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American Flatbread
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
12 reviews for American Flatbread
Best Pizza in the state of Vermont. I know that the wait can often be 2 to 3 hours or more, but as a local you have to know the way to avoid that, put in your name, go home for a while, then come back. The wait is made better with a bottle of wine and good conversation around the fire outside.
As for the food, the pizza's are cooked in front of you, and the smell that fills the air is amazing. The salads are simple and delicous, and the pizzas with thier local ingredients are awesome.
It helps that I was married next door at Lareau Farm, but if you are in the Valey and you crave pizza, this is the place.
What a little slice of heaven...both the pizza and the idyllic location! We arrived at 5:30 and had no trouble getting a table, but the place filled up quickly after we were seated. The daily special pizza with local bacon, potatoes and scallions was amazing, I wish I had saved room for dessert because we saw a couple of slices of oven-baked apple pie go by and they looked delicious.
We could have hung around all night, drinking beer by the campfire, listening to the live jazz and chatting with other patrons, but unfortunately our 6-month-old needed to get home to bed. They've really created a convivial atmosphere in addition to a great product. I've had the pizzas frozen before, but they are ten times better at the source.
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Flatbread is a staple of Vermont-- Yes, the wait is long, but the campfire outside is warm, the big wood-fired clay oven is enticing and the pizza is just amazing. Oh, and while Whole Foods has Flatbread all over the Northeast and Florida, don't expect to find it in California. Flatbread's new "Mexican" style pizza with black beans, chiles, and cheddar is delicious, but from the old days I would always get the "Medicine Wheel" with extra sauce and some blend of Asiago and Grana Padano cheese. Salad is fresh, simple, and delicious that that apple pie baked in the wood-fired stone stove is simply awesome. Another great place, one of the few truly delicious restaurants in Vermont, outside of Sneaker's in Colchester ( near downtown Burlington), the Inn at Essex (decent Nachos), Shelburne Farms, and most recently a bakery in Richmond with great Homefries for breakfast.
Ok. Forget about the pizza war between Chicago and NYC. I agree with Lindley completely - this Pizza is the pizza to end all pizzas. I've dined at American Flatbread a few times while skiing in Vermont, and have never had a bad experience. Ever.
There are a few convenience stores in VT and even gas stations that have frozen American Flatbread pizza, but it's not the same. Not even close. I hear they have them in Whole Foods now, but have never tried it. Nothing can really duplicate a pizza cooked in a hot wood oven, unless you have one at home (feel free to invite me over for pizza). The ingredients are very fresh - you've never had pizza like this before. American Flatbread is one of those companies that you can feel the passion of the founder through the food.
Warm and cozy atmosphere, a great place to come with friends or family. I don't recall the staff to much, but I'm sure they are great. It's Vermont, people!!
I had a few nicknames in college, and one of them was Princess of Pizza. This is where it started. :P Go. There. Now.
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We waited more than 2 hours after the hostess told us the wait would be an hour. When we were finally seated (after 9 p.m.) the restaurant was practically empty. While we were waiting countless diners came in after us and were seated before us. Perhaps you need to be on some type of different "wait-list", but unless you're a local you wouldn't know this.
The pizza is solid, but not amazing and certainly NOT worth the wait. Our waitress' attempts at up-selling us on wine when she saw we had already chosen a pricey bottle from the bar was super annoying and put the final nail in the coffin for me.
Don't buy the hype. Try another of the local dining establishments instead.
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This was my first experience with American Flatbread and it was awesome! We arrived on the later side and were told it would be about half an hour for a table for six. No problem! We ordered a bottle of wine and enjoyed both the bar area and the outdoor fire pit, as the evening was chilly.
No worries about the cold once we were seated, as we were about 10 feet from the oven. It was so much fun to watch as the pizzas were made and baked in the wood fire. Our table tried three: cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms and a kalamata olive, onion, feta creation. Wow, i love pizza, but had no idea it could be *this* good!
Word to the wise, they only serve dinner at this location on Friday and Saturday, and it's totally worth the wait!
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This place is one hemp neckless and two joints away from a hippie commune. But I LOVE IT. Having been here a few times, this time was the best!. Packed with families, farmers, yuppies and with the occasional hippie sprinkled thought out the experience almost felt like some sort of Noah's ark just not in pairs but in herds. All drawn there because of our love for fresh, tasty, socially and environmentally sustainable farming practices.
We waited for our table outside on a warm summer evening sipping chilled local brewed beer in these great Adirondack Chairs watching a gaggle of kids play in the field. There happened to be a wedding taking place so there was live music. They had a great fire pit outside that defiantly adds to the ambiance.
They only have limited items on the menu. But the food is always delicious and fresh. The salads are amazing and if they offer you blue cheese get it. YUMMY.....
Just know two things.
1. Only open Friday and Sat nights
2. Almost always you will have to wait for a table. Just get a drink and enjoy the free views and beauty.
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Let me get the two negatives right out in the open. The wait for a table here can be excruciating. In general, Friday nights are better before the tourist crowd gets to town. You may balk at the cost of the flatbreads (fancy way of saying "pizza"). However, you will be amazed at the quality of the ingredients which are mostly locally grown and the taste.
