Bohemian Cafe - Omaha, NE

Posted By Michael Stern on May 1, 2008 2:44 PM

When we flew into Omaha, we headed straight for South 13th Street to have dumplings and kraut at the Bohemian Café. It was three in the afternoon, but we were hungry, and one of the best things about this old-time neighborhood restaurant is that once it opens at 11am, it stays open until the last pilsner is drunk at the bar late at night.

Vitáme Vás is the house motto, meaning “we welcome you,” and in fact this is a place where all are made to feel welcome, whether you are an old-timer whose parents brought you here decades ago or a visiting fireman who wants a fun-time meal with polka music setting the beat in the dining room. It is an immensely cheerful place, a vast, multi-room eating hall decorated with colorful old-country woodwork and pictures of men and women in traditional peasant attire; tables are patrolled by veteran professional waitresses in bright red dirndl skirts.

The traditional way to begin a meal is with a cup of liver dumpling soup, which is homely and homey; we also love the plain-dumpling, chicken-stock soup that is often available as an alternate. Every meal begins with a basket of chewy sour rye bread. The big menu includes American-style steaks and seafood, a quartet of specials every day, and traditional Czech specialties. Foremost among the kitchen’s accomplishments is roast duck – half a bird with crisp skin and flavorful meat that pulls off the bone with ease. We are particularly fond of the sauerbraten, which is a stack of pot-roast-tender hunks of beef that are a joy to pull apart with the tines of a fork. We also like the Czech goulash, a vivid red, smoky pork stew. There is a large choice of side dishes, but the two for which the Bohemian Café is best known are dumplings and kraut. The former is a pair of saucer-size slices of doughy matter covered with whatever gravy your main course demands; the latter is a fetching sweet and sour mix, thick as pudding, dotted with caraway seeds. Whatever entrée you choose, it will come flanked by dumplings and kraut – an awesome presentation that is a challenge to all but the mightiest appetite.

Paper place mats remind diners that this restaurant is home of the Bohemian Girl Jim Beam commemorative bourbon bottle (there is a huge collection of Jim Beam commemoratives in the entryway); and the mats also list the lyrics to the house song, which has been used in radio advertisements:

Dumplings and kraut today
At Bohemian Café
Draft beer that’s sparkling, plenty of parking
See you at lunch, Okay?

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Posted By Mike J on December 26, 2011 9:19 PM

Worst experience of my life.

The food is not freshly cooked. The soup comes and it is noodles and chicken broth. No vegetables, no chicken, just bad broth and noodles with 0 flavor. I ordered the schnitzel and was expecting everything to be made fresh for the prices. The meat was so old that it took a glass of water after every bite to choke it down. You heard me right they don't even cook the meat fresh for you. The waitress said they fry it and then it sits in a pan waiting to be served. You don't even get a whole piece of veal. It was 3 or 4 pieces of veal that had been presliced for that extra dry taste you want. The description says with mushrooms and onions. I got one canned mushroom and 0 onions. The dumplings weren't even made in house either. It sits in a pan for hours waiting for you to order it and then when you get it it is dried out and disgusting. The waitress admitted that nothing was made in house at this point and that the mashed potatoes were boxed mashed potatoes. Yes, you heard me correctly they can't even make a dish that only takes 15 minutes and 0 talent.

So you're thinking well the food sounds pretty bad but hey maybe it's a good price. 17.50 for all of that. More than you would spend at most steak houses in this town. The cheapest meal on the menu is the goulash and it was 13.50 and my girlfriend ordered that one. The same exact experience. Everything was premade, meat so dry you can't swallow.

So i think to myself should I just try to finish. Nope. I'm not paying 40 bucks for two meals that are disgusting. I bring it to the manager and say "You are charging some really high prices for food that is not to that standard." His reply "Pay for it or i will call the cops." I say "Listen I'm really not trying to be a dick about this. I have worked in restaurants my entire life. I know how this industry works. I know what 3 hour old meat looks and tastes like. I can tell the difference between fresh and boxed mashed potatoes. I know the difference between home made sauces and store bought sauces. This meal clearly did not cost you anywhere near 40 dollars to make and I am slightly insulted you would serve this kind of food at those kinds of prices." His reply "I don't care if you didn't like it your going to pay for it." I say " I am willing to meet you in the middle of the road somewhere but i only ate two bites of your food and it was really really bad." And so he called the cops. He called the cops on a paying customer who didn't like his food.

