Red Bird Restaurant and Wine Bar

Food is good, atmosphere nice if a bit too dark. However, awhile ago, on a busy night, the owner, Laura, whom we have known a long time as patrons of her business, kept us waiting over an hour when she initially told us 20 to 30 minutes. When went to ask how much longer it would be, she turned to me and hissed: «you know, I can’t make people leave!» I replied: «actually, you just did.» Unbelievable how rude that was. I’ve never been back!

Ate at the bar and the food was amazing. I was hesitant to order the scallops but so glad I did – they were excellent! Service was also great, super friendly, and their selection of wines kept us there for a while. Great ambiance, food, drinks, and service. Will go there again next time I am in Missoula!

Located inside the old Florence Hotel building, this place has great atmosphere and service. Be sure to order the champagne fondue with the bison.

Perfectly cooked scallop starter, amazing. Fried beet salad, hypnotic. Lamb shank for me and a ribeye for the Mrs., perfection. Peanut butter and chocolate ice cream pie, delectable. This ain’t your momma kitchen, it’s the kitchen she wish she had and I wish I had a spot at the table everyday.

Food is delicious. Atmosphere is loud and tables are very close together. I would prefer if the servers didn’t have to rub their bum on my arm as they walk by. Good place for going out with friends.

Still my go-​to in Missoula! In for a concert at the Top Hat and made it in time for a quick dip into the Red Bird for a bite.
Starter a surf and turf ribeye cap and buttered shrimp. Perfection.
Finished with Pork Lettuce Wraps. Well seasoned and complimented with puffed rice noodles, nuts, dipping sauce and cilantro garnish. A light & tasty treat!

Excellent food and service! The champagne fondue was fantastic with the bison add on. This restaurant seems to improve each time I go here, and each time I thought there was no room for improvement. Great wine list with decent prices, and very knowledgeable waitstaff. Emily was very impressive. The size of the menu is perfect with a good variety. This establishment has nm it let me down yet and is consistently great.

I rarely rate a restaurant with 5 stars. Whether fancy or not, 5 stars require an experience that exceeds my expectations. That is the case here.
I stopped in because of the prior review of the bison tenderloin. By the way, I ordered it and it was better than advertised. The meat was tender and flavorful. It was placed on grilled vegetables and potatoes. Every thing was better than expected.
What I particularly enjoyed about this place was the service. This is a wine bar. After I ordered the bison, I asked the server for a recommendation for a wine. We discussed the wines available by the the glass. She made a recommendation and I tasted it. In fact she gave me a taste of at least five different wines before I made my choice. I am not sure I have previously been provided so many and such good choices.
Fabulous food, great wine and wonderful service make a spectacular evening.

Been back a few times since original review, good food, service is good, one of the better places in town

Dissapointing compared to our last experience. Worth noting is that the dining room is gorgeous; a lovely presence. I could live in the dining room.
When we first came a year ago, we were greeted with an amuse-​bouche. This time: bread and a tomato, basil, olive oil spread that was good but not an amuse-​bouche. We received bread last time as well.
That was the first thing that tipped us off to things not flying so well at Red Bird. The second was that our waiter wiped the wine bottle with his finger after he poured! Um… gross…a cloth napkin perhaps? Isn’t this dining 101? If you forgot your napkin, then just don’t wipe, please. But he did it twice!
For a starter, the Pan Seared Scallops… which were slightly underdone. My husband chose a Carrot Bisque which he really liked (a special). I had the Farro Beef Salad which lacked depth and creativity. (Last time I had the Grilled Octopus Salad and it was superb…)
The meal did get better from here. I chose Shrimp & Artichokes; intriguing, with Shrimp and Ricotta filled Cannelloni, a Fontina Cheese filled Artichoke (beautiful and well-​prepared, but not that good), Pickeled Shrimp (so good, but more of a curried shrimp) sitting in a Shrimp-​Artichoke Bisque with roasted Carrots (the carrots were amazing!). My husband had the Grilled New York; Rosemary Rubbed with Potato Pierogie, Jumbo Lump Crabmeat, Compound Butter, and Grilled Vegetables.
He overall enjoyed his main course (despite the somewhat gristly steak), but we are still so upset about the wine bottle finger swipe, lack of amuse-​bouche, and the dissapointing scallops and farro beef salad, that giving it any more than three stars for the $ 130 we paid would not be fair to those coming here after us.
There are many more places to try in Missoula before we’ll be back.

Amazing food and service. Get the steak, with the potatoes. And also like their salads. We were with a table of 7 and every plate was unbelievably good. We will definitely be back.

We are from a suburb outside New York city traveling to Yellowstone and happened upon this restaurant. The food is fantastic and the pastrami the best I have ever eaten. I highly recommend.

