American Flatbread

Never paid thier bills as they closed down

I’m going to begin by saying this place is VERY expensive. I’m NOT a fan of the whole «organic/​free range» movement and in fact it really pisses me off. So when I went here, I knew the price was completely over the top and wasn’t going to be worth it.
I was wrong. While the price is still extremely high ($ 22+ for a pizza, do NOT buy any drinks) the pizza is incredible. I’m going out on a limb here to say its the best pizza in the DC area. The organic/​free range crap actually pays off and the toppings are incredible. Its cooked in a brick oven (which I also find a «price raising» gimmick), but again, it works.
I’ve come here over and over, and kick myself for shelling out the cash for this tree hugging BS, but honestly, its the best pizza in all of DC.

An easy date location. Share a salad ($ 6) and a pizza ($ 18-​$ 22) to share. Ask for dressing on the side and for the kitchen to lay off the salt. Meals may end up being too salty if you’re not careful. The pumpkin ice cream was a treat. [Last Visit: November 30, 2010]

I was so excited when I drove by this American Flatbread location for the first time! Having close family living in Burlington, VT, I have been to that location many many times. In Burlington, not only is the place much bigger, with adorable outdoor seating, but it also have a brewery on site! With the ambiance being 1000x’s better, many years of experience, and the brewery on site, Burlington’s locale is a very popular place. If you go on a Saturday night, you’ll probably have to wait at least an hour for a table, and good luck finding a seat at the bar while you wait!
I digress. my point is, I had very high expectations for the Clarendon location and they were not quite met. The pizza was pretty good, I got half virgina ham and cheese/​equilibrium (yes you can do that!) (though still didn’t seem quite as good as Btown) but the ambiance… yuck. Green pastel ceiling, white tile floors (I think?), the layout leave much to be desired. They need to bring in some wood and some character, and fast!

I’m giving it 4 instead of 3 stars because I lived right above it, and I like neighborhood places in general.
The pizza is good, not bad, the salads are not bad too. You can probably find better pizza and salads elsewhere, but if you happen to live in Clarendon, this is not a bad place to grab a bite. And if you already live in Clarendon, there’s no reason to complain about the price. :]
The service is kind of slow I must say.

This was a pleasant surprise on a random Tuesday night. The flatbread pizza was very tasty. I had one of the specials which was curry carrot purée with onions, spinach and cheese (can’t remember which kind). The carrot was used in place of a tomato for the base and didn’t over power the pizza at all but gave it a great accent. The group all said it was very tasty.
Great selection of micro brew beer both on tap and by the bottle. Many above 6% which is always interesting. Seemed to be a decent wine list as well which focused on organic wines. Tip… they have limited spirits so I definitely wouldn’t call it a full bar.
I’d definitely go back and plan to order take out as well, which seemed to be a very popular option many locals were doing.

This place sucks. We got the artichoke appetizer served with uninteresting bread, carrots, and celery. The carrot was the tastiest part of the plate. For our entrée we got the sundried tomato and mushroom pizza. It was alright but I didn’t feel like eating more than two small pieces. And this is after a whole day of fasting from sunrise to sundown. You know there’s something wrong when a fasting person says «hmm I’ll pass on that».
On the plus side, the place was cute and very eco-​friendly. The set-​up was nice, you could see people making pizzas in an open airy kitchen.

I had the revolution pizza. My friend had the red pepper and pepperoni. It was good, but not great. The service was awesome though.

First and foremost, I thought this place was some sort of drug running front. Let me explain: the few tables and bar through the front window seemed either to be always empty or had «Reserved» signs on them. I almost never saw a live person in there. But, when we took the plunge and went in, I realized the bulk of the restaurant is in the back. My bad.
American Flatbread is really just a pizza place, and a mediocre one at that. Think California Pizza Kitchen, but with pairings of local ingredients which didn’t go that well together. My wife’s «Fried Green Tomato» pizza was just kinda bland. My sausage pizza was better but REALLY oily. And the crust, ahem I mean flatbread, was just ok.
I understand they are currently in a deathmatch struggle with neighbors and Arlingotn County to use the adjacent patio for outdoor dining space, which would be a nice place to enjoy a meal… if the pizza was better.

3.5 stars
I much prefer this type of pizza over the Neapolitan style. I still get the fresh quality ingredients and the brick oven treatment, but without the sogginess and the sparing toppings of a Neapolitan pizza. I also enjoyed the slight sweetness in the chewy crust. The beer menu here features several good none pilsner style beers on draft. I only wish the menu here has a few more appetizers besides salads and cold dips (Radius Pizza does a much better job of balancing pizza and appetizers).
The bathroom here need to be more kid/​baby friendly, after all, this is a neighborhood pizza joint.

