Windbag Saloon & Grill

The Windbag Saloon was sold as of March, 2016 and is currently closed for business. The buyer has restaurants in 3 or 4 other Montana locations. The bar and dining room are now being remodeled. Watch for more news.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!
I’m in Helena a few times a year, and always make a point to go to the Windbag for dinner. I usually get a cut of steak or their salmon… all great. My favorite is their house-​made vinaigrette (it’s packed full of garlic) — I drizzle that stuff on everything! Decent local beer selection.
Don’t let the exterior fool you! The first time I dined at the Windbag I was highly skeptical… shouldn’t have been. I would label it as a «hole in the wall» that is definitely worth trying!
Best recommended for adult dining. My husband and I took our daughter here once, and it was just not the best kid-​friendly restaurant. Gets pretty busy during dinner time, more so on the weekends.

Superb lunch! The club was scrumptious as was the Continental Divide. Our waitress was super sweet and attentive. &13 was a little steep for a sandwich until it came with way more than I could eat!

I was in Helena on business. My hotel suggested this restaurant and I went over for a late dinner. It is a nice comfortable pub style restaurant with a separate bar and dining area.
I sat in the bar and had two great local craft beers. There was a nice selection from the local area. After looking over the menu which had a lot of great looking options, I decided on the tuna appetizer sandwich but replacing the bread with a nice mixed greens salad. The server was very accommodating and helpful in suggesting this.
It was a large piece of tuna which was seared and covered in a blackened finish. It was just what I needed and presented nicely with a heaping of greens and tomatoes.
Other than my meal which was an appetizer being pricey at $ 16, I would return to try other items on the menu.

I don’t think you can go wrong by ordering the prime rib sandwich at the Windbag. That’s provided you like great roast beef of course.
You get a generous portion of prime rib on a baguette along with a side dish for a very reasonable price.
I am very impressed with the staff and service. I have never made reservations over many visits and I have always been seated promptly no matter the size of party.

One of the best places to eat in Helena. Great food. Love the cob salad and halibut sandwich. The fries are great! Excellent wine list and exceptional service and atmosphere.

Second time here… Great both times! Definitely a place to go for dinner. Hearty portions and excellent food in a great venue. Come a bit early and enjoy the bar.

Took out-​of-​town guest and seven others for a birthday dinner for my nine-​year-​old granddaughter. Everyone loved the food and the service was great. The batter-​fried mushrooms and vegetables are excellent. The waitress even brought a huge slice of mudpie with a candle at the end of the meal. It was enough for everyone to have some!

Went here for dinner and while they were setting up our table (we had 7 folks) we talked with the bartender and he was awesome. He took the time to explain all the local brews and even poured us a taster of each one.
I settled on the Harvest Moon Beltian White, which the bartender said was like Blue Moon, but better. I have to agree with him.
Then while ordering food the waitress suggested the Humble Beef Ribs (~$ 30) and it was a great choice as well. I was contemplating a burger or the prime rib sandwich. Maybe next time.
The beef ribs were falling off the bone, tender, and came with a nice teriyaki-​like side sauce.

Came in for the Prime Rib, and am so very glad that I did. I will be dreaming of this Prime Rib for some time to come. It was melt-​in-​the-​mouth delicious. For $ 27, it was 16-​oz served with soup or salad and a side. I picked the mashed potatoes which were pretty damned good as well. I had a couple local beers with my meal, and all told they practically needed to wheel me out I was so full. The Windbag isn’t much to look at on the inside, but the staff was friendly and the Prime Rib was amazing, so I have no complaints. It was also located on a very charming little walkway that helped me appreciate Helena’s charm just a little bit more.

Pretty pricey for average food. Fun «old time» atmosphere though…

Went to windbag and had their famous prime rib sandwich which was a giant piece of prime rib on a bun. It was very difficult to eat because the rib was too big for the bun and difficult to bite through. The bottom bun was very soggy because of the meat when it came out, I couldn’t even pick it up so I just took of the bottom bun. The fries were very thick and not crispy.

I just enjoyed the last lunch I’ll ever have at Big Dorothy’s. Terrible service. We were there for an hour and 20 minutes and only ordered salads to eat. We were lucky we didn’t have anywhere we needed to be. A guy at a table next to us actually left he was so frustrated with waiting for his food. The food really was good but not good enough to go back. We waited almost 15 minutes before we even had waters and menus and after we got out meals our server never came back to ask us how we were doing. After he brought us the bill (which was wrong) we had to track down someone to take our cards. Too bad that the food was good because the service was bad enough I won’t be back. The staff we did find to help us was nice enough to comp our meals, though. Not the place to go for your lunch hour if you need to be back to work on time.

