Missouri River Commons (Riverfront Development)

Post by **Brad** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 2:12 pm

I have been back a couple times since and I hour found a couple of their other beers to be ok. However every single time I have gone there, the service has not been good. The best service I have had there was when I sat at the bar and even then the bartender managed to disappear for a long time.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 3:03 am

The World-Herald review damned them with faint praise. And the absolute worst thing you can say in a restaurant review is that the place is as dead as a door nail. She even quoted the owner as admitting nobody is showing up to eat at his restaurant!
I haven't eaten there, and probably won't. In order to get there you quite literally must drive past every other restaurant in downtown and the Old Market. Who is going to do that? If the menu had something unique that was worth driving on past dozens of great places to eat in order to sample something you couldn't get anywhere else, then they might have a shot. But who wants to dine virtually all alone in a gargantuan restaurant with dozens of floor to ceiling windows looking out on pitch blackness during the winter months? If they make it 'til spring it will be a small miracle.

guy4omaha · Post by **guy4omaha** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 3:05 am

I want these guys to succeed but they really keep shooting themselves in the foot.

Last couple visits to the Trophy Room were the usual inconsistency. This last visit was actually pretty decent. We had chicken club sandwiches. Pretty hard to screw them up though. My wife had a decent wine and I had the Amber. It was okay. Not spectacular but drinkable. But overall, there was little compelling to say, Geez, let's come back again. This from a guy who wants them to succeed. The service was the high side of adequate.

Our previous visit about a month ago, the food was fine but unremarkable. Our waitress. Wow! She was really trying so hard she really was. But she made a mistake every time she came to our table. She would even repeat back to us what we said we wanted each time. But when she came back with the next items, she would get at least one of our items wrong. I gave her a decent tip anyway because she was trying so hard and because I figured she isn't going to make it too long as a waitress.

I also think they have problems with consistency between the different batches or lots of their beer. At least I think this is the case with the Triumph. During the Creighton exhibition game against Sioux Falls, I tried a nostalgia pour (for my departed Dad) of their Triumph at the Clink. It was pretty good. Have a bit of a sweet front end with a hint of hop and mineral on the finish. Very good. I had two more that game.

I stopped at the Storz booth again at the season opener a week later. We arrived very early and as such they were changing kegs at the booth. I went back a few minutes later and got what was probably the first pour from the keg. It was very plain compared to the beers the week before. Not necessarily bad but it didn't have any of the finish of hops like the week before. Sunday's game it was the same as the second game with perhaps just a bit more finish. So I think the keg from the exhibition game was a different batch and thus the taste difference. I will say there were more people at the Storz stand by Sunday's game though.

Last year when they started up, I tried the Triumph at Danny's Bar. It was green as in if I knew what snot tasted like, I would imagine it to be like this. Later I bought Triumph at Hy-Vee over the course of several six-packs and they were not necessarily outstanding but passable and definitely not "Green". Then back in January this year, a large group I was with were at the Trophy Room and we were treated to the "Green" batch.

With their other beers, regardless of whether you like them or hate them, I think they have been consistent. The Triumph though. Geez. Given that the stand at the Clink hasn't sold me any "Green" Triumph yet (fingers crossed), I am still holding out hope. Call me stubborn, stupid or both for not giving up.

NEDodger · Post by **NEDodger** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 1:00 pm

The Fiorellas need to buy this and turn it into another Jack Stack's.

Post by **Brad** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 3:19 pm

guy4omaha wrote:I also think they have problems with consistency between the different batches or lots of their beer.

They are still farming it out to a couple different breweries. I am not sure if certain breweries are brewing certain beers or if its just a "whoever has time today, we need another batch of amber."

NEDodger wrote:The Fiorellas need to buy this and turn it into another Jack Stack's.

That would be cool! But I still think they need more down there than the one huge restaurant.

MadMartin8 · Post by **MadMartin8** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 6:22 pm

NEDodger wrote:The Fiorellas need to buy this and turn it into another Jack Stack's.

I would probably live on the River Banks or on the River itself if that happened. I'd be there everyday.

NEDodger · Post by **NEDodger** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 11:36 pm

MadMartin8 wrote:
NEDodger wrote:The Fiorellas need to buy this and turn it into another Jack Stack's.
I would probably live on the River Banks or on the River itself if that happened. I'd be there everyday.

