Best-ter-est of Omaha Restaurants Award Winners

It had been 5 years since we conducted a Best-ter-est of Omaha reader poll. Looking at the old results, it's easy to see why it was time to do another one.

Though we'll never have the voter turnout that some other polls may have, I'm okay with that. Quality is what matters. I view this as a curated list. Curated by the die hard food fans that encourage restaurateurs to bring new ideas into Omaha. Curated by the people that aren't satisfied with good enough ― the passionate that will seek out the best, travel into the unknown, and support our favorites through fervent word of mouth praise.

Thank you for being part of our curation team and being part of our effort to praise the Best-ter-est of Omaha.

The Results

The results below are separated into 3 sections.

First we have our category results. We list the top 3 in each category. We may list more if we found the additional results interesting. There are some categories that we list less than 3. That means we just didn't get enough responses to be of interest. If a winner trumped the competition by a large margin, we list the ratio (e.g. 2:1). We also included some color commentary for many categories.

Next we have some favorites dishes. These are just the dishes that had multiple votes. Please take a chance to look at the raw data to see all the nominees in this category. It's pretty interesting.

Finally we have Omaha's Favorite Restaurants. It's what makes everything worthwhile.

UPDATE: We had a reader point out to us that Hiro and Hiro 88 are technically the same restaurant (same menu, management, etc). The revised results are below. The categories that were impacted are marked with a * [Best Sushi, Best Japanese, Favorite Restaurants]

And the winners are...

Best American Restaurant
Block 16	1st Place WINNER 2:1 - 18 Votes
Lot 2	2nd Place - 9 Votes
Boiler Room	3rd Place - 4 Votes
J Coco	4th Place TIE - 3 Votes
Jams	4th Place TIE - 3 Votes
Blatt Beer & Table	4th Place TIE - 3 Votes
Grey Plume	5th Place TIE - 2 Votes
Railcar	5th Place TIE - 2 Votes
Salt 88	5th Place TIE - 2 Votes
Best American Restaurant is confusing, because what is "American" cuisine? I think most of the restaurants nominated fit the bill, but there is a long flat tail.

Best Bagel Shop
Bagel Bin	1st Place WINNER - 16 Votes
Bruegger's Bagels	2nd Place - 13 Votes
Panera	3rd Place - 7 Votes
Best Bagel will probably go away next time. Let's just call Bagel Bin the best and be done with it until a competitor arrives.

Best Bar-B-Que Restaurant
Hartland BBQ	1st Place WINNER 3:1 - 14 Votes
Parker's Smokehouse	2nd Place - 4 Votes
Famous Dave's	3rd Place - 3 Votes
Skeet's	4th Place - 2 Votes TIE
Ozarks	4th Place - 2 Votes TIE
Boxer BBQ	4th Place - 2 Votes TIE
BBQ is divisive and our results conflict greatly with the recent OWH food crawl.

Best Chinese Restaurant
Canton House	1st Place WINNER TIE - 5 Votes
JC Mandarin	1st Place WINNER TIE - 5 Votes
Rice Bowl	1st Place WINNER TIE - 5 Votes
New Gold Mountain	2nd Place TIE - 4 Votes
Golden Palace	2nd Place TIE - 4 Votes
Three Happiness	2nd Place TIE - 4 Votes
Omaha still lacks a sense for authentic Chinese food. If you've never been to Canton house, go check it out. And always ask to see the other menu at a Chinese restaurant. They may not have one, but chances are, they do and if you have round eyes, you didn't get it when you walked through the door.

Best Coffee Shop
Archetype Coffee	1st Place WINNER - 7 Votes
Scooter's	2nd Place - 6 Votes
Aromas	3rd Place - 5 Votes TIE
Caffeine Dreams	3rd Place - 5 Votes TIE
Blue Line	4th Place - 4 Votes TIE
Crane Coffee	4th Place - 4 Votes TIE
Best Coffee shop is probably dominated by shops that are close to where a voter lives. Not too many people are going to travel out of their way.

