Dirty Birds — Restaurant in Omaha

With all the hype I found this spot super underwhelming - but maybe I got the wrong items. Ordered the fried pickles and ‘Red Hot Chili Pepper’ chicken sandwich.

First, the fried pickles were way too thick - they soaked up a ton of oil and if you don’t let them sit for 5-10 mins, they will probably burn your tongue. If you try to bite one in half, they fall apart because the breading isn’t attached to the pickle, it’s more of a shell. If I were to alter them, I would slice the pickles much thinner so they are more like chips that can be just popped into your mouth. Should solve the oil problem and make them more enjoyable to eat overall.

The chicken sandwich looks impressive, but ends up as a mess. When I mentioned how massive it was, the server said “good luck” before walking off. The chicken is far too big for the bun, and it was also dripping wet (see pic: before even picking it up, there was a pool of sauce forming under the bun).

Properly biting into the sandwich is a pipe dream due to its height. Very quickly, one of the pieces of chicken fell out of the sandwich. The bun soaks up a ton of the grease/sauce and it was a soggy mess before I got halfway through the sandwich, making it impossible to reconstruct. I ended up ditching the bun and just eating the chicken by itself.

Constructive feedback; I would suggest making the chicken thinner and/or splitting the sandwich into two sliders. This can barely be eaten as a sandwich in its current form. I did appreciate how much chicken was there, it just all couldn’t fit in the bun.

Also, I’m very sensitive to spice but really enjoy the pain. The chicken had almost no heat. The breading was solid and the chicken was moist, but overall the package did not deliver. Wouldn’t order it again. Stand-alone, the chicken is above average.

My friend had the ‘Omahawt’ sandwich and it had the same problem - the sauce quickly overpowered the bread and it fell apart in their hands. They ended up picking at the bits off their plate.

I will say that the table next to me had the pancakes and chicken, along with a brisket special they had available. They both looked fantastic but I can’t comment on the flavor. They seemed to love it. I’ll definitely be ordering one of those in the future. But when it comes to sandwiches, neither my friend or I walked away satisfied.

Otherwise I thought the atmosphere was nice and staff was friendly. Food took 20 minutes to come out, which felt a little long. They had karaoke on the day I was there, and it was funny to watch. Gonna give them another shot but for now… 2/5 stars. Will update review...

Straight up culinary excellence in Downtown Omaha! This restaurant is a cool and fun little place. I really liked the decor and theme. It is a great addition especially to the Flat Iron building. It is a really nice place and had GREAT SERVICE. The prices weren’t terrible either, especially considering it is a place that serves HUGE PORTIONS!

Also, speaking of the food, it is excellent! I have never had anything quite like this. The flavors are certainly funky but they definitely work. The fried pickles were great, and came out piping hot. And let me tell you what, the entry, which was a “blackberry brie pancake and a whole chicken breast” was excellent. I knew chicken and waffles is great, but this isn’t your regular old chicken and waffles. This is Brie Cheese cooked into a fluffy pancake, slathered with butter and maple syrup and served with chicken. The chicken was excellent as well. I have cooked my fair share of chicken and have eaten plenty. I know what to look for in chicken. I can tell when the oil hasn’t been changed in the fryer, or the breading isn’t being cooked, and where to look. Well let me tell you, this chicken was BOMB. It was great, seriously, the chicken was cooked all the way through, so you aren’t gonna get any weird sickness, but it was also cooked and NOT BURNT. And the best part (and honestly it can be difficult) they did it WITHOUT HAVING UNCOOKED BREADING UNDER THE WING. That is a super hard area to cook because of the way the wing lays on the breast. However, they managed to do it. Seriously props to the chefs on that.

This place should definitely be on your list of places to go in Omaha. I definitely plan on returning again and trying some of the other funky combos they have on their...

Dirty birds. It's filled with friendly people. The menu is small and easy to understand. The drinks and bar are straight forward. However, there are a few things I wish I'd known before coming.

The first thing is the seating. The chairs/benches are very uncomfortable to sit on. Hard and cold. As someone who has issues with sitting on hard unforgiving surfaces that was not fun. Did not try the seating outside.

Second thing would be how short staffed they seemed to be. We got there at 1215 and didn't get our food until 1250. Plus, they also forgot our deviled eggs. However, we gave them grace and didn't offer any complaints. But I have to be transparent in my reviews.

The food is large portions, which can be good for people who might want to share a dish. However, their buns are much too large and don't truly add to the flavor of the dish. I had their 1/2 cheeseburger. The bacon was likely the only thing that had flavor. The rest was pretty mid. Plus the deviled eggs had too much mustard in them.

However, the fried pickles were delicious and they have the best ranch I've had in a long time. The hushpuppies were also pretty good. The honey they used on them was sweet and made them pretty moist.

In conclusion, I'd likely only go back for the fried pickles and hushpuppies. It was a bit overpriced despite the bigger portions due to the flavor and too large flavorless buns. I'd definitely say this place is worth a try but be prepared for long wait times and hard seats.

Side note; they also prefer to do community seating, so you may end up sitting next...