As a student of Omaha North High School, there has always been the infamous legend of Jim’s Rib Haven. Many do not believe that you can officially be a North student without trying the saucy fries, but because of COVID-19 and a fire that shut them down, many students, like me, missed the opportunity to try it. Until this year in February when they opened back up.
Because of this I decided to take the opportunity before I graduated to try Jim’s Rib Haven and unlike many North students before me, I did not enjoy it.
As someone who tends to enjoy any food put in front of me, I was led to question if people really enjoy Jim’s, or if history has just influenced them to say they do.
From Jim’s I ordered the Boney box which comes with a variety of scraped meats that they serve, a large order of saucy fries, a large order of regular fries with cheese and a 16-ounce side of peach cobbler.
Looking through the boney box I was very confused about what meat was what. Someone mentioned to me that it was a mystery meat roulette and that is what stuck with me while eating the meat.
The sausage had a very rough skin, so it was hard to get to the actual meat and chew through it. The ribs on the other hand, although weird looking, were very tender and saturated in the perfect amount of barbeque sauce.
I think if I had ordered the meat separately it would have been more appetizing to look at rather than feeling like I was eating mystery meat.
The container the food came in also made me feel like I just went through someone’s kitchen and grabbed their leftovers. Not the best impression since I ordered this food out.
The saucy fries which are a Jim’s Rib Haven staple also did not match the hype you hear from many other customers.
The fries were dry and although matched well with what I think was barbecue sauce, could have been more saturated.
The regular fries felt very stale and they almost resembled the frozen fries you can buy from the store. My air fryer could probably make them crispier.
With the fries we also received a side order of cheese. The cheese was cold and almost had a Jello-like texture that was just very unappetizing. Even after plopping it onto a paper plate and heating it up, the cheese did not live up to expectations.
Alongside the meal we also received two pieces of what looked like Rotella bread. The bread was soggy and did not pair with the meal at all.
After the main course we also bought the 16-ounce peach cobbler dessert. The cobbler was nothing out of the ordinary but as someone who loves homemade desserts, it was pretty good.
It was not too sweet, nor savory and the peaches had the perfect flavor along with the crust. A must try if someone decides to order Jims.
All together the food we ordered from Jims was not very impressive. Either it was way over hyped for what it really was, or my taste buds were not tasting but I was very disappointed.
Aside from feeling like I was eating leftovers the look of the food was unappetizing and possibly even ruined the taste.
I am led to believe that maybe it’s close to North High and it’s the only rib restaurant in North Omaha that makes it even worth going to for. But me personally I would not wait an hour for this food.
