Three Bear Restaurant — Restaurant in West Yellowstone

Unfortunately, not recommended. Tuesday, August 20, 8:15PM. Wife ordered chicken sandwich, menu read “arugula”, but arrived with limp lettuce, server said cook stated, “we’re out of arugula”, when my wife pointed out there was arugula in her salad, server checked again in kitchen, came back and said, “..that’s just for pre-made salads”. After three trips back-and -forth to the kitchen, the server brought some arugula…and ketchup (??).

I made the mistake of ordering the Thai Curry Lentils (vegetarian). Menu read “roasted pineapple, jalapeños…” had neither. When I pointed THIS out to the sever, another back-forth from the kitchen only to tell me, “the cook said we’re out of pineapples and jalapeños”. The dish itself was drenched in the “curry sauce” (which was more like over-peppered red water). I ate 4-5 forkfuls and put it aside. I asked for a manager but was told “…he’s out of town”.

I called Wednesday (8/21) morning and spoke to a very nice guy named Steven who took all my information and the complaint itself and told me that either “Travis or John would call me back shortly”. Steven also mentioned that the “regular chef is out of town and that a few fill-in cooks have been covering”.

The next day (Today/Thursday) after no call-back, I called again, reached Steven again, and was told that Travis was “sitting in his office” and that he would call me right back. And again - no call. So I decided to not make a further fool of myself and call again - and I chose to submit this 100% honest and accurate review.

All this combined with the fact that when we first walked in the hostess was on the phone and we stood at the desk for 2-3 minutes …and she never even acknowledged our presence. When we’re seated our server, a very nice and polite young man named Eddie, unfortunately had almost no knowledge of the menu, bar drinks, or if there were any non-alcohol beer choices. All round just bad, but no fault of the wait staff - full fault lies with ownership and management…who can’t even return a customer call!

I did initially make the call to the restaurant to have only my meal removed from my bill, but after being ignored and disrespected (twice!) I called AMEX, attached a copy of this review, the menu, the bill, and I am disputing the entire bill.

Some less-than perfect food service can and should be excused. Not getting exactly what you want at a restaurant isn’t the end of the world, but as a result of what at least appears to be the indifference of this restaurant’s management, the bad food experience is more likely a symptom of a bigger problem.

Three Bears, sorry,...

My 4 star review of this restaurant is mostly based on the better experience I had during my 2nd visit to this location in West Yellowstone. My first visit was interesting. I apparently managed to confuse the hostess with my questions upon arrival so much that she finally just seated us and moved on with life. I asked for a recommendation from the menu, as I do in most local places to see what the staff thinks is the best on the menu. The broasted chicken was suggested and I ordered that with a side salad, and mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes included brown gravy which isn’t exactly my favorite, and a white gravy wasn’t offered. The chicken was really good. The breast meat was dry, but I have found it almost impossible to find a restaurant that can keep the breast meat from drying out. Dinner was nothing special but the food was good. We ordered dessert to go. We ordered the Apple Brown Betty and the brownie. I can honestly say I would never pay the price for the Apple Brown Betty again to go. $8 and in the box was a couple of apple slices and some bits of crumble topping. We realize that we were asking to get these two desserts that normally come with ice cream, to go. We even stated that we were perfectly fine with no ice cream. I did not feel that the serving size for the dessert warranted $8 even if I would have gotten the ice cream. The brownie was a little bit better of a story, but it should have come with caramel and chocolate sauce, that was 86’d with the ice cream. Bummer. Our 2nd visit, honestly because the options for a nice sit down dinner, on these dates in early May were limited. The area was still opening up from the winter months, and not all of the options were available. Our 2nd visit was a little more “sure I would return to this place”. I ordered the broasted chicken again, even knowing what I was getting myself into. This time the staff member included a dinner roll, I asked about the option of white gravy because they had chicken fried steak on the menu, so I changed out the brown gravy, and she brought me a small bowl with warm water and a lemon for my fingers, as she knows folks eat their fried chicken with their fingers. Much better experience. We did not order dessert...

Stayed at Three Bear Lodge for 5 nights. Ate breakfast each morning at their restaurant as was given a coupon, for 2, to use as part of my snowmobile package. Coupon was specific for breakfast items but you could order from menu and just pay difference from coupon value. Have no complaints for breakfast food received and eaten as was given nice portions and was good meal to start day. Would recommend that if you have a time to meet for activity, as in my case snowmobiling, go as early as you can. Once restaurant started to fill and got busy, took a little while to get our meal. Had to eat quickly to make our scheduled time but would recommend for a good breakfast. Restaurant servers, however, were another matter. One morning asked for requested toast and ketchup. When not received asked a passing server about it and for another cup of coffee and was told by that server he wasn’t my server and walked away. 2nd morning was seated in a booth. When friends decided to join me, asked to be moved to a larger table to accommodate us all. Hostess responded “Really!?” Walked to another server, told that server we asked to be moved and that server responded “Really?! Well I guess we’ll move them”. Had dinner 1 night as that also included in our snowmobile package. Salmon was good but vegetable of the day, Brussels sprouts, tasted as if burnt? Asked about that to see if that was just the way they were prepared and was told by server “ I don’t know. I didn’t cook them” and walked away. Bison steaks ordered by others were not seasoned and tough. Ribeyes ordered also not seasoned but came with a dab of seasoned butter. Not enough to make steak better. Did not go back to this restaurant for any other dinner so not sure if this was normal dinner service for...