The Omaha Critic

After much begging by my friends and co-workers: Hiro Sushi (130th & Maple) 

Sushi or not Sushi…..


That is the typical question that we ask ourselves every Friday and Saturday night.  Hiro Sushi and Sake or Hiro and Mountain Dew….

Normally, one would have a white wine or sake with Sushi.  I have found this to be problematic as I don’t think that I’m a big white wine fan. (Unless I have a nice cheese, pate, and a big ice cold bottle of Piesporter Michelsberg.)  I like the occasional “Kita” before I have my sushi, but for during the meal, it just doesn’t work for me.  Ok, you hard core sushi fans, have you ever HAD Dew with your sushi?  Try it after having a heavily “wasabi’d” piece with a little soy; The flavors just kind of meld together.  It’s wonderful.

That being said, I tend to drag the family along so I can stuff my face with various forms of fish.  I have been to most every other Sushi place in town.  I have never been as happy with them as I am with Hiro.  The overall consistency of flavor, quality, atmosphere, and fish have been solid every time I have been there.  Ok, well, during that last heat wave the AC couldn’t keep up, but past that it has been solid.  Today I again indulged in my favorite thing on the standard menu: White tuna sashimi.  Yes kiddies, that is raw fish for the sake of raw fish.  Understand something: It has a very delicate texture but is backed with flavor.  When white tuna is coupled with soy and some wasabi, the flavor just… it… It is a nice salty experience.  Can you tell I like white tuna?

My favorite above all others is the “white salmon”.  They get it in very rarely.  The owners like to bring in new and interesting fish to see how it sells.  They had a load of this in and I swear I could have eaten the whole shipment. 

Now when it comes to service, I am very picky.  I have my tastes and expectations of what service should be.  My glass should never be empty of whatever it is I am drinking, I don’t want to sit around looking at dirty dishes, I don’t want to sit and wait forever for you to come and greet me and get me my drink order, and most of all, I don’t want to sit around waiting for my flipping check.  Nothing makes a tip go down faster than me sitting waiting for you to either bring me my bill or return with my credit card.

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*plays sound of a toilet flushing*

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I am happy to say that I have really never had that problem at Hiro.  Has it taken longer than I’d like?  Yes, but it has never taken way too long.  (Since I typically go during happy hour, the waiters are working their rear ends off so I understand.)  Now none of the wait staff is bad.  No matter who you have, the owners will still come by and check on you and make sure that they are taking care of you.  I have my favorites however.  If you go, you should find one waiter you are fond of and stick with them.  It would also be good to find a backup.  Whenever I go, Sammy’s the guy.  We walk in and immediately see who is working.  If Sammy’s there we wave him down. Sometimes our drink order is to the table before we are.  He knows us very well. There is other wait staff of fantastic quality; they are “Rusty” and “John” who I would honestly put on par with Sammy, I have had A+ service out of them both.  I have just been doing business with Sammy for so long… he’s just “got it”.  The waitress I had today was good.  She’s new and if she keeps it up will be very good.  My drink was never empty, she was prompt with the check, and made sure to check on us regularly. GREAT JOB!


Overall impression:  Hiro is consistent.  Top quality food, great atmosphere, traditional sushi, they let the fish speak for its self.  They have a Chinese kitchen as well that makes the best peanut butter chicken on the planet.  It is an Omaha “Must Have”.

Plusses: Freshest fish in town.  One of the owners picks it up from the airport himself and will refuse it if it’s not just right. The service is “fabu”!  The décor is simple yet elegant.  I really enjoy myself.  HAPPY HOUR! (Half price rolls!)

Minuses: Happy hour has been invaded!  It’s PACKED from 10PM – 12PM.  On hot days, the AC can’t keep up.  They need more tables (Or just one for us!)

~The Omaha Critic

You live in a city for years… spend vast amount of time on the internet looking for food sites.  I have Googled a multitude of phrases trying to find something in Omaha worth looking at.  I finally found something awesome!  It’s another web site;  Kindred spirits if you will.

That site is “Gastronomic Fight Club”. 

