Best Restaurants in Wyoming

About Restaurants in Wyoming

If your trip starts in Jackson Hole and the Tetons, expect resort-town prices alongside resort-town quality. A dinner for two at a mid-range Jackson restaurant runs $80 to $150 before drinks, and upscale spots push well past that. The trade-off is a range of cuisines and calibers that rivals mid-sized cities. Gun Barrel Steak and Game House on West Broadway serves elk, bison, and Wyoming-raised beef with a rotating wild game menu, bison carpaccio, elk medallions, and game bolognese alongside conventional cuts. A few blocks east, Persephone Bakery on East Broadway opens early and draws a line by 8 a.m. most mornings, with laminated pastries and specialty coffee drinks that reflect the cosmopolitan base the valley has built. The resort economy that flies into JAC and fills the valley from mid-June through Labor Day has given Jackson a dining scene that holds up by any standard, not just a Wyoming one.

Step east from Jackson and the price-to-portion ratio shifts quickly. Cody sits 52 miles from Yellowstone's East Entrance and draws travelers who want a practical base for the park's eastern wildlife corridors. Granny's Restaurant on Sheridan Avenue has been feeding a breakfast crowd of locals and travelers for years: homemade pancakes, breakfast burritos, and egg skillets in the $10 to $15 range, with a line on summer mornings that moves faster than you'd expect. The Cody Cattle Company takes dinner in a different direction entirely, a ticketed dinner-show experience on Demaris Drive where an all-you-can-eat buffet of brisket, beans, and cornbread runs alongside live Western music and a performance that plays well to both families and rodeo fans. It runs nightly from roughly Memorial Day through Labor Day and fills most nights in July.

Further along the wind-river corridors south and east, the options thin but don't disappear. The Cowboy Cafe on East Rams Horn Street in Dubois runs a menu that punches above what the town's population of roughly 1,000 would suggest, smoked salmon BLTs, housemade soups, and fall-off-the-bone BBQ ribs in a building that seats fewer than 50 people. Thermopolis, about 130 miles southeast of Cody on US-20, is an easy pairing with a soak in the mineral pools at Hot Springs State Park. One Eyed Buffalo Brewing Company on Broadway Street brews its own beers and serves bison burgers in a town of 3,000, making it the practical dinner option in comfortable walking distance of the state park baths. The park itself is free to enter, which means what you save on admission can go toward a meal.

The college town of Laramie at 7,200 feet on I-80 anchors the southeastern corner's dining options. J's Prairie Rose Cafe on South 2nd Street is a breakfast-and-lunch institution that has been featured on national food programs, with a weekend line out the door and a breakfast burrito that locals recommend without prompting. The University of Wyoming population has also driven more dietary variety here than in most Wyoming towns, if you're traveling with someone who doesn't eat beef or game, Laramie is a better place to land than Cody or Jackson for consistently reliable options. In Cheyenne, 45 miles east on I-80, the dining scene reflects the capital-and-highway geography: practical, unpretentious, and anchored by reliable spots rather than destination restaurants. The full Wyoming Travel Guide maps out each region with its own dining character so you can set realistic expectations before you arrive.

How to Choose a Wyoming Restaurant

Location determines your options more than anything else in Wyoming, because the state is genuinely large and the restaurant density drops fast outside the main tourist corridors. Jackson has the widest selection, dozens of spots across every price point and style, concentrated along West Broadway and within a few blocks of the town square. Cody has a solid cluster along Sheridan Avenue and the surrounding downtown blocks. Outside those two towns, most places in Wyoming are operating in the one-or-two-good-spots-per-town range. Dubois, Pinedale, and Thermopolis each have a few solid options, but meal planning matters more than it does at home. Pairing your restaurant research with your lodging choices can save time and detours: browse the Hotels and Lodges directory to locate accommodation near the dining options that matter to you.

Wild game is worth seeking out specifically in Wyoming. Bison, elk, and antelope appear on restaurant menus across the state more authentically than in most places, the ranching supply chain runs shorter here, and the tradition predates the tourism economy. If you're booked at one of the best dude ranches in Wyoming, meals are often included in the rate and built around beef and game from nearby operations; ask about sourcing because it is usually genuinely local. In Jackson, Gun Barrel Steak and Game House carries one of the longer wild game menus in the state. Smaller towns like Thermopolis and Dubois serve bison burgers at their better restaurants with a matter-of-factness that reflects how common the protein is here. These are not novelty menu items, they're the ranching baseline.

Budget planning matters more in Wyoming than in most western states because the price range across the state is unusually wide. Mid-range restaurant entrees in Jackson run $18 to $30, and upscale spots charge $40 and up per plate. The same food category in Cody or Laramie typically runs $12 to $20. Small-town diners along US-26, US-189, and I-80 often keep things at $10 to $15 for a full plate with coffee. The practical approach for a week-long Wyoming trip: plan for one or two Jackson-level dinners on nights when you're in the valley, and rely on honest local spots the rest of the time. The quality gap between a $12 Cody breakfast and a $28 Jackson breakfast is narrower than the price difference suggests.

Reservations matter more than in most western states, and the pattern is concentrated. Jackson restaurants fill every evening from mid-June through Labor Day, and the most popular spots book out weeks in advance during peak summer, late July and early August being the tightest window. Cody follows a similar pattern tied to the Cody Nite Rodeo, which runs every evening June through August and keeps the whole town busy. Outside those two towns and outside the summer peak, walk-ins are generally fine, but a quick call to check hours is worth the 30 seconds, particularly at smaller spots. Cowboy Cafe in Dubois and One Eyed Buffalo Brewing Company in Thermopolis each have hours that shift by season, and some smaller operations close Sundays or Mondays. Driving 40 miles on US-287 to find a dark dining room is avoidable.

For anglers planning a fishing trip, the state's most reliable local restaurant tips often come from the guides themselves. Browse the Fly Fishing Outfitters directory to find outfitters near the rivers you plan to fish, then ask the crew where they eat after a day on the water. They know which diner opens at 5:30 a.m. before a float and which roadside place is genuinely worth the detour. The answer is rarely the restaurant with the biggest highway sign. Wyoming's best local food tends to sit on a quiet block in a small town, with a parking lot full of pickup trucks and no printed hours on the website.