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In January, University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduates Kevin Witcher and Jeff Schrader opened the concept restaurant at 803 Q St. in the Haymarket, where many of the servers perform songs from a stage in addition to waiting tables.

The site most recently was the Culinary Underground, but is most remembered as the former homes to Arturo’s and Brix & Stone.

The new restaurant in the historic Port Huron/Huber Manufacturing Building is Witcher’s tribute to the Scarlet and Cream Singers and its first director Ray Miller and his wife, Carol, who both passed away in 2012.

The singing group, nicknamed the Screamers, operated as an outreach component of UNL’s alumni association from 1978 to 2008. Miller served as its director for 22 years. Witcher performed in the group from 1987 to 1992.

“Ray was more than a director for most of the people in Scarlet and Cream,� Witcher said. “He was involved in facets of so many of our lives. He helped us get jobs, find places to live … he was the father figure of Scarlet and Cream.�

Witcher and Schrader returned from Maryland for family reasons, and Witcher, a nurse practitioner, had the idea for Screamers.

“I ran across a similar concept in the D.C. area a long time ago that since has closed,� he said. “I thought I wish I would have had something like that available to me in college. I worked at Perkins and Applebee’s, so I was a waiter. To wait tables AND perform would have been much better opportunity.�

With so much talent available nearby at UNL, Witcher though “this could do well in Lincoln.� Some of the servers are UNL musical theater and voice majors.

Food

The menu borders on fine dining with entrees ranging from steak (tenderloins, ribeye) to seafood (salmon, scallops) to some signature dishes (meatloaf, hoisin-rubbed pork chops). The steaks will cause some sticker shock. An 8-ounce tenderloin, for instance, is $38.

Screamers also has a nice selection of reasonably priced ($12 or $13) gourmet sandwiches and burgers. My wife loved her chicken and brie sandwich with its wonderful mustard vinaigrette.

I enjoyed my 5-ounce tenderloin ($24): great flavor, properly cooked. I ordered black pepper fries (so-so) and Brussels sprouts (lukewarm) as my sides. I’ll probably go in a different direction next time such as creamed greens or a cold pesto zucchini salad. Screamers deserves kudos for its unique sides.

Our companions ordered smoking beef tartare ($8), a novel appetizer mixed with mustard and capers; a roasted half chicken ($16), well prepared and plentiful and the meatloaf ($16), which was on the dry side. Grade: B

Atmosphere

One of a kind is the best way to describe Screamers’ atmosphere. Servers, clad in red shirts, black vests and black pants (and male servers in bowler hats), take turns singing songs on the stage. Music ranges from standards to rock classics to contemporary tunes. Witcher sang a memorable rendition of the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody� during our visit.

The room is a museum of sorts, with past Screamer costumes under glass and many, many photos filling up the wall. My group sat beneath a giant color portrait of Miller in a UNL classroom.

Those wondering about the noise level should. Carpeting and booths help absorb some of the sound, but it’s difficult to converse when the music’s happening. On a plus side, I didn’t see anybody glued to their cellphones; instead giving attention to the performers. Grade: A-

Service

This area needs some work. Our entrees arrived 45 minutes after ordering -- nine songs and two music breaks later. It was surprising, since we were on the tail end of the Saturday night dinner service, having arrived at 7:30 p.m. and getting our orders in at 7:45.

Ten minutes after ordering our food our server returned to say the kitchen was out of bok choy, the side dish for one of my companions. Ten minutes later, the server returned to say the substitute side, braised rapini (broccoli rabe), also was gone. Frustrating.

Some of the food -- notably our cheese curds and my Brussels sprouts -- was lukewarm at best. My cocktail -- an old-fashioned -- arrived in a glass sticky to the touch. Grade: D+

Specialty diets

The restaurant’s made a concerted effort to include vegetarian and gluten-free dishes.

Notable veggie dishes include a sandwich with sauteed rapini and mushrooms ($13), seasonal skillet squash lasagna ($12) and several sides (bok choy, macaroni and cheese, asparagus, Brussels sprouts).

Gluten-free dishes are notated with “GF� in the menu and include seared scallops ($20), roasted half chicken ($16) and root beer-braised short ribs ($17). Grade: A