Flatbread Company Moving into Sacco's Bowl Haven

[hiddenboston]

Sounds like a merger (more or less) will soon be happening in Davis Square, with the Flatbread Company opening a restaurant and bar in the Bowl Haven spot. Most of the alleys will be kept, though, so it will be a combination pizza spot/bar/bowling alley. Can't wait to see how this turns out!

[djd]

Wow, was this place mobbed last night. The bar, which is the length of the lanes, was full for a good three hours--I assumed at first they were watching the Sox game but there weren't any TVs (and the game was terrible anyway). Waitress seemed a little overloaded, unsurprisingly.

My only real complaint is that there's got to be a better way to handle a tab for a big bowling birthday party than throwing everything--all the bowling, shoe rentals, shared pizzas, beer, and sodas--on one tab and leaving it 'til the end of the night. (Also, they don't post the bowling prices, which are reasonable--$3/string + $2/shoes.) At least make people pay for the bowling separately from the food. It was a huge mess to figure out.

[joth68]

Went last night and really like what they did with the space(although I admit I do miss the "grungyness" of the old alley) Got the kahlua pork and the sausage pizza and both were delicious. Very nice maple flavor to the sausage. I would definitely recommend asking for the pizzas well done. As for the beer selection, it doesn't measure up to red bones but I'd say its selection comes in a strong second for the davis area. Really liked the high and mighty ale and beers were priced right at $4.50 (as other posters noted, there were a few that came in at $5.50 and you can get 'gansett for $2.75)

[Gabatta]

We hit Flatbread the other night and it is a great addition to the area. It is pretty much on par with other Flatbread locations if you have ever been to one. The Kalua Pork and Community flatbreads were standouts (Buffalo Chix special was not that special). All high quality ingredients per usual.

Two ovens will keep the pizzas moving out quickly at peak times. Seating near the bowling lanes will probably be a bit noisy. It was nice for our friends to take their kids to bowl a few strings afterward (candlepin only), and Flatbread was happy to serve the deserts alley side (ginger bread and brownie sundae were both great).

We went early last Sunday and sat right down. There was still no wait by the time we left at 7:15p. I assume this place will be slammed when word gets out that it is open.

To a previous comment, the beer selection does not come close to rivaling Redbones IMO. There were about a dozen ultra local selections on draft. They do have a full bar as well which is very nice.

[rknrll]

Yeah.
Other than a Pretty Things and a High and Mighty offering...the beers are pretty tame.
Most drafts are only $4.50 though, with a handful at $5.50.

Draft root beer coming soon (if not already...it wasn't running as of last Friday.)

And yeah...won't be getting the buffalo chicken again. Too bad.

[LStaff]

I hoping that craft beer sales/selection competes with Redbones.

-----
Redbones
55 Chester St, Somerville, MA 02144

[katharineR]

Any idea when Flatbread will be opening? Any updates?

[grant.cook]

I would say, candlepin bowling and beer/pizza is a good combination.. it will make the location more attractive for a night out..

[Bob Dobalina]

This seems like a really really good idea esp. as yumyum notes, there is no good pizza in Davis (which is remarkable - actually, there is not much good pizza on the redline in general). Only downside is that it will be overrun by the red line college students.

[elcaminogirl]

I really wanted to know the answer to this, so I just called them. The answer sounded like that is an idea/possibility, but if it happens, it won't be very soon.

That's too bad, because I'm looking for a fun place for a birthday in a couple of weeks. I was hoping for Skee Ball at the Milky Way, but it doesn't sound like that really panned out.

[Bob Dobalina]

El Camino - depending on your party size, you can rent out part of South Boston Candlepin on Broadway and bring in pizza from someplace nearby. Have seen that done on a couple of occasions. They have beer there too.

[katharineR]

Any updates on when Flatbread will be open? May?

[jack daniels]

june

http://thesomervillenews.com/main.asp...

[katharineR]

thank you! I look forward to eating there, so good.

[katharineR]

hey, any word on the actual opening date? I have walked by and it looks like they are getting closer...

[Parsnipity]

There's definitely a pizza oven visible at this point...

[katharineR]

yeah! http://www.thrillist.com/boston/flatb...

[Bob Dobalina]

Like that they appear to have repurposed one of the lanes into the bar.

[Boston_Otter]

They're saying this Saturday (the 3rd).

[rrocket18]

Do you know if they opened for business this past weekend? There still isn't any indication on their website.

