This place is a must. Â For anyone visiting Whitefish... Â Sometimes there's a small cover - but only when there is live music and come on, when do you not have to pay to see a band, people? Â Great drinks - fun atmosphere and awesome service. Â These people work hard! Â Super great prices during happy hour - 7 days a week.
Review Source:If your a tourist and want a Montana experience, this is THE PLACE for that. Â Wow, where do I even start? Â OK, I guess the 1st thing that gets your attention are all the business signs that are on practically every square in of wall space. Â Why are they there? Â The Northern has a habit of acquiring the signs from every failed business in the area and hanging them on the walls, not sure why, but they do make for a conversation piece.
The Northern attracts quite an eclectic crowd. Â You will see people from all walks of life there having a great time. Â Odds are, it will be crowded, and the uninitiated, upon seeing there are no free tables, may leave. Â No need to. Â We consider all the tables in the Northern to be community tables...except maybe for the booths in the back. Â Just because there are 2 people at a table that can seat 6 doesn't necessarily mean it's off limits and you aren't welcome to join them. Â Just ask if you can join them and, unless they are expecting friends to show up, the answer will most likely be, "Sure!".
OK, you've got your seat now, but need a drink. Â You may be there a while before you realize that there aren't any waitstaff walking around. Â That's because there aren't any. Â Now that you are armed with that info, you will know going in that you need to leave your bride at the table and go to the bar to get your drinks.
Hungry? Â You're going to need to go to the back-left of the bar and place your order. Â Craving a hamburger, but you are on a gluten free diet? Â No problem, they have gluten free hamburger buns. Â When it's done, unlike a beer order, they will bring it out to you.
The Northern is dived into 4 regions. Â Region 1, right when you walk int he door; the bar area. Region 2, behind the bar area, is the billiards area. Region 3, to the east of the billiards area is where the dance floor and stage for live music is located. Â Region 4, the outside patio/beer garden.
The ladies room is to the right of where you order food, men's room is to the left of the stage.
If you are there in the Fall and want to watch football on Sunday, the Northern has you covered. Â There are enough monitors to show every game and you don't even have to give yourself away as being a tourist by asking, "Which monitor will have the Saints/Falcons game on it?". Â Look around, when you see the monitor that has the Saints and Falcon's flag hanging off of it, you will know you have found it.
Now that the Baron has given you the 411 on the Northern, you can go in there with continence and swagger that tells everyone, "I know exactly what I'm doing".
Pretty average for a bar. Good drink specials and decent set-up with the bar in the center of the restaurant. Makes it hard to walk around the bar in the narrow pathways between the bar and the seating though. The staff is pretty average, not particularly friendly, but not overly rude.
Cool decor, pretty good live bands, and slightly smaller than expected dance floor. Sometimes has a funky smell, but that goes with almost all bars. Haven't tried the food yet, maybe next time I'm in Whitefish for a visit!
If you would have asked me to write a review about this place anytime before this summer they would have 5 stars, but let me tell you this place has gone downhill fast!! I have been coming up to Whitefish for over 10 years and used to live there so this is not a place I have only been to a few times. The whole town is changing and these folks are not making it for the better.
First off, when I was there last (July 21st 2012) my friend and I who frequent this bar when we are in town go to the bar to order a drink and what I saw next appalled me...the bartender pulled a bottle of Grey Goose out and put a regulator on the top. (You know like those things they use in the airport to give you the least amount of alcohol possible but still charge you $10 for a few gulps of soda!) I asked the bartender when that started and he told me if I didn't like it to go somewhere else. With great customer service like that I wonder why everyone doesn't love this place.
So we left and went to the Remington. (highly recommended by the way) After a few drink there some friends of our came down to meet us and went to the Northern, so we walked down the street to meet them and when we came to the door the bouncer stopped us and told us we need to pay a cover!! Excuse me a cover charge in Whitefish Montana? What the hell is going on around here? Am I in the twilight zone? We explained how we were in the bar about an hour ago and he didn't seem to care. I called my friends and we went back to the Remington because there is no way I am paying a cover charge in Montana. I live in LA and don't pay cover charges there!
