The Nifty Bar

I came here after the Beer Fest in 2015x it was a dive, but loved it. It was redone and had a game in there; plus the music was Awesome!

The Nifty is a nice, little neighborhood bar on the east end of Benson. You’ll find day drinking regulars draining pitches of domestic beer by themselves or chatting with each other outside under in the covered smoking patio which is heated in the winter.
On the inside, the Nifty is floor-​to-​ceiling beige wood paneling, giving a warm alternative to the gray busy streets and used car lots that surround the building. The TVs show sports, unless it’s 4:30, then it’s Jeopardy time.
The drinks at the Nifty range from bottom of the barrel spirits to streamlined favorites to IPAs and top shelf Scotch. The bartender told us they rarely sell any of the top shelf stuff, but they like to stock it anyway (the Nifty shares the same owner as swank Old Market spot Havana Garage).
The Nifty can maybe hold 30 people comfortably, but could squeeze in 50 or more on a busy night. The Nifty also hosts the occasional special event and concert. Get there for nice change of pace from Benson’s Maple Street drag.

The Nifty is another one of those places that I’ve driven past countless times and always had the thought of going in. That finally happened when I recently met a couple of friends there. I kind of liked the vibe and while the location is a little further east of the rest of the Benson bars, it’s worth the drive. They also have a decent selection of beer to choose from.

So we drove down a sketchy, one way, what appeared to be some kind of drainage ditch judging by the sloped sides, through a random used car dealership’s parking lot up to this place. But don’t worry; there was plenty of parking. Except in the «No Parking» zone, that was already taken by someone else…
Anyways, we walked in and everybody turned to look at us, as we kind of expected to happen. One of the obvious regulars did decide to ask «What we were doing here» and «Who we were». We told them we were here to drink beer and apparently that was a good enough answer for them. They have a shuffle board table in here… you know you’re in a good old dive when there’s shuffleboard. There is a pool table towards the back and the whole place has been redone in wood paneling, it looks very nice.
Good selection of beers on tap, I was surprised, and they decided to be a part of of the 2015 Omaha Beer Week as well. The bartender looked confused when I asked him about the special and suddenly everyone else at the bar was curious about it as well. Overall Andy was a great bartender and there was a cool mix of old regulars who have been coming here for 30 years and new regulars who decide they are going to drink multiple Captain and Cokes at 1pm until who knows how late…

While visiting Omaha my buddy and I picked this place because the online reviews we read here and elsewhere talked about the rowdy crowd and mentioned that customers are constantly getting their cars towed.
Admittedly we did have trouble figuring out how to get to their parking lot, but once we did it wasn’t too hard at all to park legally.
It was still daytime (mid afternoon) and the crowd inside seemed pretty mellow. We grabbed our beers and settled in to play Silver Strike. A little kid (about 6 years old) repeatedly asked us when we’d be done because he wanted to «play» (as in randomly push buttons and spin the trackball).
People were eating, so the kitchen must be open on more than just Thursdays now.
We didn’t really have the experiences the other reviewers had, the regulars were all well-​behaved and kept to themselves. But maybe they just hadn’t had enough to drink yet.

First I have to say I never really thought to review the «nifty,» however the previous reviewer’s experience was so similar to ours I just had to do it.
When my wife and I walked in the first thing we noticed was the closed circuit security cameras on a monitor right above the bar. That started me wondering right away. Next, we ask for menus, and the response is, «The kitchen is only open on Thursdays.» Great, we came mostly due to the «grill» portion of «bar & grill.» We figure we’ll have a few beers and head somewhere else.
So we order up a pitcher and sit back to enjoy the atmosphere. It’s dark, dirty, dingy, but not creepy. Just like a standard dive bar. While the bartender/​waitress was pouring our pitcher, a few obvious regulars were giving her a hard time, and making remarkably lewd comments having to do with how she could earn an extra tip or something to that effect. The waitress brings our pitcher, and these guys just keep it up, when all of a sudden they notice us (not regulars), and one of them says, «Watch it fellas, we’re in mixed company.» Of course I tell them that I say worse stuff than that every hour of every day, but it didn’t matter. At this point, they were all staring at us, and luckily the «America’s Funniest Home Videos» that were showing were funny enough (I assume someone got kicked in the crotch) to get their attention. Needless to say we pounded our pitcher and moved on. On our way out they all hollered at us to come back and that they didn’t normally act that way. Of course we said we would, but we haven’t.
Getting down to business, I think the pitcher was $ 7.00, and they didn’t have much of a selection. I seem to remember free popcorn but it wasn’t the kind of place I’d eat out of the free popcorn machine.

I had an experience at this bar that I can only describe as interesting. We went here for a beer from a friend’s house that lives nearby, only to be verbally abused by a Vietnam vet who heard a friend of mine use the F-​word in the presence of some ladies we were with (who, by the way, use the F-​word all the time). Our friend from the war proceeded to go out to his truck and pass out inside of it. Good times.