I start reading it, trying to see what they have and it’s fantastic.  They had a contest to see who could do Omaha in $40 a day.  It was great.  They are all Foodies!  I have yet to really get into the meat of the site, but what I saw was an awesome example of people not being led around by the sleek glamour of chain restaurants.  These were people who enjoyed food for what it is… beautiful happiness on a plate or in a bowl.

Thanks to G.F.C. for giving us something good for Omaha!

~The Omaha Critic

We went Outback tonight….

Outback Steakhouse (Near 132nd and Center)

Ok, *cracks knuckles* lets take a stab at Outback Steakhouse and give them a review. Today was kind of an off day for me. I had a bad experience with traffic at the middle school (That’s an entirely different rant!), I was then late, so I decided to pick up breakfast for my team, and got stuck in drive-through hell at a local fast food place. This put me to work 15 minutes late so I skipped lunch and tanked up on water to keep me occupied. Couple this with a hectic day at work and you get a cranky man.

So roll into dinner time. The weather has turned as foul as my mood. I have a headache because I skipped dinner, I’m cranky, and I have a boatload of hungry children. We drive around looking for someplace to eat, and I drive past a few “family staples” but want something different from the usual, and I end up at Outback.

It’s about to rain and we get a good parking spot and zip on in. The greeter was nice enough, and then we hit the hostess. Amazingly enough, there wasn’t a line or even a wait. I must admit that we have eaten at Outback several times and it was never outstanding and the food was typically mediocre. Never bad food, just never blow your socks off good.

So we’re seated quickly and our waitress immediately comes over for our drink order. As soon as she has our order, she’s off. She returns with our drinks and a loaf of customary bread. She takes our order and is quickly off again. So, as I am famished and ready to eat one of the kids, we attack the bread. No sooner had I sliced the last two pieces, another loaf with butter is put in front of us. I had to do a double-take on the waitress, as my service at Outback had never been that prompt ever. So we start in on the other bread, and my oldest son makes one of his favorite noises…. *slurps empty glass sound* I was about to tell him to stop, when our waitress shows up again with drinks in tow. (Again with the double take)

So now we’ve had our bread, and 2 rounds of sodas. So we sit looking at each other and then starts the ‘Outback wait for your food shuffle‘. I had ordered prime rib, with the “seasoning and sear”, steamed veggies, and green beans. My prime rib was ordered “as rare as they can”, but showed up between medium-rare and medium; which was fine. It’s not like they can custom cook every order. So, oddly enough I go after the green beans first. They just looked fantastic. The flavor on them was awesome and the steamed veggies were fresh and still had a snap to them. It was a far cry from the nasty Cali-blend that most places serve. It was really good. Then I cut into the prime rib. It was very tasty. It was tender and with the “a jus” and horseradish, it was divine. Our waitress came back once during the meal as well as the manager to make sure that everything was ok and cooked right.

We wrapped our meal with the youngest, finally passing on half of his kiddy burger. That is when the tide turned on our night. So far, it had been pretty good, a mostly solid experience. We looked around for our waitress. (Insert the sound of Jeopardy’s final answer here) She was nowhere to be found. We sat….. and waited…. What seemed like an eternity soon passed (more like 10 minutes) she finally swings by, with check in hand, looking flushed. As she asked us if we needed anything else she clumsily slid the check on the table. We decline and I pick up the check and start looking at it. She begins to clear the table as I’m digging in my wallet. I must have looked mad or something, because she took one look at me and shuffled off. So, I put my money in the little check folder and set it on the table…. and wait…. Did I say we waited? After a period of time I started to look around, and she’s at a table behind us gabbing. I look at my oldest daughter and give her “the look”. I turn around and the waitress is gone. I was getting impatient at this point and do the “looking around” thing trying to make eye contact with her…. Eventually she sneaks up on me: “I’ll be right back with your change.” I just had her keep it and off we went. Tip was about 18-19%, give or take a buck.

Overall impression: I would say it was a wash on service. The food was good and the place was clean. The booth was well maintained and the menus that were bound to the table were clean and free of pens, crayon, food, and drink. If I could have gotten a solid performance out of my waitress, I would be rating it higher.

Minuses: The kitchen was a bit slow as well as the waitress took forever after the meal.