The food was off the charts good and presented really beautifully. I liked the creative dishes on the menu. The ambiance is very classy. Loved the gold wall paper, very «Mad Men». The service was a bit slow and the servers seem to share tables, which seemed a bit strange. We started with one but then another took our dessert order and helped us throughout our dining.

Five-​star service! Bartender had Great selections, and even offered me tastings of different lines before I selected which one I wanted a full glass of.
Dessert was great, I had a vanilla tart. Personally, I would’ve added some lemon zest the dish but I’m not a pastry chef so what do I know?

A cool, chill atmosphere, with great food, and a stand-​out beer selection (especially impressive list of sours). I had the lamb special, which had a lamb kebab, house-​made lamb sausage, and some veggies. It was delicious, reasonably priced, and our server was fun and really seemed to be enjoying herself. I’ll definitely be back.

Great dark ambiance, although I don’t remember music playing. On this Friday night, the place was buzzing, but we walked right in for a late dinner near the bar. The duck pâté app was very tasty. I had the scallops on gnocci, which looked to me like polenta… not gnocci, but still very tasty. Great wine selection by the glass. The place wasn’t so busy that I couldn’t speak with my table mate. I’ll look forward to returning.

We went here for our five year anniversary, and it was the best food and service I’ve ever had! Save this for special occasions, it is a bit out of normal price range! We had a quail appetizer, and I had the rabbit ragu for dinner, it was absolutely fantastic! My guy had the lamb, and it was perfect, cooked medium rare just like he asked! We finished off with a chocolate lava cake and beignets, both were excellent! The entire time, service was spectacular, and they really knew their wines, and which would go best with the meal. For two people, appetizer, two meals, and two desserts, it was $ 140, so not your everyday spot, but well worth it! The worst part is now I’m craving it! :)

«The Pi-​onot Man»
It’s eight thirty-​five on a Monday,
An unusual crowd walks to the bar,
We’ve come for some wine and a quick meal.
We’re hungry and don’t want to drive far.
He says, «Sir, can I offer you Pinot?
For $ 12, we give quite the pour.
They call it St Innocent and they make it in Oregon:
Red berry, allspice, forest floor.»
Bring us more wine, we’re here at the Red Bird!
Bring us more wine tonight.
Well we’re all in the mood for more Pinot
The live music has us feeling alright.
Casey on the stool is a friend of mine
He orders a Crabbie’s, not wine.
And he’s quick with that knife and the pulled pork cuts nice
There’s no place that he’d rather be.
He says, «Brad, I believe this is filling me»
As hush puppies disappear from his plate.
Well, I’m sure that next week I’ll come back here;
For wine flights and fine food — I can’t wait!“
Chirp, chirp, tweet tweet tweetie tweet
Tweet tweet, twitter, tweet tweet.
Now Marty’s a big man on campus
Who also had time for a bite
And he’s talking about Nico who isn’t in town, though
But my, this St. Innocent drinks nice.
And the bartender serves us all pork chops
And lamb stew and other delights.
Yes, we’re sharing three stools at the wine bar!
Better here than out in that cold night!
Bring us more wine, we’re here at the Red Bird!
Fill up our glasses just right.
Because we’ll all in the mood for live music
And outside, the snow gives us frights.
(With apologies to Billy J. Then again, maybe he deserves it.)

The cheeseburger is tasteful and refined, with the most pleasing condiments you ever tasted! They made all the condiments in their kitchen right there at the restaurant.
The décor is done as neatly as can be. The mood: chill and refined. The location is inside an historic hotel-​turned-​commercial building, a fine lobby and fireplace right outside the red Bird.

It’s the best restaurant in Missoula, and difficult to add to the review after that.
Don’t get me wrong: Missoula is a foodie town. It’s simply that Red Bird is so good, and so consistent, and so… gosh-​dang special. You should really stop reading this review and just go there.
But in case you need more convincing…
I’ve been a fan of Red Bird since the days where you had to enter the restaurant off the alley, where the only clue as to its existence was a bird cage and a red lamp. Nowadays, I think most diners come in through the chic, art-​deco hotel (what’s its name again?).
So now that I’ve belabored the ambiance, let’s get to the real point of this review which is the FOOD. Did you know that the ‘Bird uses all locally raised land-​dwelling meats and vegetables? How about this: that the chefs butcher all cuts in-​house and make most all of the restaurant’s charcuterie? Good ingredients add up to a lot in my book, and the fact that the chefs know what to do with them pushes this place well in to my top 10 restaurants of all time. (Oh, speaking of that… I should make a new list!).
The last bit of advice I have for you, Unilocalers, is to sit in the restaurant side over the wine bar side. As much as I love the casual ambiance of the wine bar, I want access to the coffee tray, which is only available restaurant-​side. If you’ve not been before, this tray is a dessert in and of itself. Chocolate chips, brown sugar, rock candy swizzle sticks, … and they’ll keep refilling your cup if you make a mistake!
Go, mountain-​westers. Go, visitors. Get thee to Red Bird.