There are limited on-mountain restaurants and nightlife options at the
Whitefish Mountain Resort, and many overnight visitors choose to hole up in their self-contained condos and cook dinner themselves. Considering the proximity to town, it’s also pretty easy to access the Whitefish restaurants and bars by catching the S.N.O.W. bus or a taxi if you don’t have your own wheels.
Whitefish Mountain Resort Restaurants
Overnight visitors to Whitefish Mountain Resort are faced with four evening dining options when it comes to filling the hole in one’s stomach at the end of the day: Hellroaring Saloon and Eatery; Ed & Mully’s; Bierstube; and fine dining at the Kandahar Café.
Dinner at the Hellroaring is like entering a ski chalet from the 70s all dressed in faux Austrian regalia. The food, service and prices are excellent. You won’t have any complaints eating dinner at the Hellroaring.
Same can’t be said for Bierstube. As a restaurant, the Bierstube makes a great boozer. Basic burgers, fried nibbles and frozen pizza are alright if you’ve really got stuck into the après beers?!
The Kandahar, located next to Hibernation House in the lower village, is the home of fine dining at Whitefish Mountain Resort. Be prepared to pay for the privilege, but the food, service and surroundings are exquisite. Bookings are recommended at this award winning restaurant.
Dining Activities
If you’re at Whitefish Ski Resort during a full moon, sign up for the Moonlight dine and ski activity. This includes a chair lift ride up to Summit House for a meal, and then you’ve got the option of catching the chair lift back down the mountain, or you can follow one of the guides and schuss down the hill for a moonlit run.
Another novel dining activity is a sleigh ride to the Bar W Guest Ranch for dinner.
Whitefish Restaurants
In Whitefish itself and on the road between the resort and downtown, you can take your pick from all types and genres of dining.
At the lower end of the of dollar market try the endless smoky BBQ meats at the Piggyback Barbeque. Middle of the range in downtown Whitefish is the Craggy Range Bar and Grill and the good Latitude 48 & Red Room. High end includes The Boat Club which is north of downtown.
A highlight of the Whitefish restaurants is the Tupelo Grille (17 Central Ave, Whitefish). This fine dining restaurant serves up Cajun and Southern cuisine as well as steaks and pasta, all of which is just downright yummy. This restaurant also has great wines!
Whitefish Cafes
For a good cup of coffee, try the ‘Montana Coffee Traders’ downtown or if you want a big feed for breakfast, head to the Buffalo Café.
Whitefish Bars – On-Mountain
Ignoring the rant above about the Bierstube’s pizzas, it is one of the classic après ski bars in the world. I can hear you saying, ‘that’s a huge call’, but it’s true. Hell, Canadians voted it the best ski bar a few years running and you know how parochial they can be.
If the Bierstube is a bit too loud and crowded for you, try another good bar, the Hellroaring Saloon and Eatery (but the real action is at Bierstube!).
Another quieter bar is Ed and Mully’s Lounge (got a few pool tables) in the upper village, and for a quiet drink in a refined environment try the Snug Bar at the Kandahar next to Hibernation House.
The Base Lodge has a bar also for après drinks, but why mix it with the great unwashed down at the base when you can mix it with a pack of reprobates in the upper village?!
Whitefish Nightlife – In Town
The Whitefish Mountain village is OK for the bar scene, but after the après ski drinking session dies down there’s not much in the way of nightlife, so you might want to head downtown.
Whitefish township has various bar potentials and a plethora of saloons (including a few with pole dancers of all things!) and restaurant bars are dotted throughout the downtown area.