In conclusion, this place has gone to shit very quickly. Save yourself the trouble and go somewhere else in town.
On a recent visit to Whitefish, my husband and I stopped in for dinner at Great Northern Bar and Grill. Â To say the wait staff is unfriendly would be an understatement. Â The "bouncers" at the entrance were shouting obscenties at what I am sure was a mentally disabled young man. Â Hmmm....we proceed inside. Â We were checking out the menu and had decided some onion rings with our order sounded good. Â The male wait staff had overheard us and said "I am out of onion rings." Â My husband replied-joking-"Oh, that's it, we have to leave." Â The male staff countered with "Well, it gets busy and we run out of things." Â Ok, fine we thought.....then next time he walked by a second time and said "If you leave, there are plenty of people behind you....". Â A third time he walked by us again and said, "If you leave, oh well." Â We left. Â Are you kidding me???
Review Source:This is a must if you're in Whitefish. I recommend going here during dinner/late night hours to get the full ambiance, though it's okay for late night hours too. They have a patio in the summer, which is pretty awesome. Go there to check out all the old signs! Any business that closes in the Flathead Valley will give their signs to the Great Northern, and there's an eccelctic mix of signs from the ski resort, local cafes, restaurants and bars, and many other kooky and wonderful signs. They have a large pool room. Great steaks and chicken. I eat here every time I'm in Whitefish, and I've never had a bad drink, meal or bad service. Pretty reasonable too. If you're in the Whitefish/Kalispell area, you gotta check this place out!
Review Source:This place has been a regular stop for me once a year for the last 15 years when I travel here to celebrate winter carnival with my old college buddies. I've made life long friends here over the years. Â The wait staff works hard, the drinks are what you expect, and yes they have good bar food. Â I would like to see a little more reinvestment back into the place...ie the bathrooms. Â This is a place that I will keep coming back too...Miss you S.B. you were the best.
Review Source:Really.?!.?!?!!??.!?! a $5 cover in Whitefish, MT. Who would have thought that you need to pay for cover in this little city. Definitely didn't go inside because of that!
No I'm not cheap, I just don't pay for cover at bars EVER. This isn't even a club or anything. Just a bar. Nothing special.
I'm gonna go blow my money somewhere else. ESP that $5 that could buy you a pitcher of beer at the bar across the street! =)
The food here is suprisingly good. I wouldnt have thought so, but perhaps the best food I ate in town. Okay I only had the fries, but my boyfriend really enjoyed his garlic sliders. Very crowded during daytime hours. Order food up at the counter, menu written on the wall in chalk. Love the old signs and the ambiance of this place. Should have came back at night for drinks, but never made it. Big pool table area and a outside that is propably more used in warmer weather.
Review Source:Came here two nights to watch some big football games. There were tons of TVs, so it was easy to find a good place to sit. One night we sat at the bar and the next we sat at a back table. We ate dinner both nights.
Service:
- The male bartender was not overly friendly but seemed like a nice guy. He was willing to talk to us about some of the different local beers, so that was nice.
- The female bartender with brown curly hair was less friendly. She did not smile once! Her vibe was just very much a don't-talk-to-me-this-is-just-a-job vibe. This is not a good attitude for a bartender to have, especially at a place where a lot of tourists go. It would have been so nice to have a friendly bartender willing to talk to us, but we did not get that.
- The big guy working the food in the back was awesome! He helped guide us in our ordering and just seemed like a jolly sarcastic guy.
Food:
- In terms of food, I ordered the baked potato and a dinner salad. Both were pretty plain and nothing to write home about, though I did appreciate that the dinner salad came with sprouts. I just wished they had had some kind of low-cal or fat free salad dressing since I was trying to be healthy.
- Burger was solid, nothing exceptional.
- The slim dinner with grilled chicken and a side salad was a great healthy dinner.
