We were in Billings in early June, 2013 for a convention. Jakes was right across the street from our hotel. Arrived in town on a Thursday and popped over to Jakes for dinner.
We were seated within 5 minutes of arriving. Our waitress was friendly and efficient. When she read the specials of the day, I just had to try the crisp pork belly with lump crab meat in a chipotle Bearnaise sauce. I had never before seen pork belly on a menu. My wife ordered cedar plank salmon. Both were served hot and the flavor was excellent! We liked it so much that we ate there again on Saturday night with some fellow conventioneers. Even though the crispy pork belly was not on the menu, our waitress was able to have the chef cook up another helping of it for me. This time it had a mushroom sauce. It again was excellent.
I highly recommend Jakes if you happen to be in Billings!
Billings, Montana... Â Maybe I my expectations are just too high. Â Maybe I had an unfortunate experience. Â Either way, don't think I'll come back here. Â I sat in the bar, but wasn't really drinking, maybe why they were ignoring me? Â Anyway, I ordered the filet minion med rare, baked potato, wedge salad. Â Easy enough... Â Or not. Â The wedge came out and was a wedge of iceberg with some red onions and tomato. Â Bacon? Â Apparently since that is made of pork, not beef, it is not served in Montana. Â
Well, I got my steak, it was underdone, blood everywhere.... and the baked potato? Â It came with just Sour Cream. Â The size of the baked potato compared to the size of the Sour Cream container they gave me was ridiculous. Â It probably would cover about two bites of the baked potato. Â Anyways, I took my two bites of the potato, ate a couple bites of steak. Â I ordered the Oscar topping, which I frequently do. Â I searched for the crab... and I searched for the crab.... and I searched for the crab. Â I couldn't find ANY in the sauce. Â What a waste of $14 or whatever they charged. Â
I looked for the bartender to complain. Â That doesn't sound like it would be a challenge, only the bartender was TOTALLY ignorning me. Â Now, granted I was pregnant, so I couldn't drink, but I still ordered a Salad, Filet with Oscar topping and that isn't cheap! Â I finally gave up on the whole thing and just paid. Â I should have just stuck to their free happy hour food. Â They serve free appetizers at Happy hour, but only if you get there on time. Â By the time I got there, there were about 3 wings left but hey, they were free. Â
Do yourself a favor and SKIP this restaurant. Â Go to Juliano's instead. Â That place is 100X better.
Love their menu. Â We love their Nachos. Â Bill loves their steaks and burgers, and I love their Million dollar salad with chicken. Â They offer the best choices of salad dressing anywhere I have experienced. Â Easy to get to in Billings Downtown or West End. Staff is usually smiling, friendly, prompt.
Review Source:So sorry, Jake's. I love that this place is down town; it looks really cool. Service was fine. Food would have been ok if it was less expensive, but unfortunately when it's expensive, it's hard to help it -- but we expect more. When it's expensive, I order things like seared ahi and expect it rare and seared.
Review Source:For the price, I was not all that impressed with Jake's downtown. Â The service was friendly enough, but the food was expensive and not prepared very well. Â Several of the steaks that our party ordered did not come out as requested. Â I ordered a pasta with king crab added onto it, but I was not able to locate more than a spec or two of king crab. Â For the cost, there should have been a lot more. Â The food was still delicious, however, hence the second star. Â I'd probably try somewhere else in this small town before heading back to Jake's.
Review Source:A mediocre steak at a premium price..a total unsatisfactory experience!! A glass of Johnny  Walker Black was listed on the menu for 5.75 when the check came we were charged 7.25..asked to speak to the manager ..he explained the 1.50 difference was because it was ordered on the rocks!!! he was rude and insolent..it is common practice he explained to pay more for a glass on the rocks..their was nothing on the menu to identify the price difference. If you are visiting Billings find another restaurant!!!
Review Source:Good, good food. Â I thought everything was tasty. Â They had a great selection of beer and the service was good. Â It felt like a local fun eatery/ bar where the food was exactly what was expected. Â The beef was cooked to perfection and had a very fresh flavor. Â When I go back to billings I'll back here for sure!
Review Source:I went to Jakes for Happy Hour after work. It seemed like a lively place across from the Crown Plaza Hotel. I thought there would be a younger, more vibrant crowd there, but I felt like I was at a Members Only convention or an AARP meeting.
I didn't eat, but the drinks were good and the service was what I expected. I will give the food a shot when I go back to Billings and if it is worthwile, I will be sure to get back on Yelp and change my rating (good, bad, or indifferent).
