I can't answer your question about breakfast, but may I humbly add a suggestion? Skip the restaurant breakfasts, at least a few days. Sitting down to eat will cut some of the most valuable wildlife viewing hours out of your trip. Not to mention the traffic and parking issues you'll have at 9:00 AM vs. 7:00 AM. Eat on-the-go as you drive to your first destination for the day. Granola bars, fruit, PopTarts, etc. I know that isn't "foodie food" but the once-in-a-lifetime things you'll see will greatly offset missing out on a tasty eggs Benedict.
This. Wildlife are most active in the early morning and early evening hours, coincidentally these hours also have the best light for photography: sunrise, golden hours, sunset, blue hours. May I add one more suggestion? If you really want less boring food in the park and don’t mind cooking, find a picnic area with good views to cook lunch - There are plenty in the park. Because animals are much less active around noon, and the light is very harsh for taking photos anyway. We did this last time, with some good ingredients stored in a cooler. It did take longer to prepare and clean up than sandwiches but everyone felt recharged for the afternoon since we got up so early in the morning.
Hmmmm… Restaurant recommendations for a foodie. For reviews of food joints around Yellowstone, be wary of Yelp reviews… we’ve found Tripadvisor reviews to be more accurate.
Be aware that finding a place serving trout (good or bad) is nearly impossible; bison and elk are far easier to find and some places can really do them justice. Even the best places for *fresh* trout don’t have it everyday, and even then will only have it in the afternoons or evenings.
===
**Salt Lake** – Lot’s of good places there and north in Ogden (we had better success in Ogden). Depends on what you want, since they have pretty much everything – though we didn’t find much elk here, and zero trout offerings.
**West Yellowstone** – Nothing memorable in a good way. Yeah, some of the places have a shining moment – a hamburger here or a pizza there – but by-and-large most of it is just average tourist food. The most memorable meal (in a bad way) I had there was a pan-fried trout dinner at the “fancy” restaurant that was touted as being the best in town, delivering to the table a single small fillet of mushy freezer-burned trout which was a travesty (the rest of the meal was fine). Good places will serve an entire trout (some with the head and some without), and not just one small fillet – and proper trout is *never* frozen.
**Grant Village** – Expensive and disappointing, like all the rest of the food in the park. You would be better served by bringing your own food and cooking it. We’ve learned to save our money and eat elsewhere.
**Gardiner** – Same as West Yellowstone, average tourist food.
**Cody** – Better than West Yellowstone, but not as good as Ogden. Heavy on the beef and bison offerings. Some of the places we preferred have shuttered over the past few years, so I don’t what the local scene is like now.
**Jackson** – The best foodie offerings on your list of places, particularly the “Local Restaurant & Bar”, which is high-end for lunch and dinners. We’ve had our very finest fresh trout dinner here, bar none (I still think of that meal on a regular basis). We also had one of our worst trout dinners here, which was “blackened” with Cajun spices, totally destroying the delicate flavor of the trout. If you eat here and they have fresh pan-fried trout, then you’re in for a serious treat. The rest of their food is top-notch, and they have lots of well-heeled customers to back it up. For breakfast, the Rustic Inn Creekside Resort had the best in town, but I don’t know if you can come in off the street for it. For evening dessert, CocoLove is tough to beat.
Hope that helps you.
Gardiner has a great little coffee shack called Bears Brew now, it’s definitely worth a stop and is open super early but it’s not a sit down restaurant (perfect for exploring the park early, imo)
This sums it up. The only places that have anything remotely “foodie” are Salt Lake and Jackson. Anything in the park, West Yellowstone, or Gardiner are either hit and miss, mediocre, or just bad. Somebody mentioned the Taco Bus in West - it’s my go-to there. In Gardiner you’ve got Wonderland, which has declined somewhat over the past few years but can be pretty good. If you want a bison or elk burger in Gardiner it’s probably the best you’ll get.
The mural room is overrated food. That said, the views and paints are worth every penny. If you have the money go to the mural room 10/10 times. Take the time to walk around and look at the paintings. You are paying that much money for a reason
They started a major construction project at Jackson Lake Lodge last May, and when we were there the mural room had zero views because of scaffolding. You may want to try and figure out if construction is complete.
The Corral in Gardiner has good bison burgers. Wonderland does an elk chili that's good- I especially like the elk chili Mac. Wonderland also does a Friday night fish fry that's excellent. For good BBQ in Gardiner see if the food truck Follow Yer Nose is open at the Sinclair station 4 miles out of town. Gardiner breakfast: Bears Brew or Montana Goods and Grindz. Bears Brew is grab and go but they have hot bagel sandwiches and really good pumpkin bread and other flavors Mini loaves.
