Restaurants in Lincoln

Best Place to Overindulge

Rodizio Grill Lincoln

Rodizio Grill, founded by a São Paulo native, specializes in Brazilian churrascaria dining. That means meats here are slow-roasted on a spit, skewered, and served tableside to diners by Brazilian cowboys known as gauchos. The gauchos actually bring unlimited slices of tender meat, only stopping when diners feel ready to burst.

A selection of seafood complements the meat, as does a robust salad bar with more than 40 items. Vegetarians can find plenty to eat at the salad bar, and everyone can delight in the famous grilled pineapple.

Quick Guide to Brazilian Steakhouses  

Before you hit up a Brazilian steakhouse, it helps to know what you’re getting into.

• Like a buffet, a typical churrascaria is all-you-can-eat. It also won’t have a menu. But its pricing is pretty straightforward: all the meat, salad-bar options, and appetizers on the table are included in the up-front price.
• You’ll get a coaster, cube, or some other small object to signal to the gauchos to bring you more food. Just remember: green = go; red = stop.

Brazilian steakhouses are smart. Their goal is to fill you up with cheaper cuts of meat at the beginning, so you don’t have a lot of room for the more expensive, tastier cuts of meat that come at the end. So be sure to save room for the back end of the meat processional if you want the best stuff.

Best Eco-Friendly Spot

FireWorks Restaurant

FireWorks Restaurant may be known for its woodfire cooking—it has a wood-fired rotisserie, wood-fired pizza oven, and wood-fired grill—but equally impressive is its consideration for the environment. FireWorks is located in an energy-efficient building complete with a self-sustainable geothermal heating and cooling system. It even has its own 5,400-square-foot rain garden housing more than 3,200 native plants, shrubs, and trees.

If you go, try one of the 21-day-aged Omaha steaks paired with a craft cocktail or ale from FireWorks’s microbrewery, Empyrean Brewing Company.

Best Night Out

The Green Gateau

This Lincoln hotspot has some of the best food in the city. The French-inspired contemporary American dishes range from coconut shrimp lollipops to crepes cordon bleu casserole to blackened salmon benedict. If you do want to go, it’s best to book ahead as it can get quite crowded.

Best Night In

Ming’s House

This tiny spot has consistently tasty Chinese food at reasonable prices. It primarily caters to customers dining at home, but there are a few small tables inside if you can’t wait to eat your general tso’s. Even if you do happen to eat here, the huge portions mean you’ll likely have leftovers to take home anyway.

Best Pan-Asian Food

Ginger

Ginger's eclectic pan-Asian cuisine is so inclusive that it even incorporates Hawaiian (poke sushi rolls) and Mexican traditions (bulgogi fajitas). And people love it. Here’s what some of our customers have said:

• The grill meat was very fresh and lean. I was very impressed! The sauces were flavorful and the veggies colorful. Our California roll was also expertly made. We will definitely be back. – Lyn S.
• Best Mongolian Grill in town. Love their sushi, too. Great atmosphere and great service. – Leanne M.

Absolutely fantastic service and food. Groupon made it all the better. We will definitely be going back! – Laura Q.

Quick Guide to Sushi, Sashimi, and Nigiri

You may have seen all three terms on a sushi-restaurant menu, but they mean different things. Typically:

• Sushi is raw seafood and vegetables wrapped up in sushi rice and seaweed.
• Sashimi is just the piece of seafood without rice and seaweed.
• Nigiri is a piece of seafood lying on top of a bed of rice.
• You’ll also see the word “maki,” which is just another name for a sushi roll (6–8 pieces of sushi that's served together). If you see the less common “temaki,” know that you’re ordering sushi rolled inside a seaweed cone.