**PLEASE NOTE: FLATBREAD COMPANY IN SOUTH WINDSOR HAS PERMANENTLY CLOSED. YOU CAN STILL FIND THEIR GREAT PIZZA AT THE CANTON LOCATION.**
At the beginning of this year, I caught news of a restaurant opening in South Windsor: The Flatbread Company.
(From The Flatbread Company-South Windsor Facebook Page)
If that name sounds familiar, it’s because there is a Flatbread Company in Canton. If you’ve been there, you’ll understand my excitement. If you haven’t, well after reading this, you’re going to be ready to go.
Why is this restaurant so exciting for me? Let me explain, while giving you a brief history of The Flatbread Company.
So years ago, I developed an unhealthy relationship with American Flatbread in the Vermont building of the Big E. Every year, I waited for September to arrive so I could get my fix of flatbread pizza. I’ve been obsessed since. American Flatbread is a restaurant based out of Vermont. What makes them unique is their organic ingredients and their pizza made in a wood-fired oven. Years ago (late 90’s), a new restaurant opened in Amesbury, Massachusetts. This was The Flatbread Company. They were a franchise of American Flatbread but the name was made different so people wouldn’t confuse the two. The Flatbread Company did well. Really well. People loved the idea of organic, locally found ingredients incorporated into their delicious pizza. The Flatbread Company took off; and as time passed, the two companies said their farewells. And The Flatbread Company expanded to 16 restaurants throughout New England (and even Maui), including the newly opened restaurant in South Windsor.
Now, I’ll be honest. I did NOT know that history until after I ate at The Flatbread Company. I went there to fulfill my flatbread pizza craving. I thought the pizza was a little different from what I had always experienced at the Big E. And it was. I am officially addicted to The Flatbread Company now.
The Flatbread Company is located in Evergreen Walk, right at the end near Old Navy.
You’ll notice when you walk up that they do have an outdoor dining option. With this heat lately, I was happy to go inside!
The hostess table is right at the front, and they ask that you wait to be seated. Since we are on summer break, I took advantage of our free time during the week and we had a late pizza lunch. It was actually after 2 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon. We missed the lunch rush.
When you walk in they actually have a small seating area where you can wait for your seat during busier times (as in actual meal times, not 2 p.m. on a Wednesday).
The dining room is a good size. There are booths and tables. They have smaller booths for parties of 4 or less; and then larger booths by the windows.
There is also a bar area (not somewhere I’d be sitting at with my 4-year-old).
Towards the back of the dining room, you’ll find their wood fire oven. The waitress even told me that the oven is actually made from the same clay they used to make their Amesbury oven! The Flatbread Company is all about incorporating their history into each of their restaurants.
You can even have a seat on the stone bench and have a perfect view as your pizza cooks!
The entire kitchen is on view for you to see how your pizza and food is prepared!
As I mentioned, The Flatbread Company is all about local, natural ingredients. And they are really transparent when it comes to where their food comes from. Nothing like knowing where the food you eat was grown and/or made!
Their menu is pretty straightforward – pizza, salads, drinks and desserts. This is a pizza place, so that’s what you’ll find on the menu. But because they only focus on these couple of things, they have pretty much perfected everything on the menu. They have pizzas with or without their tomato sauce. You can choose one of their pre-designed pizzas or you can make up your own. They also have small gluten-free flatbread available.
While we waited for our food, the waitress was great about keeping my child entertained. She gave him crayons and paper to start.
And then she offered him his own piece of pizza dough to play with. He loved that! It made a pretty big mess but if it kept him happy while the food cooked, I was okay with a flour-covered shirt! The food doesn’t take long to prepare/cook but anything more than 1 minute is an eternity for a four-year-old.
Because it was not too busy there, the waitress told us that he could actually bake his pizza dough in the wood-fired oven!! They do this when it’s quiet and the oven is not full of pizzas. So I wouldn’t expect this opportunity on a busy Friday night. But if you can go during a quiet time between lunch and dinner, I’d definitely ask! Because this was fun!
We ordered a small flatbread with the organic wood-fired cauldron tomato sauce, Jay’s Heart. Small was plenty for the two of us, we even took half home. The pizza was amazing. It was cooked perfectly!
I also ordered their featured salad (not on the menu but listed as a special on the table). This was the Market Salad with an avocado ranch dressing. This salad was to die for. I seriously have craved it every day since I went here last week. It was probably the freshest salad I have ever had. The ingredients included shaved carrots, candied walnuts, crumbled cheddar and the freshest cherry tomatoes. And that dressing… I want to go back and just eat a never-ending bowl of that salad! My four-year old even ate half of the lettuce- that’s how good it was.
Of course, he loved that pizza too. He has his mother’s pizza obsession, that’s for sure!
So, it’s safe to say I am officially in love, and possibly even borderline obsessed, with the new Flatbread Company here in South Windsor. They are definitely a welcome addition to Evergreen Walk and we will be back. They have created a great restaurant and you can definitely tell they live true to their motto: real food served by real people in a real environment.
If you are looking for a new pizza place to check out for lunch or dinner, here’s your invitation to go to Flatbread Company! If you have never had flatbread pizza before, you are definitely in for a treat. And if you have been to the Canton location (or any of their other restaurants), you should still go visit them in South Windsor because they are just super awesome people there. From the wait staff to the kitchen manager, they made our lunch experience pretty amazing!
Now, I need to stop writing this review, or else I will be driving to South Windsor for dinner tonight.
This about sums it up…
500 Evergreen Way (Evergreen Walk), Suite 538 – South Windsor, Connecticut
Hours:
Daily: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Features:
- Free Parking
- Large dining room and outdoor seating available
- No actual kids menu- but what kid doesn’t eat pizza! There are plenty of kid drink options including milk and juice
- Highchairs and booster seats available
- Great kid activities available including coloring and pizza dough for the kids to play with (and even cook if you visit during a slow time)
- Major credit cards accepted
- Expect a wait during prime dining times
- Large Dining room available for private parties
- Organic and natural ingredients, gluten-free option available
