Big Picture Theater and Cafe

Possibly the best atmosphere in the valley, frequently have good live entertainment. Limited menu and wait times can be a little long but worth it.

This is my favorite place in Waitsfield. Food is inventive and homemade. Quirky décor, friendly service. I’ve been for breakfast, lunch and dinner and always left happy. Donuts and bread are especially good.

Came here for breakfast with a couple of family members. The breakfast menu seemed a little repetitive with each dish including eggs, cheese and one interchangeable ingredient. I think more variety is needed. I had a latte macchiato which had way too much foam in it for the price but was still good nonetheless. I ordered the egg slider with ham and home fries. The egg slider was delicious, I added salt, pepper and sriracha though. The home fries were dry and kind of flavorless.
The main reason for the 2 star review is the horrendous thing that I heard come out of the owner/​managers mouth. When closing another table she exclaims loudly, «these people didn’t sign their receipts… put 20% on because their idiots» I couldn’t believe it??? Is that even legal to do and is that really how you talk about your customers? My entire table heard her say it and couldn’t get over it while we finished our breakfast. We made sure we signed our receipts and got out of there.

We’ve been coming here for years, and somehow have never written a review. I would say this is a solid café. 75% of the time we come here, we end up with the burger. It’s a good burger, on a nice hearty bun — available with kettle chips or mixed greens.
Over the years, carrot cake has changed a bit. It used to be over the top with delicious frosting, but I left with a sugar high (I can’t be held responsible for what I do when on a sugar high). Now, there’s the right amount of frosting, but the cake tonight seemed a bit dry — with not noticeable bits of raisins, walnuts or shreds of carrot. I give the carrot cake 3 stars.
Service — Jess took care of us tonight. Super friendly, thoughtful and running between all the tables. Busy night for a Sunday night.
All in all, I’ll definitely be back. Great pre-​movie dinner, or drinks. Definitely kid friendly too! Also, when its warm there is seating outside, so your dog can be close by.

Very cute place. Nice selection of freshly made foods. I had a yummy turkey melt sandwich with garlic oil dressing. Very delicious and big! Salad was very good too. For dessert a nice slice of carrot cake. Very flavorful and not too sweet, just nice with a cup of coffee!

When staying in the area Labor Day weekend, we randomly chose this place for breakfast and ended up coming every day of our trip thereafter. The waitress we had was lovely, and the food was delicious and had a lot of options– even for someone who’s not a huge breakfast person (they had lunch options, too). They had a great choice of sodas, and my friend got the maple soda which I tried and it was really good and something different. I didn’t have their maple donuts the first day because I was so full, and my friends RAVED about them. They don’t bake them Sunday and Monday, so I missed out. Highly recommend this place! It was really nicely decorated inside and just warm and welcoming in general.

Great spot to hang out and have a casual dinner. Burger is incredible and they have a great beer list.

It’s minus 15 outside and it’s warm in here and the coffee is good and the donuts (5 this time) are worth coming in for. And then there’s the wait staff. Haven’t gotten her name but she is way more pleasant than anyone should be at this time of day with it being that cold. I’m sitting in one of the cantilevered chairs in the corner with hours till my wife is out of her meeting. She brought over a glass of water AND refilled my coffee AND asked if I would like her to bring over cream and sugar. Mind you, the coffee is self serve and where I’m sitting is not in the restaurant proper. And it is certainly not slow in here.
I can’t speak for the world, not even this little bit of it, here in Vermont, but my life could greatly benefit from there being more places like this.

Garbage.
Girlfriend had the breakfast burrito, already overpriced, and chose to add sausage — another three bucks. The waitress herself suggested this. No sausage in burrito. Not a sliver.
I had eggs, home fries and toast. Home fries undercooked, everything cold. Bread was quite good, however.
Asked for refill of coffee and it took a good fifteen minutes. And this illustrates the general quality of service — lazy, in a word. The girls are all young and hip, obviously a mix of first waiting gig and side-​job.
For what they’re charging, they ought to have a little more hustle, at least. Not only can’t recommend this place, I actively dissuade you from wasting your money. Try the Rochester Café instead.

