Spezia — Restaurant in Omaha

Returned recently. Adjusted the star rating

This last 2 time I was disappointed by the service along with some of the food. I thought the previous time was a fluke, but this time was worse.

Beef Burgundy 3.5 stars We did the beef Burgundy which was the best of the three. It's heavy on the cream but the beef was a over cooked and tough. I skipped eating the beef and just had it with the mushrooms, but feels like a waste since it's been Burgundy with what was supposed to be beef tenderloin.

The special, a lemon pepper Primavera was exceptionally dry. 3 stars

Cajun salmon Tortellini 3.25 stars The tortellini texture was gummy but at the same time the cheese was bland and dry. The sauce and salmon in the dish was fine.

Calamari 4 stars Fried nice and crispy. It does not come with a sauce, but we would have preferred if there was.

Jumbo shrimp and scallops 3.5 stars 3 shrimp 4 scallops Had I received this fresh and hot it might have gotten a 4 star but I received it after it had been sitting for awhile. At the lukewarm temperature it was fine, with the flavors of the vegetables being the best thing on the plate.

14 oz Ribeye, 5 stars This was a delicious choice. The beef was exceptionally tender.

Previous review This restaurant teters from a 4-5 star for me. It has good to excellent food with a comfortable atmosphere. Being my first visit and with the server issues I placed it at a 4, but if I returned and the food continues to be solid and the service is remedied, I would change it. We tried a number of items while we were there. Meals come with bread served warm, olive oil and balsamic with parmesan cheese for dipping. The bread was a highlight. The crab dip was good. Served with pita and garlic toast. Notable items was their half duck which is mostly deboned. Very easy to eat, also a decent portion size. Flavors on point. On this trip, the alcohol ordered was generous on the boozy side. If you are looking for tiramisu, theirs is not as heavily coffee flavored. Our table was split on the opinion, I personally preferred it, but not felt the same. It was a debate for us, but ultimately it's a preference. The cake is done well and as long as you don't need a strong shot of coffee flavoring, you should like this. Shrimp scampi was fine. Steak is served with an onion, but also a very large potato that's put on a different plate. You can get gorgonzola cheese on it (baked potato) One of the specials, the halibut and lobster ravioli, did stand out. Cooked very nicely with balanced flavor. Had a bit of an issue with our server. He was very busy, but missed out on my salad (I never got it and had to cancel it as my meal came out), had an issue with water refills, and the bill wasn't correct. I asked to have my leftovers to go. He packed it but did not include the sauce that was separate. He was very friendly however.

Pro tip: make reservations. This place gets very busy during the weekends. We couldn't get the time we wanted so if you have a set time,...

We went here last night for our 6:30pm reservation for our 2 year anniversary dinner. We had selected the location based on the atmosphere, cuisine, & overall reviews since we had just moved to Nebraska a month ago. The atmosphere was pleasant and while the reviews were correct that it would be packed so get a reservation, acoustically you could still hold a conversation. We began to get impatient as it had taken our server 7min to greet us w/water and it was another 6min until we had gotten our wine & beer. Following the bruschetta & Caesar salad we thought maybe we were critiquing it a bit much. It turned out we were not. We had the balsamic vinegar bottle leak when we poured and it got on the table. We had asked our server if we could get extra napkins for the table due to the mess. That again took almost 7min at which point my fiance used her dinner napkin to wipe up the mess and when our server came back he gave us silverware rolled napkins. We didn't need silverware just napkins...but okay here's the real issue. Presentation looked great for our meals, but our server Cole had come back before we even got to take a bite & asked how it was. We said it looked nice but had not taken a bite yet. After that he never came back to ask any more or for refills until it looked like we were done. I had ordered beef burgundy and while the sauce and pasta were great, the beef was overcooked and charred. On the other hand my fiance ordered the garlic & herb hunter's beef tenderloin to be cooked medium rare. Her steak was blue rare or almost raw...when I had mentioned this to Cole our server he said well you could've found me & we could warm it up for longer. Besides that sometimes happens when you order rare. Hold up...let me find YOU & this was medium rare not rare when ordered. When I reiterated that part to him he just looked at me with a shocked face and apologized for the inconvenience. I thought we would've been compensated for something considering this situation OR been given a dessert as we booked this as an anniversary dinner just like we have had in the past. We got nothing of the sort & when we went to leave no one at the host stand of 4 people said bye or thank you. To say I was very disappointed for an anniversary dinner among other things is an understatement as it says Spezia: Steaks, Italian, Seafood, but the service...yup I will certainly never be back. My fiance wondered if we would've had a better experience if we sat at the...

First time having Spezia last night, and it was fantastic!

The bread service was delicious - hot rolls that have slight crisp to the outside and steamy, fluffy inside served with butter or balsamic vinegar and oil.

The 𝗰𝗮𝗲𝘀𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗱 wasn’t my favorite. It was lacking dressing and parmesan, so it was a little dry. However, the croutons served on it were seasoned well, crispy, and tasty.

I ordered the honey peppered 𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝗻 which is served with alfredo capellini pasta. This dish was absolutely phenomenal. This was some of the best salmon I’ve had in a long time. Seared well on the outside for a slight char, excellent seasoning, cooked medium. Seriously exceptional. And the alfredo capellini was the perfect compliment.

My son got the 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗮 which I would’ve ordered if he hadn’t. It was incredible. The Plum Creek Farms chicken was breaded well, perfectly crispy on the outside, and juicy on the inside. It was topped with tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella. It was also served with capellini pasta but with a flavorful tomato sauce to compliment the breaded chicken.

For dessert we shared the 𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘂. Again, I will say not my favorite. Tiramisu is one of my all-time favorite desserts so that was unfortunate. The lady fingers were dry and not soaked well enough with coffee liqueur. There was also only a small dusting of cocoa powder on top. This made the mascarpone cheese the dominant flavor and the coffee very subtle and hard to taste. It might have just been an off night for this batch, so I’d likely give it another shot if I hear this is atypical for Spezia.

The ambience was beautiful, especially after a day of rain. The cloudy sky cast a dim, moody light through the large, slanted windows above the booths facing the patio. That, along with abundance of table lamps and candlelight made for a cozy, relaxing dinner.

The bread service and pasta dishes were enough to bring me back again. Go check them out if you haven’t been recently. It’s a great date or family...