Kari S.
Yelp
I'll start with the positive-This is a beautiful bistro, loads of ambience, and a charming wait staff. If it weren't for the poor quality of the food we would dine here weekly. Not sure what's happened at M's but we've had better meals on an airplane.
We started with the burrata from the daily specials, which we thought would have meant it was superfresh since it was a daily special. The burrata was served with prosciutto, dressed greens and toasted bread with fig spread. Sounds great, but the burrata was dried out and more or less solid, none of that yummy slightly liquid and oozey creaminess. It had zero flavor to it, none of the rich buttery flavor that we expected from fresh burrata. The prosciutto was stiff, dried out, stuck together, and completely hard.
The dressed greens were quite wet,
not with the dressing, but watery. The toasted (supermarket white) bread was completely hard as a rock and would have made better croutons for the caesar salad or crushed to make bread crumbs, not browned and sent out on a plate as part of an appetizer.
Another in our group ordered the black bean cakes which were fine, but left them feeling slightly sick afterwards.
The entrees were equally disappointing. The fettuccine with pesto was over cooked and the pesto was completely tasteless.
The chicken satay, and pork satay were both dried out, hard, and old. The "basmati" rice was not basmati, most likely boxed minute rice.
We tried to salvage the meal with an order a crème brûlée to share. The portion was generous and pretty tasty, though the custard was still a bit too chilled, and the crunchy top layer wasn't quite warm. But it was delicious, and after our sad starters and entrees it seemed like the only triumph of the evening.
I don't know what has happened to M's Pub, it used to be a sure thing for a stylish evening with interesting and expertly prepared dishes. Omaha is full of restaurants- head down the street to La Buvette, or The Boiler Room instead. The cuisine at Cibo Vino is excellent, though the interior decor is a little lacking. The kitchen staff at the incredibly delicious Ooh De Lally and La Bodega are hitting all the high marks that M's is missing.
The 5 pg menu at M's is maybe a little too ambitious, especially since our food was old and tasteless.
M's may want to rethink their menu/chef/ kitchen staff. There is a lot of competition out there