Mellow Mushroom Lands 4.5 Stars (Business Lunch)

Mellow Mushroom
1460 E. Augustine Lane
Fayetteville
479-521-1001

4.5 forks

Cuisine: Pizza, calzones,
Sandwiches & salads
Noise level: Medium
Overall Ambiance: Funky
Price Range: $7 to $22
Time: 50 minutes
Open Since: November 2008

We waited anxiously for Atlanta-based pizza franchise Mellow Mushroom to open a Fayetteville location in the Bellafont development on Joyce Boulevard. When the sign went up, our mouths watered at the anticipation of the unique specialty pies.

When our reviewers finally got the chance to sit down at the new restaurant, they were not disappointed.

You can almost count on Mellow Mushroom to be crowded, so the reviewers didn’t mind a short wait. After perusing the colorful menu, one reviewer was eager to try one of the specialty pies, so she went for a small version of the Funky Q. Chicken ($9), Mellow Mushroom’s take on the popular barbecue chicken pizza.

A mistake in the kitchen produced a medium sized pie that took up much of the table, but the reviewer didn’t mind the extra slices one bit.

The Mellow Mushroom signature crust is a perfect combination of soft and crispy.

The pizza was perfectly hot with a tangy barbecue sauce base and a generous pile of chicken and bacon topped with cheddar cheese.

The reviewer thought the pizza rivaled any she’d had and looks forward to making her way down the list of Mellow Mushroom originals.

Next up is the Magical Mystery Tour, she said, a concoction of pesto, mushrooms, spinach, feta cheese and jalapenos.

The second reviewer — a veteran of several MM pizzas over the years traveling around the Southeastern Conference where Mellow Mushrooms dot nearly every campus town — chose to build his own calzone ($7) with pepperoni ($1) and Italian sausage ($1).

You might as well order a to-go box along with your calzone, which stands a good four fingers high on the plate and comes in two huge halves.

Stuffed with meat and mozzarella, it’s a knife-and-fork dish and Mellow Mushroom’s marinara is the perfect sweet complement to the calzone.

The atmosphere at Mellow Mushroom reflects the funky pizza selection. There are plenty of flat screen televisions to watch and an arrangement of psychedelic art to look at while you wait for your pie.

There are regular tables and big comfortable booths as well as a bar in one corner of the restaurant.

An outdoor seating area is also set to open when the weather warms.