My wife and I have frequented the Big Pic for several years, and always appreciated the mission behind the food, and the fresh ingredients, even if the service has typically been spotty.
Had dinner with friends tonight and was surprised to find a new, and much more narrow menu that lacks the attention to fresh, local ingredients that has defined the establishment for the past several years. My wife had the «vegetable medley» which was basically an overlooked bowl of boiled vegetables with a poached egg on top. For $ 17 it was a big disappointment. I had the ceasar salad with grilled chicken. The chicken was good, but the ceasar dressing was very bland and they seemed to try to make up for it by dumping a ton of Parmesan cheese on top.
Very disappointed to see a community gathering place take such a wrong turn into culinary mediocrity and hope they can reverse course.

We came here for dinner and a movie last week and loved it. The staff were all very friendly, the food was pretty darn good, and the ability to eat and drink while watching a movie was awesome!
They have a great beer selection on tap and a pretty good wine list. We each had a salad (standard salads but made with great fresh ingredients) and shared a daily special of toast, locally harvested mushrooms and bacon with a poached egg on top and it was delicious!
We will definitely be back, especially to try these mini donuts everyone raves about! We forgot to indulge in those on this trip.
The Big Picture has great vibes, great people, great food and great drinks. A nice local hangout for a quick drink or the full dinner-​and-​a-​movie date night.

We go often to get the Burgers made with grass fed beef from the Neill farm. My girlfriend and I usually split the burger and get extra salad. I’m not sure what bacon they use but it’s amazing, certainly not your average cut. It’s a good burger, no doubt.
They will often have some nice desserts.
They have really stepped up the quality of the popcorn in the movie theatre, yeah, it’s one of the better places now for popcorn and a movie. Cool sofa’s to watch from too.

You could easily drive right by. But don’t.
We ate lunch here on the advice of a woman in town who seemed to know everyone, the Town Crier it used to be called. Anyway, the restaurant uses only fresh local ingredients, mostly from organic farms. The food was delicious!
My only complaint is that the tiny kitchen and staff seemed to be overwhelmed by the four tables of guests, so our lunch took FOREVER. Nevertheless I’d definitely go back because the food was so awesome.

One of the best breakfast burritos I’ve ever had. So fresh. Light. Delicious. Also had mind-​blowingly delicious chocolate chip pancakes.
**don’t be fooled by the fact that this place is next to a theatre OR by the strange looking building — it’s fantastic **

Ho. Jeez. Big Picture Café may have dethroned Canter’s as the best breakfast I’ve ever had. Srsly.
Ambiance:
Americana diner with the smattering of an artistic/​indie/​foodie vibe. Comfortable, like your grandpa’s farmhouse kitchen or the lodge’s common room. Haven’t been inside the theater, but can imagine it’s very intimate and nostalgic.
Staff:
our waitress was pleasant and prompt. There were several other employees working the café and the counter was never unmanned.
Food:
I ordered the Classic (two eggs, homefries, toast and I added bacon) for $ 9.50. My boyfriend ordered the Breakfast Burrito for $ 7.50. I’d ordered poached eggs but they came out overeasy, fine by me; they were the most creamy and rich eggs I’ve EVER had. I don’t know whether they’re farm-​raised, free-​range, organic eggs from Mars, but they were amazing. The potatoes stole the show, perfectly seasoned with a nice toothsome texture. The toast I opted for was their Honey Oat (drool)… I could eat a whole loaf of that. The bacon was definitely smoked before it was fried, and was not quite «bacon» as traditionally expected, more like thin sliced smoked ham. Needless to say, my boyfriend was jealous of my plate, which I practically licked clean.
Price:
I would gladly pay $ 9.50 for my meal again and again. And I WILL be back for lunch, dinner, tapas, drinks, a movie…
Family and friends, please plan on coming to Big Picture Café for any future celebratory events: weddings, baby showers, birthdays, Christmas… and if I die, please hold my wake at Big Picture Theater and Café. It’s not creepy, I swear!

