Wave Bistro — Restaurant in Omaha

My wife Mary and I relocated to Bennington, NE from the East Coast in May 2016. We both were raised and lived in Baltimore County, MD most of our lives. Our first date in May 1977 was at Japanese steak house in Baltimore that served hibachi style dinners. It had been our favorite Asian restaurant for many years, which we frequently regularly until it closed in the early 2000’s.

We also had a second home on the Delaware shore beginning in 2004. Mary and I had eaten at various Asian restaurants in both Maryland and Delaware over the years; as well as at Asian themed restaurants on several cruise ships and at Disney World. I also traveled extensively for my career and have eaten at many Asian restaurants with my colleagues throughout the U.S. and in Australia. Therefore, Mary and I have had many Asian dining experiences over the last 39 years that we have been together.

On 9/23/16, Mary suggested we try eating at Wave Bistro to celebrate my recent birthday. We had passed the Wave Bistro frequently since moving to the Omaha area, but we had never stopped to eat there yet. I will be honest, I was not really in the mode for Asian food that day, but I agreed since my wife wanted to try something new for my birthday.

We were both extremely surprised and pleased from the moment we stepped inside the door. The ambiance and décor of the restaurant was exquisite. Our waitress, Julianna, was extremely pleasant and very attentive. Julianna first served us the complimentary Asian bread with almond butter spread; which we both loved. Your homemade Asian rolls are incredible; soft warm centers with a harder outer crust that tasted like fortune cookies. The rolls with your homemade almond butter spread were incredible. Even though Mary is a gluten-free diner, I know she will definitely make an exception for your Asian rolls whenever we eat at your lovely restaurant in the future.

That day, Mary had your Teriyaki Chicken and I had your Sliced Beef with Garden Vegetables. Both the chicken and beef were perfectly cooked and very tender. The vegetable medleys that came with our entrees were extremely fresh and tasted delicious. At the end of our meal we both felt the same way about our first dining experience at Wave Bistro. Given our extensive Asian dining experience over the last 39 years, your meals were without doubt some of the BEST ASIAN FOOD WE HAVE EVER EATEN! You will definitely have frequent customers from this point forward in the two of us.

We plan to be dining at Wave Bistro again later this week or over the weekend when my sister and brother-in-law come to visit us again from Prairie du Chien. We want to treat them to a special dinner for helping us around our home the week before last. We cannot think of a better way to thank them for their assistance than to treat them to an outstanding dinner at the Wave Bistro. We will see you again soon.

Thank you, Joe &...

Underwhelming, overpriced, pre-processed, buffet-grade food.

Ok, I read that this place was "top notch" so I had to try it. My first mistake was believing the Open Table App... my second mistake was driving 45-minutes to check it out.

This place is definitely confusing in terms of its veritable menu. Asian, Mediterranean, Australasian, Cajun-Creole... who knows. It was more of a fusion hodgepodge, but that would have been fine if the food was good quality.

Everything was either from a can, a bottle, or a box... which gave everything that "buffet food" taste and texture. Just gross.🤮

I ordered the Green Thai Curry Chicken... which was supposed to be "spicy"... but I think they forgot the spice... along with the salt and pepper. It had zero flavor (except for the over use of concentrated coconut milk)... and the huge chunks of barely chopped onions. I don't think I could intentionally make chicken as flavorless as they do... and..it came out warmishly room temperature.

My son ordered the orange chicken... which looked and tasted like someone just microwaved a frozen P.F. Chang dinner and put it on a plate. There was just a weird consistency to the chicken too.

My wife had some beef dish... which looked lovely in terms of presentation... but the straight-from-the-bottle maraschino cherries threw me for a loop. It was just weird.

My kids ordered the tri-Crème Brûlée with "seasonal fruit"... which was more like three different flavors of something from a box... with canned whipped cream and... yep, you guessed it... one maraschino cherry on top of the whipped cream. Apparently, bottled maraschino cherries are in season... who knew??

I joked that the food seemed like they were either just microwaving frozen food from the store... or... buying bulk processed food and just serving it from a buffet table in the kitchen.

Half of the staff was friendly... but the other half, to include the dang hostess, were troglodytes that didn't talk or interact.

Overall... given the incredibly high prices of the low-grade, pre-processed food... I would recommend just skipping this place. It's a good thing I didn't order their $23 bowl of "cajun" gumbo... because I would have had to cry at the table... and no one wants to see a big Cajun dude cry in public.

To the owner(s) of this place... the ambiance was ok... but the effort put into the food was nearly insulting in relation to the high prices...

High Quality of service Again I must begin by stating that I am somewhat new to the area in which we now live. In my previous city even being a very large city I cannot think of a restaurant that we were not treated well. That experience has become an expectation for me and my husband. Now that we live here we have had to come to terms with restaurants no longer took the time to treat us like we were special. We actually put a lot of thought and time into this theory. We tested the most expensive restaurants in town; needless to say we had awful service. My husband would not allow me to leave, we stuck it out. I finally had enough of no water in my glass, never getting a wine selection, or a menu. I found a manager and things did get better, but it was short lived. Needless to say we gave up on the thought until; last weekend. We stopped at restaurants that we had heard nothing about. We thought it was going to be a quick Asian meal. To our surprise we walked into the restaurants and every table had crisp clean white linens. We were immediately greeted and taken to our table. The Waiter brought a wine menu while another person pored our ice water. I was quite indecisive about my wine choice and asked for a moment to decide. The waited politely said “sure” and walked away. Before I could look up again, he came to the table with samples of what wines he thought I may like. He was not only initiative, he was correct, the wine was great. We again were not sure about the food selection, and he made a recommendation that was delicious. Every course was delivered in a graceful manner. Every plate had an impressive presentation. The waiter noticed that my husband was using his chop sticks, and that I was not. He took the time to come over and offer a demonstration on how to use them. When the waiter brought my husband the check he without being prompted wrote the name of the wine that he had chosen for me so that my husband could pick up a bottle. The owner made it a point to come and ask how our experience was. I have now changed my mind, that I can have excellent service in a r restaurant once again. I must say the service at Wave Bistro...