Best-ter-est of Omaha Restaurants Award Winners

We've closed the polls and tallied the votes. Once again a lot of great local restaurants took many top spots, while national and regional chains didn't fare as well in most categories. Several categories had big changes, several where very dispersed in votes and the new categories this year, especially the broad categories towards the end, were fascinating to see (I love the Most Overrated category).

Voter turn out was not what we were hoping it would be, but that's a bit of a dilemma. We don't publicize much beyond our readers in order to keep the results of a higher quality. Finding really good food requires us to lean on those who are really passionate about food. We figure if you heard about this poll through our limited promotion and felt moved enough to vote, then you were a true foodie. This was always meant to be a poll for foodies, by foodies, so thank you to all the foodies who voted. We hope you enjoy the results as much as we did.

Some quick notes about our notes. By some categories, you might see a [NOTE] in brackets that gives you some insight into that category beyond the winners ranks. For those, we urge you to take a look at the raw data to get a peek at all the votes. You'll also see the same kind of notes by individual restaurants. This is to give you an idea of how things have changed since last year and/or key you into decisive wins.

Best-ter-est of Omaha 2009^TM

Best American Bistro in Omaha [All Local]

Mark's Bistro
Brunette's Bistro
Ryan's Bistro

Best Appetizers in Omaha [Big Changes]

Espana (Tie ~ 2nd) [NEW]
Jams (Tie ~ 2nd)
Kona Grill (Tie ~ 2nd) [NEW]
Urban Wine Co. (Tie ~ 2nd) [NEW]

Best Bagels in Omaha

Best Bar-B-Que in Omaha

Hartland BBQ [+1]
Amarillo Barbecue
Famous Dave's

Best Breakfast in Omaha [Big Changes; All Local]

Lisa's Radial Cafe [+2]
Dixie Quick's [-1]
11-Worth Cafe

Best Buffet in Omaha

China Buffet
India Garden (Tie ~ 2nd)
Valentino's (Tie ~ 2nd)
No such thing/I don't Know (Tie ~ 2nd) [-1]

Best Burrito in Omaha

Alvarados [+1]
Chipotle
Qdoba

Best Chinese Restaurant in Omaha [Big Changes; All Local]

J. C. Mandarin [NEW]
China Buffet (Tie ~ 2nd) [NEW]
China Road (Tie ~ 2nd)
New Gold Mountain (Tie ~ 3rd) [NEW]
O Dining (Tie ~ 3rd) [-2]
Rice Bowl (Tie ~ 3rd)

Best Coffee Shop in Omaha

Scooter's Coffeehouse
Crane Coffee
Blue Line Coffee (Tie ~ 3rd) [-2]
13th Street Coffee Co (Tie ~ 3rd) [NEW]

Best Desserts in Omaha

Best Family Restaurant in Omaha

Petrow's [+1]
Millard Roadhouse [-1]
Red Robin [NEW]

Best French Fries in Omaha [All Local?]

Dario's Brasserie (Tie ~ 1st)
Runza (Tie ~ 1st)
Bronco's

Best French Restaurant in Omaha [All Local]

Best Fried Chicken in Omaha [Big Changes; All Local]

Jack & Mary's
Chi Town Chicken (Tie ~ 2nd) [NEW]
Millard Roadhouse(Tie ~ 2nd)
Time Out Foods (Tie ~ 2nd) [NEW]

Best Greek Restaurant in Omaha [All Local]

The Greek Islands
Katie's
Jim & Jennie's Greek Village

Best Hamburgers in Omaha [All Local]

Dinker's
Stella's
Louie M's Burger Lust [NEW]

Best Hot Wings in Omaha

Buffalo Wild Wings
Crescent Moon Ale House
Choo-Choo Bar & Grill (Tie ~ 3rd)
Wing Stop (Tie ~ 3rd)

Best Indian Restaurant in Omaha [Contentious Category; All Local]

Jaipur
Mother India [NEW]
India Garden
NOTE: Though there were clear vote winners, this was still a highly divided category.

Best Italian Restaurant in Omaha [Big Changes; All Local]

Lo Sole Mio [Large Margin]
Nicola's in the Market (Tie ~ 2nd) [NEW]
Pasta Amore (Tie ~ 2nd) [NEW]
Bianco

Best Japanese Restaurant in Omaha [All Local]

Best Korean in Omaha [Low Vote Count; All Local]

Han Kuk Kwan
Korea King
Korean Food Restaurant

Best Mexican Restaurant in Omaha [Contentious Category; Big Changes; All Local]

Guaca Maya
Alvarados (Tie ~ 2nd) [-1]
Roja (Tie ~ 2nd)
Fernando's

Best Onion Rings in Omaha [No Clear Winner]

Gorat's (Tie ~ 1st)
Jams (Tie ~ 1st)
Mama's Pizza (Tie ~ 1st)
Petrow's(Tie ~ 1st)
Runza (Tie ~ 1st)

Best Pasta in Omaha [Big Changes; All Local]

Lo Sole Mio [Large Margin]
Pasta Amore [+1]
Bianco Ristorante Italiano (Tie ~ 3rd) [NEW]
Malara's Italian Restaurant (Tie ~ 3rd) [NEW]

Best Pizza in Omaha [Contentious Category; All Local]

Best Sandwiches in Omaha

Best Seafood in Omaha

Best Soup in Omaha

Panera Bread[+1]
Upstream Brewing Co. (Tie ~ 1st)
Bread Oven (Tie ~ 2nd) [NEW]
Granite City Brewery (Tie ~ 2nd) [NEW]
Saigon (Tie ~ 2nd) [NEW]

Best Steak House in Omaha [Contentious Category]

Drover
Mahogany Prime Steakhouse
Sullivan's Steakhouse
NOTE: Though there were clear vote winners, this was still a highly divided category.