Haha - you and me both! Hmm...put Jack Stack's down there and maybe a Riverfront Place 3 springs up next to the restaurant site

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 6:59 pm

If Jack Stack was there, I'd be there at least once a week.

Greg

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:00 pm

They are building a huge new Jack Stack from the ground up in Lee's Summit.

Greg

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:18 am

Jack Stack is wonderful. Nothing like it up here.

ricko · Post by **ricko** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 7:20 am

I really had high hopes for this place. It's a great looking property. I hope someone gets it right at some point.

Omababe · Post by **Omababe** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:44 pm

nativeomahan wrote:Jack Stack is wonderful. Nothing like it up here.

Jack Stack is very good, but I hope they do not expand and adopt the chain mentality and processes, as in Famous Dave.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 5:33 pm

How hard would it be for the city to start over here? They own the building, the land, the vision?
How long of a rent did they give Storz? How stubborn is the city to admit their mistakes of the past?

Post by **Brad** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 5:54 pm

I think that's why they have recently had the consultants in town.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 6:03 pm

Brad wrote:I think that's why they have recently had the consultants in town.

Omaha and consultants = Omaha Street Cars Paralysis Syndrome.

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 4:54 am

We will know that the city means business when they commission a study on the site.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 3:08 am

We ate at Storz the other evening. Great food (for the most part), and very attentive service. Prices are surprisingly low, too. The place is beautifully decorated for Christmas.
They do need more customers, to be sure. There were only four or five other tables of diners when we were there.
We really enjoyed all of the historic memorabilia on display upstairs in the party room.
As to the beers, I sampled three. The two holiday beers were not available. There is a smokehouse beer that I particularly liked. The others I sampled were just okay.

bigredmed · Post by **bigredmed** » Mon Dec 29, 2014 4:36 am

Went there tonight. Great food. Tried four beers. Drank the Winter Ale and the Kolsch. Great service. Will go back.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Mon Dec 29, 2014 4:52 am

Haha almost a coincidence. I was between there and M's but we ended up at M's. I'll have to make a poit of going to Storz before to long to give it a try.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Mon Dec 29, 2014 4:01 pm

Hopefully they have turned a corner. Surprised they don't do any advertising at UNO hockey games.

Greg

bigredmed · Post by **bigredmed** » Mon Dec 29, 2014 5:30 pm

Greg S wrote:Hopefully they have turned a corner. Surprised they don't do any advertising at UNO hockey games.

Greg

I was thinking the same thing. Frankly Mavpuck's J & B should reach out to them to have a pregame event there this season. Same with the Jays. Better food than the Clink for about the same money.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Mon Dec 29, 2014 5:50 pm

I think DJs Dugout already has the Creighton customers, once the 9th St Tavern took over the former joint... And maybe even The Matt, I think they may already be behind in trying to gain that clientele ...

bigredmed · Post by **bigredmed** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 2:23 am

Went back. Food and beer still good. Service was easily the worst I have experienced in Omaha since 1991. I had a Pinpoint card reward that they refused to honor. That cost me $20. They said my visa was declined. Checked it later and it worked fine.

This is the last time I will go there.

guy4omaha · Post by **guy4omaha** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 5:05 am

We went again before the Creighton/St. John's game this week. The food was good. The two beers I had this time were . . . Maybe outstanding. I really liked their Stout and then I had the Brown Ale that had a real bold, big hoppiness to it. Only bad part of my beers was that I didn't enjoy the dollar beers at the Clink afterward. I started the day thinking I would be able to choke down some Bud Light since they were only a dollar. But after the two full of flavor beers at Storz, I just couldn't get past the first sip of the bud light. Had to throw my two $1 beers away. The service this time was very good. Our waitress was accurate, offered us several free samples, and just had the gift of hospitality. So the last two visits for us the service has been good to excellent. BUT . . . I did see the waitress from two visits prior who had treated us to complete incompetence.

Overall I definitely think the beer is getting better. The food is steady to maybe improving. The service can be still quite variable from one visit to the next. I wouldn't be surprised if the one waitress is responsible for 85% or more of the bad experiences though.

We received a $20 off email from Storz at Christmas so that got us back in the door again. They seem to be improving overall but I don't know if it is at a fast enough pace to survive with all the bridges they've burned with numerous missteps thus far. And each time we go it seems deader and deader in the place. We were there really early this Wednesday though and the place was starting to fill with the Creighton crowd as we left. I really did enjoy the beers this last time.

bigredmed · Post by **bigredmed** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 5:54 am

I had the stout as well. It was good. The burger was good. They claimed that my reward didn't work, so I emailed Pinpoint who reported that they had cashed it tonight.

