Your Most Mellow Tax Day Ever Elite Event @ Mellow Mushroom

This was another great event and I was excited to get up to the city to see my fellow Unilocalers. To my surprise, Joi instructed us that we would be mingling and munching and encouraged us to sit with Unilocalers’ that we did not know.
After thinking I might sit with Alvin or Scott and Katie this event, I cozied up to the table with Shin and Chris, and it was a great evening of sampling and talking and sipping. Shin was making her way across country and I have been stalking her as her Unilocal adventure continued. Chris was a plethora of knowledge regarding local eateries and those in other cities, many of which I had been too.
We sampled the wine and the beer, gave our opinions about the apps, talked and gabbed, snapped pics, sipped more bevies, told stories, then the pizza (we sorta got jipped because we let everyone go ahead), well what was left to sample… then sandwiches, some laughter and talk of stuffed tummies, …what? dessert? it was divine, thank the gods it was a tiny portion… the receiving of the coveted elite tube socks. I loved that Shannon put them on right away.
Then parting hugs to my new friends… and an extra copy of Joi’s book to Shin, to thank her for joining our Unilocal event here in New Orleans all the way from her non-​humid home of Los Angeles…
I always enjoy myself, but I really enjoy meeting Unilocalers from other places… especially when it’s the land I came from…

This was probably one of my favorite elite events… THERE WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FOOD… I couldn’t escape all the greatness. I had to try it all. From pizzas to appetizers. I was just impressed with the selections that were perfect for all type of eaters.
The event also included conversation and introduction to dishes from the owner, which was a nice touch and truly made me want to go back and visit.
I really had a good time at this event and it was truly mellow and yummy.

I’m stuffed. There was a bunch of food at this event. I didn’t get much pizza because I didn’t want to fight for it, but what I had was pretty good. The hoagie was my favorite. I found a spicy chicken one that was flavorful. This was a good event for wine drinkers too. There was a bit of variety with the vino. For us beer drinkers, I wish there would have been more local selections or more interesting offerings.
The owner went out of his way to introduce us to each dish and that personal touch was appreciated. I’m also pumped about the Elite socks. I’m looking forward to nerding out in them.
Thanks to Unilocal and Mellow Mushroom for providing quite the feast.

I always like seeing Elite Events in Metairie. This was my second time visiting Mellow Mushroom but my first time actually having anything from the menu. The staff there pulled out all the stops with tons of food. My only regret is being allergic to mushrooms, so my choice of what I could eat was a bit limited. The balcony area we were using was fantastic and the weather perfect.
Big thanks to Joi, Emily, and everyone else behind the scenes.

This was an awesome elite event. First off it was especially ice to see the Metrys get some elite event love. Second Mellow Mushroom did a bang up job for catering to the dietary needs of my table with both My Favorite Vegan and an elite who is allergic to mushrooms. They brought out a ton of food which the way it went out was a little strange with the first courses delivered per table and the final buffet style. It was a very good variety of samplings and quite tasty. Definitely would give me reason to visit on another night.
Overall it was a very a nice evening overlooking scenic Metairie with MFV and fellow Unilocalers.

⁴⁄₅ great job joi, Unilocal,and team!
this was a great showing from mellow mushroom. i felt welcomed on that mellow afternoon, and the tasty treats came out with great service. it was great to learn about their offerings. never a plate empty or cup dry, i was stuffed by the time i wobbled out of there.
thanks again to the Unilocal team and mellow mushroom for a terrific tax day!

Another great Elite event with the Elites. Great food with great people makes Unilocal the best along with our great leader Joi B. Thanks to Mellow Mushroom for putting on a feast for the ages.

This was my very first Elite event and boy was it AMAZING! Thank you Joi, Emily and Mellow Mushroom for making it great. I have been to Mellow Mushroom before while vacationing in Gulf Shores and found the interesting and inventive pizza combos to be delicious and satisfying. This time was no different. The food was so plentiful, that I was full long before the pizzas came out. But I had to keep on tasting to make sure I wrote a proper review. For starters we had these little dough balls with garlic or mustard dipping sauce, I thought they were good but my plus one loved them. Then there was a spinach salad with pecans, apples, feta and a vinaigrette dressing. It was huge, sweet, salty and tangy. I would come for just the salad alone. Next there was garlic toast with either basil and garlic tomatoes, olive tapanade, or hummus. That was very fresh and satisfying. This is about the point that I started to get full. But next, they began offering wine and beer and then a variety of sandwiches, the jerk chicken one and the mixed veggie (sun dried tomato, artichoke and more) was great. Then there was the pizza. The crust was nice and chewy with a little outside crunch. I tried the Thai chicken pizza and another veggie one that had pesto. And last but not least was the deserts, warm chocolate chip cookies, oozing with chocolaty goodness, and a key lime cheesecake (I hate cheesecake but my plus one said it was fantastic). Honestly out of the whole spread the pizza was my least favorite, it wasnt bad it was just everything else was better. I was so full by the time we left I could not wait to get out of my jeans and into the laying down position to give my tummy the relaxation period it deserved. All in all I was very impressed with the spread and the lovely atmosphere of the balcony of the mellow mushroom. I am sure we will be back again, soon.

