In the middle of their lunch rush, my friend Brandy and I walk in to one of the newer restaurants in Downtown Omaha, the Rock Bottom Gold Metal Tap. After taking a quick once-over of the place and seeing the hard-to-miss, rather nice looking bar in the middle of the restaurant we are greeted by a waitress and told that someone would be with us in just a moment. After what seemed to be no longer than a minute, the hostess seats us at a raised table surrounded by what appeared to be over-sized booths. With my back to the door, I found myself staring at exposed brick walls which add a nice touch to the look and feel of the place.
After getting our drinks, Diet Pepsi for me and Iced Tea for her, we decide on Crispy Peppers and Pickles (dill pickle chips and (green) pepper rings) which are tempura-battered and served in what looked like a bamboo steamer. The peppers and pickles were served with a Thai chili sauce, which I thought was going to be spicy, but it gave a nice sweet twist to the dish.
Shortly after we had worked our way through the appetizer, our entrees were being brought to the table. Brandy, ordered the Sonoma Chicken Wrap and I had the Brewer's Club sandwich, both with a side of fries. We decided that we would each take half of our own dish and split the other half, so we could try what the other was having.
For me, both dishes left a little to be desired. The wrap, with roasted chicken, bacon, spinach, tomatoes and homemade guacamole was wrapped in a grilled flatbread that reminded us both of a pita bread. The spinach and the guacamole was a bit much for this wrap if you ask me. I thought it could have used regular iceberg or a shredded lettuce and the guacamole should have been substituted for some ranch or chipotle BBQ sauce of some type. The flatbread added a nice touch and I thought was a smart move instead of having a normal flour tortilla. The chicken itself was delicious, but I would have preferred it to be warm instead of cold.
The Brewer's Club had, of course, turkey, ham, bacon, lettuce and tomato and Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses. Instead of regular mayo, the restaurant used a chipotle mayo which gave it a little kick, but nothing that was unbearable and didn't over power the sandwich; this was all put together and served on a focaccia bread. The thing that really turned me off to this meal is that the bread wasn't toasted. Call me picky, but I prefer the bread on my Club sandwich to be toasted and this just wasn't cutting it for me.
As previously mentioned, we both had french fries served with our meals. They were just striking out all over the place when it came to the fries. Brandy and I were both thrown off by the fact that they were the skinny fries, as opposed to waffle fries or regular crinkle-cut french fries. Once we looked past that we found out just how incredibly salty they were. We both ended up going through 2 drinks each during our entree, and I ended up having a third drink after. The final straw, however, came down to the fact that they were overcooked. It lead us to believe that the chef's didn't know how long they should have been cooked, and when we asked our waitress about it, she gave us the impression that the fries were always cooked like that. I do have to give our waitress some credit though, she told us that they are trying to get the fries changed; apparently we weren't the only ones asking about them.
The absolute best part of our meal came in the form of two Mini Peanut Butter Cream Pies. DELICIOUS!!! It was like a cold Reese's Peanut Butter Cup; the peanut butter mousse melted in your mouth and the crust, combined with the whipped cream topping and the chocolate syrup on the plate made this a combination that couldn't be beat.
At the end of lunch, the tab came to just under $40. Over all, I think Rock Bottom Gold Metal Tap is worth another trip, I just don't know how soon I'll be going back. Given the caliber of the other restaurants in the Old Market/Downtown Omaha area, it wasn't something that is going to stand out based on a first impression.
Rock Bottom Gold Metal Tap is located is located at 1101 Harney St. in Downtown Omaha, NE. They are open 11A-1A Monday thru Saturday and 11A-11P on Sundays. Their phone number is (402) 614-9333 and their website is: www.rockbottom.com.
