Outpost Restaurant in West Yellowstone, MT - Moderately Disappointing

As it comes to dining in West Yellowstone, the decisions are almost endless. With an estimate of over 4 million visitors a year, Yellowstone National Park remains to be one of the largest attractions in the country. Before entering the actual park, I was relatively hungry. I did not eat lunch and therefore; was in search of a great eatery. After pondering what I was actually in the mood for, I noticed when driving by an array of restaurants, one sparked up my interest, the Outpost Restaurant. Recently, when visiting Yellowstone National Park, I had the opportunity of not only discovering the Outpost Restaurant, but eating lunch there.

When you first enter this eatery, you will notice that the tables are slightly modern, with a western influence. One area of the restaurant consisted of mainly booths, as the other area of the restaurant consisted of mainly tables. The ambience was made up of timeless memorabilia that ranged from old cereal boxes to pre contemporary art deco. I must say that it was rather interesting to look at. I wasn't in the mood for salad, although the salad did look fairly appetizing, as the ingredients on the buffet looked rather fresh.

After I sat down, I was greeted and then approached with a menu. Even though there was already water with ice on the table, I decided to order a soda. I couldn't decide what I wanted, so after the waitress delivered my soda, she gave me more time to think about what I wanted to order. I am a lacto ovo vegetarian, so going into any restaurant, you must be willing to take a risk because options may be potentially slim. As I browsed through the menu, I noticed that the options were, in fact slim. Although, the salad bar looked like a decent salad bar, I was not in the mood for salad.

Most meat oriented eateries tend to have at least one entr©e that is meatless or caters to a vegetarian lifestyle. There was nothing at the Outpost Restaurant that I could eat, but the salad bar. Then, when I actually walked up to the salad bar, I noticed a variety of made up salads such as chicken salad, that were pre-made with meat already in them. When I walked back to my seat, I glanced at the menu again. There was nothing. I knew I had to order something so I went with the club sandwich. I asked the waitress to substitute the meat for extra cheese and to add veggies to the sandwich. She did not hesitate to let me know that she only had only certain vegetables available. "No, we don't have that" she would reply after almost every question I had. The salad bar had an array of vegetables on it, which did not make any sense to me why a vast majority of the vegetables I inquired about were not available.

She offered me two choices of bread and asked what kind I wanted. As I pondered my options between white or wheat, I decided to go with the wheat bread. I mentioned that I would like some mayonnaise on my sandwich. She brought out the sandwich and it looked incredibly enticing, but simple, as if it could have been made at home. I had asked previously if she could add some black olives on the club sandwich, but despite not putting them on it, she did manage to bring out a small rim saucer bowl of them. The veggie club sandwich was over $11 and although it was good at the time, it was not worth $11. I've had better club sandwiches in dives that were dollars cheaper. I don't like writing poor reviews, however; I must state that I was a little dissatisfied.

The Outpost Restaurant is open everyday from 6:30 am until 10:30 am. Would I recommend the Outpost Restaurant to a friend? Yes, but only if they engage in a meat eating lifestyle. If one of my friend's happens to be a vegetarian, I would not recommend the Outpost Restaurant for lunch or dinner. Would I eat at Outpost Restaurant again? Perhaps, but only if they add more of a vegetarian selection on the menu. As of today, the Outpost Restaurant was moderately disappointing.

Outpost Restaurant
115 Yellowstone Avenue
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
(406) 646-7303