Eating Through Yellowstone: Roosevelt Dining Room

In terms of Yellowstone dining, the Roosevelt Dining Room is by far the most underrated restaurant in the Park.

Of course, the Roosevelt Lodge area has always been the most “faraway” lodging facility in Yellowstone National Park. It is, by far, the most austere, with the least frills. It feels a little isolated from the rest of the Park, distant from the geyser plains and Lake Yellowstone. It would make sense that, given its distance away, the Roosevelt Dining Room would be less well known than the Old Faithful Dining Room or the Lake Hotel Dining Room.

Nonetheless, Roosevelt Dining Room offers its own unique experience, an experience you can’t find in any other Park restaurant.

Roosevelt_Lodge_Sign

You’ll note, as you walk up to the Lodge, the spacious porch and row of rocking chairs. It’s a popular place, especially around mealtime when visitors are waiting for tables or sipping a drink from the bar, but if you can get a seat, you may not want to leave.

The room itself is a little cramped compared to other dining rooms in the Park, but the impeccable rustic styling—log walls, stone fireplace, tree columns keeping the ceiling up—makes the room feel cozy and insulating.

The menu mirrors this rusticity. Teddy’s mug even stares, rugged and forbearing with his pince-nez, out from the breakfast menu, which features hardy dishes like biscuits and sausage gravy and the “Wrangler Skillet,” a hearty mix of home fries, beef tips, bacon, sausage, veggies and cheddar cheese, served with eggs, toast, and fruit salad.

Lunch and dinner, broadly, consists of “Frontier Fare” (dishes such as bison tamales, wild game Bolognese, meatballs, and lemon sage chicken) and “Saddle Bags” (sharable plates/appetizers such as smoked trout, hot wings, and wild game nachos) as well as sandwiches and exclusive dinner specials (“Teddy’s Top Sirloin” anyone?).

In our experience, Roosevelt Dining Room makes a great lunch-stop, especially if you’re heading to/from Canyon or Mammoth Hot Springs. And the Lodge itself is a great base if you’re in the Park for a few days and want to sight some wildlife around the Lamar Valley, down in Hayden Valley, or along the Mammoth/Tower road.

Whatever your reason for visiting, consider Roosevelt Dining Room as a viable, and supremely enjoyable, dining destination.

About Sean Reichard

Sean Reichard is the editor of Yellowstone Insider and author of Yellowstone Insider For Families 2017.

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