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| - Don't let the Hard Rock Cafe-style t-shirt shop at the front entrance scare you away from a solid pizza and beer joint.
I had been to another Mellow Mushroom in Columbia, S.C., so I was expecting dark, cramped and a little grimy. You know, like a real college town. This one is bright, loud and wide open.
So the Tempe location couldn't shake the corporate vibe of the what-the-heck-is-this-doing-in-a-college-town Z Gallerie it replaced. And it's not gonna stop longtime Tempe townies from whining about the good ol' days of Long Wong's.
But Mellow Mushroom is a simple concept - pizza and beer. And they pretty well crush it.
First up is the beer list. They have more than 40 beers on tap, including smaller local players like SunUp and Lumberyard as well as rarities like Bell's Oberon. Most of them go for $6 a pint or $7 for a 20-ounce glass. Not the worst prices in town, but they're gonna need some drink specials to keep the ASU crowd hanging out.
The pizza lineup is equally impressive. My wife has a severe tomato intolerance, which takes a lot of the fun out of pizza night. I get awful tired of eating everybody's "bianca" or "blanca" - the ubiquitous specialty pizza that subs garlic sauce and puts a few dabs of ricotta on top. Props to Mellow Mushroom for offering a whopping seven specialty pizzas sans tomato sauce and two non-tomato sauce options for custom pies.
We got the Red Skin Potato Pie, which also had bacon, onion, chives and a ranch drizzle. I'd worry about a pizza like that being too starchy, but the thin-sliced potatoes worked in perfect harmony with the other toppings.
We also got the pretzels, which are giant knots of MM's pizza dough (these guys like to brag about the dough). Troy S. might have had different expectations, but we thoroughly enjoyed the soft, hot, doughy concoctions.
Our waitress seemed like she was having fun as she introduced herself as our guide to a "magical mystery tour of flavor," and the restaurant's sprawling, open floorplan seemed like it would work well for large groups.
Bonus: They validate your parking for the Centerpointe garage, which will save you six bucks.
So here's a recap: Pizza + beer = awesome. Clever pizza + eclectic beers = even awesomer. Mellow Mushroom is solid execution on this brilliantly simple concept. I'm not going to buy a t-shirt or proclaim this place the savior of Mill Avenue, but this college-town staple is a welcome addition that's worth the trip to downtown Tempe.
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