Pluses: The food was very good, the service before and during the meal was great. I say overall, it was a fair-plus experience.

~The Omaha Critic

Chipotle (176th and West Center) 

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I know that Taco Johns started the whole Taco Tuesday thing, but we as a family adopted it for Mexican night.  Tonight being Tuesday, we needed tacos.  So fighting West-O traffic, and rolling through a neighborhood to get to the turn.  We managed to come out on 168^th street unscathed.  We boogied to our destination.  I pull up and walk in.  The kids began to meander at the start of the counter, not really knowing what they wanted.  I “encouraged them” to pick something.  They were very helpful to the kids and even compliment them on their manners.  We managed to get all our food and we sat down.  The shift manager was attentive and helpful, even offering to get us other things.  He cracked a few jokes, then he was gone.  I tore into my Carnitas Burrito with fervor… I was starving.  The meat was tender and juicy.  It had great flavor and was filling.  The Kids Tacos were scavenged quickly (save our rather fickle chainsaw).  We finished up and we were then again on our way. 

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Overall impression: I like Chipotle.  I always have.  I have never had a bad experience in a Chipotle and the food is always consistent.  It is a solid choice for a burrito or Taco.  You will not be disappointed in their quality.  The Decor was modern Aztec.  It was interesting.  I have been coming to Chipotle since they have been in Omaha, and I love it.  For what they want it to be, it is.  Good, fast, fresh, creating a craving for some.

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Plusses: Good and fast food, good after service and the store is typically spotless.  Special attention is paid to cleanliness.  I was well fed for the money. Minuses: THE CHAIRS HURT MY BUTT! and I would love someone coming around filling drinks. That’s a want more than anything. The chairs though… need a bigger butt-pad on them.  

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~The Omaha Critic

KFC (134th and Q)

I had the misfortune of taking the kids to the KFC near 134^th and Q street.

I am not going to bother going into a lengthy diatribe here. I just don’t want to spend the energy on them. To make a long story short: It took us over 15 minutes of standing in line to place our order. Then, when we get to the front, the lady looks at me and walks off. The next thing that happens, is some snot-nosed kid “takes over”. Please understand I’m a purest. You are wearing a fast food uniform, and they designed it to look a certain way. As a representative of the company, you are the face that people see when they walk in and order. The gentleman that eventually “took my order” (that I had to tell him three times and then correct him a 4^th time when he again read it wrong) was less of an employee and more of a “Gangsta-Wannabe” in a KFC uniform. After tending my change, I waited. The alarms started going off for the chicken, drive through, fryer pressure, or impending doom. I couldn’t tell what any of the 3 or 4 going of was for. 10 minutes of that and I am sitting at my table, shooting my daughter a nice glare. She kept apologizing to me. She is so awesome. So after that, another family walked in. This was with their spoiled 2 year old. There were 5 of them. They plopped his rear end into a typical Hi-Chair and the rest of them went to the counter. *twitch* The screaming began. He was angry that he was left, and his parents began to scream back at him. Finally they sent the young teen girl over to keep him occupied. That didn’t last long. The girl ended up smacking (By accident mind you) the toddler in the face with a toy and it started all over again.

“Order number blah blah!” and I move swiftly toward the counter. Pick up the bounty before me and hobble back to our table. As we sat there eating, (I had a breast/wing combo with Mashed spuds and fries with a regular diet) the alarms came back on, and the kid started screaming again. I vowed that I would never step foot in the place again.

On my way out to the car, I realized I had to pee, so to the bathroom I went. My final, and almost fatal mistake. The urinal was caked with settled urine and the room wreaked of stale/old urine. It was foul. I would have rather taken a leak in the parking lot where it was cleaner. I quickly washed my hands and then realized there was no soap OR paper towels. It left me wondering if they had ever cleaned it. Those people have to go to the bathroom on their shifts? What do they do when they can’t wash in the bathroom with either soap, or dry with paper-towels? So out I run, angry, frustrated, and vowing never to come back.

Overall Impression: The food, for a fast food place, was consistent, though the time to take a piece of chicken off of a drainage tray, scoop some spuds and throw it in a Box is apparently challenging. The place was dirty and I was wondering when my table was last wiped down. The Noise levels of the alarms coupled by the screaming toddler made my head hurt bad. By the time I left, I didn’t care that I had eaten some really good chicken and sides. All I wanted was out.

