Published July 29, 2026 | Updated July 29, 2026

This week Along the Streetcar Line spotlights the original Omaha Tap House. I dropped by to show the burger joint some love as it works to stay open through the construction.

The Tap House is located downtown, across the street from the soon-to-open Mutual of Omaha Tower. It sits inside The Paxton, a former hotel that is also home to luxury condos, as well as other businesses including 801 Chophouse, Heart of Asia, and Gandolfo’s New York Deli.

As the original location, it opened in 2012 by Kent Letnes of Lincoln Hospitality Group. According to its website, Tap House prides itself on quality food that is made from scratch using locally sourced ingredients. The menu features a variety of both smash and thick burgers, wings, sandwiches, tacos, mac and cheese, rice bowls, soup, salad, and appetizers with a variety of cheese curds, onion rings, and nachos among other items. In terms of adult beverages, it’s known for a fairly extensive selection of craft beer and its bloody Mary bar. It also offers cocktails and wine.

If you’ve been to the Tap House out west, this one is similar. It’s split into two areas that form an L shape with the kitchen on one side and the bar on the other. The wide-open dining rooms feature exposed brick, giving it a bit of an industrial feel that is complemented with wood floors, open ceilings, and large windows allowing light in and offering ample opportunity to watch passersby. The seating options include stools at the bar, booths and high-top tables. While I wouldn’t classify it as a sports bar, it does have a fair number of televisions to watch the game or to even catch some highlights.

Since it was lunchtime, I skipped the beer, though the selection of 32 tap handles remains better than most. I ordered a signature smash burger with double American cheese, beer braised onions, and special sauce with a side of french fries. My son ordered the bone-in chicken wings, naked. Our order arrived a few minutes later. If you’ve followed this page for a while, you know I am not a food reviewer, and if you’re new here, now you know. I’ve been to both locations and find the food hits the mark every time. It was no different this time around and there’s no doubt that I’ll be back again.

There’s no getting around that this portion of downtown is a mess of construction requiring all the typical maneuvering around barricades, fences, and the like. The Tap House got a double whammy with the tower going up across the street. Even so, I easily found a parking spot near 13th and Farnam Street. I’ll add that even at lunch time, finding a spot to park wasn’t difficult at all.

Omaha Tap House has two locations including the one I visited downtown at 1401 Farnam Street (the nearest streetcar stop will be at 14th and Farnam). You can’t help but notice the building it calls home. The 1928 Art Deco structure originally operated as the Paxton Hotel, one of the city’s best with an extravagant ballroom. While the upper units were converted to luxury condos in 2004, the corner storefront where the Tap House sits started as a Walgreens Pharmacy back in the day. It operated as a Crane Coffee more recently.

The Tap House opens at 11 am each day and closes at 10 pm Mon-Thurs, 11 pm Fri-Sat, and 9 pm on Sun. Be sure to check out its website below for more or possible changes to hours:

https://omahataphouse.com/

There’s no doubt that when it arrives in 2028, the streetcar will bring significant changes to the area. It can’t get here soon enough! Let’s help Tap House stay open until it does.

Omaha Exploration, 2026. All rights reserved. Excerpts and links are welcome with full credit given to Omaha Exploration and a link back to the original content.