The 7 Best And 7 Worst Things You Can Buy At Omaha Steaks

Good meat can be hard to come by, and even the most refined restaurants still get it wrong. But meat retailer Omaha Steaks has dedicated the last 100 years to providing only the best, top-quality meats to customers across the country, according to the company, and the popularity of their products, which can be bought online or in-store, most likely speaks for itself.

After escaping religious persecution in Latvia and immigrating through Ellis Island, a father and son duo, J.J. and B.A., settled in Omaha, Nebraska, and started their own butcher business in 1917 called Table Supply Meat Company. In 1929, B.A.'s son, Lester Simon, joined the company, and their Nebraska beef skyrocketed to popularity. The meat was sold on cross-country trains and covered the pages of magazines at the time. By 1966, the company changed their name to Omaha Steaks International, and it's became a celebrated household steak name ever since.

The history behind this company may prove even more impressive than the products Omaha Steaks sells. Spending a century in the meat business, they've now expanded into poultry, seafood and dessert offerings. Unfortunately, not every item on the Omaha Steak shelf is up to par with the rest of their best-selling items. To help you pick the right products, we've put together a list of the best and worst things you can get from Omaha Steaks.

Cooked seafood is not for everyone, let alone a raw, still-living mollusk straight from the sea. If you do manage to stomach seafood, there's a great deal of added risk involved, from poor taste and food-borne illness to more extreme cases of toxic chemical poisoning. With pressure to provide the healthiest and highest-quality food, restaurants and meat retailers alike often struggle with their fresh-caught offerings. Keeping seafood clean and uncontaminated is an ordeal all its own if improperly transported, stored and prepared. Omaha Steaks pride themselves on quality, but even the most prestigious of food vendors can fall short with their seafood, and these Live Manila Clams are no exception.

Eager to expand into the seafood market, this famous steak company actually created their very own brand called World Port Seafood. While there may be some top-tier products available through World Port Seafood, this live clam plate is not one of them. Costing customers $200 per package, this seafood bundle sat with just one sorry review star on the website at time of publishing. We're not sure if it's the price that has pushed patrons away or the raw shellfish health facts that might prevent customers from enjoying these clams fresh that does this dish in. Either way, we're sure this may be one of Omaha Steaks' worst options.

An exquisite meat like filet mignon shouldn't be hidden from the world. Dumplings can be a delicious dish, but when it requires dousing the meat magic that is filet mignon with poorly constructed dumpling skin, we're going to have to pass on this plate.

Receiving a lousy 2.7-star rating, Omaha Steaks' Filet Mignon Dumplings arrive on the worst list for a few reasons, one of which is the somewhat mess-inducing food-based foundation. Trying to eat one of these steak-stuffed dumplings proved very frustrating for one customer, who wrote, "the dumplings didn't hold together while they cooked. I hoped they would be finger foods, but we needed a spoon to get all the tasty goodness off the plate."

Dumplings have deep-rooted history in many cultures from Polish pierogies to Cantonese har gow. Whether they are smothered in butter or dipped in soy sauce, dumplings have become an affordable delicacy enjoyed in restaurants and at home dinner tables for decades. As a premium provider of some of the country's finest steaks, it's surprising Omaha Steaks misfired with this meal. Perhaps this meat company should leave the dumpling dishes to more niche establishments and stay focused on what they do best.

Bad bacon seems almost impossible to come by, but Omaha's Colossal Cut Bacon falls very short of expectation. 

The use of pigs for food dates all the way back to 7000 B.C. (via United States Department of Agriculture). You'd think with centuries of practice and knowledge revolving around pork products that every restaurant and meat retailer would shine with something as simple as bacon. But Omaha Steaks bit the big one with this meat cut.

Despite this oversized bacon dish receiving a 3.5-star customer rating, the Omaha Steaks website chose to highlight only the four and five-star reviews. We're not sure what the subpar-star-giving customers had to say, but we're guessing it has to do with the excessively large and insanely thick slabs of bacon that can crowd the pan or cooking these meat cuts at the wrong temperature, all of which are common mistakes folks make when cooking bacon.

Bacon may not be the healthiest option for you, but when you're searching for a stellar piece of pig meat, it better be the best bacon you've ever tasted. Customer Ernest from Connecticut wore that this Omaha Steak offering was just "ok," and that's enough for us to pass on the $40 package of bloated bacon.

