Johnny's Cafe
We found mixed reviews of the oldest steak house in Omaha, but that didn't stop us from checking this place out. After listening to our GPS, which really couldn't find the place, we opened our eyes and there it was right in front of us.
This is an old-timey place, it's very cool, and the food is totally food-coma inducing. One could image the Rat Pack dining here. It is dark and awesome - every trip to Omaha should start here. This place has been an institution in Omaha since 1922. The last remodel was in the 1970s and it feels like you walked into a time warp.
JE ordered the cottage cheese spread to start (our server suggested it). It was small curd cottage cheese with herbs, garlic, and who knows what to spread on your rolls and crackers. It was delicious.
Both of us ordered the prime rib lunch special which is available M-F for $12.99 -- and it's quite the bargain. It comes with soup, salad, rolls, a potato choice and a "lunch cut" of prime rib which is giant.
JE said, "Are you sure this is the lunch cut?" Our waitress, spunky Becca, assured us it was and said, "you should see the dinner cut". It was at least an inch thick and falling off a dinner plate. We were in shock.
The cheese soup was good and it tasted as if you took the packet from mac and cheese at home and made it into a soup. You have to like the taste of that to enjoy it.
The mashed potatoes were good but they had an odd taste to them that we couldn't figure out.
The prime rib was divine. It's probably the best prime rib JE had ever eaten and I have to agree with him. The location of the restaurant in the stockyard area of Omaha just makes it even better in our opinion. The cut of the prime rib and the size alone, along with everything else that comes with it, exceeds the bang for the buck for this prime rib special.
There were mostly older patrons in the restaurant, but some younger people were there for lunch too.
On the way out, we noticed their wall that documented the many years they have been in business in Omaha. Each decade was displayed and had a menu attached if possible. In the 1930s, our lunch would have been maybe $.85 for all the food we had.
If you want a great place to eat some meat, check out Johnny's Cafe in Omaha. The Smiths might have thought meat was murder, but with the portion sizes at this place, the only thing being murdered is your waistline. Just don't trust your GPS to find it perfectly.
There are only a handful of authentic "Old Style" steakhouses left in Omaha. The family run places that made their mark on the Omaha restaurant scene in the 1950s-1990s. As the families have aged and, well, died off, the younger generations have balked at taking over, as running a restaurant is very long, hard work.
ReplyDeleteI haven't eaten at Johnny's in probably 15 years...it was the bad service, not the food, that broke us of the habit of eating there. Plus the heavy duty food. FYI, Johnny's had a great cameo role at the start of the film About Schmidt, starring Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates.
The biggest shock of my dining life. Started in the entrance Hall where the first familiar face I bumped into was the portrait of Smiley Johnny shaking handw with the owner in a wide olfashioned frame and ended up with myself in a semicomatose state sunk deep into an amazing leather seat at a very private corner wishing just passionately in my head to be found three days later.
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