This past Friday, I had the opportunity to try delicious foods catered by MealBox, for an event that my office was hosting. We worked with Rachel to get everything set up. Her attention to detail, personality, and setup was all amazing, not to mention the APPEARANCE of the food and the enticing AROMA of the hot dishes. Even before I tried the food, it was very pleasing to the senses. I tried every hot dish, and will provide reviews of those items here. However, I want to make it clear that MealBox's main business on their website (www.mealboxomaha.com) is premade meals, expertly prepared by head chef Will Birge. Chef Will has worked in a variety of restaurants and attended the Metro Culinary Institute. In 2022, he was voted 1st Place for Best of Omaha's Best Chef.
As of today (10/17/2022), they offer Weekly Meal Delivery (Sunday delivery), Special Occasion Catering (Small to large with customizable menu, served individually or buffet style), and Personal Chef Services. The meal delivery looks delicious with chef-crafted meals delivered right to your door and are made to warmed up in around 2 minutes. Current offerings include Honey-Garlic Pork Tenderloin, Berry Chicken Salad, Carne Asada and more! You can order them individually starting at $15, order them in a FAMILYBOX, or in a "Meal Deal" for larger quantities and a small discount.
Let me get the charcuterie platter reviewed first. The presentation was amazing! A wide assortment of meats, cheeses, etc. The pickles, the honeycomb, and the various pastes/sauces were all very displayed well and complimented everything well. I also have no idea how to make a deli meat look like a flower, but it was on here and it was spectacular! My only critique here (and maybe the only in this whole review lol) was that it was served with large crackers, which were too big for the cheese cubes, so I might have gone with smaller crackers or thick cheeses.
The first item I noticed was the deviled eggs, made with aioli, dijon, and smoked paprika. These had a hint of lemon, olive oil, and chives. First off, as someone that loves deviled eggs but hates making them, I appreciated the enormous platter. The perfectly peeled eggs and a perfect presentation immediately jumped out to me, but the taste was great too! I definitely picked up on flavors that I don't taste in deviled eggs (aioli, lemon, dijon), but definitely took these to the next level! Incredible taste, great texture, and a wonderful start! (10/10 for these)
Next up, I tried the spinach and artichoke dip, paired with lavosh. I've always had this dip with cheap crackers or bread, but the lavosh was a clever pairing. The dip itself had great consistency, thick enough to sit on the lavosh but very creamy. The fontina cheese added great depth to this as well! (solid 9/10 here).
The pot stickers were also delicious (everything was - I CANNOT overstate that). The filling was tasty but simple, and the matching ginger-sesame sauce was delicious on top. The presentation was very classy with black sesame seeds, which also added texture to the potstickers. Personally, this was the least favorite of all the items BUT that's only because everything was so good! I would eat these anytime if the other items weren't available (in fact, we had leftovers of these and I'm happy about that!) (8/10)
Next up is the honey sriracha chicken meatballs with a honey-sesame glaze/sriracha aioli. I love spicy, but on this one, I tried the aioli, but on repeat servings, I went with just the meatballs. I felt that the aioli took away from the simple and very flavorful glaze. These were my second favorite item that we had. The meatballs had excellent texture, held together well and tasted delicious. There was a bit of heat and sweet that complimented each other really well. The slaw made a great compliment as well to cool down the tongue if you need. Good glaze, great texture, and simple yet delectible. (10/10 - great party food).
Finally, my favorite item...I had to stop myself from eating these because I needed to make sure there were some for our guests, but the highlight for me was the smoked brisket bites. These were so tender - they held together on the fork but broke down as soon as they hit my mouth. There was a perfect compliment of meat and fat, and there is not a single word for how good these were. The Omaha sauce added a bit of sweetness, but these would be good with or without the sauce depending on what you like. (12/10 - this is my rating scale, so I'm going higher than 10). If I had to eat only these for my whole life, I would be a very big and happy man!
I was extremely impressed with MealBox and strongly recommend that you give them a try! I did not get a chance to meat Chef Will, but the food he created was amazing and spoke for itself. It was nice to meet Rachel and she did an excellent job setting up and making sure we were ready to go. This is an award winning chef, and an amazing local company - highly recommended!! read more