Went there tonight, was very disappointed. The menu was very limited obviously, but even more so then I expected. Would have loved a smaller version of the flatbread, and some more varied sides. I know it’s not technically pizza, but to get Parmesan cheese on the side was $ 1.99 extra, yikes.
The atmosphere of the restaurant was very bland and dull. Not lively at all. The waitstaff seemed sort of comatose.
Had an incident with management (over the use of a Groupon — partly my fault (didn’t realize not all businesses accept the iPhone app version of Groupon), partly there’s (they claimed I was there outside of the allowed times — not true; they said a reservation was required to use the groupon — but I doublechecked and it was not a requirement. Plus they also badmouthed the groupon company to me, which I thought was a bit weird). Overall, they were very unhelpful.
Only went in the first place b/​c of the Groupon — there’s a lot of better places in Clarendon, and lots of new good pizza places here now, and coming soon. Would give this place a miss.

The pizza — - I mean, flatbread, was very tasty, fresh, and warm. Good crust and not smothered in tomato sauce. The spinach bacon salad needed a little more flavor.
Good beer selection.
When we got there the host/​server seemed a bit surly. Didn’t really say anything just took us to our seat then came back to tell us the specials and take our order. I’m not asking for a hug — just a little warmer greeting.
As the evening progressed he seemed to loosen up a bit. The two ladies making the pizzas — I mean — flatbreads — were very friendly when I took my son to watch them make the food.
We will return.

Ok, so I am biased. The owner happens to share the same last name as me (though we are not related) so of course we walked over here on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It is a pretty shop, make bigger than I would have expected from the entrance. The food was good. I wasn’t too sure on the hummus (it was good but a bit pricey for the amount) but all of the white pizza’s were good (there was only really one traditional pizza with sauce on the menu). Prompt service, good beer selection. I did think that the nonalcoholic beverages were a bit pricey ($ 3 for a can of coke!). A few items other than pizza as entrees would be good.

A sauceless pizza? That’s what she said…
We’re fascinated by all the new developments on Filmore street — pizza, cupcakes, chocolatier, wine bar, what more could you ask for?
Maybe more than just pizza as an entrée on the dinner menu?
We started with the humus because we thought it would simply take 5 minutes to dish up. Boy, were we wrong! You may want to mention it takes 15 minutes or so to make the bread and humus dip. It was nice that the bread came hot out of the oven but it would have been nicer if it had been sooner. The humus looked freshly made again that could be nice if you are willing to wait.
The pizza was very flavorful despite not having any sauce on it… virginia sausage, red peppers, onions, –mushrooms. I guess I can give up on the sauce because I’m tempted to go back for the apple, ham, cheddar one next.
Bonus Point — as my BF pointed out — Arlington County Employees get 15% off — score one for the Librarians!

I’m really, truly surprised that so many people really like this place! I went there last night and was shocked on how limiting the menu was. I get it — flatbread — so you know what, specialize in that, but offer more to your consumer than just salad (uh, one on the menu) and flatbread.
Let’s talk ambiance. The lighting was extremely bright in the «bar» area. It wasn’t welcoming at all. A dimmer switch is desperately needed in the bar area to make this more appealing. Also, the music wasn’t working last night in the entire restaurant. How do you not have a little Muzak to go with your meal?!? I also feel that the bar and restaurant areas are incredibly disjointed. If it were me, I would place some faux wood paneling or something to tie-​in the space more.
Wine list was good. As was the beer list. No complaints. I agree completely with one reviewer about the «hippy soda» that’s on the menu. That’s a very cute, novel idea — but know your audience! Seriously you should have a fountain of either Coca-​Cola or Pepsi products for those consumers who aren’t in to the specialty soda products.
American Flatbread — you’re still *new* so I would imagine that you’ll read these reviews and ponder making improvements. I certainly hope so!

After a very long week of being snowed in, I relished the idea of going to a restaurant with a built-​in clay oven. For a small storefront hidden off of Clarendon Ave, it turned out to be quite large, but cozy for all that. The front room seemed to have a group of entertaining regulars drinking and swapping stories at the bar, but the back was spacious with a bit of mood lighting from a collection of mis-​matched overhead chandeliers.
It took us a while to get through the menu, even though it was only about 15 pizzas long — everything looked tasty, though primarily it was a combination of good-​quality ingredients in different configurations. If I’d been able to work out what the price would have been, I would have opted to just choose my own. We skipped the beer menu altogether in favor of the nice selection of natural sodas — a nice change of pace.
The waiter was friendly and unobtrusive, even though it took us a bit to make our choice. He told us that we could split our pizza half and half (which would have been nice to see on the menu) and he even provided soda service, pouring our sodas into the ice-​filled glasses.
We chatted with the two very knowledgeable and professional young men who were working the pizza oven, took a look at the photos of its installation, and admired the subtly cartoony but ecudational food art on the walls while we waited for our pizza.
It was pretty much everything I hoped it would be — the crust was perfectly crisp on the outside, but still had some bend to it. The toppings were perfectly proportioned, the ingredients fresh and delicious, the excellent sauce added a subtle hint of spiced tomato to the overall experience (I wish both halves had been sauced), and it was just enough food for us to be full and yet have a slice each for leftovers the next day.
When the clay oven baker boys told us that the oven is warmed up in the morning with the creation of baked goods, we couldn’t resist trying a bite of dessert (also not on the menu — why was the menu so sparse on detail?). Our ice cream cookie sandwich was a tasty scoop of vanilla wedged between two fresh and gently warmed chocolate chip cookies — just soft enough to eat with a spoon and watch the chocolate goo, but not so hot that the ice cream melted.
The main thing that knocked it down to a four-​star experience was the price — almost $ 20 for a pizza was almost worth it, but the $ 6 for an ice cream sandwich made me wince, good though it was. We’re big beer fans, too, but the total cost for us each to get a brew would have made it a little too pricey for a just-​for-​the-​heck-​of-​it let’s-get-out-of-the-house-tonight dinner, especially when it’s «just pizza».
I will say that it definitely beats nearby Z-​Pizza on Washington Blvd, and we’ll definitely go back for more.