[hiddenboston]

They did. They had their grand opening on Saturday evening.

[ramallama]

Went there on Friday. I used to go there for league bowling all the time. I'm very sad. The whole place has been gutted, the original charm is gone. Half the lanes have been converted into a bar area, the pool area is gone and is now an open plan dining room. It is nice to get drinks and pizza at your lane, but it is really sad to see them replace actual charm with out of the box "modern restaurant decor". Sad!

[hckybg]

Did they fully eliminate the "Bowl Haven" over the lanes? I hoped they might at least keep that.

[ceo]

It's still there. I'd never actually been to Sacco's, so I didn't miss the way it used to be. :-) Went there Friday before last with my 5yo son planning to just split a pizza, but he took one look at the lanes and wanted to try it, so we had a truly excellent pizza and a truly shameful round of candlepins. :-) Liked the beer selection; even if it doesn't measure up to Redbones' it's still more interesting beers than I can reasonably consume in an evening.

-----
Redbones
55 Chester St, Somerville, MA 02144

[hckybg]

Hmm, like the idea of a great bowling alley serving good food and beer, but very much ambivalent about tampering with the delightful ambiance and retro-cool of Sacco's. Why do they need to touch the lanes at all? Why not locate nearby and leave Sacco's alone (I presume Sacco's owner doesn't mind this deal, however)? I am not too thrilled about this. And I would be amazed to find that the bowling doesn't rise to fancy bowling prices :(.

[yumyum]

There's a long back-story to this. The Sacco family want to sell but have been looking for something compatible to move in, preferably with food and a family vibe, which is what they've always gone for. A few really bad ideas have been floated over time, and this one is the best proposal I've seen so far. In order for it to be a going concern for the Flatbread folks, they need enough seating to sell enough food to make it happen.

... and since there's no good pizza in Davis Square, this beats, say, a burrito place.

[hckybg]

You make a decent case! I will try to be optimistic. But if they touch that awesome "Bowl Haven" across the top of the lanes, I will take all my money to other retro amusements elsewhere.

[bakerboyz]

After having heard how wonderful their pizza was for years, I finally made it to one in Burlington, VT and was underwhelmed by the pizza. It was good but not transcendental.

[yermo]

This came from the Davis Square Live Journal and was dated June 18.---

I went to last night's neighborhood meeting on the subject of Sacco's Bowl-Haven and Flatbread Company. The meeting took place in Sacco's (noisy) pool hall, and lasted about an hour. On hand were JP Sacco (co-owner of Bowl-Haven), John Meehan (Flatbread co-founder), Peter Quinn (architect), Rich DiGirolamo (lawyer) and Rebekah Gewirtz (Ward 6 alderman).

Meehan proposes to convert the pool hall into a pizza restaurant seating about 125. He would keep the rightmost 10 of the current 15 bowling lanes. The leftmost 5 lanes would become a bar seating about 28 people, plus food preparation and storage areas. They will apply for a full liquor license, which could be either an existing unused license or one of several newly authorized by the state legislature in a home-rule petition. They promise to close by midnight each day, and not to request a 2 am closing in the future.

[afty698]

American Flatbread in Burlington, VT, is part of a different chain than the Flatbread Company that will be going into Sacco's. FWIW, I love American Flatbread, both the pizza and the fantastic beers.

[LStaff]

That does seem to cause some confusion.

IMO the pizza at American Flatbread in Burlington VT is pretty good...for VT.

The overpriced appetizer billed as a large pizza/flatbread that is served at the Burlington MA location of Flatbread on the other hand is not...

[justbeingpolite]

When did you last have a pizza in the Burlington outpost. I think the large has changed, and is now a more typical round 16-18" pizza, and the dough, cheese and sauce are of really high quality, IMO.
Perhaps worth another try, if you're in the area.

[SEH]

I had heard a while back that Flatbread was going there (didn't know it was still going to have the bowling) and it has been a long time so I thought it may have fallen thru. I am so psyched to hear this. I love Flatbread pizza. From what you heard, was there an expected opening timeframe?

[hiddenboston]

Haven't heard anything about when they will open, but the Phantom Gourmet radio show is adding the line "And soon coming to Somerville" when they advertise the Flatbread Company.

[greenzebra]

They are supposedly opening in December (they were granted a liquor license in mid-August and claimed a Dec 09 opening then), although I walked past today and it doesn't look like anything has changed yet.

[hiddenboston]

I was actually at Bowl Haven recently and there were no signs of any potential changes going on.