Best French Restaurant
Le Bouillon	1st Place WINNER - 21 Votes
Le Voltaire	2nd Place - 16 Votes
Dario's Brasserie	3rd Place - 6 Votes
It's funny to see the Best French Restaurant list now that there's an actual French restaurant in the French Cafe space.

Best Greek Restaurant
Greek Islands	1st Place WINNER 2:1 - 18 Votes
Jim and Jennie's Greek Village	2nd Place TIE - 7 Votes
Katie's	2nd Place TIE - 7 Votes
Feta's	3rd Place - 3 Votes

Best Indian Restaurant
Mother India	1st Place WINNER - 14 Votes
Jaipur	2nd Place - 11 Votes
Curri	3rd Place - 5 Votes TIE
Flavors	3rd Place - 5 Votes TIE
Kurry Xpress	3rd Place - 5 Votes TIE

Best Italian Restaurant
Avoli Osteria	1st Place WINNER 2:1 - 18 Votes
Lo Sole Mio	2nd Place - 9 Votes
Dante's Pizzeria	3rd Place - 7 Votes
Pasta Amore	4th Place - 5 Votes
Nicola's	5th Place - 3 Votes

Best Japanese Restaurant *
Hiro / Hiro 88	1st Place WINNER - 14 Votes
Sakura Bana	2nd Place - 13 Votes
Sushi Japan	3rd Place - 8 Votes

Best Korean Restaurant
Maru	1st Place WINNER - 10 Votes
Korea King	2nd Place - 4 Votes TIE
Korean Grill	2nd Place - 4 Votes TIE
Wongs Hunan Garden	3rd Place - 2 Votes
Omaha is still pretty weak in selection for Korean restaurants. It's too bad; I think a really good Korean Restaurant would walk away with a Good for Groups category. All those delicious banchan.

Best Mexican Restaurant
Rivera's	1st Place WINNER 2:1 - 10 Votes
Taqueria Tijuana	2nd Place - 5 Votes
Hector's	3rd Place TIE - 4 Votes
Cilantro's	3rd Place TIE - 4 Votes
Taqueria El Rey	4th Place TIE - 3 Votes
Mula	4th Place TIE - 3 Votes
Dos de Oros Taco Truck	4th Place TIE - 3 Votes
If I find the time, I'd like to put all of the Best Mexican restaurant nominees on a map. Overall I think the nominations were very solid. The problem is that there's actually too many good places, but none that really stand out as a level about the rest. It makes for very split results. I think Rivera's won because it's good, fairly authentic, and it has the benefit of being out West. But hey, compared to 2009, this list is pretty good.

Best Seafood Restaurant (Not sushi)
Taita	1st Place WINNER - 15 Votes
Shuck's	2nd Place - 12 Votes
Plank	3rd Place - 10 Votes
Remember when Charlie's on the Lake used to walk away with the Best Seafood category?

Best Soul Food
Big Mama's Kitchen	1st Place WINNER 4:1 - 12 Votes
Omaha needs a Soul Food Culinary Tour. There are many places other than Big Mama's. I didn't list any other results because I think the category was a wash (aka not useful). Check out the nominations if this is an area you're interested in.

Best Steak House (Focus is steaks)
Drover	1st Place WINNER 4:1 - 24 Votes
Spencer's	2nd Place - 6 Votes
801 Chop House	3rd Place - 5 Votes
The Drover crushed it. If you look at the Best Steak, Best Classic Restaurant, Where to Take Guests, Favorite Dish and Favorite Restaurants - it did very well.

Best Sushi Restaurant *
Hiro / Hiro 88	1st Place WINNER 2:1 - 22 Votes
Taita	2nd Place - 8 Votes
Blue Sushi	3rd Place - 7 Votes TIE
Sakura Bana	3rd Place - 7 Votes TIE
Sushi Japan	3rd Place - 7 Votes TIE
It's funny how personal favorite sushi restaurants are. But Hiro really broke away from the pack. Reverse Happy Hour? You can't say it's the multiple locations because that didn't help Blue very much.

