday night. Gwen does PR for a lot of the restaurants you love in Charlotte, and she knows how to throw a party.
I was very excited to see what shroom fueled design would take over the former Table space. This was a white linen table cloth restaurant with a too big kitchen, odd pastel color palate, and an awkward mezzanine that chopped up the space. This transition makes me think of a saying that a wise and successful restaurateur once told me, "Feed the kings and live like the masses, feed the masses and live like the kings."
The bar is truly dramatic. Five 70 inch LED TV's, European draft towers, and color changing two story LED wine tower turned bar feature.
I do worry a little bit about the lack of seats for such a large foot print and ritzy address. I have -0- doubts about the fit for the market. The big mistake people made when they were trying to open high end restaurants all over Ballantyne because the demographics (Number of people and average household income within a 5 mile radius) are dense and wealthy. The thing they did not take into account is that everyone within that 5 mile radius is living the American dream with a big old suburban house and 2.5 children. These people want comfortable, child friendly places to have fun. Enter the Shroom and the dining room I trust will be packed for the foreseeable future.
Head down to Mellow Mushroom in Ballantyne Village for a house special pie and enjoy the scenery.
8 Responses to “Mellow Mushroom Opens to a Packed House in Ballantyne Village”
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You guys always get invited to the pre-opening party. I am jealous.
Dense and wealthy, huh. Nicely played, RT.
Went there the other night and it is the best looking Mellow Mushroom I have ever seen.
I just don’t think Mellow Mushroom’s pizza is all that good. Give me Fuel Pizza any day.
We like Jet’s Pizza.
Give me Brixx pizza any day.
After everyone raved about it in my office, my friend & I headed to the Mellow Mushroom today for lunch. We arrived & were seated by 12:10, our food arrived at 12:55. I had ordered the “Philosophers” Pizza (steak, mushr. & artichokes), the steak turned out to be “steak ums”, it was inedible. I’m heading back to Dominos! I must commend our wait person, she was friendly and smiled and was the highlight of our visit.
WE’VE EATEN AT OTHER MM’S BUT THIS IS ONE THAT NEEDS A LOT OF WORK; WE WENT AT 6:30 TUESDAY NIGHT – NO WAIT; SULLEN HOSTESS –” THE BOOTHS ARE NOT FOR 2 PEOPLE”; SEATED AT TABLE WITH WALK THRU BEHIND MY CHAIR OF 24 INCHES OR LESS; SLOW SERVICE – SULLEN WAITRESS (IS IT REQUIRED TO WORK THERE?); LARGE HOUSE”SPECIAL” WITH 2 BEERS – $33!!!! PIZZA WAS LOADED WITH EVERYTHING, UNFORTUNATELY EVERYTHING WAS BLAND – NO SPICE/NO FLAVOR; BACON WAS RAW AND CRUST WAS DOUGHY UNDER COOKED; SENT IT BACK AFTER RUNNING MISS SULLEN DOWN. RETURNED OVERCOOKED & NOW TOUGH – EXPECTED THAT; WAITRESS HAVING GOOD TIME SHOOTING THE BREEZE WITH SEVERAL GIRLS BUT SEEMS TO FORGET HER TABLES. COUPLE NEXT TO US WAITED 1 HOUR FOR PIZZA AND THEN KITCHEN PERSON COMES OUT AND TELLS THEM THEY DROPPED THEIR PIZZA SO THEY WERE STILL WAITING WHEN WE LEFT. DON’T GET THE DELAYS, SINCE THE PLACE WAS HALF EMPTY BUT THE STAFF WAS OBVIOUSLY BUSY WITH PERSONAL TIME. THE PREDICTION: CLOSE IN 18 MONTHS. THAT’S ABOUT THE CYCLE IN CHARLOTTE FOR THE NEWEST “GREATEST” EATING PLACES.