The other thing that makes Flatbread special is the setting. You can stand outside as you await your table with a beer or wine glass in hand while warming by a nice fire.
Their dining area contains a lot of messages about Mother Earth and feeding the world. It can get a little preachy but I think the people at Flatbread are sincere.
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American Flatbread was cruising for a 2-star rating. We arrived, the wait was 2 hours for a party of 2, the bartender was really confusing when we placed our order (not his fault, just the nature of the place it seems), i was starving and cranky and sore, and it was cold as all-hell as we waited around the tiny dying campfire listening to a clever 10 year-old trying to be funny. We almost left.
But then-- enter the 5 nicest strangers EVER. After we chatted with them for no more than 10 minutes around the fire, their table was called, leaving us all by our lonesome. Long story short, they reserved a table for 7, only had 5 in their party, and offered us the spots! This turned our experience right around.
We ended up having a lovely pizzalicious dinner with our new adopted friends. The restaurant itself is super cozy and warmly lit. Vermont microbrews and tasty glasses of wine were ordered all around, as well as the one salad on the menu, dotted with blue cheese and a really great dressing.
And now to the pizza. It was good. Very yummy. We got sausage, caramelized onions and sun dried tomatoes with a blend of cheeses. Definitely savory and delicious...but, you know I'm gonna say it, not really worth a two hour wait. I'd wait two hours for Santarpios in East Boston. But this...no. I know, I know, it's Vermont. In the woods. I'm not being fair. Just sayin'.
Anywho, if you're in the area, you should still come here. If not for the pizza, then for the campfire, and the excellent company you just may find. Either way I'm sure it will be good times. Thanks again Chief!!!
Eating American Flatbread at the Warren location is really a truly remarkable experience. To call the experience unique would be an understatement.
Several quaint buildings dot the landscape and sit tranquilly in a picturesque Vermont field with a mountain backdrop. At night on wekends, when the flatbread producing farm becomes a restaurant, they transform into a beacon of warmth. There is usually a fire outside with no shortage of wood for anyone to keep it roaring, a necessity considering the wait for a table. But the wait hardly feels like one; everyone is friendly. It seems more like, well, your best friends family is having an enormous get together and everyone is having fun. Conversation roam freely between parties while people wait to be seated. If you don't like bonfires (who in their right ming doesn't) you can hang out inside next to the small bar.
The timber framed dinning space is open and inviting. If you happen to be waiting inside, the dinning room seems to be cooing for you. In the center of the dinning area is an enormous clay oven, shaped like a dome (it looks like a flattened igloo). The oven itself embodies all that American Flatbread stands for. It was made by hand from clay harvested from the small rambling river outback. The clay oven, maybe 5 or so feet wide and a few feet tall is certainly the centerpiece, not only because it's in the center of the room and is literally a focal point but also because a warm fire always draws attention. Another reason this clay oven is cherished is the flatbreads this oven manifests, yes manifests, not produce, are without a doubt the best. Ever.
This is pizza you have never had before and most likely will never try anywhere else other than here. The people here are committed to making something that is amazing, and it is more than pizza. It really beyond words.
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The pizza to end all pizzas.
Where to start?
American Flatbread is not just a restaurant, it is a monument to its owner and founder, George Schenk. George has a degree from Yale but spent most of his time after school as a ski bum. After years of cooking, he realized that he loved making flatbreads...and American Flatbread was born. George has elaborate philosophies around food and eating and the place is covered in his writings. He and his staff dedicate each day of baking to individuals who had an impact on their lives. There is a lot of thought put into the products here, from the source of the water (George used to hand carry it from an Artesian well every day) to the flour (organic, local) to the tomatoes (ditto) which was made into sauce in a cauldron that was cooked outside over a wood fire. The believe that food made well has the power to heal drove George Schenk to grow this place into what it is today.
The shop keeps very limited hours, depending on the season. I've arrived just as they've opened and been seated immediately, and sometimes I've waited up to 2.5 hours for a table. No complaints, it is always worth it.
Anything cooked in a clay oven with a wood fire burning at 700 degrees tastes good. With the ingredients AF uses, things don't taste good, they taste great.
As a note: the stuff you buy in Whole Foods is from AF, but it just doesn't have the same 'oomph' that getting it at the source does.
Worth a pilgrimage.
Yes, the pizza is fantastic, the ambiance so very authentic, green-as-can-be-Vermont. I'd return, but as mentioned before, the wait can be a bit daunting. I assumed putting in a name/res at 4:30 for later that evening would cover us, as this is how it works there. However...... we didn't count on a party of 24 being seated at the same time. Yes, TWENTY FOUR. Who dines with 24 people?! What kind of insanity is this? What kind of idiot management policy allows them to even take a party of 24 on a busy night? Does the term take out ring any bells? Rant complete, and, all this said, our food arrived in a very timely way. That pizza oven cranks out the 'zas very quickly. Or, it's possible the table for 24 was still trying to get their order in.
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