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

This longtime local favorite for Mexican food, margaritas, specialty pizzas, and burgers is set inside a handsome historic downtown building but has a modern, rustic, real-Montana feel. Good bets from the Mexican side of the menu include pork chile verde burritos and mahi-mahi fish tacos, while the Surfing Pig (with Canadian bacon, grilled shrimp, pineapple, mozzarella, and barbecue sauce) is a favorite among the pizzas.

A cavernous brick building, the former Northern Pacific Railroad depot houses a full bar with a huge selection of Montana microbrews, and a restaurant with a choice of quiet or boisterous seating areas. In addition to 40-plus beers on tap, Ale Works serves bison burgers, bison pot stickers, hand-cut steaks, sandwiches, fish tacos, and seasonal salads. Favorites include the pepper Parmesan fries and the Montana meat loaf, as well as nightly specials like Dungeness crab cakes, wild Alaskan salmon sliders, and carrot ginger soup.