Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Omaha

Let me start by saying that I expect a top tier dining experience when paying $300+ for a meal. Most steakhouses that people recommend fall very short of being a great experience. Me and my wife have been in Omaha for 2 years now and we have tried several of the "best steakhouses in Omaha". Flemings is only the second to live up to that reputation. It took us a long time to try Flemings because when we first moved here before our house was ready we attended the fixed Thanksgiving Menu at Flemings and we didn't think it was great, though it wasn't bad.

We threw caution to the wind and booked another dinner here for our anniversary. Like most high end restaurants they left a little note on our table acknowledging the event, which is always nice. Our waiter Michael was a lot more informal than we typically see at a restaurant of this caliber but we didn't mind, in fact it was nice break from overly stuffy experiences. He was very excited about his upcoming wedding and it was nice to see someone so into their job these days.

I ordered a handful of cocktails and their bartenders did an excellent job with lesser known drinks (The Last Word and an Aviation), they acknowledged they were unable to properly make a Remember the Maine due to lack of an ingredient instead of trying to sub something else in, which was nice to hear.

We ordered several appetizers which were all well done. The carpaccio was fairly untraditional with fried capers and a Dijon mustard sauce and most notably a shredded hard boiled egg. The risks worked well and it was excellent. The soups and salad were also prepared very well.

We ordered two steaks for dinner and three Ala cart sides. The steaks were properly temp'ed and very tender, they are clearly sourcing excellent meat and it shows. The dry-aged ribeye didn't have the normal heavy earthly flavors of dry-aged meat and I assume it wasn't aged for more than a few days. Nonetheless the prices for the steaks were very reasonable, even the dry-aged one. Both sauces that we ordered for the steak were very well done too.

The sides were above average, though the onion rings were a little lacking, the panko crust just doesn't adhere well to the onion creating a bit of a mess. Battered in my experience works better, but we knew what they were before we ordered. The mushrooms and lobster Mac and cheese were both excellent even at $22 for the Mac and cheese, totally worth it.

We finished off our meal with a cheesecake, which was one of the best ones ive had outside of NYC, I am unsure if they are making them in house or shipping them in, but whatever they are doing keep it up, it is increasingly hard to find a decent NY Cheesecake and they nailed it.

Overall I wish we had returned a bit earlier after our first so-so thanksgiving experience, they are clearly in the top 2-3 steakhouses in Omaha and I don't say that lightly. You will get what you pay for and then some here. Expect a full meal with drinks for 2 people to run $300+ but it will not be...

Group dinner on 03-31-2019, and it seemed the staff wasn’t really ready for guests when we arrived for our 5 p.m. birthday celebration reservation. The staff seemed a bit confused and disorganized.

We waited an unusually long time to be seated in a nearly deserted dining room.  I’d submitted a special request to recognize my guest's daughter’s birthday with my reservation, but was disappointed when the greeter was surprised when I asked about my request.

At last year’s birthdays (we celebrated 4 at Flemings), we found a special card and small table decoration waiting when we arrived at our table - and our special occasion family member received a complimentary dessert. There was none of that last evening. The birthday guest was very disappointed, as was I. Our wait person did finally acknowledge our special occasion on her second visit to our table, but that was the extent of anything “special” (*they did put a candle on the dessert I bought for our birthday guest).

We waited an awkwardly long time for our wait person's first visit to our table, and again for her second visit to our table to take our drink order. We finally received part of our drinks via a different server, and eventually had to ask the manager for assistance in getting our full drink order completed.  The last time that evening we saw the manager.

When our wait person came and took our dinner order, we requested to have bread delivered right away. Finally, after a longer than usual wait, our salads arrived via another server and we again requested bread. After another wait, bread finally arrived. Our entrees and sides were served and the quality and preparation were done very well.

I'd hoped that even though the restaurant had made no special arrangements for our special birthday - that it would be done with dessert, but I was mistaken.  I decided to buy the chocolate lava cake (annual birthday tradition) for the special occasion.

Our after-dinner discussion last evening included for the very first time talk of perhaps now trying a different restaurant for special occasions – even after many years of tradition.

Very...

Let me preface this with the fact that I am not one to spend these sort of prices on a meal. I'd prefer to make my own steak at home. But we had a gift card to Outback which we discovered we could use here as well, so it was either 2-3 Outback meals, or try this place once.

The atmosphere is amazing. Very dark, rich wood and leather feel. Loved it. The wine menu being on a tablet PC was sort of strange, but I suppose modern and convenient.

We started with the crab cake appetizer, which was delicious, if a little small for two people to share. And I'm not usually one to dip crab cakes in sauce, but whatever sauce came out with these was amazing.

We polished off our appetizer and sat for a moment or two. Before long, the man I assume was the manager walked over to us and complimented us on our appetizer choice, and then let us know it would be a couple minutes on our steaks. I'm very laid-back, so this was fine by me, but I suppose with these prices comes better service. The manager proceeded to offer us free salads (something around a $15-value for two), so we took advantage. I got the caesar and my wife got the house. Both were very good, and mine came with dried prosciutto bits, which were quite tasty.

Finally, to our steaks. As I said, I'm not generally one to go to such an expensive place, but I have to admit these were the best steaks I've ever had in a restaurant. We both got the main filet, and they melted in your mouth. I got the bearnaise sauce, and was struggling because the steak by itself was amazing, but the sauce was also delicious. I went every-other-bite.

We also got the Fleming's potatoes, which were very good, but so rich and heavy. We had to take them home.

Overall, it was a very good experience. But at almost $150 for the two of us, including tip, this won't be a place we go very often. It was very good, but $150 is...