Bernie’s Pizza

New owner, as of Jan 2016. I am a true original Bernies customer. I used to work there too!
New owner does a great job. I like his pizza. He has great wings. He is trying really hard to live up to Bernies name, but with his own style. I like his pizza and have been there several times since he started. He is also a very nice man.

I used to love the old Bernies, so I decided to orderer a pizza over the phone for carry out and when I got to Bernie’s they said the order never got put in. Again, this is under the new management. I asked to speak to a manager or an owner and they told me they weren’t there. I asked for an owner’s email address and they were clueless again.

So you walk in and it’s really dark to start with. Then I stood there for about 5 minutes before anyone came up front to ask if I have been helped. «I was the only one in here» then the guy said my order would be right up I waited for 13 minutes and the manager sat there and texted the whole time with his phone going off every 15 seconds. Then another guy came in and stood there for 5 minutes waiting to be helped while the guy who claimed to be the manager sat on his phone still texting. I ordered garlic cheese bread that was way way over seasoned. The reason I’m giving it 2 stars instead of one is the pizza was average. We got a black olive hamburger pizza.

very good pizza! among the best.

Lived here for like 15 years and never been here. Heard it was closing so I came down and it’s really good. 4 stars because not my style of pizza. Falls apart easy. Very friendly staff. Shame it’s closing

Quality pizza for a good price. No fuss side salad. Cheese bread in Texas toast with lotsa gooey cheese. Décor is straight outta the 1970s.

I have been comming here for well over 30 years. In that time, I don’t think the décor has changed — but I don’t want it to!
Awesome pizza with great crust. I always order a hamburger pizza. . it’s my fave.
Everyone is always so friendly here.
They serve the pizza on Styrofoam plates… always have…
I believe only two beers on tap. but that’s ok.
Great memories here..

WARNING: The review below was for the ORIGINAL Bernie’s Pizza. Founder Bernie Drassal retired and the pizzeria is under new ownership and using different recipes as of April 2015 (and it switched owners again in November 2015). Please disregard any reviews prior to November 2015 as they do not apply to the current incarnation of Bernie’s.
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They serve what I call «homemade style» pizza. That is, it’s not Chicago or New York style pizza. It’s round and cut in normal pie slices. Cheese on top is mozzarella. Sauce is simple. Standard selection of toppings (nothing weird or special).
Crust is thick (not crazy thick like pan pizza, but thicker than usual) with a crispy bottom. Good overall flavor. Pizzas seem a bit smaller than other places, but with the thicker crust it’s also more filling.
Bernie is still around and making the pizzas most evenings. It’s nice that you can go to a place named Bernie’s Pizza and actually see Bernie at work.
It’s a favorite amongst Millard families who have been coming here for years. Unlike most places, this place literally hasn’t changed a bit in decades. It looks and feels the same at age 38 as it did when I was 16. So, it’s definitely a nostalgic anchor for a lot of Millard residents. I’d say most people love this place as much (if not more) for the memories as for the pizza.
It is very much a «no frills» dining experience. Pizza is served with styrofoam plates (though you do get metal flatware). Dining room hasn’t been redecorated in a few decades. It definitely has the dark atmosphere that most pizza places had in the 70s and 80s.
Give it a try.

If Sherman & Peabody were to go back in time to Omaha NE for a pizza, they could easily just walk into Bernie’s. It is the coolest thing to be able to dine just like you could in 1974. The folks that own & run the place are a great example of how to do it right. The pizza is great, the salads are very filling and they serve everything on paper plates… something you don’t see too often any more. Now I am sure there are the more sophisticated diners than me that would find this to be a turn off, but in the crowd we run in, any time you mention Bernie’s it is always a positive and why not, this is just a great place to go and relax with some awesome pizza. The last time we were in, I got a little worried because we didn’t see Bernie or his sister. I asked the couple working the counter and to my relief they told me they were in back taking a nap… too cool:) Well worth making the trip. We go at least once a month and it is always going to be a good month when it starts at Bernie’s

We got a large Supreme for $ 20. My son & I barely ate half. (And we know our way around a pizza). Not a lot of cheese but lots of toppings and sauce. Canned mushrooms and that finely ground hamburger. Delicious pizza and great value but that’s not even the best part of Bernie’s.
It’s like a time machine straight into the 70’s.Wood paneling throughout and black & white tile floor. There’s no smoking but you can only imagine how many cartons were smoked in here over the years.
I’m not joking when I say my little brothers sat in the same booster seats over 30+ years ago. I’m sure the high chairs are slightly safer than riding in the back of an open pick up truck speeding down a gravel road.
Bottom line… best old school pizza you will ever get.

Meat Lovers is excellent! I won’t order anything else.

Love the pizza. The people there were nice but they forgot about us when it started picking up. In their defense a big party that had reserved tables showed up when just when we were finishing our meal. I will definitely be back for more pizza but probably get it to go next time.