- My dad ordered the pork rib special, which was maybe 6 pork ribs with a bourbon glaze, coleslaw, a biscuit, and a cup of chicken soup, all for $8.95! That's a great deal for a lot of food. My dad said he thought the ribs were good and he liked the portion - not a grotesque amount that you get usually with ribs, but just a solid dinner.
Other pluses were $1 high life cans last night, and free popcorn.
One of the locals told me that the scene changes a lot there on weekends at about 11pm, when all the younger kids come in and start really partying. I'm young too, but I preferred the more chilled out game-watching local crowd that was around from 6-9pm.
Blech, not a particularly good time. It was freaking packed and there was a cover, and it was so loud we couldn't even talk to other people. The dance floor was kinda fun. One thing that was sort of interesting was the simultaneous existence of McSluts and douchey frat boys doing body shots and people in their 40s and 50s dancing it up on the floor. One good thing--the bartender was quick and seemed cool. Mostly I just felt like I was in some kind of spring break special and needed to remove about half of my clothing to fit in.
Review Source:Fun place to go for drinks. Â Went on 2 different nights - first night had a countryish band playing....guy on banjo/guitar was extremely talented and for the life of me, can't remember his name.
On the second night another band played, but I preferred the DJ that played in between their sets...
Alcohol is free pour rather than measured (which was pointed out to me by my Canadian friends since everything is measured in Canada) and they even accept Canadian money! Â Very surprising - don't have to exchange it.
Didn't try any of the food there, but it looked decent...
We were up in Montana a few weeks ago for (another) quickie ski trip and came here for dinner and beer. This place is really cool and I hear it gets packed on the weekends. We were here around 5ish and there were a few people in the bar, but we were the only ones in the restaurant. If you go for food, you need to walk to the back and order - they won't come to you. Same for the bar. The beer was really cheap - $2, I believe, and the food was pretty good. Papa D's burger was delish, and my salad was, uh, about as good as lettuce can be.
We wanted to check out the nightlife, but it was so freakin' cold the weekend we were there (below 0 the entire time) so we stayed in the hot tub at night at our hotel. But the next time we're in Whitefish, we'll definitely check out the scene at Great Northern Bar.
Let's just say that Mr. M is right on in his evaluation...
This place is the bomb in Whitefish.
The goods: dollar beer nights, awesome bar food, friendly bar staff, live music almost every night, every important game on the screens, outdoor seating (for the summer) ping pong, shuffleboard, pool, an old cruisin' california car racing game, juke box, free popcorn...
The bads: standing room only on weekend nights, crazy amounts of tourists, drunk 22 year olds...
You get the picture, right? You've got to check this place out if you're in town, just don't expect a cocktail waitress with a short skirt to take your order...
I'm not sure about the previous review, all the bars in Whitefish you have to go to the bar to order your drinks. Â Its just sorta common sense. Â I mean if the bar wasn't busy like you said it was, why didn't you just go to the bar in the first place?! Â Tourists....
Anyway, The Northern is awesome. Â They have rad drink specials, live music, good bar food, ping pong table, pool, shuffle board, jukebox, lots of TV's for watching games. Â Its kinda the go-to for out-of-towners on the weekends, but more locals weekdays. Â Its always lively though!
If you're visiting Whitefish, its definitely a place to stop by and check out. Â Its family friendly and a good place to meet the locals.
The bitch of all bitches. The bartender there is rude and really should look into another line of work. My in-laws took us there to watch the final four games. We stepped in, and thought to myself, hey a pretty cool place. We sat down at a table near the bar, and waited about 5-10 min, no service...even though the bartender saw us, and the bar was not busy at all. Finally after 15 min, my mother in law went to get us drinks. The female bartender was rude, and arrogant to my mother in law.
This place may be the shit, cause its the only show in town, but for for a employee to be so nasty to someone, is terrible. So I say skip this watering hole, and look at other places in town..or head up to kalispell.
The owners of this place should be appalled by her actions, hopefully she is not part of the ownership.
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