Zero Gravity Craft Brewery / American Flatbread

Longstaff

Massachusetts

4.18/5  rDev -3.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3 | $$$

Stopped in twice in one day. First had lunch with a German Helles that tasted more like a kolsch, but was pretty good. Split a salad and a small pie with my gf, even after the near insistence of the waiter to upsell us to bigger, much more expensive size. Pizza was decent, but I've had better in NY/NJ, and at the price, you can probably do better in town - oh and asking for grated parmesean seemed like a foreign concept to our waiter - and ultimately it did not arrive at the table.

Second shot was at night - it was Sat. night around 10pm and the bar area was pretty quiet. They have a seperate bar area with some tables and about a dozen or more bar stools that made it so you weren't in the way of the waitstaff or other diners. Draft menu was pretty decent with local craft brews, some decent imports like maudite, dupont saison, and spaten lager, and about 4 or 5 house made beers. Didn't try any other than the Helles I had at lunch since I was looking for something a little bigger in abv after dinner. Bottle list was very good for the area, actually the best I've seen in VT, but only had beers under the 8% limit. Some trappist beers, a couple of saisons, celebrator, and a few others were listed. Some of the bottles were too pricey and some were bargains, just have to know which is which I guess. Service was pretty good and the bartender was very knowledgeable about beer - especially local offerings.

Would definitely come back here for a few good beers, but will probably eat somewhere else.

09-05-2005 17:37:10 | More by Longstaff

PatandDavid

Massachusetts

4.33/5  rDev -0.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

David and I popped in here a few weeks ago. The place was pretty empty on a Thursday at lunchtime. We made our way to the bar, and were the only ones there the entire time we visited, which equaled great service for us. The bartender kept us in water, offered us samples of any beer we asked after. David ordered a few different pints, I of course asked for every one of their brews, so got good sized portions of each house brew in wine glasses. I really liked the two German styles they had on (all beers reviewed separately). We also got a pizza, while more expensive than a typical pizza, turned out to be one the best darn pizzas I have had in a long time. I applaud their simple food menu (one salad), and pizza which they have several options on, or you can choose your toppings. They also had three beer engines, other area micros on tap, and a pretty good bottle list. We ended up sampling a Magic Hat Hefeweizen. Would come back here, no question, and it would be the best stop in town.

08-21-2005 20:09:31 | More by PatandDavid

waughbrew

Massachusetts

4.45/5  rDev +2.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Very convenient location in the heart of Burlington, right near the park where they have the market. Unassuming exterior. Upon entering, it opened up to the right and I thought the place was very small, but the host took us to the left for a table and I realized that it is rather large. Nice surroundings, but does not try to be too fancy. Seems a bit old-world with brick and the big wood oven right near the seating area. Tablecloths struck me as cheap Pizza-Hut checkered red and white, but everything else was nice. Prompt service asked me what I wanted to drink. I could not decide on a beer, so I asked if they had a sampler. She didn't really know, but after leaving to ask about it, she returned with about 5 ounces of all 6 house beers in short wine glasses and told me that it only costs five bucks. Awesome. Pils, summer bock, mild, ESB, IPA, Extra stout. All of them ranged from very good to excellent! Wow. But if you for some reason get tired if the house beers, there is a pretty insane selection of other beers, including two local casks, some odd draft choices, and stellar bottles (XX bitter, Thiriez, etc.) Food is very easy to choose here - they have one salad available, and then their 'flatbreads' (pizzas). The salad was very good, as was the pizza. We had ours with sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms. It was not cheap, but the large was quite large and very tasty. This place rocks and I will gladly return.

08-10-2005 02:15:13 | More by waughbrew

slander

New York

4.68/5  rDev +7.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 5 | $$

Seems like we'd been driving around visiting brewpubs all damn day. The day's sun's done, we're finally up North. A pop into the hotel for a quick change (read: nap), and then we're Burlington bound for mischief. I'm sure we can find something to do, somewhere to go. Hell, there's 3 brewpubs in a 2 block radius, it's like I'm being called out...
Upon entering, you're greeted by banners describing the 5 facets of food (Hunger, Nature, Flavor, Nourish, Heal). Very enlightening. 7 tables in the front nook below the panel windows looking out towards the park, and a 12 seat "L" shaped bar with a large mirror backed wood unit beyond that. An adjacent bar counter sits in the middle of the room. On the other side of it lies a handful of long tables, and to the rear, an unused brick hearth in the corner (a Jazz quintet was playing in front of it the next night). Big brick walls, pressed tin ceiling, duct work, drop lighting over the bar & tables (Vice President Zwerver says, "They've got the coolest lighting fixtures"), big ol' sunflowers in the vase on the counter, colored pieces of cloth strung on a line overhead with statements about this and that written on them, De Dolle posters on the back wall (Stille Nacht, Ara Bier, & the uncanny Randy likeness OerBier), and the tap selections printed on a large blackboard on the wall to the right of the bar.
A large brick archway leads you into the side dining room, a space with about a dozen and a half tables & booths. The walls carry large food themed tapestries (Organic Garlic, Tomatoes, Extra Virgin Olive Oil). A large brick hearth holds the rear corner before the kitchen area.
Dave Broderick was good enough, no... great enough, to buy us a couple of flatbread pizzas, one all veggied out for Peggy & Baker, and the other for us carnivores. The pepperoni & pepper pie kicked ass, seriously, and I'm a New Haven pizza junkie, so if I'm saying it, you know it's on the up and up. And Peggy claims, "They have the best salads".
The beer scene here is maddening. 18 taps (6 house brews and a dozen guest taps), 4 hand pumps, and a mean bottle collection. Starting with the house beers, Paul's Pils was sublime, the Extra Stout smooth & roasty, the Session Brown Ale well sessionable, the TLA IPA wonderfully hoppy, and I don't think I got to the Summer Bock and Villier's ESB). The dozen guest taps were a great mix of local (Magic Hat Dunkel, McNeill's Impy, Switchback Unfiltered Ale, Trout River Rainbow Ale, Wolaver Wit, Long Trail Double Bag), regional (Smutty IPA, Allagash Grand Cru, Harpoon IPA), and imports (Saison DuPont, Salopian Entire Butt Porter, Mahr's Reserve). The 4 hand pumps (Adnams Tally Ho Barleywine, Otter Creek Alpine Ale, Rock Art Ridge Runner, Shed Mountain Ale).
Food was outstanding (Woofed a whole lot of flatbread pizza the next day at the VT Brewer's Fest, where they set up shop with a giant hearth out there. It was on a platform, bricked and then muddied up, the thing looked like a giant hornets nest but damn if it didn't crank out some serious pizza). House beers were damn good and the guest taps are tempting, although you really want to run with the house beers. Paul Sayler is a wonderful host, and has got himself a great little place up there.