Original review with photos can be found here:
Bernie’s Pizza Parlor has been located in old Millard since the 1970’s. In fact, I grew up playing baseball on the fields right behind Bernie’s and having ice cream at the Dairy Queen right across the street.
Many things have changed over the years, but Bernie’s is pretty much the same as it’s always been. I’m certain most everything inside Bernie’s is exactly the way it was the first day Bernie said, «Let’s do this!» and flipped the Open sign. In fact Bernie himself is still running the show. Yes, it’s pretty dated, but we came for the pizza. Onward…
We arrived around 5pm on a Friday night and pretty much had the place to ourselves. There were two tables reserved and two others occupied, so we found one near a window so we could actually see what were eating. It’s pretty dark in there!
We ordered some garlic cheese bread, a veggie pizza, and a sausage and pepperoni pizza. The menu even features a 7″ «Dwarf» sized pizza which made us chuckle.
The garlic cheese bread arrived fairly quickly and was presented on, wait for it, a stylish paper plate. Old school. The bread was sliced thick and had nice, light garlic flavor to it; nothing overpowering. It would have been better if it had some marinara for dipping, however.
Our pizzas arrived a bit later and were served on the standard silver pizza tray. Styrofoam plates are brought with the pies. I get the feeling they don’t like to do too many dishes here! Bernie produces a medium to thick crust. The edges are quite high. It reminded me a bit of Godfather’s Pizza crust. Bernie’s crust is very light in color with no browning on the bottom even though they are cooked in Vulcan deck ovens (they have two Vulcan deck ovens; one is the original single deck and the other is a ‘newer’ double deck oven). Even though the crust is thick, it’s surprisingly light and airy, and almost had a snap when taking a bite.
The sauce here is good. It’s sweet and flavorful, but there sure isn’t much of it. They are pretty stingy on the amount of sauce they use on the pies. I don’t like my pizza swimming in sauce, but a little more would have been welcome.
The veggie pizza was a traditional veggie pie with onion, green bell pepper, loads of black olives, and canned mushrooms. There wasn’t anything that made Bernie’s pie stand heads and shoulders above the rest, but the Pizza Wife really enjoyed it. Part of that may have had to do with the fact she knocked back two beers with dinner.
The pepperoni and sausage pizza was pretty tasty. There were plenty of pepperoni and the sausage was quite good as well. Very small bits of ground sausage covered the pizza. The cheese was used about as sparingly as the sauce, but both under and on top of the toppings which was an interesting touch. There just wasn’t much of it on either pizza, which was a bit of a bummer.
It had been nearly 20 years since my last visit to Bernie’s and to be honest, I wasn’t even sure they were still in business. I’m sure the thousands of cars that pass by on Q street every day wonder the same thing from time to time as there never looks to be much going on there. I’m glad we stopped in and I’m pleased to say that Bernie is still cranking out the pies!
The Good: Bernie is still kicking it old school producing pretty good pizza
The Bad: A little stingy with the sauce and cheese
Oven: Deck oven
Crust: Thick and airy
Sauce: Sweet but used sparingly
Cheese: Over and under toppings, just not much of it
Review by The Omaha Pizza Review Crew

Wow — this place is a 1970’s time capsule. Bernie and his wife were grumpy and flustered yet still very likable — it appeared they were short handed with only them up front and two stoner kids in the back making the pizza. There was a lady picking up 6 pizzas to take to former Omahan who lives out of state. The problem was they only made 5 pizzas…
I ordered a shroom and sausage a beer and salad. The salad consisted of iceberg lettuce and dressing and nothing else… The beer was good and could tell the tap line was kept clean! They brought me out the wrong pizza and seemed really challenged to locate my pizza and figure out who’s order I had.
Pizza was more of a Chicago style Bisquicky crust (not my cup of tea) sauce tasted like tomato sauce only. Cheese and toppings were of good quality. Rather dry pizza.
Definitely seemed to have happy loyal and long time customers there. One was eating at the bar and ordered cheese bread. He knew everyone and asked the kitchen guys about his order they said it wasn’t ready and went out back. When they came back and he asked again they pulled it out and it was burnt and they had to make another…
Not sure senile folks running the front of house and stoner kids running the back of house make for a great restaurant model.

Love it! To the people that are referencing the dated curtains and décor: you’re not there to eat curtains, you’re there for the AMAZING PIZZA!
Love the pizza and a huge shout out to Heather, super nice server, who I would love to hang out with :)

Nothing fancy about Bernie’s but it reminded me of my childhood. All the plates and cups were truly authentic. Apparently Bernie himself cooked our pizza and has been doing it now for 42 years. The pizza was great and the waitress was very friendly. If you want good pizza at a great price, would recommend Bernie’s for a walk down memory lane.