Best Thai Restaurant
Salween Thai	1st Place WINNER - 16 Votes
Mai Thai	2nd Place - 9 Votes
Bangkok Cuisine	3rd Place - 5 Votes TIE
Laos Thai on 24th	3rd Place - 5 Votes TIE
Thai Spice	3rd Place - 5 Votes TIE

Best Burrito Spot
Qdoba	1st Place WINNER scattered- 4 Votes
Chipotle	2nd Place TIE - 3 Votes
De Leon's	2nd Place TIE - 3 Votes
Taqueria El Rey	2nd Place TIE - 3 Votes
Omaha is not a burrito town. Not sure why.

Best French Fries
Dario's Brasserie	1st Place WINNER 2:1 - 14 Votes
Block 16	2nd Place - 7 Votes
Amsterdam Falafel & Kabob	3rd Place - 4 Votes TIE
Runza	3rd Place - 4 Votes TIE
Omaha loves their Runza. Runza and Frings seems to be the thing.

Best Fried Chicken Spot
Block 16	1st Place WINNER - 9 Votes
Time Out Chicken	2nd Place - 5 Votes
Big Mama's Kitchen	3rd Place - 3 Votes TIE
Jack and Mary's	3rd Place - 3 Votes TIE
Popeye's	3rd Place - 3 Votes TIE
I'm fully expecting to see Heritage on this Best Fried Chicken list next time. I was surprised to see a lot of places from 2009 fall off the nominations list.

Best Hamburger Spot
Stella's	1st Place WINNER - 18 Votes
Block 16	2nd Place - 11 Votes
Dinkers	3rd Place - 3 Votes TIE
Goldberg's	3rd Place - 3 Votes TIE
Louie M's Burger Lust	3rd Place - 3 Votes TIE

Best Hot Wings Spot
Oscar's	1st Place WINNER 2:1 - 10 Votes
Crescent Moon	2nd Place - 4 Votes
Wing Stop	3rd Place - 3 Votes

Best Onion Rings	* low number of total votes
Big Fred's	1st Place WINNER TIE - 4 Votes
Runza	1st Place WINNER TIE - 4 Votes
Block 16	2nd Place - 3 Votes
I would love to do an Onion Ring Food Crawl. Heck, you could start an entire blog around the topic. Though it seems Omaha doesn't have the same fondness for rings as I do.

Best Restaurant for Pasta
Avoli Osteria	1st Place WINNER 2:1 - 18 Votes
Lo Sole Mio	2nd Place - 7 Votes
Dante's Pizzeria	3rd Place - 5 Votes
Pasta Amore	4th Place - 4 Votes

Best Restaurant for Pizza
Dante's Pizzeria	1st Place WINNER 3:1 - 22 Votes
Pitch	2nd Place - 7 Votes
La Casa	3rd Place TIE - 4 Votes
Mama's	3rd Place TIE - 4 Votes
I was surprised to see so much solidarity around Best Restaurant for Pizza. It's a topic with strong opinions - crust, sauce, toppings - but Dante's really seems to please the GFC crowd.

Best Sandwich Shop
Block 16	1st Place WINNER - 8 Votes
Worker's Takeout	2nd Place - 5 Votes
Gandolfo's	3rd Place - 4 Votes
Firehouse subs	4th Place - 3 Votes TIE
Kitchen Table	4th Place - 3 Votes TIE
Star Deli	4th Place - 3 Votes TIE

Best Breakfast Spot
Over Easy	1st Place WINNER - 9 Votes
Lisa's Radial Cafe	2nd Place - 6 Votes
Dixie Quicks	3rd Place TIE - 5 Votes
11-worth Cafe	3rd Place TIE - 5 Votes
Bailey's	4th Place - 4 Votes

Best Brunch
Lot 2	1st Place WINNER - 8 Votes
Dixie Quicks	2nd Place - 6 Votes
Le Bouillon	3rd Place - 5 Votes TIE
Taxi's	3rd Place - 5 Votes TIE

Best Buffet
Flavors	1st Place WINNER - 5 Votes
China Buffet	2nd Place - 4 Votes
There are rarely winners in Best Buffet.