Plusses: Good chicken that followed it’s recipe to the letter. Good sides that came right out of their packaging just perfectly.

Minuses: The counter was dirty, the staff was dirty and “Gangsta”, None of them had a clue as to what was really going on. The alarms that could deafen the undead, would constantly go off and the staff just sits and makes jokes about how loud they are. The FILTHY bathroom with no supplies like soap and paper towels.

Rant: Oh yes, this deserves a rant! What are these people thinking? Have they lost their minds? I understand wanting to hire people and having a hard time finding qualified talent, but at least take the time to tour your store and get these boys to pull up their pants and maybe wear their hats straight. This is pathetic. I’m not even going to bother with drive through anymore. I love the chicken but will have to get Popeyes until you fix your joke of a store.

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~The Omaha Critic

Lone Star Steak House (144th between L. and Center)

I love steak.

I think that the cow was placed on earth by some divine being for the pleasure of eating it. It serves absolutely no other purpose. When was it you saw a wild cow? I’ve never even heard of one. The things have been domesticated for centuries and through selective breeding, have become quite the little treasure. That being said, I like to have myself a good cut of meat every now and again.

I like my meat (believe it or not) between rare and medium rare. I believe that the middle should be red, but warm to hot. The center shouldn’t be cooked, but at least make sure the darn thing is very warm. I can’t tell you how many times I order it and it comes out ice cold in the middle. That turns my stomach. Some snot-nosed kid is back there screwing up perfectly good beef. More often than not, I order Medium Rare anymore because most “cooks” *insert derogatory word* it up.

So, this past week, we were driving around (because the family never knows what it wants to eat and therefore can’t ever make up their mind) and I ended up at Lone Star Steak House. We went in and were immediately seated by the hostess. It wasn’t busy and… it never is as a matter of fact. *ponders* Anyway, we sit down, and the waiter comes over. He immediately starts to complain about the last table he had and how they were terrible. He hoped that we were not like his last table where he could hardly wait to get away from. (Right there, I knew that this would be a bad experience!) So after that, he meanders off to go and get our drinks. *tic tic tic tic* (Buddy, you’re killing me, minute by minute… my life is sucked away slowly…..) He returns with our drinks. He takes our order then disappears. Time goes by… More time goes by… and someone else brings us our appetizers. Not too keen on that, but that’s how it works… at least I have food. It’s their version of an onion flower. It’s good, and has some kick in the sauce… which makes you want to drink something… which is now out for everyone at the table. So we sit there, and sit there… and sit there… Nothing. Now enter two wait staff. They plop down at the table next to us. (We’re in the middle of the dining room, next to the door to the kitchen.) The waitresses begin to wrap silverware. This is a Saturday night at about 7:30. It should be busy (but it isn’t). They start chatting loudly about how hard it is working there. They look over at our table (I watch this sort of thing.), then proceed to tell our waiter that he has to “go do glasses” just before he gets to our table.

So off he goes…. *Tic tic tic tic…..* There goes more of my life… My children are growing up in front of me… I watch, as in back, my waiter is moving all sorts of heavy stuff. That’s nice. They guy makes half minimum wage and then tips on top of it. One would think that he might want to bust his butt to help us; So not the case. So we’re sitting for another 5 minutes (this after the 20 since we got our appetizers) and some short lady comes out with plates that are supposed to resemble salad. They’ve got wilted lettuce, a wad of shredded cheese, and a pile of diced tomatoes. On top of all that?
That’s right! A lake of ranch dressing! *ding ding ding!*

So a few minutes after that, he comes out of the kitchen, and happens to notice that all of our drinks and water are empty. He looks at my wife and I and says: “Oh, I guess you’re thirsty.” I think I could feel the veins popping out the side of my head. Off he goes…. Where is anyone’s guess. I have now been there over an hour and have YET to have my meal. I’m getting a little angry at this point and wonder how much worse he must have been to anger his previous table to the point where they were “hellish”. I can really see why they were angry. Me? Mister Polite? Yeah… I was reaching the end of my rope.

