# Omaha restaurants? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** vacation-travel\ **Created:** [October 11, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876 "2025-10-11T13:51:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/1 "2025-10-11T13:51:19Z")
A friend and I are going to Omaha next week to visit the Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. We are both complete animal nerds and this was a “wouldn’t it be fun …” conversation that just grew legs — I’m so excited about it! It’s 5 hr drive for her and 5 hrs of plane travel for me. We also want to eat fun new things, and Omaha looks to have a pretty good variety of restaurants. Does anyone know the city and have any recommendations? ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2025, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/2 "2025-10-11T15:18:48Z")
(I haven’t lived there in 20 years but…) Two places I remember are Gorat’s Steakhouse, Warren Buffet’s go-to. The place hasn’t changed in 70 years I’m sure. And Upstream Brewery is in the Old Market district downtown, it’s a fun area and closer to the zoo. Check out Lauritzen Gardens if you’re into plants and art. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/3 "2025-10-11T16:24:11Z")
@LH75 lives there now. @BippityBoppityBoo visits there semi-regularly. Those folks will certainly have some local knowledge. It’s been ~20 years since I’ve been there with any regularity, but at that time the Old Market district was a fun trendy area of redone warehouses, etc. Lots to see, do, & eat without being excessively touristy. It may still be in good shape or COVID plus the ordinary passage of time may have killed it; I just don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/4 "2025-10-12T04:14:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > the Old Market district was a fun trendy area of redone warehouses, etc. Lots to see, do, & eat without being excessively touristy. It may still be in good shape Thanks @LSLGuy~the Old Market is indeed well and thriving. I just spent last weekend there presenting at a conference and can attest to a boggling array of restaurants, watering holes and shops. My favorite hotel downtown is the Magnolia-a genuine boutique hotel, small scale, historic comfort, excellent service approaching a European feel, all arranged around a courtyard. You definitely come out a stay there rested and renewed. > **[Magnolia Omaha | Boutique Hotel | Magnolia Hotels](https://www.magnoliahotels.com/omaha/)** > > Located in the heart of everywhere you want to be, at Magnolia Omaha you'll discover the inviting warmth of hospitality in the center of downtown Omaha. The great thing is that the Old Market abuts the emerging New Bo (new Bohemia) neighborhood district in South Omaha that surrounds the Doorly Zoo so it is all within a hop and a skip. @LH75 grew up there so he’d be able to recommend some restaurants off the cliched tourist path. I lived in Omaha during college breaks having been adopted by an Omaha family and the year after graduation and married an Omaha boy. I moved back to Nebraska in 1985 (Lincoln) but my parents lived in Omaha and we spent a lot of time there because that’s where the grandparents and aunts and uncles were. Even now I’m often there monthly for various specialty medical appts. My favorite restaurant in the Old Market is still, after nearly forty years, M’s Pub, one of the very first watering holes and restaurants. > **[Updated-Menu-2025-for-Website.pdf](https://www.mspubomaha.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Updated-Menu-2025-for-Website.pdf)** > > 329.62 KB There’s good pizza near the Zoo and the Old Market if you’d like casual yet reliably delicious NY style pizza with lots of variations: > **[Zio's Pizzeria - Old Market | Dodge | West Center](https://ziospizzeria.com/)** > > Zio’s Pizzeria has proudly served the Omaha area with authentic New York Style pizza since 1985. Our pizza is made daily with 40+ toppings! And Gorat’s is indeed Warren Buffet’s favorite steakhouse. Venerable and time honored for steaks and Italian. They do lunches too and weekend brunch. They’d be a short car ride or Uber from the Market/Zoo but worth it. > **[Gorat's Steak House | Omaha Nebraska Restaurant | Home](https://goratsomaha.com/)** > > Gorat's Steak House, Omaha Nebraska restaurant, has been Omaha tradition for more than 70 years, quality steaks, Italian specialties and local favorites Give yourselves two full days at the Doorly and plan to be there when it opens. It is amazing, truly world class. And the Lauritzen gardens are beloved by many but I have a black thumb so I’ve never personally visited there, but that would need a separate day from the two Zoo days. > **[Lauritzen Gardens - Omaha Botanical Center](https://www.lauritzengardens.org/)** > > Nebraska's Premier Botanical Garden Once the Zoo closes it is just a few blocks to the Old Market and all the jazzy new things along the Riverfront there, including a beautiful pedestrian bridge to Iowa across the Missouri, lit beautifully at night. > **[Gene Leahy Mall – The RiverFront](https://theriverfrontomaha.com/visit-the-riverfront/gene-leahy-mall/)** ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/5 "2025-10-12T04:54:37Z")
Well, @BippityBoppityBoo , I cannot speak for the OP, but I might have to head for Omaha some day, just to go to M’s Pub and Gorat’s. Gosh, they’re making me hungry! ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/6 "2025-10-12T10:23:47Z")