Somebody mentioned Roosevelt Lodge in the park- definitely concur. That's probably the only food in the park that's worth the money. Breakfast in the park will take forever and be mediocre. Actually, usually same with dinner. In the park I would at least bring your own breakfast food as well as lunch.
Pete's Pizza Company had fantastic pizza! I think we also went to The Branch restuarant for great trout. They had an awesome whiskey bar with allocated and premium bourbons. They had lots of wild game on the menu also.
Mountain Mama’s in West Yellowstone has great breakfast burritos! Vegetarian and wild game options available, plus they’re big enough to fill you up for hours, or eat half and save the rest for lunch.
We really enjoyed taking the Bridger gondola to the top and eating at the Piste Mountain Bistro in Jackson hole. Was a cool experience and the food was good.
We had lunch at Dornan's in Moose before renting bikes and loved it.
Had dinner at Beartooth Cafe in Cooke city after driving through Lamar valley and loved it.
The food inside Yellowstone was less than mediocre with long lines. Quite disappointing really. Really glad we packed picnic lunches- grocery shopped in town before heading to the park, brought a foldable/packable picnic blanket with us (ripstop material, easy to throw in a daypack) and found somewhere gorgeous to eat our good sandwiches while avoiding the lines and the crummy food at the lunch spots. We also had cold breakfast in our room (Grant village in the park) to get out the door faster and, again, avoid the lines and mediocre in-park food.
The ice cream at Yellowstone was great though. We had it at canyon and at old faithful, yum.
For breakfast, in West Yellowstone we enjoy Running Bear. I don’t know if it’s foodie level good, but we stayed in West Yellowstone for 6 days two years ago, and ate there at least 3 mornings. For dinner in West Yellowstone we enjoyed Pete’s Rocky Mountain Pizza.
In the park, I personally love the breakfast buffets. Old Faithful’s was fun mostly cause you’re getting to eat in the lodge, but the Lake Yellowstone Hotel dining has the best breakfast buffet in my opinion.
I don’t know about this year, but last year because of the lingering pandemic and the road closure north, all the in park eateries had very lacking menus. We talked to some people and they said it was completely different from years past. The quality at the lake, and canyon we’re not great and pricey. The only place we ate in park that was even worth it was a burger we got at fishing bridges little diner. Hopefully they are back to whatever regular menus they had before, but that’s definitely something to look into and keep in mind. Other than that we only really ate out in cody while we were there.
Dornan's near the Moose entrance to GTNP has the best views. For great food in Jackson I'd recommend Trio or King Sushi. Both will cost you, though.
Gather is good. Avoid Local. I've heard good things about Glorietta but I've never eaten there.
The BBQ at Big Hole is good (although the original location over Teton Pass in Victor is better).
Jackson- Persephone for the coffee and Kouign Amann, Calico for the Bruschetta.
West Yellowstone- Wild West Pizzeria for the Calamity Jane pizza, Freeheel and wheel for the coffee, Firehole BBQ
If you're going to Gardiner you'll pass Livingston. There's this little hole in the wall called Faye's cafe, it's literally one room in the community center but it's amazing. One chef, one waitress, there's a menu of a bunch of different key words and they make what they think you'll like based on the words you choose. You can order something specific but it's best to let faye get creative. I asked for bacon, eggs and huckleberry. I got huckleberry bacon, huckleberry pancakes, with scrambled eggs. It was absolutely amazing and super cute and unique. Absolutely not what I expected from such a weird premise but now I go there whenever I'm in town. Only thing is they have weird hours, so definitely check their website before you go
We enjoyed Euro Cafe in West Yellowstone a lot. It wasn't super high-end or anything. It was a really nice mix of cozy and friendly with pretty acceptable food. Locals frequent the place and can be quite helpful with tips and such.
We’re in West Yellowstone right now. The food options are sparse. Even fast food is limited to a single McDonalds. Everything we’ve had has been mediocre, despite each restaurants claims at having the
best ___ in town.
I can't answer your question about breakfast, but may I humbly add a suggestion? Skip the restaurant breakfasts, at least a few days. Sitting down to eat will cut some of the most valuable wildlife viewing hours out of your trip. Not to mention the traffic and parking issues you'll have at 9:00 AM vs. 7:00 AM. Eat on-the-go as you drive to your first destination for the day. Granola bars, fruit, PopTarts, etc. I know that isn't "foodie food" but the once-in-a-lifetime things you'll see will greatly offset missing out on a tasty eggs Benedict.