To top it off it was my birthday dinner. Not only would i never eat here again i will see to tell everyone about my experience. Hands down the worst restaurant experience I've ever had at any restaurant ever. I was going into it expecting to have a great meal and came out talking to the cops. I would advise you not to go there under any circumstances ever. Or go there and marvel at the worst place to eat in Omaha. I would put day old Mcdonalds above the.

Overall Rating

goulash

Jaeger Schnitzel

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Posted By James on November 12, 2010 5:39 PM

I'm sorry, but I must disagree with the man who thinks the food is inauthentic and over-gravied. I am 100% Czech, and a cook to boot. There is NOTHING better than the Bohemian Cafe. The roast pork with dumplings and kraut is PERFECTION. The pork has just a hint of caraway, and the kraut is loaded with flavor. It is tangy - that's kraut. If you don't like tart, try the sweet and sauer cabbage. The liver dumpling soup is PERFECTION. Perfect balls of yummy with a tasty broth. The goulash is PERFECTION. The rye bread - well - Ferds is no longer it's old great self, so that's not their fault, but they need to find a better rye bread. This is one restaurant that keeps me coming back over and over. The dumplings are NOT doughy - they are fluffy and cooked perfectly.

Overall Rating

goulash

Liver Dumpling Soup

Jaeger Schnitzel

sauerbraten

Plum Dumplings

roast duck

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Posted By Jim Dudlicek on August 8, 2008 4:32 PM

As someone of Czech stock who grew up on thick, brown food, I was anxious to visit the Bohemian Cafe. I discovered it during research for a business trip to Omaha. The decor was lively and the service outstanding, but I must say the food was a disappointment. It was not up to par with the delights I grew up eating at the many fine Czech eateries in the Chicago area.

Despite the descriptions of other reviewers, my duck was not crispy at all; in fact, the skin was barely palatable. While the meat itself was tender and tasty, the bird came drenched in a thick, brown gravy, atop a bed of dressing; quite unnecessary, considering dumplings were the side dish. The dumplings likewise came drenched in gravy (different than the one on the duck, this with off-putting sweet spice notes that I guessed came from nutmeg), and they were served on a common plate with the sauerkraut, which I found to be much too tart. The dumplings were amply proportioned but just not quite right; they lacked the consistency and chewiness of those found in Chicago's Czech enclaves. Gravy really should be served on the side, allowing the diner to control its flow.

The liver dumpling soup was good, the kolacky tasty and the Pilsner Urquell cold and frosty. But overall, my visit to the Bohemian Cafe was quite a letdown.

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Posted By Seth Cagin on August 18, 2007 9:23 PM

In the culinary wasteland of Nebraska, the Bohemian Cafe is well worth visiting, particularly as it is a short distance off of I-80. The Eastern European food is so old-fashioned that I suspect you would be hard pressed to find anything like it in the Czech Republic, a country that is in a rush to modernize and, well, lighten up. The keyword at the Bohemian, on the other hand, is HEAVY. Nothing green infringed on our plates. If it had, it would no doubt have been buried in thick gravy.

And yet the Bohemian has the virtue of authenticity, and the food, essentially a paean to starch, is pretty irresistable in a down-home, once-in-a-lifetime way. As others have noted, the dumplings and sauerkraut would seem to be the items of most interest here. I would rate the dumplings as "interesting" but the sauerkraut as delicious. A little of the extraordinarily dense dumplings goes a long way, but the servings are huge. The sauerkraut, on the other hand, has an astringency that your meal at the Bohemian sorely requires and more of it would be more.

The bottom line: we passed on dessert. We couldn't resist the sauerbraten and duck and dumplings and sauerkraut, but it really filled us up, more than would be comfortable if it weren't a rare indulgence.

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