Union Pizzeria & Sports Bar

3636 N 156th Street, Omaha, NE 68116

402.614.2755

Sun.-Th: 11am-10pm

F-Sat: 11am-11pm

http://www.unionsportsbar.com/

If you read my previous post, you'll see that I wanted to visit I Don't Care, but found out they went out of business then found out too late that they reopened. Well, I visited I Don't Care and found out they're a straight bar now, and they no longer serve food. Nearby, however, was a sports bar I've eyed for a while, so I took the opportunity to visit.

Union is a fine mix of DJ's Dugout and Mama's Pizza in atmosphere and food. There is a small arcade-like area to the right as soon as you walk in, and a dart board in the room proper to the left of the bar. The walls are surprisingly barren of sports memorabilia, save for a Doug McDermott jersey, a Creighton Bluejays neon sign, and a few CWS posters; but the TVs were plentiful, and even on this January Wednesday, it was still fairly busy. I was joined by my mother this time, and she was pretty happy with the atmosphere. She particularly liked the volume levels of the TVs: not too loud that you have to yell to talk to your tablemates, but loud enough to follow the action of the game.

We each ordered a salad, we got the fried ravioli as an appetizer, and my mother got the Chicken Parmesan Sandwich and I got a personal sized The Mobster pizza. All told, with drinks and tip, we were in the $40 range

Ugh. 100% iceberg.

When the salads appeared, we were greeted with a vegetable-rich bowl with iceberg lettuce. Well, at least the veggies looked and tasted fresh. The tomatoes were actually good, too. My mother loved the fact that the bowls were ice cold. I dunno, the salad was small but okay. At least my ranch wasn't Hidden Valley and my mom's Italian wasn't Kraft.

Fried pasta? Fried pasta!

Our basket of fried ravioli came next. We got a mix of beef raviolis and cheese raviolis. The breading was crisp and well cooked, and they didn't feel or taste greasy. I first bit into a beef one, and I was inundated with a stream of hot, erm, fluids that briefly burned my tongue. This happens to me all too often on these types of things, and I never remember to cut them in half first. My suggestion: cut them in half first. The beef ones were fine, though the meat was unremarkable. The cheese ones weren't what I had in mind when I ordered them. I thought they would be more ricotta filled than anything, but these were much more gooey than that, like a mozzarella mix of some kind. They were better than the beef ones, in my opinion.The marinara certainly wasn't the worst I've had, but they won't be winning any awards with it either. The good thing about it was it wasn't awash in basil, which seems to be a problem around these parts. Basically, it was passable, which was good, because we were about to be served a lot more of it.

Gooey sandwiches are the best sandwiches.

I didn't have any of the Chicken Parmesan sandwich, so I'll tell you what my mom told me: Really juicy, and well seasoned. It was pretty thick, however, like it hadn't been pounded flat enough or at all, which made for difficult eating. The marinara was the same as what we got with the ravioli.

The Mobster: think Meat Lover's pizza, but with all Italian meats.

Just by looking at it, my entrée brought me back to my Book It! days and Pizza Hut's personal pan pizzas, which was both good and bad; good nostalgic memories, but what did that portend about the pizza itself? After one bite, I can say not a damn thing, because this was pretty good stuff. The Mobster's toppings include, according to the menu: pepperoni, prosciutto, salami, Italian sausage, and provolone cheese. And my, my, my, was there plenty of all of those.

Seriously, look at that pile of meat!

Don't let the height of the pie fool you; there is proportionally very little crust, and what crust there is isn't bogged down by grease or undercooked. It was solid and crispy to the last slice. The marinara was, in my estimation, the same as the ravioli's which actually worked well with all the spicy meats that was included here.

All in all, Union is a good little sports bar that caters to families. I can see myself visiting again in the future for some pretty legit pizza and a brew. Now, maybe if Creighton basketball could put together a good game for once this year...