Thank you Joi, Emily and Mellow Mushroom for hosting the event!
It was a great night to be on the balcony. I liked how we sat at small tables and were served most of the food. The restaurant staff were very attentive. The owner seemed friendly and was very generous with the beer and wine samples. I tried a few sips of one beer, but mostly stuck with water as I’m not much into beer and wine.
We were first given a plate with garlic bruschetta. It included 3 toppings to choose from; hummus, tomatoes with feta cheese and muffelatta olive salad. I found the hummus to be lacking in flavor. I don’t like olive salad, but I tried it anyway to give it a chance. I still didn’t care for it. The tomatoes were fine. Our next sample were some pretzel bites that had 3 sauces to dip them in. I thought they were extremely salty and didn’t like them. My boyfriend enjoyed them though. After that, we were given a spinach salad with candied pecans, feta cheese, dried cranberries and a balsamic vinaigrette. It was fine. Following that, a variety of sandwiches were offered on the back table. We managed to try a few bites of those. (They were pretty much picked over already.) The Jerk Chicken was alright. We thought the steak one was pretty good. However, I did not like the rye bread it was on.
After some time, the pizzas finally arrived. This was what we had been waiting to try all night. Sadly, the pizzas were attacked like they were cash flowing out. By the time we were able to get any, all of the ones we wanted to try (the bbq shrimp and meat lovers) were snatched up. All that was left vegan cheese and a couple slices of pesto. What a disappointment! I tried the little piece of pesto that I found. It was ok. My boyfriend didn’t get any at all. (He doesn’t like pesto.) We were really bummed because we had been hoping to try some of the pizzas. It would have been better if they could have cut them up into smaller pieces and served them at the tables like the appetizers, so everyone could have had the opportunity to try something good. Or maybe they could have made less of the vegan cheese ones. The cheese did not look appealing at all.
Desserts followed later. The warm chocolate chip cookie was good. But really, how can you go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie? A mini Key Lime Pie followed after. It had an odd taste to it and I didn’t like it.
Overall, I liked the concept of this event with all the samplings from the menu brought to us. However, I didn’t care for the way the sandwiches and pizza were served, It would have been better if each table could have selected one off the menu earlier in the evening and had it brought to their table, for the table to share.

Whoa! is all I can really say about the event. There was SO MUCH FOOD! I had a feeling that there would be enough food to count as a meal, but I had no idea that there would be so much food. I don’t know the whole menu, but I’m pretty sure we got to sample most of the menu. All of the food was really good. And I got to try gluten free crust and vegan cheese — neither of which are for me, though tasty. I passed on all the wine and beer because I was on sudafed, but I saw them pouring for everyone around me. They were generous and friendly. My only gripe about the drink was the wine. They called it «sustainable». I’m not familiar with any of the wine labels, so I don’t know what they consider to be sustainable. But my definition does not include wine shipped from California. Wine from California is lovely.
The only draw back was that we were kinda stuck at our table the whole time. I loved sitting with the people at my table and had great conversations, but I rarely get out nowadays, and missed being able to catch up with some of my friends.
Mellow Mushroom is definitely on my list to go back and try for a regular experience.
Pro-​tip: Become elite! The people are awesome, and the free swag is pretty cool too. I heart my Unilocal tube socks.

What a great evening to sit on their porch overlooking Veterans. Just enough of a breeze to make a wonderful experience. We don’t get too many evenings like this. This was a different Unilocal event for us as we sat at tables rather than mill around and talk with people.
My wife and I started off with the bruschetta, hummus, and olive tapanade, on toasted French bread. I’m not a big olive fan, but I loved mixture of the bruschetta and hummus. We nibbled on that while we ate the spinach salad which came with walnuts, apple bits, feta cheese, and dried cherries with a nice vinaigrette on the side. We split a couple of the slices of poor boys, to try without getting too stuffed. Both the portobello mushrooms and the jerked turkey sandwiches were good. Since I had an opportunity to try them, I left my comfort zone and had slices of the gluten free pizza and the vegan option. My wife liked the pesto pizza. The final offering of the chocolate chip cookie, (which we shared with Jen L so she could have a second piece) and the key lime cheesecake were a final triumph for the evening.
There was so much food, that we came away as if we had eaten dinner. Mellow Mushroom definitely put on a spread. We only had compliments for the staff. They hustled and took care of everyone. I stuck with the beer, switching brands with each different glass while my wife enjoyed the cab they served. All and all a great night. And the socks were an added bonus. I can wear them with my cowboy boots at the next Unilocal event. Thanks Joi, Emily, and Mellow Mushroom!