I fall in love with everything I eat here.
The hummus is fantastic. The creamy garlic flavor and flatbread make me forget how completely healthy hummus can be. The cheese and herb flatbread is fantastic. It is great for snacking after a long night of drinking and just as delicious cold the next morning. My new favorite dish, however, is the Virginia country ham, apple, and cheddar. I was a bit hesitant to order this the first time, because I was unsure about the presence of an apple on my pizza. The sweetness of the apple is never overwhelming and blends well with all the ingredients. The cheddar cheese compliments the ham quite nicely. I can never pass up a slice of this flatbread and quite frankly I can probably finish one all by myself.

American Flatbread is a perfect 3 star restaurant: consistently good food that isn’t exactly impressive or memorable, but is certainly palette-​pleasing. It’s a welcome addition to the Clarendon scene, which already had good pizza nearby at Liberty Tavern, but which benefits from American Flatbread’s more laid-​back space.
American Flatbread is certainly sparse in its décor, featuring small wall hangings that describe its history and the history of the organic food movement. WIth exposed ductwork and an open kitchen, the space doesn’t exactly feel industrial (it’s on the first floor of an apartment building in Clarendon, after all) or loft-​y, but sort of unfinished. The staff is friendly and helpful, and the seem excited about American Flatbread’s product offerings, but their descriptions and interactions sound a little too scripted. In addition, while American Flatbread proudly features organic and local food, they are a bit sparse on the details on where exactly their «local» food comes from.
The drink selection at American Flatbread is very good — it has the usual high-​end beer list that I’ve come to expect after eating at places like Liberty Tavern and Pizzeria Paradiso, but it also features a great collection of organic teas and sodas. These drinks are all High Fructose Corn Syrup free, which is a nice benefit.
The pizzas at American Flatbread are quite good — the crust is brick-​oven toasty, and the menu selection includes a good variety of choices. Both vegetable and meat ingredients are fresh and tasty, and neither the meat nor the pizza itself seems greasy at all. If you’ve had an American Flatbread frozen pizza, you’ll know what to expect here.
All in all, good stuff, and a great go-​to spot for local pizza. But nothing memorable or particularly «special».

I went to American Flatbread tonight for dinner. This place is good and has the potential to be better, too. They had a happy hour special of $ 3-​$ 4 drafts and $ 4 glass of the organic red or white wine. The draft selection was great. I had the «punkin ale» — yum, great fall flavors. The white wine on happy hour was blah — it did not taste like much.
The pizzas and salads were very good. I had the evolution salad with a mix of lettuces, celery, sesame seeds and even seaweed. The gingery dressing made it even better. We ordered 3 flatbreads for a party of 5 which was the perfect amount of food. The cheese and herb and the sausage were my favorites. The cheese and herb was simple and good. The sausage had a great sage flavor and lots of mushrooms. The sundried tomato and mushroom was good too, just not my favorite. Although, others at the table disagreed. The flatbreads are crispy and the toppings were perfectly cooked. We all agreed that they should give you tomato sauce or something for dipping the yummy flatbread crusts.
The desserts were disappointing. I had the apple pie. On the plus side it was served warm and with ice cream. The negative was that it did not have much flavor. The others that had the brownie said it was also very blah.
Service was great, very attentive. The décor is wooden tables, eclectic light fixtures and the huge pizza oven. A nice décor.

I went to American Flatbread once and had the «New Virginia Sausage» pizza and a couple of beers. It wasn’t apparent what made the sausage «new» or Virginian. This place is a chain, and the bartender made a point to tell me they sell frozen versions of their pizzas at Whole Foods. It’s not apparent to me what the restaurant version offers over the Whole Foods version. I wouldn’t play up the Whole Foods affiliation — it makes the restaurant’s food seem like a glorified a TV dinner.
The pizza had a good crust and a good amount of toppings — except for the cheese, which it really lacked. They play up the «local» angle, but frankly, it wasn’t apparent to me how I benefited — but evidently they couldn’t find a local cheese provider. Overall, the texture was good, but the flavor was weak.
The bartender (I ate at the bar) was nice and personable. The beer selection was limited, but interesting. The liquor selection was comically small. It’s a new place and it’s possible they’ll expand — but if they don’t, this is by far the worst liquor selection I’ve ever seen.
If you desire «local» and «organic» over flavor, this place may be for you. However, for my money, there are many, many, more flavorful options.