I've had better steaks at a Sizzler or an Outback for a quarter of the price! I have no idea why people like this place?! My boyfriend and I both ordered the bone-in rib eye which is a very flavorful cut of beef. The steak we received was gristly, chewy, hard to cut and completely lacked flavor. I ordered mine med-rare (although the chef cooked it extremely rare and bloody) and my boyfriend ordered his medium (which the chef cooked it med-rare). We also got the much hyped appetizer Dungeness Crab Artichoke Dip - which sounded delicious. It tasted like a can of tuna with a ton of mayonnaise.... ick. The ONLY thing good about this meal was the bottle of wine we ordered which had nothing to do with the restaurants cooking. We hoped for an amazing steak while visiting Montana, but left wanting to become vegetarians because of Jake's. I guess we are spoiled coming from a big city with the likes of Morton's & Del Frisco's - which are WORTH the money.
Review Source:Road weary form a drive down from Cranbrook BC, we were thinking about ordering pizza on my birthday and crashing.
But a fellow checking into our hotel INSISTED we go to Jakes.
OH HELL YA!
I had a terrific shrimp appetizer on par with the Metropolitan grill in Seattle. My wife had an espresso rubbed rib eyed steak. OUTSTANDING. I nourished don a decadent steak salad and the mixed drinks were perfection.
The service on spot and friendly, the ambiance: classic steak house posh. Dark wood, tin ceiling, etc... Patrons dressed to their country best here in Billings.
Just fun and unexpected in this oil refinery town.
Went there with a large group of co-workers, had high-hopes but I wasn't impressed. Â In Billings for a couple of days for business, and I probably don't have to illustrate that California isn't known for the steak dinners. Â I was craving some good steak.
About 10 minutes after arriving, the waiter positioned himself between two of us to deliver some drinks... 2 beers & 2 stems of wine. Â He took the beers off his tray and didn't re-position the stems first... so... gravity.. works every time. Â The guy next to me was wearing the dark red stem, I was wearing the pink Zin or whatever it was. Â Hadn't changed out of my Joseph A. Bank office/travel pants either... Needless to say... I was pretty miffed for most of the meal. Â The whole glass straight onto the thigh & knee of the beige / khaki-colored pants. Â Waiter seemed new, odd for a $200+ table place, especially in a weak-economy like Billings.. note to management, stick to hiring the experienced / high-end wait-staff for that price.
Salad came.. eh... probably "ok" for Montana, it would be a fail for California, but it tasted ok. Â Iceberg lettuce with some cheese & croutons or whatever with a $35.00 dinner seems really, really cheap (not in a good way). Â They have Blue King Crab from Alaska on the menu.. you would kind of expect something other than salad & veggies from Walmart. Â Nothing like you would expect for salad dressing options either for an expensive steakhouse... pretty basic stuff. Oil / vinegar, thousand island, maybe some french & ranch.. that's about it. Â
Dinner... I had the prime rib (12 oz) and the garlic mashed potatoes. Â They did fairly ok here, it is advertised in the menu as their signature dish (the prime rib), but it's nowhere near the best I've had. Â If anyone remembers Hungry Hunter before they went under and their fantastic prime rib, this isn't Hungry Hunters. Â It was definitely good, but not great, you would probably be happier at Outback, actually.
Desert... I had the cheesecake, which I'll give them props for. Â It was one of the best I've had. Â $5.95 for that, average, very good / large portion.
So... 6 of us ordering $30+ meals, drinks, and desert, and we got a single 4 inch loaf of bread on the table? Â Really? Maybe it was to replace the icky croutons on the salad with.
For dumping about 16 ounces of wine on myself and my buddy, the "most they could do would be 1 or 2 meals"... ok... we didn't even ask and the waiter just kind of offered that up out of the blue. Â Probably because anyone else would write-off the whole dinner and the guy already felt guilty or something. Â Ok, whatever, it's expensed anyway. Â
Manager came over and asked if the club-soda was working, it kind of was, but by then I looked like I had been for a swim (8 ounces of wine and about 16 ounces of soda on my leg). Â He did offer up desert for everyone and comped the drinks... so that saved it from a one-star.
Without the incident??? Â I would maybe give it a 2, at best, anyway. Â It wasn't stellar, by any stretch, and I thought it was way over priced. Â For 4 meals (out of 6) on the check, waived the drinks and the desert, it was still around $200 with tip. Â For mediocre... and a very dated / 80's motif, I'd say pass. Â Go to the place across the street, you will be much happier.
Close your eyes and think of the perfect steak,
Now open them and come eat the tenderloin tail at Jakes!
One of the top 5 filets I've had the good fortune to experience in my entire 47 years of life. Wow!
Every element of this meal is outstanding!
The Cole slaw garnish had apple and onion and amazing spices! Pure genius!!!
The spicy potato cake had a nice flavor, and a definite kick!
Even the Caesar Salad had balance. Not too much garlic or salt - just right!