Just the thought of ordering a slow cooker red wine beef stew through the mail is enough to make us skip this selection, considering we could customize it quite easily at home. Despite their best efforts to promote this dish as having a fancy Italian sauce, Omaha Steaks should put this Italian Red Wine Beef Stew recipe to rest.

Slow cooker cuisine is so easy even the most novice chef can manage this meal. Just dump in your favorite ingredients, let it simmer for a few hours and voila — a fully cooked meal ready to eat. Omaha Steaks tried to simplify this amateur recipe even one step further by supplying customers with all necessary ingredients and seasoning, including their beef sirloin tips, fresh-cut vegetables and custom Italian sauce made with Burgundy wine and beef stock. However, many beef stew purchasers were dissatisfied with this dish, giving it a 3.7-star rating. One displeased patron wrote that she thought "the sauce was a little much on the tomatoes and not enough meat..." Another reviewer admitted that there is too much sodium in all Omaha Steaks' crockpot meals, and left a lowly 3-star rating.

No matter how many stars this recipe receives or how effortless it is to cook, we're going to pass on this company's wine-drenched version of beef stew.

Shrimp is usually a celebrated and extremely versatile seafood dish that packs a flavorful punch when added to any meal. Unfortunately Omaha Steak's pre-cooked, single-serve Lemon Garlic Shrimp falls a bit flat for its customers, who found the dish expensive and lacking in portion size. We don't expect much from a shrimp-based seafood dish with a 3.7-star rating, but for having a reputation for providing high-quality meats, we wanted more from Omaha Steaks. 

Shrimp may be one of most consumed seafood in the U.S. (via the USDA), but it might lose its luster if it has to travel across the country before hitting your dinner table. Scarfing down too many of these suckers also pose certain health risks. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, shrimp are low in fat and calories but surprisingly high in cholesterol. And according to Consumer Reports, most of the shrimp imported into the U.S. is farmed or grown in man-made ponds, where the shrimp are often fed pellets containing antibiotics to help ward off disease, and these pellet-fed shrimp inevitably end up in our bellies. Also, if these ponds aren't properly cared for, toxic chemicals and fecal matter can accumulate — can you say gross?

Another seafood dish bites the big one when it comes to the worst buys from Omaha Steaks. While beautifully seasoned fish may have rave reviews from customers, the Live Prince Edward Island Mussels earned one lonely star rating by time of publishing.

Mussels can be tricky. Along with their fellow mangey mollusk relatives, pose a particular health hazard when eaten raw or uncooked if harvested from polluted waters, according to the USDA. Mussels must also be kept alive, as once the mussel dies, the meat begins to deteriorate and can put consumers in danger of food poisoning, according to Livestrong. Omaha Steaks' World Port Seafood brand claims to have the best quality and safety standards, but consuming raw shellfish, like mussels, can put you at risk of ingesting bacteria and viruses, according to Seafood Health Facts. The minimal processing of these mussels is a bonus, but the hoops this company has to go through to ensure safe and fresh delivery to your doorstep might not be worth the risk.

Plus, this slimy, saltwater shellfish doesn't provide much in the way of meat. You'll have to scrape at least half-a-dozen mussels to get a few ounces of meat. Too much risk for too little reward in our opinion.

If it doesn't sound like a standard steak company offering then you should probably skip it. And stir fry from a 100-year butcher shop like Omaha Steak should definitely not be your first choice for a few reasons.

This Chicken Stir-Fry Kit aims to help patrons ditch their takeout menus and turn their boneless chicken into an Asian-inspired dish. However, this meal prep pack falls short of expectations and has received a 2.9-star customer rating to boot. Equipped with an "extra-juicy" chicken breasts, pre-cut vegetables, Asian-style sauce, white rice, as well as step-by-step instructions, this meal kit sounds mighty mouthwatering. While shoppers may agree on this meal's solid flavor profile and simple, easy-to-cook ingredients, multiple purchasers say there's not enough chow to go around. The stir-fry product shot on the company's website paints a pretty palatable picture with plenty to eat, but customer John from Maryland says that his family "thought the amount of vegetables and rice could have been more."

Omaha Steaks may know a lot about meat, but a stir-fry package misses the mark. If you're looking for an uncomplicated meal kit for the whole family, we suggest trying the Skillet Meal: Pork Carnitas Kit, which has over 50 five-star reviews and a stellar 4.3 average rating.