Bärchen Beer Garden — Restaurant in Omaha

We tried Bärchen for the first time on the 24th of last month, i struggled with deciding to leave a review or not, until i spoke with some friends that had similar experiences there.

We, my partner and I, decided to try it for her Birthday. We got there around 6:30, it wasn't overly busy or loud so those were definite positives. Lets start with Service. Walking in the bartender grunted a "welcome, menus here, sit where ever" at us. The was the first point that made me frown, but brushed it off, grabbed our menus and sat down. Our server briefly stopped to drop off water and 2 cups then disappeared. We waited a little over 5 minutes for her to reappear, only to see her go to a table that sat down after we did, laughed, chatted took their orders first, then came to us. We ordered the mushroom Swiss burger, and a the Bärchen burger with sauce on side, 1 soda, a Moscow Mule, and a side of ranch for my fries. Drinks came at a decent time, and food a bit longer than i would expect for a couple cheeseburgers. The food itself was very good, cooked right and very delicious, the Moscow Mule on the other hand, not so much. My partner said that was the worst Moscow Mule she has ever had, the portions were not right in it at all, but she held her tongue and drank it anyway. As for the side of ranch, that was the smallest of little cups, and was just sour cream and ranch seasoning mixed together.

Watching the bartender i noticed every time people came in that he would scowl and shake his head a bit and grunt the same "greeting" we received. our server, only stopped to check on us as we were finishing our food, and wasn't the one to bring our food out at to us even. Then just to cash us out, so not very attentive at all.

Prices, the prices were a bit high but being it was to be Wagu beef patties, i figured that was why. All their burgers are 2 patties, and we were expecting 2 big patties like any other bar burger. Expecting that my partner asked if she could just do a single patty instead, which they did. Sadly our expectations were wrong. The burgers we got were basically the same size as a Double Quarter pounder (my double cheese burger) and a Quarter Pounder (her mushroom swiss burger) from McDonalds. Very disappointing for a $16 (mine) double cheese burger and a $18 (hers) single cheese burger, and sadly taking 1 patty off didn't lower the price of hers at all! My soda came in a basically clear solo cup, our water cups were larger Dixie cups. I have never been to a bar that uses such cheap cups instead of normal glasses, maybe that's why prices were high as well. Her Mule was $10, way more than any other place we have been, and well over priced for not being made right, and looking at the drink prices for the rest,lets just say they were all overpriced.

Overall, the food was delicious, service was bad, and prices were ridiculous. Likelihood of ever...

Food was great 5, "service" was horrible 1.

This was the third time we tried going, the first time we were actually able to get food. The first time, the bartender said she's the only person working the floor so no food service. The second time we called to confirm they were open and good get food (like the website/their fb comments showed) and we were told no.

The third time, we got there and were told "seat yourself but order at the bar". Okay, we can do that, kinda weird considering they used to come to the table with an ipad to take your order. We look at the menu left on the tables and go to the bar to order. As we're waiting for service, the bartenders friends came in and she excitedly went over to them to talk before helping us.. which is fine, I get being excited to see your friends but..... They were out of most beers we requested :/ We ordered two burger meals and a pretzel (to go with the coupon they're advertising on fb).

After awhile, she brings the food out. The food was great! We really enjoyed it all. When ready to pay, we had to go up to the bar to pay. When presenting the bartender with the coupon, she got upset and said "you really should have told me this before you ordered. You're only supposed to get one pretzel piece free, not two". The menu doesn't have sizes to choose from, the coupon doesn't say there's a size OR that you need to tell the server before ordering, and the picture displayed on the coupon shows it's two pieces. Nothing lead us to believe there were options on the pretzel sizes.

The meal was being comped by the manager due to him reaching out on FB regarding them being closed the two times we tried ordering before. When I brought the message up to the bartender, she got mad and said "fine we just won't charge you for anything." and voided the whole tab. We were prepared to pay for the drinks and tip. After being told they were card only, I felt awkward tipping with the cash I had but I wasn't given another option.. She didn't really deserve a tip, but I always tip 20% minimum regardless.

All in all, it was a really disappointing experience for us. I was excited for my boyfriend to try the burgers after I told him about them before but after these 3 experiences, I don't think it's worth a trip back. I do appreciate the manager reaching out on fb to apologize for being turned down for service when they should have been serving, but the in person experience with the bartender (dark hair, female) all three times...

Here’s the thing, I really like Bärchen…it’s honestly one of my favorite places in Omaha. It is easy and affordable for me to eat vegan and gluten free especially during their happy hour. The reason why I can’t wholeheartedly give them five stars is because there is a complete lack of consistency across the board. Every time I go in I never know what my experience will be. Sometimes the wait staff says fries don’t come with happy hour burgers and charge extra for them while sometimes I order my burger like usual and fries automatically come with it. Sometimes my burger comes with toppings and dipping sauce and other times I have to ask for them to be brought out on the side after the fact. I’ve inquired repeatedly about the sweet sauce that (usually) comes on the vegan burger and I’ve been told something different almost every time. Once I was told it’s Thai chili sauce mixed with vegan mayo, once I was told that they don’t serve it anymore because the cook that made it was no longer employed there, once I was told that it was a chipotle mayo-the list could go on and on. Tonight I think I reached a breaking point when I went in during happy hour and realized (after the fact) that I was charged full price for my vegan burger AND an additional $2 for a side of fries. If I was charged full price why were fries extra? So not only did I miss out on happy hour pricing but I also got up charged on fries that should have automatically come with the burger. Sometimes I can go in and get a vegan burger with fries during happy hour and with a tip spend around $10-12 which is amazing especially in this economy. Other nights like tonight I can easily spend close to double that ($18-20) for the same exact meal during happy hour. It’s very frustrating.

I love supporting local businesses but just because a place is local doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be held accountable when service and pricing (especially) is so all over the place.

Ultimately my recommendation for anyone wanting to try some of the best burgers in town is to try them out knowing that you should go through your ticket with a fine tooth comb before closing out your tab. Ask questions and hold them to the prices and items that are listed on their own menu because the staff doesn’t seem to be on the same page and customers are the ones who pay the...