Best Sunday Brunch in Omaha

Best Sushi Restaurant in Omaha [All Local]

Blue Sushi Sake Grill ^** [+1;Large Margin]
Sakura Bana Japanese Restaurant [NEW]
Sushi Japan
Hiro [-2]

Best Thai Restaurant in Omaha [Contentious Category; All Local]

Thai Spice
Thai Kitchen
Bangkok Cuisine (Tie ~ 3rd)
Taste of Thailand (Tie ~ 3rd)

Best Restaurant in Omaha for a Business Lunch

Charleston's (Tie ~ 1st)
M's Pub (Tie ~ 1st)
Jams (Tie ~ 2nd)
Ryan's Bistro (Tie ~ 2nd)

Best Restaurant in Omaha for a First Date [All Local]

La Buvette (Tie ~ 1st)
M's Pub (Tie ~ 1st)
Mark's Bistro (Tie ~ 2nd)
O Dining (Tie ~ 2nd)
Stokes (Tie ~ 2nd)
Vivace (Tie ~ 2nd)

Most Romantic Restaurant in Omaha [All Local]

Most Overrated Restaurant in Omaha

Most Underrated Restaurant in Omaha [All Local]

Nicola's in the Market (Tie ~ 1st)
Alvarados (Tie ~ 1st)
Dixie Quick's

Best New Restaurant in Omaha [All Local]

Boiler Room
Mother India
Flavors India

Best Chef in Omaha [Low Vote Count]

Jennifer Coco @ Flatiron Cafe (Tie ~ 1st)
Paul Kulik @ The Boiler Room (Tie ~ 1st)

Best Restaurant in Omaha

NOTES AND COMMENTS: Since the form fields were free form, we tried to interpret the results as best we could (e.g. We might count Radial Cafe towards Lisa's Radial Cafe). If you'd like to double check our work, feel free to look at the raw data. No member of the GFC team voted. Since this was such a small sample size and some of the categories were so close, some of the results would be different if our votes were counted.

Best-ter-est of Omaha 2010^TM

Of course we plan to do this again next year, so please leave comments below with your thoughts about what you like and don't like about the categories, results, promotion, etc.... We would like to include some "Best Dish" categories, but I think the votes would be so unique that we wouldn't have a clear winner for any category. I'm very open to ideas around this. Here are a couple of examples that came out in the voting.

Big Horn Mountain BBQ: Beef Brisket
Upstream: Smoked Gouda & Blonde Ale Soup (x3)
Upstream: Tomato Basil
Mai Thai: Tom Yum Gai Soup
McFoster's Natural Kind: Roast Tomato Soup
Jaipur: Mulligatawny Soup
Grisanti's: Tomato Tortellini Soup
McFoster's Natural Kind: Sweet Potato Fries
Taste: Sweet Potato Fries
Smashburger: Smashfries (w/ Garlic and Rosemary)
Barrett's Barleycorn: Kitchen Sink Burger
Dinker's: Haystack Burger
Ethnic Sandwich Shop: The Irish Coned Beef Sandwich
Hiro: Husker Roll
Chinatown: Veggie Fried Rice
Whole Foods: Creme Brulee French Toast
Dixie Quick's: Oatmeal & Ice Cream
Mark's Bistro: Bread Pudding
Dario's: Banana and Brown Sugar Ice Cream

Closing Thoughts

For the most part, I'm very pleased with the results and I think they are a good representation of the Omaha food scene and the spots that foodies tend to favor. Next year we might try to clean up some of the categories, or at least define them better. I'd like to find a way to get restaurants like Peru, Mucho Gusto nominated for something, but it, like many other restaurants, don't fit well into any of our current categories really. One thing that I noticed while looking at the results is that there are some great opportunities for restaurants to step up and fill some voids. Categories that were dominated by chains or just plain didn't have many votes would be a good place to start. So if you had been planing on opening a Korean soup-and-sandwich shop or a breakfast spot offering a burrito-on-a-bagel, you might have something going for you.

On a personal note, while looking at the results, I realized the need for us to cover the Omaha restaurant scene more. Though I've been to well over half of the places on this list, we've reviewed just a fraction of them. Maybe you can help us with that problem.

On a related note, we'd like to send out window clings to all of the restaurants you see above. If you make window clings or know someone who does, contact us. If you're a person who would like to help us design our decal, contact us. If you are a business owner who would like to offer something to the winners (such as Joe Frost from Elify who will be offering free online strategy consultations), contact us. If you just want to contact us, contact us :-)