Orsi's Italian Bakery & Pizzeria

Orsi's Italian Bakery & Pizzeria has been part of Omaha's Little Italy for more than a century. Co-founder Alfonso Orsi started the business around 1919, and the Orsi family ran it for generations before longtime employee Jim Hall, who began there as a boy making deliveries, took over as owner in 2010. The bakery sits at 621 Pacific Street, a few blocks south of downtown, and it is widely described in local press as the last traditional bakery of its kind left in the neighborhood.

The building has its own story. A fire gutted the bakery in February 1997, and other Omaha bakeries, including Olsen's down the street, lent their ovens until Orsi's reopened later that year in a larger structure. In 2022 the South Omaha Mural Project added a large mural on the building celebrating the area's Italian heritage, led by an artist with family roots in Carlentini, Sicily, the town many of Omaha's Italian immigrants came from.

The bread is the backbone. It's made from flour, yeast, salt and water, without sugar, milk or preservatives, and the bakery has long chosen not to sell it in grocery stores. The pizza uses a Sicilian-style sauce and a blend of Romano and mozzarella. Goudarooni, garlic bread and garlic cheese bread round out the hot menu, and a deli counter sells imported meats and cheeses, house Italian sausage, olive oils, jarred peppers and dried pastas.

This is a casual, order-at-the-counter place that works well for families, a quick lunch or picking up a pizza and a loaf of bread to take back to your rental. Pair it with a walk past the giant fork sculpture a few blocks east or St. Frances Cabrini Church on 10th Street to make a short Little Italy outing.

What to order

• Sicilian-style pizza with Romano-mozzarella blend
• Goudarooni
• Fresh-baked Italian bread loaves
• Garlic bread and garlic cheese bread
• House-made Italian sausage (deli)
• Imported meats, cheeses, oils and pastas

Good to know

• Hours are not posted on the official site; call ahead (2019 press listed it as closed Mondays)
• Order-at-the-counter setup; bread and deli items are available to take home
• Specialty meats and cheeses can be special-ordered through the bakery
• Look for the Italian heritage mural painted on the building in 2022