We are going to Yellowstone in late July. With our hotel confirmation, we received information about booking dinner reservations for several restaurants/lodges in the park.

My question is:
1. Are reservations really necessary?

2. If so, which restaurants would you recommend. We are travelling with 2 children (7 and 5). Thanks

I can speak only for the area around Old Faithful. The cafeteria on the east side of Old Faithful near the cabins is usually crowded at meal time, but the line does move along. For any of the sit down and order restaurants, particularly with small children who will want to eat, I strongly recommend reservations.
The restaurant in Old Faithful Inn can be full days ahead at the popular eating times.
One night at the old Snow Lodge cafe, we did not get to eat when we showed up free lance until after 9 PM.

If you want to eat on schedule, make reservations, or get the youngsters something to eat at the grocery store!!
There are plenty of picnic tables around. Rather than eat in the restaurants, we opted several times for the relative solitude of a picnic area.

Actually, if you want to eat in the restaurant at Old Faithful Inn, you should make reservatons as soon as they open for the season. You can call their central reservation number and find out when they start taking them. Other than the chuckwagon dinners, I'm not sure who else requires reservations. Yellowstone is not famous for its food. If you care to go down to the Jackson Lodge in the Teton, the Mural Room is a beautiful place to eat. They do require reservations.

No matter where you eat in Yellowstone, don't get your hopes up too high. The food is average at best. You'll do much better in the Tetons and Jackson!

Our dinner at the Lake Lodge at Yellowstone was actually very good. It is probably the "best" of the park, although that isn't saying a whole lot. Dinner at Old Faithful dining room is nice just for the atmosphere. Just don't expect Le Cirque.

As previous posters mentioned, dining is not fancy in this area. We dined in the Jenny Lake Lodge - overpriced & food was not that great & the Mural Room - beautiful views, food ok, prices a little high. I agree with other posters, if you can, go into Jackson Hole area for dining. We found the experience superior to Yellowtone/Teton area and the town was very charming.

What other restaurants would you recommend in Jackson/

Jim, you're on the right track for dining when you start thinking in terms of Jackson Hole. As for much of the rest of the greater Yellowstone area (and there are ALWAYS some exceptions) you don't really "dine" -- you just eat. Those who do the very best: heavy duty carnivores. This is cattle country. If you like steak, you'll find plenty and many locations do a good job of it. Another obligitoire menu item in the region is trout.

We always enjoy our meal at Lake Hotel,we think it is the best food in Yellowstone; reservations necessary. Not the Lodge, but the Hotel, go early and have a drink while waiting and listen to the string quartet.
Dining at Old Faithful Inn, again not Lodge, is also fun for the experience, the building is great to see. Reservations also necessary here. The only other place we really like to eat is Roosevelt Lodge, rustic, steaks and barbecue. Most other places in the park are cafeteria style and barely ok.

I'll join the crowd saying food is not why you go to Yellowstone, especially if you're not the meat-and-potatoes type. You definitely need to make reservations ahead of time at any of the lodges. We ate a picnic lunch every day, usually while hiking.

In Jackson, we ate two nights at a wonderful little Italian restaurant called, I think, Nanni's, or Nanini's, or something similar. Handmade pasta, Italian waiters - it reminded me of meals in Tuscany. We took our 2 kids (1 1/2 and 5 yrs.), and the chef brought out a bottle of bubbles for them to play with. The staff was welcoming and kind, the food was fabulous, and it was definitely child-appropriate.

I agree with Lexma, Nani's is the place to go in Jackson. I remember it as small so I'd get reservations for sure. For a more continental and maybe upscale experience we like the Blue Lion and the Range Restaurant also. Jedidiah's is great for breakfast. It"s busy, but the line goes fast.

The last time we were in Jackson (three years ago) we enjoyed the following: Cadillac Grill-we ate in both the casual and formal grills. We did not like the food on the casual side. We also liked the Million Dollar Steakhouse and the Range (the Range is the more formal of these two). All of these are on the square.