The Mellowship is an iconic example as to why a larger city in Thailand can cater to more sophisticated tastes. It is primarily a jazz club and upmarket cocktail bar. It has the look of being a fancy place and it definitely is that. However, having such garbage food is unacceptable especially when it is relatively expensive.
I am not really a fan of jazz music, but can appreciate a good musician no matter what style of music they are playing so in that regard I am happy this place exists, i will just go there in the future without needing anything to eat. The food menu is actually quite impressive but I am one of those people that absolutely HATES it when the pictures on the menu don't actually represent what you receive at all.
This is an example of their advertising materials for what they have on offer but what you receive doesn't actually look at all like this.
The service started off badly because they were out of so many things on the menu despite the fact that it was a Tuesday and the place was not even busy. As a former restaurant owner I find this totally unfathomable. The only time my restaurant was out of something was if we sold all of it during that night's service. If you are out of something on the menu for any other reason, said item should not be on the menu. To do it any other way shows that whoever the manager is, doesn't really care about the food and this much was evident in what we received.
I didn't take any pictures because it is a dimly lit place and I didn't want to be that guy that is using flash photography in a dark room that had people on stage. You'll just have to take my word for it.
The fish was fried so hard that it was dry and they used so much batter that it dominated the entire flavor to the point where it really just tasted like deep-fried batter. The chicken and spinach roll was also dry and overcooked and for some reason had raisins and cashew nuts strewn about the plate (I always hate this because it means that someone had their hands all over something I am about to put in my mouth.)
Neither of our dishes looked anything like the pictures in the very attractive menu.
This is one of the more upscale places in town and it attracts an affluent mix of locals, expats, and tourists. The vibe is friendly and the service is quick and speak English very well. They definitely need a new chef or perhaps a complete overhaul to the kitchen in general.
Since I am not a big fan of jazz music (unless Ron Burgandy is playing jazz flute) and don't like to spend high levels of money on food I didn't enjoy or finish, I am very unlikely to return to this place. However, the music was top-notch and it kind of surprised me that they had music of this caliber in Chiang Mai. If you are visiting this city and are a jazz fan, I would say you would likely enjoy this place.... just stay away from the food.