Lighthouse - Gardiner

In a nutshell: this place has interesting menu options at a reasonable price, but execution is hit or miss and service is slow. After having gross hockey puck burgers at some cafeteria inside Yellowstone for lunch, my family and I were looking forward to some real food for dinner. We ordered quite a bit here, so it was a good sampling of what they have to offer. My parents both got clam chowder because the menu stated that the chef worked at Pike Place Market in Seattle for 10 years which inspired his recipe. We fondly remember having delicious clam chowder in Seattle, so it sounded promising. However, it was just incredibly salty, and nothing like the clam chowder we enjoyed in the past. My mom and I got side salads with huckleberry vinaigrette, which we've never tried before. Huckleberry tastes kind of similar to blueberry. It was pretty tasty. We got two appetizers for the table: escargot and wildfire Mac cheese (it has bacon and jalapeños mixed in . I've never had escargot before, but it was cooked very well it wasn't rubbery like I was afraid of, and the garlic butter sauce and grilled ciabatta bread was a great complement to it. The wildfire Mac had a nice kick to it from the jalapeños and was tasty. We all got different entrees: chicken crepe, Bacalao au gratin (Portuguese cod dish , seafood linguine, and NY steak. My crepe was delicious for the most part. It was stuffed with spinach, bacon truffle cheese, and chicken. The chicken was not fresh they used those precooked chicken strips that you can get at the grocery store...I could tell by the distinct taste and texture. That kept the dish from being great. Bacalao was solid the cod was not fishy, and the au gratin scalloped potatoes went well with it. Seafood linguine was pretty good too the ingredients were all fresh. The NY steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare, but my dad didn't like it because they had some kind of sweet sauce on it (red wine, maybe? that was not listed in the menu description. I personally thought it tasted great, but my dad is very basic about his steaks just dry seasoning. Our waiter was pretty friendly and polite, albeit kind of slow. On a couple occasions, he also brought stuff to our table that we didn't order. Two of his other tables adjacent to us also happened to be full of Asians, so I wonder if he couldn't tell us apart. I wasn't offended or anything, but thought that was funny. This place is pretty good, and I'd take this over the Yellowstone cafeteria food any day!

On the drive from South Dakota to Montana, I was looking for a place to eat as I approached Gardiner, MT, where I would stay a few nights and explore Yellowstone National Park during the day. The Lighthouse restaurant offered a charming variety of food and was decorated with nautical treasures. There were old sea bottles and old photos, which created a relaxing atmosphere, as if I was dining on a ship. As much needed compliments, the waitress served jars (not simply glasses) of ice water. Please get the chicken crepe! It is filled with spinach, truffle cheese, and tender chicken slices. Even though it is a creamy dish, it was not made too heavily, which was comfortable for me for the later drive! My parents got the linguine in tomato cream sauce, which came with garlic bread that was soft and flavorful. The dessert carrot cake was warm and deliciously organic, covered in a light creamy homemade sauce. Every single dish in this restaurant is very well made and scrumptious 100% recommend!!

Truly shocked this place has such a good rating. The food is not even freshly prepared . It's rather stored inside metal buffer containers. The food is bland and disgusting. The menu is misleading . Horrible .

Very good food not amazing. Recommend getting chocolate chip cookie on scillet. The service was really nice and the people are very kind chocolate chipskillet it was delicious I got a steak which was very solid but the sauce was amazing I recommend I've been in Montana for five days and this is by far the best mail I'm not saying a food amazing but for Montana food very good very nice people doesn't take too long solid food great strawberry drink I recommend getting not too expensive little pricey but very good quality food

Who are these people giving four and even five stars? Amazing? Charming? Fine dining? A gem?! Are these people on drugs or are they just friends and family of the owner and staff? Maybe both? The food was awful, the service was awful and the entire vibe of this place was just plain creepy. We couldn't wait to get out of there after everyone's bad meal and weird staff. I felt like I was in some Twilight Zone episode. We should have known as soon as we looked at the menu. Escargot, Thai, pasta, steaks, curry and seafood on the same menu is a sign that nothing will be good. And it wasn't. More proof that restaurants around Yellowstone can get by on seasonal tourists who will likely only eat at a place once.