Oh, this great, thanks!! We’re arriving Weds early afternoon and I fly out Sat late afternoon. We definitely planned two days for the zoo so I’m not sure how much else we’ll get to, other than good eats. The city sounds neat, with lots of good history stuff so we may need another go at it next year. Thanks so much for all the info! ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/7 "2025-10-12T23:35:28Z")
sorry to be late to the discussion. i have been in the Ozarks fishing for the last four days. I absolutely agree with all of BBooo’s suggestions. I would add that [The Crescent Moon](https://beercornerusa.com/crescentmoon/) has the best Reuben sandwich in the city ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/8 "2025-10-13T05:26:49Z")
> [@LH75](#): > > I would add that > [The Crescent Moon](https://beercornerusa.com/crescentmoon/) > has the best Reuben sandwich in the city I knew we could count on you to know where the best Reuben was! My favorite from the early ‘70s was the one at the old Blackstone Hotel, where the Reuben was invented and where I spent my wedding night (fell asleep in the bathtub, still trying to live that down). The hotel went out of business, to my everlasting regret and my life since has been an unending search for a Reuben as good. Turns out the Crescent Moon makes the Blackstone Reuben since they are a stones throw from each other. I guess we now know where @LH75, his lovely bride and I are going to eat lunch the next time we meet. I spent three days in the Old Market a week ago for a conference, never did find a good breakfast place but it sounds like the Crescent Moon offers an intriguing morning repast that I wish I had known about then (definitely skip _Tupelo Honey_-sounds good, Southern biscuits touted, but it’s very disappointing, especially for the price and ungodly loud to boot). There is also the Durham Museum right there as well, since you mentioned liking history. It’s in the glorious old Union Station and well steeped in Omaha and Nebraska history, centered on the railroad’s western expansion to reach California for the Gold Rush. Personally I’d do the Zoo two days, skip Lauritzen Gardens and take in the Durham on that third day. You’d be well fed with dinners and lunches at M’s Pub, Gorat’s, Zio’s Pizza and the Crescent Moon. Lots of people take picnic lunches into the Zoo and both Zios and M’s or Crescent Moon could fix you up with box lunches to pick up and take into the Zoo. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/9 "2025-10-13T09:46:58Z")
A question if I may - I lived in Omaha from 1985 to 1988. There was a beer bar somewhere near downtown that was in a basement and had 100+ different beers on the menu. Is anyone familiar with this and could it possibly still be around? ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/10 "2025-10-13T10:03:45Z")
@BippityBoppityBoo I had my first Reuben in the Blackstone coffee shop that was along Farnam Street ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/11 "2025-10-13T10:22:39Z")
Ohhhhhh, I haven’t had a Reuben in a long time. I now kind of want one for breakfast … but I guess I’ll have to wait and see if we can get to Crescent Moon. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/12 "2025-10-13T16:19:26Z")
> [@LH75](#): > > I had my first Reuben in the Blackstone coffee shop that was along Farnam Street Me too, which is why I booked us into the Blackstone Hotel for our wedding night, so we could get up the next day and bolster ourselves with a hearty Reuben lunch before we set off on our honeymoon driving trip to a cabin on the Wapsipinicon River in Iowa. The Blackstone Hotel, once a toney luxury establishment faded into obscurity, then was scruffy offices for several decades before being bought and resurrected as The Cottonwood Hotel (the Cottonwood tree being the state tree of Nebraska). Once again an elegant historic destination, with several renowned choices of restaurants and bars. The _Orleans Room_ I believe is the one that now claims to serve the vaunted ‘Blackstone Reuben’. The Crescent Moon kitty corner across the intersection from the Cottonwood at S 36th and Farnam Sts kept that Reuben going for years when the hotel was on the slide down and boarded up-they’ve won the ‘Best of Omaha’ for years, I’m going to reward that by getting my Reuben fix from the Crescent when I do. Besides it’s cheaper, much easier to park and far more laid back and casual, no reservations needed. The old Blackstone coffee shop was a blast. I worked nights nearby and often stopped there on my way home for a Reuben. It was my supper after work but they’d cheerfully serve it to me at 8am alongside everybody else’s’ bacon and eggs. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/13 "2025-10-13T16:36:57Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > There is also the Durham Museum right there as well, since you mentioned liking history. It’s in the glorious old Union Station and well steeped in Omaha and Nebraska history, centered on the railroad’s western expansion to reach California for the Gold Rush. Personally I’d do the Zoo two days, skip Lauritzen Gardens and take in the Durham on that third day. I was in Omaha a year ago or so and spent a pleasant few hours at the Durham Museum. For whatever reason, I never visited the zoo (which is reputed to be among the best in the country) or the Strategic Air Command Museum. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omaha-restaurants/1023876/14 "2025-10-13T18:27:03Z")
The Zoo’s reputation is deserved. The Strategic Air Command Museum is also terrific. I spent six weeks there replacing their outdated fire alarm system just before I retired. Every time the office would send me different guys to work on the project I would just tell them to go ahead and look at all of the planes and exhibits and then I would put them to work