MT Cup — Restaurant in Billings

I want to love this place. I live in the neighborhood and we have been begging for a place like this. Pros: The staff is always great. The pizza is fantastic. It’s down the street for me. The atmosphere is super cute. Cons: you have to order food in order to have a beer which isn’t awful but their menu needs to have small plates if that’s the case. Their appetizers are lackluster and they only have 5 pizzas. There should be more small plate options. This should also be more pronounced on their door or in general so no one is caught off guard. Also, this is a neighborhood bar and yet we were told the owner won’t allow the staff to open the blinds. That’s extremely weird. I would come here more often if I saw friends inside. Plus you don’t know if it’s dead inside or absolutely packed. The parking is limited and I think the employees must park out front because it is always full and yet almost always empty inside. The blinds being open would allow you to know how busy it is on a weeknight. I almost passed it up thinking it was too busy but I was the only one inside once I walked in. There is no phone number that I could find so I had to physically stop in for a go pizza which was interesting as well. We were told they can only run two pizzas at a time which makes the wait time long if you are here at the same time as anyone else. We got one pizza and the next 20 minutes later. Again, considering you must order food, you would think they would have a better option for their only entree or have more small plate options. Again, staff is 10/10, pizza is 9/10, and I want this to stay in the neighborhood and be successful but the closed off vibe is weird and not working for the neighborhood...

First off, I live in the neighborhood and was excited to see a Pizza/pub business in the area. I’ve been here twice. The first time I went I was informed that I had to buy food in order to have a beer. First place in Montana, Or anywhere in my life that has happened. I decided to purchase the eight dollar Tortilla chips and salsa.(I was informed that the Pizza press was down and Pizza wasn’t available )Chips are chips but the sauce tasted like something out of a 1 gallon can…… I decided To give it a second chance, And support local business and try the pizza. The pizza selection was not too bad and their prices were reasonable. But the pizza was some of the worst I’ve ever tasted. The pizza crust was thin, The sauce had no flavor and again tasted like something out of a 5 gallon can. The toppings were not generous, and the mushrooms were out of a can. It tasted like a pizza that was premade, frozen, and then reheated. Honestly, I’ve had better frozen pizzas from the supermarket. The atmosphere was nice, but from the outside, you can’t tell whether the place is open closed or out of business. Would be nice if they open their blinds during the day. The place got pretty busy when I was there and it was also super loud… Should put in something to absorb the noise! I really wanted to like this place Because it’s within walking distance… But there’s nothing that will ever bring me back to this place again Unless...

Let's start with the elephant in the room. You have to buy food to get served a beer. The cheapest food item on the menu is $8. So your first domestic beer is $12.50. So there is 0 value in trying to get a after-work beer here.

No signs on the door or anything to inform you of this.

Great atmosphere, great tap selection. ( they have coors banquet on tap so +1 for that. )

My question to the owner, why keep this a secret so you have to discover it after driving all the way across town? My follow up question would be, why not offer a $1 bag of pretzels or something to circumvent your...