Mellow Mushroom has grand opening in historic downtown

Mellow Mushroom’s new location in Ocala had its grand opening on Dec. 4 [Caroline Brauchler/Ocala Gazette] 2023.

The long-awaited Mellow Mushroom restaurant in downtown Ocala celebrated its grand opening this week, bringing crowds looking to enjoy the down-to-earth, groovy atmosphere of the restaurant chain—this time with a local twist.

Even only one day after its grand opening, the restaurant was packed and lively just in time for lunch hour. The restaurant’s owner, Brad Harper of Swamp Dawg Restaurants, said he wanted to expand the franchise while also preserving Ocala’s rich history.

“We just wanted something that we felt like the local folks in the community would really enjoy,” said Harper. The restaurant is at 2 W Fort King St. in the Goldman Peek Building, which was rebuilt from the 20th-century Cloeman Building.

Mellow Mushroom diners will find a lot of the menu showcases familiar classics including the restaurant’s signature stone-baked pizzas and a “build-your-own” pie option to make the meal your own.

Beyond the familiar menu items, customers will also see a “local to your mellow” section, which features options handpicked by the owner and management team special for Ocala. If you’ve ever wanted pizza for brunch, the Ocala location’s local section features a “breakfast spectacular pizza,” complete with bacon, scrambled eggs and sausage toppings.

The bar features hand-crafted cocktails, plus 24 taps pouring beers from local brewery Infinite Ale Works and Florida breweries such as Swamp Head Brewery and Cigar City Brewing.

Starting with a staff of close to 100, at peak times on opening day the restaurant had a maximum of a two-hour wait.

“We just tried to set up a great atmosphere,” Harper said. “The wizard is always a spot where people like to take pictures, because it’s kind of like a Mellow Mushroom thing; Whenever you go to a new Mellow, you want to take a picture with a wizard.”

A large mural inside the restaurant features the theme of “See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil,” painted by the Miami-based artist Ruben Ubiera.

Harper, who also owns Eggs Up Grill and three Zaxby’s locations in Ocala, is renting the entire Goldman Block, and the rest of the vacant space in the building and plans to open two more restaurants: Mooyah Burgers, Fries and Shakes on the first floor, the Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Baron the second floor and a rooftop bar on the third floor.

The building was most recently occupied by the Brother’s Keeper thrift store and was demolished and renovated in preparation for the new restaurants. Harper said he and his team wanted to ensure that Ocala’s history could still be preserved with the building’s new use and showed off the common space where he said he plans on displaying several historical items found below the building.

Some of the items included a calendar from November 1918, a framed collection of needles from the record players sold by Goldman, an old newspaper clipping and an advertisement for a mattress sold for $19.75.

“What we wanted to do is to pay tribute to old Ocala but create a really fun, lively space with great staff that people that in our community could really enjoy,” Harper said.