I needed this event. It was planned to be a nice «mellow» evening on Tax Day. Typically that wouldn’t stress me out, but the other events from earlier this same day were definitely stressful. The solution? Lots of friends, lots of food, and lots of wine.
The Mellow Mushroom is a surprisingly cool location in Metairie. Their balcony was perfect for our Unilocaly gathering and the weather was delightful.
I will say, this was the first Unilocal NOLA Elite event where I walked in and saw everyone drinking water, but the wine & beer quickly followed, along with some delightful appetizers and eventually some yummy sandwiches and pizza.
Oh, and Unilocal socks. I can’t wait to find an excuse to wear these.
Overall, a fun, relaxing evening with lots of good food. Thanks Unilocal and Mellow Mushroom!

What a great night to dine al fresco with friends old and new! I think everyone had a lovely time trying out Mellow Mushroom’s menu. Highlights for me were the oyster pizza and the great spinach salad. The wines, both red and white, were delicious and worked with most of the items I sampled.
I missed out on the sandwiches due to sitting and waiting until the hordes died down, but I think had they been served in a similar fashion to the appetizers in smaller portions, everyone would have been satisfied.
Wonder how they’ll control the balcony come Carnival time…

A great event with gorgeous weather on a terrific balcony…
The food was generous and free flowing. It was amazing how well the staff accommodated all the special dietary needs of various attendees. Highlights for me were the pretzel bites… seriously what sort of super addictive substance was in these? The spinach salad was amazing and fresh. And the pizzas, I tried the Kosmic Karma and the shrimp something… I skipped the sandwiches because I was getting stuffed.
The wine was tasty and the wine rep was knowledgeable. I’m not a beer person but I heard it was tasty too. And, of course, we had the option of running a tab at the bar if we wanted a cocktail. My old fashioned was well made so kudos to the bar for that.
The staff were very helpful and hustling to get everyone taken care of. All and all a great night.
Thanks Joi, Emily, Mellow Mushroom & Unilocal NOLA!

I think I left more full from yummy food than I would on Thanksgiving! Mellow Mushroom really pulled out all the stops for Unilocalers. The first course was hummus that you could eat alone or top with tomatoes and olive salad. I like mixing all three together on the perfectly toasted bread. I did not try the salad, which looked very fresh, but health was not a priority of mine at the time. The pretzel bites were addictively good! Next came the sandwiches, I tried the vegetarian mushroom sandwich which was loaded with flavor and might be my new favorite menu item. Next I ventured to try the sandwich with tempeh which is a soy based protein and I was pleasantly surprised with the flavors and consistency. I didn’t think I could eat anymore by this point but when they brought out the variety of pizzas I had to squeeze in a few (or many) more bites. The mushroom pizza was awesome; The BBQ shrimp pizza was out of this world good. I love that they use real New Orleans flavors to inspire their pizzas. I also tried the vegan pizza, I’m not sure if vegan cheese is for me, but I love that they strive to provide a menu that caters to various dietary needs; they offer a gluten free crust, vegan, and vegetarian items and their regular crust is wheat. They also had plenty of beer and wine going around. For beer drinkers, they have a wonderful variety of beers on tap. I am more of a wino myself and while I usually stick to pinot noirs I ended up really digging the Jen 5 Cabernet they were offering. Also can’t forget to mention the lovely patio and my table mates Vicki and Chris. Thanks Joi for putting on another successful event and thank you, Mellow Mushroom for being an awesome host and letting us try so many of your delicious menu items and the staff was on their A game. I can’t say enough about this event. Hooray!