08-08-2005 03:15:54 | More by slander

weeare138

Pennsylvania

4.38/5  rDev +0.7%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Atmosphere is nice and clean in here. They do a nice job of making the place look new. Nice Oerbier posters on the wall, along with paintings and a natural, low lit lighting, home style feel.
The quality of everything in here is nice, from the tables, to the clean pint glasses, to the great food and beer.
The service is pretty good. My party sat at a table the one night and the service was good. I was left hanging for a few minutes at one point but overall, it was nice. We sat at the bar another day and we're treated with much respect by the bartender. Very attentive and eager to talk.
The selection is great. Along with 5 house beers, they had several other Vermont beers in here, including Magic Hat, Otter Creek, Long Trail, Rock Art & Switchback. They even had a few other out of state brews on draft. Very impressive.
The food was excellent. We got 3 pizzas at our table. I had the goat cheese one, which was great. They'll pretty much throw anything on a pie that's on the menu. Really cool brick oven that cooks the pies in a timely fashion and gets things going in the right direction.
I'll definitley be back.

07-22-2005 00:49:41 | More by weeare138

Goldorak

Quebec (Canada)

4.05/5  rDev -6.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Traffic at the border was light, so we arrived early enough in Burlington to have lunch at American Flatbread, a brewpub highly recommended by locals and tourists alike.

This location is split in two sections, a bar section as you walk in and a restaurant setting to the left, where we were seated. Huge brick/clay oven, thank goodness the AC was blasting at full force because we would have melted.

Very impressive Beer list, 4-5 brewed on premises and plenty of guest taps, including McNeil’s Imperial Stout, Adnams Barleywine on cask, Saison Dupont and a few others. Excellent bottle list that was perhaps a little pricey but with a few gems that would have been worth the price. I stuck with the pub’s own offerings, the IPA and the Pilsner which were very nice, fresh and well made.

We ordered a few pizzas that were excellent, and in perspective weren’t too expensive, considering the amount we ate. A few Quebec buddies went the same day we did, and ordered one pizza each without knowing that you can feed between 2-3 people with those monsters. They gladly do substitutions for free, and you can get half/half pizzas to be able to try more varieties. The veggie daily special and sausage pizzas were our favorites.

Service was quite friendly, everything was clean, and I agree that this spot is the best I’ve seen in town, beating the pub & brewery down the street easily. I will be back.

07-18-2005 14:06:24 | More by Goldorak

HopasaurusRex

New Hampshire

4.13/5  rDev -5.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

A good place to hang out with the family. Lots of kid-friendly booths and coloring books. Perhaps a bit hot by the wood fire on a balmy Saturday night in Vermont.

But onto the food . . . the flatbread was excellent, enormous, and there were many choices ranging from scallops and shrimp to gouda and goat cheese. That's good because that's all they serve - flatbread and salad. Organic produce and farm fresh ingredients make this a great place to take your vegan or vegetarian friends.

There were five "Zero Gravity" beers on tap plus a wide array of draft and bottled beers. I had pints of the house IPA and the Stout and both were good although it was hard to turn down Saison Dupont on draft. A definite stop to hit next time I'm in Burlington.

06-27-2005 14:40:04 | More by HopasaurusRex

francisweizen

Australia

4.4/5  rDev +1.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$$

Another nice brewpub/beer bar/pizza joint place in Burlington. This one has the best beer selection in town, methinks. The brews crafted here are excellent. Pauls Pils is insanely good and reminded me of moonlights, no seriously. The other brews seemed solid as well. The guest draft selection is nice with a good selection of locals and imports (a lot of rarer German tap handles are here...). Quality of the brews and my Salad was good, as was the service, but the pizzas here are insanely expensive. One size only, and no slices, and like $20 for a pie! They looked so good, but I had to stick with more frugal pizza options like Manhattan and Mr. Mikes! Still, very recommended when you are in B-town!

06-10-2005 17:19:49 | More by francisweizen

scottum

Vermont

4.5/5  rDev +3.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

New to Burlington is American Flatbread a Vermont pizza company which most locals in the Burlington area already know about through their presance at local events and their frozen pizza selection in local grocers. The new Burlington location is due to be a brewpub also very soon but on my first visit has yet to offer any of their own brews crafted by Paul Sayler. The brew gear is in place however. Their beer selection is fantastic for the area and gives Manhatten Pizza a run for their money for the best tap lineup in town. With the addition of Paul's beers American Flatbread is sure to top all other local beer bars. Food is great, but only if you like flatbread pizza. They only serve salid and flatbread pizza. That's it! Hit the place and look for my future reviews when they become a brewpub.

update, 4.7.05: they finally have house beers. good stuff.

06-27-2004 21:26:06 | More by scottum