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The hanging Old Main sign and the green and gold shopfront from the pavement, the street running away under a clear sky

25 Minutes from Lincoln

Worth leaving town for.

We are not in Lincoln, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. We are twenty-five minutes southwest of it — and here is what is waiting at the end of the drive.

What’s on

What’s on at Old Main

Straight Talk

We are not in Lincoln.

Old Main is on Main Ave in Crete — roughly twenty-five minutes southwest of Lincoln, most of it a straight run on NE-33. That is a real drive, and we are not going to dress it up as a neighborhood option.

What we will say is that people make it on purpose, on a Tuesday, in February. Below is why.

Six reasons people make the drive

A vacuum-sealed pack of Old Main ground beef on a steel counter, the label printed with the restaurant’s own mark and handling instructions

01

Beef you cannot get in town

Dry-aged Angus from the owners’ own herd, hanging in a cabinet by the front door. Not sourced, not distributed — raised a few miles from the table you are sitting at.

The beef program

02

Two floors, two completely different nights

A quiet fine-dining room downstairs and a social floor above it with twenty self-pour taps, golf simulators, and pool. Start formal, end loud, never move the car.

The upstairs floor
Self-pour beer wall at Old Main with digital tap screens under a tiled Old Main sign
The upstairs room from the doorway — the Old Main mosaic and its bank of taps along one wall, cue rack and glassware either side

03

Pour your own beer

Twenty taps on a self-pour wall, charged by the ounce. Try six things you have never heard of for the price of one pint, without flagging anybody down.

The beer wall

04

Golf in February

Two simulator bays upstairs with real courses and real ball data, open through a Nebraska winter. Food and twenty taps within putting distance.

The simulators
A golf simulator bay lit blue, the Full Swing games library on screen with a "who’s playing" list, a bag of clubs standing at the edge of the hitting mat
The beer garden at dusk, string lights strung above rows of picnic tables against the red brick, the sky going orange behind

05

Live music with room to stand

Four thousand square feet of beer garden behind the building, and bands in it all summer. Outdoor live music is thin on the ground closer in.

What’s coming up

06

A building with an actual story

Standing since 1910, gutted by fire in 2024, rebuilt over twenty-two months with woodwork the owners milled themselves. You can see the work from your seat.

The rebuild
The Old Main bell emblem set in metalwork above a doorway, against the restored red brick
The steel BEER GARDEN arch over the garden gate, picnic tables and the brick wall beyond it

Getting Here

Twenty-five minutes, one turn to remember.

From Lincoln, take NE-33 southwest through Denton and Pleasant Dale into Crete. The highway becomes Main Ave; we are at 1103, on the corner, with the hanging sign.

Parking is on the street and free, which is its own small argument for leaving town.

1103 Main Ave, Crete, NE 68333

Get driving directions
From downtown Lincoln
About 25 minutes
From south Lincoln
About 20 minutes
Parking
Free street parking

Further reading

Date Night in CreteWhere to book, which floor to sit on, and what to do after the plates go away.

Make the drive count

Make the drive worth it. Book the table.

Reservations are recommended downstairs, especially Friday and Saturday. Upstairs never needs one.

Reserve a tableSee the menus

Or call (402) 418-7101