Add a Glacier Ale from Red Lodge Brewery and a glass of Cabernet to properly compliment the tenderloin...
This was a Perfect dinner!!!
Cheers!
I finally decided to create an account for YELP! after making use of the reviews for a year or so. I waited so long because I had not come by an establishment that had impressed me, in a good or bad way yet. Â The latter is the case in this instance.
   Our stop in Billings Montana was just to eat on our way to Denver for a family vacation, we chose Jakes due to the fairly good reviews and it looked like a nice place.  Our two hour dining experience consisted of no bread, 4 poorly prepared meals (one to the point of being inedible), and extraordinarily slow and poor service on the part of the waitress.
   My children both ordered the traditional French dip; the rolls were rock hard (I assume day old or more) with a rather slim portion of dry, chewy, flavorless "beef".  I know because I had to try it, to make sure they were not just being picky after a long day in the car.  If one was to allow the sandwich to soak in the au jus for 60-90 seconds per bite it may have been palatable if the au jus had any flavor what so ever.
I ordered the fajitas which consisted of approx. Â 1/2 chicken breast (precooked earlier that day or worse earlier that week) and spiced after cooking, a small portion of fajita vegetables (overcooked). Â And standard fixings; sour cream, store bought guacamole, store bought shredded cheese, tortillas etc.
   My wife ordered chicken and broccoli fettuccini Alfredo.  She received the same portion of pre-cooked chicken, undercooked broccoli (nearly raw), and over cooked noodles (very, very, very overcooked). All said sub-par ingredients were swimming in what could be called Alfredo sauce, more accurately the sauce was a semi-white, flavorless, goop.  I would say it was generic store bought Alfredo, but that would be an insult to cheap store bought Alfredo sauce.  Topped with what appeared to be Costco pre shredded parm (great for the home cook not so great at a "premier" steak house).
   They boast being Montana's "premier" steak house, I am from Idaho and we have several steak house that don't even boast of being premier, that Jake's could learn a thing or two from.  Heck, I would go as far as to say they could learn a thing or two from Sizzler's.  Perhaps they can cook a steak I can't rightly say, although I highly doubt it, they certainly botched 4 meals.  I would have got better food in a fast food joint and not been out 75 bucks, it was 75 dollars after the waitress removed my wife's food from our bill (that is the only reason she got a tip).  Also I nearly walked over to the bar to get another drink, yes service was that bad.
  Don't waste your time or money in this establishment, you will never get either of them back, or feel satisfied after being separated from both of them.
On a recent trip to Montana, we "dined" here on two occasions, once as a couple and the next evening as part of a party of five.
The restaurant doesn't set up tables until the party arrives; I was told very snippily by one of the hostesses that a reservation reserves a table, but that does not mean that the table will be ready. The night we arrived as a couple, there was almost no one in the restaurant and still we had a ten minute wait. For the larger party, it was the same thing... with a longer wait. So they'd like customers to show up on time, but they do not feel obliged to be ready. I find that extraordinary, and not in a good way.
Both evenings, the house salad contained slices of cucumber that had been prepared hours before and some really nasty slimy bits. At least the first evening, we were offered bread. Maybe they don't do that for larger parties. the pile of onion rings we ordered the second evening were breaded, not battered. The breading quite overwhelmed the pieces of onion inside. And, unfortunately, a fair number of the rings consisted of rounds of onion cut very close to the skin.
My husband's baseball steak the first evening was superb. The shrimp I had were over-cooked to the point of rubbery. The London broil he had the second evening was at best average. My halibut was served sauced; the menu doesn't manage expectations very well. The asparagus, though well cooked, appeared to have been simply thrown on the plate. Several pieces were missing their tips. The tips weren't even set the same direction, a lack of attention to detail that I find stunning because it is so easy to get right.
I'll make just a couple of comments about other menu items. The potato cake is made of a gluey substance that suggests potatoes out of the box. In fact, I've had better potatoes out of a box. The mud pie is served with a small, dense rosette of whipped cream (really, more like butter). the crab cakes have a lot of filler, apparently of the same stuff that goes into the potato cakes.
The service the first night was by an affable fellow with two marks against his professionalism. He served most plates by saying, "Look what I found." He removed plates saying, "And I'll do the dishes for you." service the second evening was simple surly and incompetent. Someone else in the party paid the tip and offered the old fashioned amount of 15%. I didn't feel bad about that.
And about that tab. I indicated clearly -- the waiter acknowledged seeing me with a nod -- that I wanted the tab. He responded by putting it squarely in the middle of the table. What's up with that?
And what's up with me giving them two stars instead of one? My husband's steak was that good.
