11 Best Restaurants in Kalispell, Missoula, and Northwest Montana, Montana

On the edge of the Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge, the lodge has views of the snow-tipped Mission Mountains and native-grass-edged wetlands full of birds. The restaurant is open seven days a week, and dinners include local Double R Ranch beef steaks, seafood, and specials like baby back ribs. You can find reasonable lodging here, too ($), as well as an art gallery, a museum, and a trading post next door.

With its lodgelike dining room anchored by a floor-to-ceiling fireplace and exposed log beams, Blue Canyon pairs rustic yet elegant Montana ambience with excellent, hearty cuisine. Innovative, seasonally inspired dishes fill the menu. Plan ahead and reserve the private table to create your own five-course culinary experience with the inventive head chef.

With offerings like penne alla vodka and linguini alla carbonara, Ciao Mambo is the place to come for pasta in Missoula. Start with fried fresh mozzarella balls or classic bruschetta. For dessert, try the cannoli or tiramisu. There's soup, salad, pizza, and a kids' menu, too, as well as locations in Whitefish and Billings.

Locals will send you here to watch the sun set over the lake while dining on the only thing on the menu: steak. Select cuts, all 16-ounce portions, are served with potatoes, garlic bread, and pickled watermelon rind served family-style. From October thru April you can get king crab legs, too. During the summer, grab a burger or chicken breast sandwich at Bay Burgers ($–$$) and enjoy the outside dining. October through March, Bay Burgers moves inside the steak house from 11 to 3.

For an authentic taste of Montana, head to this hearty steak house in a rustic log structure 8 miles south of Missoula, in Lolo. The dining room has a hunting-lodge atmosphere, replete with taxidermied wildlife on the walls. Although most diners opt for one of the signature sirloins—cooked over a crackling open-pit barbecue—there are other well-prepared meat, chicken, and seafood dishes from which to choose. The restaurant has often been selected as Missoula's Choice for best steak.

The Swiss-chalet style of the Bigfork Inn is reminiscent of the lodges in nearby Glacier National Park. Inside, you'll find a lively atmosphere, with seating for more than 200 patrons between the main dining room, library, deck (summer), balcony, and two private rooms. Locals recommend the French onion soup, frog legs, duck à l'orange, and grilled bison tenderloin.

In homage to the South, Louisiana native chef-owner Pat Carloss cooks up excellent dishes such as Low Country shrimp and grits, braised short ribs, Tupelo gumbo, and the tenderest bison filet you'll ever eat. Carloss rotates his well-chosen art collection in the dining room and further enlivens the atmosphere with piped-in New Orleans jazz, Dixieland, or zydeco music.

Not your typical Western ski-town eatery, Wasabi is the place for your sushi fix and Japanese cuisine. A nice selection of "fusion rolls" put new spins on old standbys. For example, try the Going-to-the-Sun Salmon Roll (with snap peas and lemon-dill aioli), or the Goonie Roll (a tempura-fried delicacy with dungeness crab and siracha cream cheese). For those who prefer food from the grill, Wasabi offers up honey-ginger glazed salmon and other hot dishes. You can even stay here; the upstairs, pet-friendly flat can be rented for parties or overnights (

see the website for more info

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