So after a few more minutes of screwing around doing whatever it was he was doing, he finally shows up with more drinks. He looks at my wife and I and informs us that our food should be ready now and that he’s going to go get it. *twitch* Ya think?

So he goes back into the kitchen and comes out with our dinner…

I order the Texas Ribeye with “extra spices” at a Med-Rare….

He stands there after handing us all plates “Please cut into your meat so we can make sure it is all cooked correctly.” I almost blew up… but being Mr. Polite… I do it. It’s cooked more or less right. My wife and I give him the nod and off he goes.

I dig in.

The steak was cooked close to what I ordered, and it had great flavor. My wife ordered a smaller sirloin and wasn’t too terribly impressed with hers. She did however steal some of mine. She liked it better than hers. Hers wasn’t bad, but it was just “a steak”. I got a bakes sweet potato, with just regular butter (They tend to put sugar and stuff on it) and steamed veggies. It was good. The food was real good.

That has typically been the case when I go to Lone Star. The food is good but the service stinks and takes forever. It seemed like there was a bunch of people standing around doing nothing, while people, such as our waiter) were doing all the heavy labor in the kitchen. Perhaps if the staff at Lone Star would spend less time gabbing with each other, and more time actually taking care of their customers, they would have more customers.

Nothing makes me madder than bad service.

Overall impression: Food took forever; the waiter kept getting side tracked and should have spent more time taking care of his tables. The staff seemed to stand around, and it took forever to get our food. Our food however was great (except the salad) and it was hot and flavorful. The only saving grace was the food.

Plusses: Great food, nice atmosphere

Minuses: Slow and inattentive wait staff, slow food, slow slow slow slow…

~The Omaha Critic

BoBo China (156 and Q Street)

It’s time to redeem myself in the area of Chinese cuisine. I have a place I like to hang out in believe it or not and it’s called BoBo China. I have been going there for about a year and a half. I spotted it while going into Bag and Save one day and always said that I wanted to go in there… It only took me a year and a half to do so. (Bad choice on my part).

When you walk in, you notice the poster board specials taped to the wall, and a white board listing other specials after entering the second door. The place is a pinkish beige color, and it’s rather unpretentious and simple. There are many small tables and one large table for larger families and groups. The menus are sparse and the server will go nab them off another table for you.

The waiter, and I don’t know his name, is a tall oriental man, very thin and lanky. I think he either owns the place or is related to who is. The first few times I went there, I wasn’t too sure about him. Very quiet and reserved. As I continued to frequent the place, is personality began to show. He’s funny. I like him a lot. Once you spend some time there, you will see it too.

ON TO THE FOOD!!!!

Ok, again, I live for eating…. Yes, I know, I should eat to live. Get over it. If I didn’t feel that way, this site would be boring!

Anyway… I have to say that this is one of the top 5 Chinese places in Omaha. The menu is inexpensive, you get a boatload of food, and the flavor in each action packed bite of my Kung Pao chicken is awesome. I can honestly say, that whoever is in back cooking should get a medal. The fried rice is fantastic, and the orange beef is really crispy and tasty. This last time we went there, someone ordered the peanut butter chicken. Oh man… that was tasty. One of my favorite things on the menu is their Egg Rolls. I don’t know if they make them there or what, but they have got the best flavor. The texture of the filling is real good, kind of becoming one piece of meat, instead of over-flowing with veggies that nobody likes.

The garbage to meat ratio (Veggies to meat) is rather low. There are tons of shrimp in my Kung Pao shrimp, and most of the other dishes that I have had are not overloaded with vegetation. They really focus on the flavor of what they are making instead of the profit from it. It’s fantastic. I am really impressed with the consistency and quality of every dish that comes out. The service is real good and they do a good job keeping everything moving.

Overall impression: It’s a little Chinese food hole in the wall that has really good food and good service. I give this place a solid rating! A “Must Have!”

Plusses: Great food, great prices, large portions. Good service and good location if you live in Southwest Omaha.

Minuses: Need menus for each table and sometimes the food doesn’t come out all at once. (Its not too bad, like a minute or two.) I think they need to get boards for their specials and perhaps a professional looking menu for behind the counter that doesn’t involve poster board and a sharpie marker.