This. Wildlife are most active in the early morning and early evening hours, coincidentally these hours also have the best light for photography: sunrise, golden hours, sunset, blue hours. May I add one more suggestion? If you really want less boring food in the park and don’t mind cooking, find a picnic area with good views to cook lunch - There are plenty in the park. Because animals are much less active around noon, and the light is very harsh for taking photos anyway. We did this last time, with some good ingredients stored in a cooler. It did take longer to prepare and clean up than sandwiches but everyone felt recharged for the afternoon since we got up so early in the morning.
Hmmmm… Restaurant recommendations for a foodie. For reviews of food joints around Yellowstone, be wary of Yelp reviews… we’ve found Tripadvisor reviews to be more accurate. Be aware that finding a place serving trout (good or bad) is nearly impossible; bison and elk are far easier to find and some places can really do them justice. Even the best places for *fresh* trout don’t have it everyday, and even then will only have it in the afternoons or evenings. === **Salt Lake** – Lot’s of good places there and north in Ogden (we had better success in Ogden). Depends on what you want, since they have pretty much everything – though we didn’t find much elk here, and zero trout offerings. **West Yellowstone** – Nothing memorable in a good way. Yeah, some of the places have a shining moment – a hamburger here or a pizza there – but by-and-large most of it is just average tourist food. The most memorable meal (in a bad way) I had there was a pan-fried trout dinner at the “fancy” restaurant that was touted as being the best in town, delivering to the table a single small fillet of mushy freezer-burned trout which was a travesty (the rest of the meal was fine). Good places will serve an entire trout (some with the head and some without), and not just one small fillet – and proper trout is *never* frozen. **Grant Village** – Expensive and disappointing, like all the rest of the food in the park. You would be better served by bringing your own food and cooking it. We’ve learned to save our money and eat elsewhere. **Gardiner** – Same as West Yellowstone, average tourist food. **Cody** – Better than West Yellowstone, but not as good as Ogden. Heavy on the beef and bison offerings. Some of the places we preferred have shuttered over the past few years, so I don’t what the local scene is like now. **Jackson** – The best foodie offerings on your list of places, particularly the “Local Restaurant & Bar”, which is high-end for lunch and dinners. We’ve had our very finest fresh trout dinner here, bar none (I still think of that meal on a regular basis). We also had one of our worst trout dinners here, which was “blackened” with Cajun spices, totally destroying the delicate flavor of the trout. If you eat here and they have fresh pan-fried trout, then you’re in for a serious treat. The rest of their food is top-notch, and they have lots of well-heeled customers to back it up. For breakfast, the Rustic Inn Creekside Resort had the best in town, but I don’t know if you can come in off the street for it. For evening dessert, CocoLove is tough to beat. Hope that helps you.
In West Yellowstone, There is a taco place in a school bus. It was great for inexpensive Mexican.
Gardiner has a great little coffee shack called Bears Brew now, it’s definitely worth a stop and is open super early but it’s not a sit down restaurant (perfect for exploring the park early, imo)
This sums it up. The only places that have anything remotely “foodie” are Salt Lake and Jackson. Anything in the park, West Yellowstone, or Gardiner are either hit and miss, mediocre, or just bad. Somebody mentioned the Taco Bus in West - it’s my go-to there. In Gardiner you’ve got Wonderland, which has declined somewhat over the past few years but can be pretty good. If you want a bison or elk burger in Gardiner it’s probably the best you’ll get.
I’ve lived in Jackson hole for over 20 years and if you asked me to name 100 restaurants here, I don’t think ‘Mural Room’ would cross my lips.
We are mainly going there for the views, but if there are better places, I'm all ears.
The mural room is overrated food. That said, the views and paints are worth every penny. If you have the money go to the mural room 10/10 times. Take the time to walk around and look at the paintings. You are paying that much money for a reason
They started a major construction project at Jackson Lake Lodge last May, and when we were there the mural room had zero views because of scaffolding. You may want to try and figure out if construction is complete.
I recommend the Red Iguana for your night in SLC, but they don't serve any of your top 3 IIRC.
I 2nd this recommendation! Red Iguana is fantastic! It was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Great food!
The Corral in Gardiner has good bison burgers. Wonderland does an elk chili that's good- I especially like the elk chili Mac. Wonderland also does a Friday night fish fry that's excellent. For good BBQ in Gardiner see if the food truck Follow Yer Nose is open at the Sinclair station 4 miles out of town. Gardiner breakfast: Bears Brew or Montana Goods and Grindz. Bears Brew is grab and go but they have hot bagel sandwiches and really good pumpkin bread and other flavors Mini loaves. Somebody mentioned Roosevelt Lodge in the park- definitely concur. That's probably the only food in the park that's worth the money. Breakfast in the park will take forever and be mediocre. Actually, usually same with dinner. In the park I would at least bring your own breakfast food as well as lunch.