This eclectic restaurant, bar and movie theater is quite a special place. The name «café» doesn’t really do it justice: they have a good sized menu, many beers on tap, and plenty of seating.
The food is delicious, period. Clearly the ingredients are chosen with care and it shows in the dishes. We had the spinach and bleu cheese salad and Brussels sprouts for apps and they were devoured in a blink of an eye, even though they were generous portions. The chicken special served with jalapeño mac and cheese was so good, far beyond its simple description. The chorizo, kale and penne dish was spicy and paired perfectly with the recommended glass of wine from the helpful bartender. Add on to that some decadent baked dessert and we practically rolled out the door, satisfied.
The staff was super friendly and helpful. The only problem was there seemed to be too few of them. It took a while to get a waiter, and the food did take a long time to come out of the kitchen. We weren’t in any rush and loved the atmosphere, so I’m not going to hold it against them. Any place as good as this is bound to get packed. They just need to make sure they’re staffed up properly and this would be a pretty perfect place. Even so, I know we’ll we coming back a lot.

This place gets a most improved award.
Last year I came here quite a few times, very excited after management changed and htey added the restaurant — really cool layout and vibe. But the servers were constantly flustered, rude, and so un-​Vermont.
Flash forward 12 months and I have been to this place about 5 times this ski season, and it is night and day. They seem to have gotten rid of the unfriendly, frazzled waitstaff and replaced them with the lovely people of Waitsfield I’ve come to know and love. So laid-​back and chill. I adore this place.
Also, everything on the menu is really good (that hasn’t changed, it was good before). The breakfast burrito, dumplings, salads, burger, fish wrap — I have not been disappointed here.
Not to mention the cutest movie theater of time. Loveseats, sofas, and never full of course. Not to mention that there’s Vermont butter on the popcorn and you can bring your alcoholic beverage (or meal for that matter) into the theater.
I do not like donuts, but they also make them here. I love VT!

Favorite place in VT! I would be a regular if I lived here. Have enjoyed fluffy blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup and returned to indulge in a big yummy cheese burger that satisfied my need for beef!!! It’s a charming, happy place with great food and friendly caring employees

I wish we had a Big Picture Theater and Café by our house in Albany! It’s a really great and underused concept. A small restaurant with local ingredients and interesting dishes with a small movie theater attached.
We got a booth by the window to enjoy the blizzard and our server led us through an awesome late lunch. I started with butternut squash bacon soup. Instead of regular bacon crumbles, the soup was swirled with a brown swirl of bacon reduction or something like that. It was totally incredible! I want more right NOW!
Then I had a burger, perfectly cooked and so juicy, with VT Cabot cheddar and an avocado. They were generous with the avocado, just like I like it. Walked out with a super inexpensive check and a fresh maple donut. Mmmmm — perfection!

This place is so awesome. My husband and I ate here for dinner last October and had one of the best meals we have ever eaten. Not only is a movie theater/​restaurant/​bakery an AWESOME concept, but the menu is even more impressive AND afforable! Lots of local, organic, vegeterian and vegan options as well as non-​veg options for meat eaters.
I had a delicious dish that had grilled shrimp kebabs, rice, pineapple salsa, salad and guacamole. It was so delicious I wanted to ask for the recipe, but I know part of it was that the food was SO fresh– they had a garden right on the property where they grew the veggies! My husband had a burger that he said was one of the best burgers he has had. The wine I had was also delicious, chosen off an extensive wine list. The service was friendly. The desserts all looked so amazing it was hard to choose, but we had a caramel apple cake/​pie (not sure which, this was several months ago, but I do remember it being delicious!). We took the dessert and wine into the theater with us.
We saw the movie «The Help» which was a really great film. We had such a great experience at The Big Picture Theater and Café that we are planning another trip to Waitsfield soon just so we can go back! The breakfast menu looks great with lots of vegeterian and vegan options, we hope to get there for breakfast next time.