This was a really fun event and we got to sample a LOT of items. I usually don’t go to events at chains, as I’m not a fan of such places generally, but Mellow Mushroom used to sponsor my rugby team so I will withhold my usual chain scorn. The food was good except all the pizza got taken out VERY quickly by the Unilocal hordes and I was in the very tiny minority that didn’t get to sample any of it that I wanted other than the grilled oyster pizza that I really didn’t like (I love oysters but not so much on this pizza). Mellow Mushroom really went all out to make sure we sampled everything but I wish they would’ve had a few more pizzas cause the only things left by the time I got to the pizza, other than the oyster, were the special people’s crumbly icky gluten free pizza and nasty Vegan pizza (that Vegan cheese is like kryptonite to me and I can’t stand it). The food highlight for me were the tasty sandwiches since I didn’t get to eat any good pizza. Extra kudos to Mellow Mushroom for juggling all the special needs food eaters as just at my table we had a Vegan and a mushroom allergy and they went all out making special stuff for them… maybe I should’ve made up some special food need so I could’ve gotten some pizza I liked… I also wasn’t a big fan of the way they doled out the drinks in the beginning with sample tastes and I would have rather been able to get a full drink like they started doing towards the end as they were all things I’ve consumed before so I already knew what I liked without needing to sample. I’m just being all nitpicky now but that’s what I do as I like what I like and don’t what I don’t so we ended the feasting with key lime pie and cookies.
Overall it was a cool event and great weather which was awesome as we had the event on the groovy balcony patio. It was also nice to meet some new Unilocalers that I hadn’t ever seen at events before.
Joi and Emily, as always, deserve five stars for all their extra cool efforts but I expect Emily to knit my new cool Unilocal socks higher so they reach my knees so I can wear them during rugby play. Yes Unilocal corporate you heard correctly I want your socks to be knee length so I can wear them in my blood sport so that I can do manly deeds in them and then sing glorious songs about the adventures all while wearing my Unilocal knee socks.

Joi, Emily and the Mellow Mushroom really knocked it out of the park with this event.
The event was different than events past, but in a good way. Rather than a bunch of people milling about with no real purpose, this was an actual sit down meal. Course after course of very tasty food was brought to each table for everyone to try. We had appetizers, salad, sandwiches, pizza and even dessert. I cannot imagine anyone left without being full. The food was good to very good with the jerk chicken hoag-​boy and the BBQ shrimp pizza being my favorites. I could definitely see myself returning to try those two items.
Before each course the owner would describe the course we were trying. He really made an effort to connect with our group, and obviously is very passionate about his restaurant. In all my years of attending events, he made more of an impression than many other owners.
Another great part of the event was the free flowing drinks. While I stuck to water, there was an ample supply of wine and beer available. One of the beers was Broussard, LA’s Canebreak, which is a great summer brew.
The best part of the event was all of the awesome Unilocalers in attendance. Joi asked that we sit with people we don’t know which I thought was a great idea. I got to meet awesome elite Unilocaler AuraLee and her plus one Eric. I thoroughly enjoyed explaining the finer points of Unilocal Nola to those very cool people. I was also excited to meet Cyn the Nola Chic, Moira, Katherine, Ryan (Two gold badges), Faith and anyone else I forgot to mention (I have a bad memory). It was also great to see all the OG Unilocalers in attendance. I am trying to make an effort to meet more new people at events so if I didn’t get to say hello, flag me down next time.
In summary, it was fun. If you didn’t make it, you missed out.

Yay! I couldn’t wait to get home and review this awesome event.
I think that this elite event will go down as one of my favorites. First of all, I was super excited because I had been wanting to try Mellow Mushroom for ages, but didn’t have any reason to drive all the way out to Metairie to do so, so when I saw that the event was going to be here, I couldn’t wait.
We got to enjoy the super awesome upstairs patio, and lucky for us, it was a great evening– not too hot and not too cold.
We were encouraged to sit with people we didn’t know, so that we could become better acquainted. So we did, and then the food started to come out. The first appetizer was garlic bread that you could top with hummus, tomato and/​or olive salad. It was incredible a the perfect start to the evening. Next was a spinach salad with fruit, nuts and cheese followed by pretzel bites with mustard, tomato and honey mustard sauce. All of it was amazing.
Next came the entrees. First we had a choice of all kind of different sandwiches. I chose the jerk chicken, because I wanted something a little spicy. I was tempted to try another kind as well, but I wanted to save room for the next course. Next came the pizza. I had a meat lovers and another with veggies and kind of a sweet sauce on it. The veggie one was good, but I will say that the meat lovers was a little salty. I think it would have been a little better had I been in the mood for it, but it was my second pick, so I wasn’t too worried about it.
Last but not least was the yummy dessert. First a warm chocolate chop cookie was brought out and then a small sample of key lime pie. It’s pretty amazing that I’m not in some kind of food coma. I guess that’s what I get for pacing myself.
Along with the food, beer was plentiful (Canebrake was my fave) and I liked that they kept my water cup full. There were also a few choices of wine, but I decided to stick to beer.
Thank you Joi and co. for an amazing event! It was a super pleasant surprise that this was a full fledged dinner. Everyone at Mellow Mushroom was amazing and the staff was super attentive. I would LOVE more events like this one in the future. It was great meeting new people (AuraLee and Eric were our table buddies) and I had a fantastic time! Oh, and extra kudos for my Unilocal socks! I can’t wait ’til it gets cold or I join a baseball team, so that I can wear them!