Best Desserts
Delice	1st Place WINNER - 4 Votes
Grey Plume	2nd Place TIE - 3 Votes
Wheatfields	2nd Place TIE - 3 Votes
Le Bouillon	3rd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Mark's Bistro	3rd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Vivace	3rd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Omaha needs more dessert focused locations that aren't just Ice Cream.

Best Family Restaurant
Cheddar's	1st Place WINNER- 3 Votes
Over Easy	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Upstream Brewery	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Millard Road House	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Omaha doesn't like family restaurants, or your favorite family restaurant is the one closest to you resulting in a very split vote.

Where You Take Out of Town Guests
Drover	1st Place WINNER - 6 Votes
Grey Plume	2nd Place TIE - 4 Votes
Lot 2	2nd Place TIE - 4 Votes
Block 16	3rd Place TIE - 3 Votes
Boiler Room	3rd Place TIE - 3 Votes
Dante's Pizzeria	3rd Place TIE - 3 Votes
M's Pub	3rd Place TIE - 3 Votes

Best Restaurant for a Business Lunch
Block 16	1st Place WINNER TIE - 3 Votes
J Coco	1st Place WINNER TIE - 3 Votes
M's Pub	1st Place WINNER TIE - 3 Votes
Charleston's	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Sullivan's	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Wilson & Washburn	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Best "Theme" categories aren't very telling. When the winner of Best Restaurant for a Business Lunch has a 3 way tie for 1st place with 3 votes each - not very helpful. I'm thinking a Best Service category might be nice, but not if it gets such split results.

Best Restaurant Happy Hour
Blue Sushi	1st Place WINNER - 5 Votes
Plank	2nd Place - 4 Votes

Best Beverage Program
Boiler Room	1st Place WINNER 3:1 - 10 Votes
Grey Plume	2nd Place - 3 Votes
Krug Park	3 Votes - No food menu

Best Late Night Food Spot
Amsterdam Falafel & Kabob	1st Place WINNER - 5 Votes
Localmotive	2nd Place - 4 Votes
Baxter's	3rd Place TIE - 3 Votes
Nite Owl	3rd Place TIE - 3 Votes

Best Food Truck
Localmotive	1st Place WINNER 3:1 - 20 Votes
Taqueria El Rey	2nd Place - 6 Votes
Dos de Oros Taco Truck	3rd Place - 4 Votes

Best Restaurant for a First Date
Grey Plume	1st Place WINNER TIE - 3 Votes
Le Bouillon	1st Place WINNER TIE - 3 Votes
Boiler Room	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Espana	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Kona Grill	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes
La Buvette	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Lot 2	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes

Most Romantic Restaurant
V. Mertz	1st Place WINNER - 5 Votes
Boiler Room	2nd Place - 4 Votes
Dario's Brasserie	3rd Place TIE - 3 Votes
Mark's Bistro	3rd Place TIE - 3 Votes

Most Underrated Restaurant
Taita	1st Place WINNER 2:1 Scattered - 4 Votes
Avoli Osteria	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes
Tasty Pastry	2nd Place TIE - 2 Votes
It seems like Omaha has a lot of underrated restaurants. If you look at the raw votes, there were a lot of different places mentioned, just not a lot of consensus.

Most Overrated Restaurant	* OR added to filter out from analysis
Grey Plume - OR	10 "Winner" 2:1
Blue Sushi - OR	2nd Place - 5 Votes
Gorat's - OR	3rd Place - 3 Votes
Mark's Bistro - OR	3rd Place - 3 Votes
Upstream Brewery - OR	3rd Place - 3 Votes
Omaha has a deep love/hate relationship with The Grey Plume. Most Overrated, but also Best Restaurant, Best Chef, Top 5 Favorite Restaurants, and numerous other top 3 finishes.