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Tue May 12, 2015 12:59 pm

Rumor has it that this place is on its way out....

Yet another victim of poor service and doing little to draw patrons on non-event nights.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Tue May 12, 2015 1:42 pm

Is it just that a restraint isn't the most appropriate thing there?

swgiust · Post by **swgiust** » Tue May 12, 2015 2:00 pm

Doesn't surprise me at all. Way to many mistakes and missteps to recover from. I have been there a couple of times. A million dollar building filled up with looks like lawn furniture?? Omaha is a very competitive market. There are some really good restaurants and bars. If you don't impress, I will go somewhere else. It is just that simple.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Tue May 12, 2015 2:44 pm

They were so brutal from the start. The menu was just too high for the starting point initially. They needed to embrace the sports and concert crowd. Never seemed to go after it.

Greg

twiztid1 · Post by **twiztid1** » Tue May 12, 2015 3:46 pm

Sad but not surprising. My first experience with Storz was a pint night launch party at the Moon. The amber ale was not all that good so I was never in a hurry to get down to the restaurant. My only other experience was at Taste of Omaha last year when I wanted a quality beer. I had every intention of going inside Storz, but they had long, fold up plastic tables that kind of killed the spirit of the event. Instead, my group hung out right below Storz on the landing.

I've always meant to get down to Storz to give them a fair shot. But at certain times their menu, prices, or location have caused us to remove it from consideration. It's a tough location for a restaurant. Whatever is there has to be perfect in their operations in addition to having something special or unique to offer.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Tue May 12, 2015 5:27 pm

I wanted them to succeed, but it doesn't sound like it will. I wouldn't be opposed to another, more experience restauranteur going in there, but as mentioned earlier, maybe it isn't the right location for one. Perhaps they should take the building down and open up to development, and by god get Noddle to do it, conflict of interests be damned.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Tue May 12, 2015 6:02 pm

Charlie's on the Lake people were involved in this. Plenty of resturant experience. Putting out your first batch of beer that was undrinkable was a terrible way to start. Add in a bad location and you are spelling the end. As it was said above way too much competition in this city for dinning out and really there is a lot of competition for the local beer crowd. Storz alienated their beer market which was the one thing that could of made them stand out downtown.

DanielBeattyDA · Post by **DanielBeattyDA** » Tue May 12, 2015 9:23 pm

This building needs to go. The amount of land/grass/parking that is utilized for this ONE BUILDING is about equal to the CenturyLink Center. Unless you have a super famous "destination restaurant" that is popular from the start, it's just not going to work. The building needs to go and the surrounding land turned into something else. Have a do-over.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Tue May 12, 2015 10:04 pm

It's sitting on the old Asarco plant. It's been capped and probably can't have pilings or a basement. The idea was to cover the site and put something "small" on it. It's full of lead.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Tue May 12, 2015 10:07 pm

Then 86 the restaurant and the parking lot and put a large green space with a creative landscaping/water feature or maybe some statues and sculptures. Cut the losses. This place and the Maria Sangria space has to be the two worst performing spots downtown.

Post by **nebugeater** » Tue May 12, 2015 10:21 pm

IMO it is not the location or the size.. it is what they have tried there... unsuccessfully. Does/t need to be some well known national NAME place. Just serve a decent menu, threat the people right, do a few things and do them well and the people will flow to the location. Look at some of the hole in the wall places that do well and you can find a formula.

Every time I have been there under either name the food has been marginal at best, service terrible, noisy beyond tolerable and low rent decor. They will not have too many more chances but they can get it right. Let someone like the people with Blue Susi and Roja try something or Parkers.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Tue May 12, 2015 11:31 pm

http://www.hardrock.com

Just saying. Toss one of these in and it's a whole new ballgame.

Omababe · Post by **Omababe** » Wed May 13, 2015 11:46 am

Hard Rock would probably work, but I would much rather see something unique to Omaha in there.

Post by **nebugeater** » Wed May 13, 2015 11:56 am

I could see that working but on the Cafe front they have been closing locations not opening them I believe.

Bob from Omaha wrote:http://www.hardrock.com

Just saying. Toss one of these in and it's a whole new ballgame.

Linkin5 · Post by **Linkin5** » Wed May 13, 2015 2:14 pm

Hard Rock Cafe would be great if it was 1992.