I love this place…

~The Omaha Critic

(Never going) Back to Guangzhou. (98th and Giles)

There are times in a person’s life where you just want to “try something new” and you head to this new restaurant that you heard about. I don’t remember where it was advertised. It could have been on the radio or TV, I really don’t remember. I do remember that the food looked more like art than food. So the Critic Wife and I went with a few kids and decided to try it out.

As I have stated in a previous post, I believed myself to have a rather worldly pallet. So that being said, I want to put this disclaimer in: This is very traditional cooking for the Guangzhou province of China (At least I think so) and they have a very different sense of taste from some Texas raised, Omaha transplant who thinks he’s got a worldly pallet. This is a completely foreign culture that needs to be respected…

That being said and disclaimers made, I will now start my review:

As I walked in, my eyes were immediately drawn to the amazing decor. The tables were all hand carved, and they had this glass sculpture in the middle of the room that was breathtaking. Looking up, they had a “Best of Omaha” sign hanging from the ceiling for “The Best Mongolian Beef”. Then, the owner flicks on the lights, because at 12:30PM on a Saturday, nobody else was there and we thought that a little odd. We got a better look at the place and there were offerings and incense scattered around the room, some in various states of decay. Some of the window sills had toys and books on them, and I couldn’t tell if they belonged to a child, were for guests, or were part of some offering. But, being the “man of the world” that I am, I respected it, it didn’t stink, and there were no “flies” swarming the oranges, so I just nodded and went to my very beautiful table.

The woman who took our order was very nice and was very attentive. Our drinks were never empty, and she checked on us throughout the meal. She kept asking us how we liked the food, and we always responded well, even though… well… read the review.

My family ordered a dimsum combo, pot-stickers and spring rolls to start with. They were interesting. Very southern China… Good, fried and fast. They were nice. The presentation was artistic, and they had these seafood/crab-ball/corn fritter things that were very tasty. I was thinking that I wasn’t sure about the menu as a whole, but at least I had something that I found I liked.

So I ordered the BBQ Pork, my wife orders a noodle dish, my younger daughter orders the Mongolian beef, and my oldest orders Chicken Fried rice. It was a rather tame order, considering that this place had a more varied cuisine and they were voted “best Mongolian Beef” in Omaha, I figured it was a good bet that if one of us didn’t like our dish, the rest of us would share.

Out comes to food… Plate one, Plate Two, Plate three, and Plate four. (away walks the woman) “Daddy? This smells funny.” – “Pappa? Mine tastes strange” – “Honey, I really don’t like this.” – “Uhhh this tastes like *insert word for behind here*” The waitress walks up: “How is your food, you like?” Kids: “Not a word.” Wife: “It’s pretty good.” Me: (they always walk up when you take a bite) *thumbs up*.

None of us liked what we had. It was to say the least, not tasty at all. I would have to say that it was horrible. (Sorry!) There may be people that like this type of food, but the four of us weren’t one of them. So we all switched dishes, (except me, I know nobody would like what I had) and my wife took the Mongolian beef, the oldest got the noodle dish and the younger one got the fried rice. My wife took one bite of the Mongolian beef and almost threw up on me. The texture to her was way off, and the flavor had the aroma of rotting meat. I tried to get her to try the rice after that and she was too grossed out to even bother. I tried the fried rice and it had some goofy flavor to it that was unappetizing. The chicken had a strange texture to it as well, and my wife’s noodle dish had the same rotting meat smell and flavor that my BBQ pork had. It was not good at all. I tried the Mongolian beef that my daughter had and I have to say, it was icky. We made nice, and got all of our food put in to-go containers and hastily paid and made our exit. We got in the car and drove directly to a gas station that was next to the restaurant and promptly threw our leftovers away because the smell was making us ill.

Overall impression: If you are going to go there, I would suggest doing the dimsum and tea ceremonies only. It is a beautiful place with good service. The entrées that we ordered were not good.

Plusses: Great service, beautiful presentations of the food, the food was like artwork. The dimsum plates and appetizers were good. The place was beautiful.