I’ve eaten here for lunch and dinner. The food is great, and the service is quick and friendly.
For lunch I’ve eaten the burgers, they are prepared nicely and not served on a bun off a truck… They are a home style burger all the way.
At dinner I’ve eaten their steaks. Never disappointing and always cooked as ordered. Despite the bar and restaurant being very busy when I was there our server was quick to take our order, our drinks were delivered quickly and correctly, and dinner was served promptly. I like going here and will bring friends when they visit town.

Food was just average. I have eaten here before — about 4 years ago on a business trip so i decided to return. Wasn’t special. Not sure i would go back. Waitress was rude and couldn’t hear anything we said. Kept asking us to repeat it or didn’t understand the questions i was asking her.

Great local place to eat… nice ambience and history. They have a nice bar area, but we ate in the dining room which was also comfortable. Not a fancy place, but nice.
Neither of our GPS units were able to accurately locate this establishment. The «street» that it’s located on is closed to auto traffic and has been turned into a dining/​shopping area. You have to park on the back side of the buildings which is the upper level, then walk down a couple of flights of outdoor stairs to get to the restaurant. The metal stairs were very slick with snow falling. If you’re not familiar with the area, as we weren’t, you might want to call and get directions.
Service was good. They have a wide selection of Montana-​brewed beers. I had the Pig’s A$$ Porter which, fortunately, tasted nothing like it’s namesake.
I started out with a cup of the curried beef soup which was outstanding. Very nice flavor and absolutely loaded with beef. Very hearty.
The mushroom peppercorn filet was very tasty. A nice cut of meat and cooked to a perfect medium rare, as ordered. The mashed potatoes were fine, but nothing to write home about.
My colleague had the «16» ounce prime rib which was actually much larger than 16 ounce. It was thick cut and looked great. He said it tasted as good as it looked.
We walked out with a bill right at $ 80 with one beer each, and including tip. There are some less expensive items on the menu too.
All in all a great place to visit when in town.

I went here with a friend, both of us moved to Helena about 7 months ago from different big cities. We have both struggled to find decent food in Helena and after several friends recommended it we gave Windbag a try. We both got burgers, which are all in the $ 11 – 12 range. Their dinner entrees are all $ 20 – 30. The side salad that came with my friends meal looked really fancy and delicious and she enjoyed it. The potato bacon soup I got as my side wasn’t so great, it tasted grainy and there was a wad of cheese bigger than 2 tablespoons in the middle of it. Both of us felt our burgers were just ok, and we both felt the buns were way too greasy. We both like the burgers at the Brewhouse way more. On the plus, they do have a great wine and beer selection and I ordered the cheapest red at $ 6/​glass and it turned out to be great. Overall just ok food and kind of expensive, but good service and a nice atmosphere. I probably would only go back for a glass of wine at the bar.

When you’re getting a pitcher of Arnold Palmer when only expecting a glass, or your 16oz prime rib is larger than that, is good service actually needed?
Sometimes. We just didn’t for our group get the waitress to come back to re-​fill some of the folk’s water glasses, or their other drinks. The check too, took a while.
Portion wise, it’s all on the large size, even the included salad with the entrée. So no complaints on the food.
I’d go back for the portions and food though. Service, perhaps I’ll sit at the bar?

Food’s decent, but not spectacular given the prices. Every time I came here during college, I would order off the appetizer menu because that would easily run $ 10-​$ 12 and would have enough food to fill you up. Some of the dinner entrees will run you $ 30(ish), which given the surroundings and the fact that it’s Helena, that’s a little steep.
This ran true when I stopped by a few weeks ago during my visit to Helena. I ordered off the appetizer menu and the food was exactly as I remember it (decent, not bad but not awesome). The Windbag is best enjoyed if you appreciate its ambiance and history (legend has it that it was at one time a brothel) as well as the selection on tap. For example, the Pig’s Ass Porter (from a brewery in Belt, MT) is a common staple here and I can’t recall having it anywhere else. They also feature other MT brews like Moose Drool from the Big Sky Brewing company in Missoula, MT. There are some other more common selections as well (my mom had Blue Moon… a PITCHER of it, yeah that’s my mom), and the selection is not astoundingly big, but you can generally find one or two beers here that you won’t find anywhere else.
You can opt to sit in the dining room or the «bar» room, which tends to be a little more rowdy. Most of the time I’ve ended up in the bar room, which features bar stool seating as well as some tables strewn here and there. There’s not really a big difference between the two except in the dining room you won’t find any TV’s with the game on. All in all, this place is fine but I was never that impressed with it when I went to school here and it was just like I remember it when I went back a few weeks ago.

A fun place to visit if you aren’t from here. A lot of great stories and history in this building (it was formerly a bordello) and on the walking mall.
I recommend the black and bleu steak, or any of the burgers.
They do have a good selection of local beers and the wine list is constantly changing.