We don't live in Montana, so we'll not be tempted to return in the near future. Come to think of it, regardless, we'd not be tempted to return. From before the start of the meal until its finish, this just isn't a very good place to have a meal.
First off I just want to say that the greeter and server were on point..., that wasn't an issue at all. The food on the other hand... Started with a soup, I believe it was a Tortilla soup and it was pretty gross, spicy, velveeta?, and was worth like two bites ( and yes I regretted the second bite ). For the main course I chose a steak ( forgot which one it had "Tail" in the name ), then went with the Potato Cake as one of my sides. The steak was very forgettable..., especially for the price and the only thing besides the good service that will be remembered is the Potato Cake. You've been warned...
Review Source:There are 2 reviewes in this 1 summary:
Day 1: Arrival, I flew into MT on a Thursday and proceeded to the closest highly ranked yelp location. Jakes right accross the street from Crown Plaza.
I asked the bartender what she recommended and she stated the rib-eye steak sandwich... okay, "I can rock a rib-eye steak sandwhich" I thought.
The tortilla soup was delicious, rib-eye steak... cooked like a true med-rare steak but for what I was expecting the meal was lacking luster. I had anticipated better and came out saddened by the outcome.
Day 2: The next day could have been Jakes saving grace! It was by the grace of Jessica that my tastebuds rejuvinated... again I asked the recommendation outside of the "Special" that EVERYBODY at our table ordered. THANK THE GOOD LORD I ASKED!!! She recommended the Tenderloin Tail... I cannot say enough about this delicious cut of steak, tender, tasty and the potato pie was a great side that was also recommended.
Over all a 2 star rank on Day 1 and a 5 star rank on day 2... that is why we are sitting pretty with a 4 star, the good far outweighed the sorrowful 1st choice.
O
I have grew up in Billings and there is only one restaurant I require friends and family to visit when I am home, and that is Jake's. Â
The location is great for meeting up with people who are working downtown, but also provides additional locations for a night out after dinner.
The food isn't cheap, but it is worth every penny. Â There is always a tempting special, but this is one of the few places where I have a regular. Â The Baseball Cut Filet, medium rare with a good glass of red wine is pretty hard to beat. Â Also, don't miss the apple crisp.
Jake's is real Montana, even if it is cowboy-chic. Â Great steaks, good cocktails, and service that is impeccable.
After several days of driving and eating fast food, we needed something more substantial. Where else to stop for a hearty steak dinner than in cow country? And boy howdy, was it hearty. I love it when a steak place includes salad, bread, potato, etc with the meal instead of making customers order all the sides a la carte. I left stuffed, satisfied, and in need of an angioplasty... but it was worth every savory bite.
Review Source:What NOT to do: Â Have 4 Grey Goose martinis when out with a client while on a business trip. Â
But Jake's made me do it. Â Granted, the client was not the person directly paying me, but someone who was very cool, so it was all good. Â
Jake's had a very nice decor to it. Â An urban cowboy flair complete with barb wire chic. Â It made me think that I was back in the big city and not in Big Sky Country. Â We did not eat dinner here, but only came for the drinks and people-watching. Â Plus, we ordered desserts to wash down our martinis. Â An apple crisp with butterscotch ice cream and creme brulee. Â Damn delicious!
You know a place is good if you let your professional guard down and chug down martinis all night long.
Jake's was highly recommended by many locals for their steaks. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. I had the "baseball" sirloin steak which was as well prepared as any steak that I've had in Chicago. Nice warm atmosphere and reasonably priced. The bar was fairly lively for a Wednesday night. If I'm ever in Billings again, which I doubt, I will be back for more.
Review Source:Jake's is fantastic as far as I am concerned. It offers the best of both worlds, whether you want to pop in for a quick bite and a beer at the bar, or sit and have an excellent steak in the more formal dinning area. The service is generally pretty fast, and you can't complain about the selection even on the low-budget bar menu.
The beer selection is catering toward regional breweries, I would much rather see some European selections, but this is Montana.
We stopped at Jakes after a day that started with being stranded on the roadside. Â Make no mistake, our experience at jakes was a fine way to balance the morning out.
The food was good - steak for me and shark for my wife. Â I've had better steak elsewhere, but I've had much much worse and the service was top-notch. Â Our glasses were never empty and we never had to wait if we needed something -- and that's the sort of thing that turns an average restaurant into a good or even a great restaurant.
i used to go here years ago for a really nice steak dinner. Â i recently returned and was not disappointed.
they know how to treat a customer, and the food is fantastic.
the drink was done to perfection, the caesar salad was great---and real anchovies on it as well.
the steak--bone-in ribeye was done just right. Â try the potato cake--it is a little spicy and it's different,. but well worth it.
and on top of it all, the prices are not that bad.
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,972 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,318 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,915 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,987 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