Minuses: The entrées stank and were “unappetizing”. There was rotting fruit on the floor and window sill. (We understand it was an offering and want to be respectful of that, however, you shouldn’t have rotting oranges next to your potential customers). It’s way out on 98th and Giles.

(Apologies:) I am very sorry that I had to give your establishment such a bad review. We had very high hopes for it because we love to try new food. I am going to give you a better rating simply because the service was outstanding, your dim sum were good, and your decor (other than the fruit) was stunning.

Food – 2 Napkins (3 for appetizers, 1 for entrée)
Service – 4 Napkins

~The Omaha Critic

Last stop: Wing Stop! (120th and Blondo)

Ok, I have to admit, I am a real big fan of hot wings.  They just do something for me.  I like them spicy and crispy.  Now believe it or not, I have a day job.  It’s here in Omaha for an absolutely FANTASTIC holdings company.  I am a contractor with them and I couldn’t be happier.  (No, really!)

So now and again, I go out for lunch.  I need something relatively close and something where I feel like I get the most “bang” for the buck.  That place is Wing Stop.  It’s family owned, and most of time, operated.

Each and every time I have gone there, the staff has been great.  They are prompt and can tell you your food will be ready in “14 minutes”.  I think that should be their trade-mark.  Typically though, it does not take the prescribed “14 minutes”.  Trust me, I have sat in drive-through after drive-through for 20+ minutes for bad food, I can handle a little “Wing Wait”.

The last time I went, I called ahead and got my “boneless” wings, which are in fact breaded chicken strips (Much to my younger daughter’s dismay).   “Original Hot” is typically what I order.  That and the Lemon Pepper Wings.  Since I was going to carry them out this time, I thought it best that I go boneless as to not seem rude as I chew on bones at my desk.  That is better in private or in a dining room full of other people chewing on chicken wings.  I had asked for extra sauce, and low and behold: The Boneless Wing covered in sauce.  It was nice and hot, fresh, and had just the right kick to it to make my lunch time enjoyable.  Combo that with veggie stick and a drink, and you can be quite the happy camper.

Overall impression:  Wing Stop at 120th and Blondo has always been very consistent with their food and service.  Dine in and carry out, it has been awesome.

Plusses: Great food, nice-friendly-helpful staff, clean dining area, and very clean bathrooms.

Minuses: Small dining area with not much seating, you have to get your napkins off a giant roll at the counter, and getting in and out of the parking lot can be tricky.

~The Omaha Critic

Oh, my review of Tanduri Fusion….

I would like to thank whoever purchased it from the previous owners.  I had eaten there several months back and wasn’t impressed.  Don’t bet me wrong, it wasn’t bad, but they had set it up buffet style and the staff acted as if it was a privilege for them to serve us.  They weren’t rude, but come on…. I’m paying good money for this. Now, fast forward {insert screeching sound here} to August 2007.  Oh my god.  I think that I have found the one place that could usurp my all time favorite Sushi place in Omaha for the best food. 

I have a rather eclectic pallet… Very worldly, (at least I like to tell myself) and I like a wide variety of flavors.   There are only a few things that are “Off my Radar”.  Tandoor Fusion was spot on.  I am a big lover of lamb… and T.F. (Tanduri Fusion) made the most succulent grilled lamb I have had the pleasure of eating.  I left there happy as I could have been.  The service was FANTASTIC and our server got a good tip.  (Is 20-25% good?)  I talked to who I thought was part of the management about what my feelings were with the establishment and apparently the lineage is descended from Jaipur, another Omaha area Indian food restaurant.  I have to say, I ate at Jaipur, and I am very happy to say that Tanduri Fusion knocked it out of the park!

Overall impression: I was impressed with the decor, it was rather tasteful and had a Dheli pub feel to it.  The tables were a little small, but then again, I am a big guy.  The wait staff and management were friendly and helpful.  The service was fantastic and the food was second to none.  (I think I will go eat leftovers now!)

Plusses: AWESOME FOOD! AWESOME SERVICE! GREAT DECOR!  I can’t say enough good things about the place.

Minuses: It’s on the side of the freaking building and hard to spot.  It’s on the West side of the shopping center where Gordman’s and Bakers is located.

~The Omaha Critic