21 Best Restaurants in Helena, Bozeman, and Southwest Montana, Montana

Blue Moon Bakery sets out a tempting array of scones, muffins, cakes, and cookies. They also serve sizeable sandwiches and gourmet pizza.

At night this restaurant fills with the boisterous merrymaking of the après-ski crowd—particularly Friday night, when a throng gathers for an all-you-can-eat fish fry. The menu includes Asian soba noodles, grilled rainbow trout, and lamb burger blended with mint chimicurri. There are several local beers on tap and happy hour is 3--6 with $4 drafts and $2 off wine by the glass and house cocktails.

Multiple TVs, each tuned to a different sport, line the brick walls of this friendly place. The bar claims 20 beers on tap, the better to enjoy what locals call the town's best hamburgers and other hearty pub fare. In winter opt for buffalo chili. The fish tacos, bison burger, and beer-battered fries also get rave reviews.

Hungry Moose serves deli sandwiches as well as basic grocery items.

Get a true taste of Montana during this all-you-can-eat prime-rib dinner, which follows a horse-drawn wagon ride through high mountain forest. The private forested plot feels like backcountry. And the generous meal, served family-style in an oversized tepee, includes hot-from-the-oven rolls, salads, potatoes du jour, and huckleberry cheesecake, all accompanied by a singing cowboy.

Wooden booths give this cozy restaurant an old-time, casual feel. Potatoes figure heavily into the breakfast menu, in items such as the Bakery Ladies' Special: potatoes and sausage, green onions, and cheese. There are vegetarian specials on weekdays, and the lunch menu includes burgers and enchiladas. Locals order the Tibetan Toad: scrambled eggs with sausage, green onions, cheese potatoes, and toast.

This small hangout on the banks of Rock Creek has good meat and seafood options, as well as daily pasta specials. Part of the Rock Creek Resort, the restaurant dates to the early 1940s.

All the pies, muffins, and cinnamon rolls are made on the premises at this casual, family-friendly eatery. There are a lot of choices, but trust the name and go for the buttermilk or buckwheat pancakes topped with blueberries, strawberries, peaches, coconut, walnuts, or chocolate chips. Breakfast is served all day. There's also a basic lunch menu with sandwiches and salads and box lunches to go.

This pub-style restaurant in the heart of downtown is housed in a historic building dating back to 1882. While it's a family restaurant, it's named for the political debates you're likely to hear while dining on burgers, sandwiches, mac and cheeses, and wings. The Windbag is known for its hearty and generous helpings and, of course, its history (ask about the brothel). It also has a large selection of imported and local beer, on tap and in bottles. Choose to sit in the restaurant, the bar, or on the patio in the summer.

Westfork Meadows has several tasty eat-in or take-out spots. At Wrap Shack wraps start out the size of a pizza, and stuffed, aren't a whole lot smaller. Choose as many fillings as you can handle.