Sondra Z.
Yelp
An absolutely fabulous addition to the Omaha restaurant scene. Thanks to Instagram, I heard about this place before it opened and was able to get a reservation for their first weekend.
First, the decor. It is a beautiful space. The mirrors make it seem bigger than it is as does the huge open kitchen. The attention to detail is obvious in the rocks glass design that mimics the logo, the metal toothpicks for the drinks, and the monogrammed bread plates.
We started with the Men of the West cocktail, the carpaccio, and the nigiri sampler. We had a debate at the table what the inspiration for the cocktail name was - one of us sure it was an Old West reference and the other thinking it was Lord of the Rings. We asked our waitress who checked and our little geek hearts loved that it is LOTR reference. Not to mention it is a fun new twist on an Old Fashioned.
The Nigiri sampler was a great start with tuna, Scottish Salmon, and yellowtail. The quality of the fish was outstanding, hard to say which bite was my favorite. We stayed with the raw theme and also had the carpaccio. It is a nice mild base for the Parmesan and crispy capers. The focaccia bread served with it was perfect, but the star of the dish was oddly the crispy capers, they really took it up a notch.
Our mains were the Scottish Salmon and the Pasta Amatriciana. The salmon sat on a bed of pea and carrot risotto that seemed to be manifesting Spring. It was perfectly cooked risotto, which is saying something. The salmon, while lightly covered in sauce, still has a crispy skin. I could eat this dish over and over again.
The pasta is made in house and was perfectly al dente in a mild red sauce. Both were good, but the salmon was the winner for us.
We closed with more cocktails, this time trying the scofflaw, and dessert. The scofflaw is a surprisingly light drink for a whiskey cocktail and a new favorite of mine. For dessert we had the chocolate torte and the berries and cream. Each of us picked one of these as a favorite dessert, so a nice variety. While I love chocolate, the panna cotta in the berries and cream was my personal preference, with the mint leaves the perfect touch.
If there was any off note it was the uneven pacing. This is food meant to be savored, yet our mains came out before we had finished our starters and at a two-top table there wasn't even space so we had to scramble a bit. And then things swung the other direction. We put in the order for our second round of cocktails when our mains were delivered but had to remind our waitress about them later. We got them as we finished our meal. Fortunately we had already decided to try dessert.
Despite this I would say service overall was good. There is a plethora of staff swarming around keeping an eye on everything. At one point I noticed a waiter with a dessert in his hands get stopped by a patron. Another staff person swooped by and took the dessert to the waiting table so the original waiter could keep talking. It was like a choreographed dance.
I'm sure the minor thing of the pacing will get evened out. We were there the Saturday evening of their very first week, so some grace is due. I look forward to seeing how the kinks are worked out next time we go, because we're already planning to return!