Montana Ale Works

Love Ale Works!  It's one of our go-to restaurants in Bozeman!  Always great service, simple but interesting food, consistently good, consistently busy.  Ale Works is a Bozeman staple!

On our recent trip to Bozeman this was the first restaurant we ate at, and it ended up being the best restaurant of the whole trip!

First off, the decor is sleek and charming (the attached railroad car dining area is an innovative touch!).  I love the music they play here.  I think I even heard them play My Morning Jacket, which is one of my favorite indie/folk/rock bands.

Secondly, the selection of beers is extensive.  While I am not a beer-drinker, my friend appreciated all the choices.

Lastly, the food is REALLY good!  I ordered the seafood paella and I was not disappointed.  That thing came loaded with shrimp, mussels, salmon, and other kinds of seafood that I can't even remember now.  The rice was not exactly authentic Spanish rice, more like regular rice that they cooked with some saffron, but it was still extremely delicious.  I literally finished my entire plate.

My friend ordered the Shepherd's pie and it came out steaming hot.  I tried a bite and it was hearty and flavorful.  The perfect comfort food!  Needless to say, he cleaned his plate too.

I wanted to come back the next night, but we decided to try something new. (it wasn't as good as this place)  I only wish we had tried a dessert here, I'm sure it would have been amazing!

I stopped through here on a motorcycle tour ;last week based on the reviews here and elsewhere, and because it was a short walk from where I was staying, and I was very satisfied overall. I was by myself, so the hostess asked if I wanted to sit at the bar, and I told her yes... unfortunately, the bar was relatively packed and I had to walk around it completely before I found a seat. A minor complaint, but it would have been just a notch better service if she had taken the time to look over to the bar and possibly confirm for me or with me that there was somewhere for me to sit. The bartenders were just a step slower with coming to get my food order than my drink order, generally I expect that sitting at a bar, just another minor step up in service overall when bartenders treat your food order as important as any drink order, as opposed to getting drinks out of the way and then shifting their focus to come back to you. Those were really the only reasons, and minor ones, that I am not giving the place five stars, because otherwise the service was friendly without being overbearing, the atmosphere was good, the food was great and the prices were reasonable. I had their porter on tap and a burger with fries, two beers and a burger for about $20, and both the food and the beer were great. I would definitely recommend this place to friends.