I am very sad to see this place shut down. Got my first real job there as a bus boy. Lots of great memories. Then, as an adult I got invited to various events there as a guest. Surf and turf was amazing. Hopefully, another great restaurant will replace it. Probably one that doesn’t require an expensive membership fee.
OT Nebraska Club closing
- Thread starter Pennsyhusker_rivals246774
- Start date
No comments. I guess nobody cares about the Nebraska Club. Lol. I think I am showing my age here. There was a time when the place was a big deal. Oh well....
I am not familiar with it since I live out of state.
I think most people are getting their costumes ready for Halloween later tonight...give them time to read the message board. Winking
I think most people are getting their costumes ready for Halloween later tonight...give them time to read the message board. Winking
That’s a bummer. I moved away in 2006 and every time I come back I see a little more of “old” Lincoln going away. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Just a bummer when you see places you grew up with go away. When they took out the downtown movie theaters it’s really bummed me out (even though they were old and you’re feet stuck to the floor. Lol)
I'm with you Pennsy. At my tender age (64) I recall many formals and fancy holiday parties there. It was THEE place for a real fancy night out in downtown.
I don't know anything about this particular venue BUT thousands of restaurants are going to go under during this pandemic. Restaurant business has always been very tough but now with shut downs, capacity restrictions and scared customers staying away from them they can't hold on for very long.
Membership-based clubs of all types have struggled for years and the sudden loss of business this year surely has been the final straw for many of them.
(FYI, the country club we live at survives and thrives only because homeowners will pay whatever it takes to keep up the standards lest our property values and quality of life tank. If you ever decide to buy a home at one of these places, make sure you and fellow homeowners own the amenities. There have been several communities that have found out the hard way that third party ownership of golf course etc. can shut down that amenity and pretty much destroy the community. We love our home and community but it is a dying breed.)
Last edited:
It was a very nice restaurant on the top floor of the 20 story First National Bank building in downtown Lincoln. Great food and great views of the city! The building is now called something else but I can't remember the name of the bank
I have no knowledge of Nebraska Club finances but wouldn’t be surprised if Covid was just the last straw. Elks, Masons, country clubs etc. have been dying out for years,
To be honest, I've lived in Lincoln all my life (except when I went to school), I was born here, and I had never even heard of the Nebraska Club until I saw that it was closing.
I can't remember how long it's been since the Nebraska Club's counterpart - the University Club atop the Stuart Building - closed, but it must be 20 years or so. That's probably one of the reasons the N-Club lasted as long as it did, as I think a lot of University Club members switched over. The N-Club's bread-and-butter were the legislative-related functions, as just about every trade association in the state would hold some kind of reception there each year.
Sad to see it close, but everything has its time.
Sad to see it close, but everything has its time.
ah, i can almost imagine in my mind what it looked like in its heyday.
i guess the patrons were mostly from the farming/ranching industry...?
i'll bet the food was absolutely mouth watering.
I got to eat their ONE time as a guest of a friend's parents. Very very very nice. My spouse got to go there as part of her Fine Food And Wine course at NU.
You have to have had serious money or taken Fine Food and Wine 101 to know about the Nebraska Club.....or worked there as a bus boy.Winking
Um no. Wealthy banker and CEO types. Super nice place. I thought it had closed a few years ago.
Growing up in Western NE, we didn't have anything like the Nebraska Club, but some of the fraternal clubs were often the best place to get a good meal. In my hometown, it was the Legion and Elks clubs. I think both still exist, but they have long since sold their real estate and downsized facilities in an effort to lower costs and survive.
People just dont join clubs anymore. Probably because they do more things with kid activities, social network online, and drunk driving BAC is lower and penalties stiffer. I heard even the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes Lodgè in downtown Bedrock closed.
Nebraska Club never once featured unlimited nachos.
That's probably why it's going out of business.
My Wife and I held our wedding reception there when we got married in 1998! Was one of the most beautiful places to hold such an event! It's sad to hear its going and even more sad to hear it fell out of relevance. That sounds to me that this was more of a management issue than a Covid victim. At least I'll have the memories of a wonderful night with many of our closet friends and family!
Eh, I wouldn't be too critical of the management. People have been trying everything under the sun for 25 years to get the N-Club into the black. Doesn't mean it's not a nice place or a great venue for a special event - it's just not a business model that works anymore.
I have a hard time believing that a place with that kind of ambience and view couldn't do well with the right management and advertising... perhaps the "Club" model is dead but that could be one heck of a beautiful restaurant up there that would pull people in... There's all kinds of places like that in many large metro areas that do very well.
Oh sure, if the restaurant business ever returns to normal, someone can probably make the place work. But private dining clubs have been disappearing in big numbers for many years. The Nebraska Club outlived most of them.
Exactly. And we need to remember that when it opened Lincoln has very few fine dining options. Now there are a lot of good places. And they don’t require a fee
Covid kills off the weakest businesses first. If a business had some weaknesses before, it's a goner now.
I would think that the lease on that space is pretty tough for a restaurant to deal with. Parking down there is a pain in the ***. It would be nice to see that place open back up with a chef owner. Private dinner clubs are a leftover from the baby boom years. As that generation has died out so largely have the clubs. I would love to go have a nice meal there some time if it reopened as a public restaurant.
Exactly. What is needed is an upscale but public restaurant. It is a great venue so it would succeed
The key would be the lease. It's amazing to me how much commercial real estate sits empty because the management company is trying to squeeze every last bit of juice out the property that it can. I know of a large mall that has largely been empty in a smallish town where an Omaha based management company runs it. They demand Westroads rates in a 40+ year old facility in a small town. It's nuts. I know of many people who have tried to rent space there and deternmined they could buy a lot, build a building and maintain the property for WAY less than renting a space in that mall.
Why in God's name the investors or owners of commercial management companies don't insist that they make their rates viable is beyond me. Make it attractive for businesses to rent space and succeed while reducing your vacancy days.
My nephew was the minority owner of a very high end restaurant and cocktail bar in Phoenix. It is closed for good. COVID. The majority owner is keeping his fancy new supper club in North Scottsdale open along with his other restaurants so my nephew who is the chef still has lots of work. Even so it was a blow to him when the place he had a stake in was closed.
A lot of people are going to have to rebuild their lives when this deal is all over. The food service business is a pain in the *** in good times let alone during a pandemic. He'll recover.