Best of the Classics (Open more than 20 years)
M's Pub	1st Place WINNER - 6 Votes
Drover	2nd Place TIE - 5 Votes
V. Mertz	2nd Place TIE - 5 Votes
Lo Sole Mio	3rd Place TIE - 3 Votes
Piccolo's	3rd Place TIE - 3 Votes

Future Classic (Open 20 years from now)
Block 16	1st Place WINNER - 6 Votes
Grey Plume	2nd Place - 5 Votes
Dario's Brasserie	3rd Place - 4 Votes

Best New Restaurant
Modern Love	1st Place WINNER - 9 Votes
Pig and Finch	2nd Place - 7 Votes
Le Bouillon	3rd Place - 5 Votes
Look! A Vegan restaurant won Best New Restaurant in Omaha!

Best Chef
Paul Kulik	1st Place WINNER TIE - 10 Votes
Clayton Chapman	1st Place WINNER TIE - 10 Votes
Dario Schicke	2nd Place - 3 Votes
Awesome to see a tie for Best Chef.

Best Restaurant
Grey Plume	1st Place WINNER - 9 Votes
Boiler Room	2nd Place - 6 Votes
Block 16	3rd Place - 5 Votes
Avoli Osteria	4th Place - 4 Votes
Dario's Brasserie	5th Place TIE - 3 Votes
Lot 2	5th Place TIE - 3 Votes
The Best Restaurant list makes me smile. Good job!

Best Dish

The Best [DISH] (Specific Item) categories are tricky and risky. I'm super happy to see we had duplicate submissions in every category meaning there are certain things that certain restaurants are known for. I highly encourage you to review all of the submissions for these. If you sort the category column, you can see which restaurants most frequently have a favorite dish. The Best Pasta Dish is interesting because Dante's Bolognese get the most votes (4), but Avoli had the most total mentions (10 vs 7)

Make sure to look at all of the nominees for Favorite Dish (under the More Best Dishes tab). Lots of good things in there.

Best Bowl of Soup (Specific menu item)
Brazen Head: Creamy Baked Onion	Mentioned 2x
Sgt. Peffers: Chicken Florentine	Mentioned 2x

Best Dessert (Specific menu item)
Goldberg's: Bread Pudding	Mentioned 2x
Ted & Wally's: Dutch chocolate ice cream	Mentioned 2x

Best Pasta Dish (Specific menu item)
Dante: Bolognese	Mentioned 4x
Avoli: Carbonara	Mentioned 3x
Avoli: Bolognese Bianco	Mentioned 2x
Avoli: Tajarin all'Uovo w truffles	Mentioned 2x
Dante: Carbonara	Mentioned 2x

Best Pizza (Specific menu item)
Dante: Margherita	Mentioned 3x
La Casa: Hamburger w/ onions & Romano	Mentioned 3x
Pitch: Shroom Pizza	Mentioned 3x
Dante: Amore di Carne	Mentioned 2x
Dante: Funghi Bianco	Mentioned 2x
Sortino's: Johnny's Surprise	Mentioned 2x

Best Sandwich (Specific menu item)
French Bulldog: Pork Belly Sandwich	Mentioned 3x
Block 16: Reuben	Mentioned 2x
Kitchen Table: Meatloaf sandwich	Mentioned 2x
Workers' Takeout: Cuban Pork Roast	Mentioned 2x

Best Steak (Specific menu item)
Drover: Whiskey steak	Mentioned 5x

Best Vegan Dish (Specific menu item)
Modern Love: Mac & Shews	Mentioned 4x

Favorite Dish
Grey Plume: Duck Fat French Fries	Mentioned 2x
Drover: Whiskey Ribeye	Mentioned 2x
Avoli: Truffle Tajarin all'Uovo	Mentioned 2x
Runza: Swiss Cheese Mushroom Runza	Mentioned 2x