Cheyenne - Best Local Restaurant for Lunch?

[Rhaethe]

Ohhh, yesssss .... I adore cheese! That will be perfect, thank you

[WyoRV]

If you're not locked into having lunch in Cheyenne, Morris House Bistro on Warren Ave serves the best dinner in the city. It is pricy, but worth it in my opinion, and you'll need to make a reservation.

For a casual lunch, Kabob King recently opened on Stillwater Ave and is quite good.

If you head out to Curt Gowdy State Park or Vedauwoo, I'd recommend The Bunkhouse on Happy Jack Road.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by WyoRV

If you're not locked into having lunch in Cheyenne, Morris House Bistro on Warren Ave serves the best dinner in the city. It is pricy, but worth it in my opinion, and you'll need to make a reservation.

For a casual lunch, Kabob King recently opened on Stillwater Ave and is quite good.

If you head out to Curt Gowdy State Park or Vedauwoo, I'd recommend The Bunkhouse on Happy Jack Road.

Caveats:

1) Morris House, rated top in the state among fou-fou restaurants, is a rather pricey experience for dining. With a southern/cajun orientation to the dishes, I'm a bit put off by the overwhelming numbers of flavors put onto something like a pork chop. Marinated, heavily seasoned, then sauced with some orange/plum and spices topping, for example ... it's way over the top for me. Some folk equate such cooking as being a wonderful experience, hence the top rating. In any event, be aware that they are only open Thurs-Fri-Sat.

2) Haven't been to Kabob King yet. Thanks for the heads-up, will have to try it.

3) The Bunkhouse, of which I've written up on these pages and on the usual 'net review sites, is total garbage. Sorry, WyoRV ... but this place exemplifies the crap service, crap institutional prepared food from the purveyors, and is a total put-off that is the problem with so much of Wyoming's food service.

I'm reminded of the time, several years ago, when a Labor Ready worker at my ranch was mentioning his "glory days" in the food service biz of being the "chef" there when they were doing a Fri-Sat night beef steak special. Cooked to order on a charcoal grill, they did 150-200 covers per night; it was a big deal and they had the usual "fixins" prepared in-house from fresh vegatables/potatoes. It was a big local draw and a major profit center for the restaurant/bar.

Subsequently, new management came in and they discontinued the food prep and grill, and the fellow was fired. Now their vaunted "prime rib" servings are pre-cut, and pre-cooked to med rare off-site by a food purveryor. The only thing done in house is to slap the beef into an oven to heat it up and finish to the desired doneness. Similarly, the "fixins" are pre-pack from the commercial sources; heat and serve.

This place is no more a "restaurant" than your grocer's frozen food case.

PS: I've also related how we had a company Christmas party there a few years ago for about 30 folk, and the reservations were made long in advance. In a timely manner, some of the folk needed to cancel their reservations and the coordinator of our party did so a week in advance of the party. Nevertheless, the BunkHouse manager had ordered in the prime rib dinners to serve and insisted on being paid for them the night of the party. Our coordinator reiterated that she'd cancelled those dinners a week in advance, but the BunkHouse manager refused to not charge for them. With that, our coordinator insisted upon those dinners being served, boxed up to go. The BunkHouse did so, at a substantial additional service charge for the "go boxes". As well, the table service we received was abysmal ... meals were partially served to the table and some folk weren't served until others had almost finished their meals; not acceptable for a group dining experience when you're paying extra for the group to have the use of the facilities and the restaurant has all the orders in hand before you're ever seated for your party. The place did not appear to be short staffed for the evening, it was simply uncoordinated between the kitchen and the serving staff.

Our group was in the "non-smoking area", but be advised that to reach it, you must run the gauntlet of the front side of the house, the bar/grill smoking section. It's typically a fog in there of the smokers and quite a distraction from enjoying the meal experience, especially when you go to leave the place as a finale to your meal.

In any event, when it comes to the "hospitality" side of the restaurant biz, my experience with the BunkHouse over the years is a -10 on a scale of 1 to 100. These folk go out of their way to be less than professional at what they do as a restaurant. We've friends who live within a mile or two of the place, and they won't go there after their repeated bad experiences with food and service, and they're not especially discerning or difficult to satisfy as patrons. A "steak is a steak" to them, and commissary prepared food is OK with them ... but even this place can't make that a satisfying meal for them. This place is a huge "fail" on my list of restaurants around the state and unfortunately, is not atypical of many places in WY with a past history of decent food service and food.

OTOH, if this place satisfies your restaurant dining requirements, then so be it. Enjoy. But I wouldn't recommend such a miserable experience to a visitor to the area who's looking for a good restaurant, this isn't it.

[Wyoming_Medic]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

"prime rib" servings are pre-cut, and pre-cooked to med rare off-site by a food purveryor. The only thing done in house is to slap the beef into an oven to heat it up and finish to the desired doneness. Similarly, the "fixins" are pre-pack from the commercial sources; heat and serve.

And the number of restaurants in Wyoming which follow this "business model" is absolutely mind boggling.

Just look at the Tripadvisor restaurant review pages for most of Wyoming. Restaurants that would not rate highly in ANY true food market somehow get gassed on about as the toast of the state.

The reviews are accolades piled upon one another for places like Outback Steakhouse and Red Lobster. Not that there is anything wrong with either of those places, but that is NOT fine dining in any other state except Wyoming.

This state is full of wonderful adventures, sights, and experiences. But we have some of the worst food imaginable. There is a little gem here or there, but they are few in number.

[BrighterDays]

I have eaten at Kabob King once, and based on that small sample, I can second the recommendation. Food was good, service was friendly and attentive.

[Tyster]

There are lots of good recommendations here so let me offer a "don't go there"...

Panda Express on Dell Range Blvd.

Went there once.... ONCE.

[Rhaethe]

Originally Posted by Tyster

There are lots of good recommendations here so let me offer a "don't go there"...

Panda Express on Dell Range Blvd.

Went there once.... ONCE.

LOL!!!! Noted