Wilson & Washburn — Restaurant in Omaha

I've had 2 different experiences at this place. One good, one pathetic.

Several times I've been with one other adult to have a drink prior to a Saturday matinee show at the Orpheum. Those times, I've always had the same bartender and her drinks are great. We always sit at the bar. The service is a bit slow, but they seem to be short staffed just like most other businesses right now. No one is working slowly on purpose, just behind because there's a lot to keep up with.

And then, once in November on a Sunday, I was in with 2 other adults and my 4-year-old, again prior to a matinee at the Orpheum. Because of how many people in our party, we did not sit at the bar. Additionally, the aforementioned bartender was not there. The service and staff working that day, both the alternate bartender and the server, were the absolute two worst and most apathetic service-industry people I have ever encountered. I have never seen someone so slow to make cocktails. She either was not trained properly or just didn't care. The server clearly did not care about us, I suspect because we had a child with us. I would not have thought this location hostile to families, considering they have a full menu and it was the middle of the day. I was clearly wrong.

So, we have a 2 p.m. matinee 1.5 blocks away. We arrived to W&W at about 1:20. Waitress came over with waters promptly and I explicitly told her we would just be having a drink, because we were going to the 2 p.m. show. She then doesn't come back for about 12-13 minutes for our drink order. So now it's 1:33-ish, but we aren't panicking about time just yet. She puts in our order promptly. Then ten more minutes go by. I'm watching the bartender the whole time, and I can see she's working on only our drinks, but at a snail's pace. After ten minutes, at 1:43, the waitress brings 2 drinks — a bloody Mary (with NO ICE in it) and a Shirley temple for the kid. In ten minutes this person has made one cocktail but failed at it, and put sprite in a cup and dumped in some grenadine!

The bartender has now started working on drink number 3 of 4. That one gets finished at 1:45, and I hear her tell the waitress "I'll have the fireside fizz in a minute." When the waitress brings drink 3 of 4, I tell her to just cancel the last one – we don't have time to wait for it to get made still and I don't want to have to chug a glass of alcohol. No apology to me for the wait or for my experience clearly being unsatisfactory. I can think of 1 other time in my life where the service was so appalling that I did not leave a tip at all. That day was #2. It was absolutely beyond the pale.

The worst part – I email the address listed on the website, which goes to a Travis. I explain my experience and dissatisfaction with it to him, and he never bothers to even reply. So clearly, this mentality of zero cares given about the customer experience or satisfaction comes from the top down. This location will be permanently off my list of options if I have my kid with me from now on, and I won't go back kid-less unless I have no other options. One bad experience can sully the good ones. Travis had the opportunity to apologize and make up for a poor experience, and he...

First time visiting this establishment and definitely the last.

Came for happy hour which was less than happy in this mostly dark environment.

Ordered a couple of cocktails, a Moscow Mule for my bride and a house special, Queen of the Underworld. Mule was weak, but the Queen was good. I also had a Makers Mark Mule, which was also not as good as I have had in other places we frequent.

Our very friendly bartender took my wing order as an appetizer, 8 wings, char buffed in a spicy garlic buffalo sauce. It was served with the usual choice of ranch or blue cheese and I opted for the latter. No bunny food with it however. They were good, but nothing to write home about and for $12.00, way over priced.

We both ordered an entree, my bride had the Fish & Chips (what we really came for as I was told these were the best In Omaha) and I steeped out On a limb and had the vegan beet burger.

Sides with the F&C were house cut fries and coleslaw and with the burger, house chips.

Let’s start with the burger. So I dislike beets altogether, but could not tell I was eating beets at all, other than by color. The outside was nicely crisped and the inside rather soft. There was a peanut butter sauce and pickled japs on the burger served on a soft bun. First bite was ok, nothing bad, but nothing really good either. It was very dry, so I asked for a side of the peanut sauce. That helped slightly but not enough as it still felt like I was eating the desert to my pallet. The chips were also very salty, so only had a few. I finished the burger, that was not an easy task.

Now the famous F&C. So my wife immediately was happy with the batter, which was a traditional heavy beer batter type. While the fish itself was good, the batter was too thick and too salty. She peeled off the batter and ate the fish alone. The coleslaw was also a disappointment as it was mixed with what tasted like a taco seasoning packet, which I liked (I tried a bite), but that she dislikes very much. So all in all, she did not enjoy any of it and we won’t be visiting again.

Our total bill Was...

Top 10% Omaha Reviewer. Follow me on here or Instagram @markthisplacedown for more reviews.

WHAT I ORDERED Fish & Chips (Cod, house beer batter, coleslaw, tartar sauce, house cut fries).

Old Fashioned.

The Fish & Chips were really good. I waited 5mins before eating (I was talking to a stranger at the bar) and the food was still plenty warm when I started to eat. The meal comes with 2 large pieces of fish and the batter is really tasty. I’m generally not a big coleslaw guy but theirs was pretty good because it’s not like your normal bland coleslaw.

The Old Fashioned tasted exactly the way it should.

MENU The menu is a little smaller here but you have a few good options for bar snacks (a lot of them are pretty unique), sides like salads and soups, main dishes (mostly finger food), 2 desert choices. There also appears to be a brunch menu on the weekends.

For a full menu visit wilsonandwashburn.com

VISITING CONDITIONS I came here by myself around 7:30pm on a Friday night. Decided to sit at the bar which was pretty crowded but the rest of the establishment wasn’t too busy. I got my drink and food pretty quickly.

ESTABLISHMENT Wilson and Washburn has tall ceilings, exposed brick walls, and dim lighting. The bar is located near the entrance with maybe 15 seats or so. There are two TVs next to the bar for those who enjoy watching something while enjoying your meal and/or drink. There are a few lower tables but most of them are high tops. The interior is narrow and long. Plenty of seats though.

STAFF Since I sat at the bar I was attended to pretty quickly. The bartender was friendly and made my drink really fast and also assisted me with my food order quickly.

PRICING The drinks are around $6-10. The appetizers are around $6. The sides are around $5. The main attractions are between $9-12.

LOCATION 1407 Harney St Omaha, NE 68102

If you like a mellow hangout spot with your classic bar foods you can definitely MARK THIS PLACE DOWN...