Mellow Mushroom Makes Plans for Cartersville

If the Cartersville Historical Preservation Commission next week approves exterior façade plans submitted by Mellow Mushroom, the hippie pizza chain plans to locate its 150th restaurant in downtown Cartersville.

Officials with the city’s planning and zoning department said that no permits have been filed but that the restaurant plans to come to Cartersville if their plans are approved.

Cartersville Downtown Development Authority manager Tara Currier said her office currently is working with Mellow Mushroom representatives and city officials to make sure the restaurants wishes are met in accordance with the City’s standard procedures and ordinances.

“We are excited about the prospect of such a unique and sought-after dining establishment coming to downtown, and look forward to continue work on the project,” Currier said.

The restaurant plans to move into the old Antonino’s Italian Grotto building on South Wall Street. The Italian restaurant closed its doors in May, said Deborah Hall, a realtor with Crye-Leike’s Cartersville office.

It took almost 9 months to find the perfect location, with Mellow Mushroom officials first eyeing land on Main Street across from Steak ‘n Shake and then a building at Integrity Plaza.

“I kept saying, ‘The right location is out there. We just have to find it,’” Hall said. “You can’t just be rush, rush, rush all the time. Good things take time. We worked hard to keep it here.”

Hall said restaurant officials plan to install an elevator inside the building for easy access to the second floor and create an outdoor eating area similar to the patio at Ate Track just down the street.

“They’re a class act,” Hall said. “They don’t scrimp. `They don’t go in there and try to make it look contemporary when you have an 1881 building there.”

Hall said Mellow Mushroom representatives chose the former Antonino’s building because they wanted a building that had previously been a restaurant and they loved the downtown area.

“They were just blown away and enchanted by it,” she said.

Officials with Mellow Mushroom were not able to be reached for comment. The Historic Preservation Commission is slated to take up the restaurant’s requests at its meeting next week.