Chet's Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Montana

I’m very easy to please, so the fact that this was quite literally the worst restaurant service I’ve ever received is really saying something. For most of our meal, our waitress was fine. Not great or particularly friendly, but fine. The wait to get our food was absolutely ridiculous though — over an hour — and never once was there an apology. Things REALLY took a turn though when it came time for the checks. I was part of group of 8, all of us educators in town for a for a big literacy conference. As educators, we CANNOT get reimbursed for any meal tickets that include alcohol. We told our waitress up front that we all needed to pay individually and needed separate receipts for alcohol. She said that was fine, so about half of us ordered a drink. However, when it came time to pay, the waitress seemed to get flustered with the tickets and, without any explanation, said she needed her manager for something.

After an excessively long wait, she came back and said they were too busy and couldn’t separate out the alcohol (which was weird since most of us already had our tickets in hand). I nicely asked to speak to her manager. After another incredibly long wait, the manager came to our table. I explained that we couldn’t get reimbursed if the alcohol wasn’t separated and that we were upfront about what we needed from the beginning. If it was going to be an issue, they should have told us beforehand. None of us would have cared if we simply forewent the alcoholic beverages. Since they didn’t tell us it would be an issue, we needed to go ahead and pay for the alcohol separately. The manager told us again that they couldn’t do it, still no apologies for anything. I essentially had to argue with her that it was on them that we were in the predicament we were in, and again, we needed to pay separately. She finally agreed and disappeared with just my check and debit card. Long story short, for some reason, it took several rounds of back and forth with excessively long absences before everyone finally paid. The entire process of trying to pay for our meals probably took between 30 and 40 minutes. In the middle of all of this, our waitress brought out the to-go desserts a few of us ordered, except they weren’t brought in to-go containers. When we told her (again) they were to go, she essentially said she was too busy and would bring us to-go containers to dump them into. It was a berry crumble with ice cream, so needless to say it would have been a melted mess that way. Since it ended up taking such a long time to pay, we all just ate our very mediocre dessert at the table while we slowly got our tickets one-by-one and waited for what was apparently the slowest card reader in all of history.

Again, there was never an apology for the insanely slow service (we were there over two hours). There was never an apology for the disaster with our tickets. There was never an apology for telling us it was okay to pay separately and then changing their minds. Our waitress became increasingly passive-aggressive, repeatedly making comments about how she couldn’t spend more than a few minutes serving our table because she had to get to all of her other tables.

Bottom line, the service was terrible and the restaurant is horribly managed. This is the ONLY restaurant in a resort that hosts quite a lot of events. I’m sure the resort schedule is known, so it shouldn’t be a shock when teachers start piling in for a 3 day conference. If your restaurant can’t handle a crowd, don’t seat a crowd. Be upfront about your policies, and certainly don’t suddenly try to implement on-the-spot policy changes when you find you’ve over-sat tables. Oh, and if you don’t accept cash, again, you should advertise that ahead of time.

Terrible. Just appallingly terrible. The whole thing was so bizarre that it felt like we were in the Twilight Zone or some prank show. Typing the whole experience up doesn’t even begin to do it justice.

Suffice it to say that even though we’ll be here several more days and this is the only restaurant here, we absolutely...

Dined in during our weekend in Big Sky.

Chet's Bar and Grill was an easy option since we were staying at Huntley Lodge. Just keep in mind that it's not going to be the most affordable option in the area. We were in town celebrating my husband's birthday so we weren't as conscience about the hefty price tags as we would normally be. The restaurant is nice without being overly fancy. There were some people who were dressed up a bit and others sporting their comfy sweats.

Our server for the night was Aspen and she was very sweet and attentive.

Now let's talk food. The mac and cheese was good but way too much to spend on a small dish if you ask me. Nothing over the top about it unless you consider gruyere and truffle bread crumbs worth $19. Don't get me wrong, it was tasty, just not worth spending as much as we did.

My husband ordered the ribeye and it was cooked perfectly at his requested medium rare. He was obsessed with the Huntley butter and kept raving about how much it helped elevate the dish. The asparagus and mashed potatoes were perfect compliments. Our only complaint was the edges were a little too charred for our liking. It overpowered the steak a bit.

I had the braised short rib with absolutely zero regrets. It was tender and flavorful - hands down my favorite thing of the night. The sage honey carrots were a great touch and if I could have finished the whole dish, I would have! The portions were great.

The cheesecake was light and fluffy. Very likely a no-bake cheesecake if that's your thing. I liked it, especially after a hefty meal. But my husband on the other hand loves a dense cheesecake so this was not his jam. The huckleberry topping was a nice touch.

Our bill (including the tip) was a whopping $200. For decent food + a couple of hot apple ciders, it's not my first choice. We likely won't be back unless we really want...

Hello!

We recently stayed in the Shoshone resort and enjoyed our stay immensely! What I wanted to take the time to note however wasn’t the accommodations which were wonderful. The amazing scenery and activities which were unforgettable. But rather the incredible service we experienced each morning during breakfast at Chets by Ziki! She was without a doubt the kindest most engaging and enjoyable person I think our family has ever met! I felt it necessary to recognize her because in my personal opinion that is what is missing in today’s interactions and everyday face to face opportunities.

Of course the Shoshone facility was beautiful, and the food was delicious, but we will always remember the time that Ziki took to talk to my wife and our children. Mixing in humor and sharing true interest in how we were enjoying our time in Montana.

We loved her spirit and her genuine and sincere passion for connecting with people. I hold no position at Shoshone or at Chets the restaurant but if I did I would promote and pay individuals like Ziki two or three times what they are making because that is the true stamp of excellence where success is built. It’s about connections. It’s about building real relationships and when vacations are concerned building lasting memories. We would have never thought that our breakfast experiences would stand above the hiking, the mountains, the tours through Yellowstone, fly fishing etc. but it did. It did simply because of one person who did what you can tell they always do. Treat people with common respect and go out of their way to make a great experience even greater! Thank you Ziki! Thank you for being the amazing shining light that you are!

Sincerely,

The Davis Family,

Keith, Sharon,...