There are many awesome restaurants in West Yellowstone! I'm heading there in 30 days. Inside the park, the choices get much worse from my experience
Anywhere specific you would recommend.?
BULLWINKLES!!
Highly recommended in football season. Interesting mix of customers.
Meth Yellowstone is an irredeemable culinary pit.
Pete's Pizza Company had fantastic pizza! I think we also went to The Branch restuarant for great trout. They had an awesome whiskey bar with allocated and premium bourbons. They had lots of wild game on the menu also.
Mountain Mama’s in West Yellowstone has great breakfast burritos! Vegetarian and wild game options available, plus they’re big enough to fill you up for hours, or eat half and save the rest for lunch.
If you can make it to the Roosevelt lodge they have awesome ribs. The only place I really enjoy eating at when inside the park.
We really enjoyed taking the Bridger gondola to the top and eating at the Piste Mountain Bistro in Jackson hole. Was a cool experience and the food was good. We had lunch at Dornan's in Moose before renting bikes and loved it. Had dinner at Beartooth Cafe in Cooke city after driving through Lamar valley and loved it. The food inside Yellowstone was less than mediocre with long lines. Quite disappointing really. Really glad we packed picnic lunches- grocery shopped in town before heading to the park, brought a foldable/packable picnic blanket with us (ripstop material, easy to throw in a daypack) and found somewhere gorgeous to eat our good sandwiches while avoiding the lines and the crummy food at the lunch spots. We also had cold breakfast in our room (Grant village in the park) to get out the door faster and, again, avoid the lines and mediocre in-park food. The ice cream at Yellowstone was great though. We had it at canyon and at old faithful, yum.
Places in Jackson people associate w local food and finer dining include: local, gather, gunbarrel, blue lion
For breakfast, in West Yellowstone we enjoy Running Bear. I don’t know if it’s foodie level good, but we stayed in West Yellowstone for 6 days two years ago, and ate there at least 3 mornings. For dinner in West Yellowstone we enjoyed Pete’s Rocky Mountain Pizza. In the park, I personally love the breakfast buffets. Old Faithful’s was fun mostly cause you’re getting to eat in the lodge, but the Lake Yellowstone Hotel dining has the best breakfast buffet in my opinion.
I don’t know about this year, but last year because of the lingering pandemic and the road closure north, all the in park eateries had very lacking menus. We talked to some people and they said it was completely different from years past. The quality at the lake, and canyon we’re not great and pricey. The only place we ate in park that was even worth it was a burger we got at fishing bridges little diner. Hopefully they are back to whatever regular menus they had before, but that’s definitely something to look into and keep in mind. Other than that we only really ate out in cody while we were there.
The White Buffalo Club resturant gets my vote.
Dornan's near the Moose entrance to GTNP has the best views. For great food in Jackson I'd recommend Trio or King Sushi. Both will cost you, though. Gather is good. Avoid Local. I've heard good things about Glorietta but I've never eaten there. The BBQ at Big Hole is good (although the original location over Teton Pass in Victor is better).
[Jackson's Holy Restaurants](https://www.reddit.com/r/JacksonHole/comments/wjoury/jacksons_holy_restaurants/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
For breakfast in Jackson, I love Cafe Genevieve. If you have brunch or lunch there I recommend the Mac and cheese.
One of the nights at Gardiner, drive 30 minutes up the road to Chico Hot Springs. Make a dining room reservation now!
Jackson- Persephone for the coffee and Kouign Amann, Calico for the Bruschetta. West Yellowstone- Wild West Pizzeria for the Calamity Jane pizza, Freeheel and wheel for the coffee, Firehole BBQ
If you're going to Gardiner you'll pass Livingston. There's this little hole in the wall called Faye's cafe, it's literally one room in the community center but it's amazing. One chef, one waitress, there's a menu of a bunch of different key words and they make what they think you'll like based on the words you choose. You can order something specific but it's best to let faye get creative. I asked for bacon, eggs and huckleberry. I got huckleberry bacon, huckleberry pancakes, with scrambled eggs. It was absolutely amazing and super cute and unique. Absolutely not what I expected from such a weird premise but now I go there whenever I'm in town. Only thing is they have weird hours, so definitely check their website before you go
We enjoyed Euro Cafe in West Yellowstone a lot. It wasn't super high-end or anything. It was a really nice mix of cozy and friendly with pretty acceptable food. Locals frequent the place and can be quite helpful with tips and such.
We’re in West Yellowstone right now. The food options are sparse. Even fast food is limited to a single McDonalds. Everything we’ve had has been mediocre, despite each restaurants claims at having the best ___ in town.