Montana Mike?s Steakhouse Earns Four Stars

301 N. Walton Road

Bentonville

Bring a friend and an appetite as big as the Montana sky to Bentonville’s newest steak authority. You’ll need both to finish the portions at Montana Mike’s Steakhouse.

The Hutchinson, Kan., chain, serves Grizzly-bear-sized portions of its fire-grilled beef, a mountain of fixin’s from which to choose and most anything else that flies, swims or crawls in the great American West. On several occasions, we’ve found the service to be fast and friendly. The décor is straight off the wall of a frontier trading post, and the atmosphere’s more relaxing than a fly-fishing camp on the Yellowstone River.

Whether feeding the family or entertaining business associates, Montana Mike’s is simply a fun place to eat a great steak. And the trip won’t bankrupt your saddlebags, either.

The most recent excursion included our party of five joking about ordering Montana Mike’s triple crown of jumbo steaks. Big appetites can most likely down the 22-ounce “Mighty Meaty Meal” sirloin ($13.29). But probably not even the heartiest lumberjacks and lumberjills can handle “The Montana” 44-ounce sirloin ($20.49) or 66-ounce “Three’s Company” ($30.49) without some help.

The four adults in our party stuck to smaller entrees, and the infant in our company had a great time gumming french fries and sipping water from her own special cup. Mike’s servers do a better job than most of making every diner feel right at home.

One of our reviewers, a Bentonville businessman, ordered the 10-ounce sirloin ($6) lunch special. His wife had the “Don’t Call Me Shrimp” ($6.29), which includes seven fried shrimp served with lemon and cocktail sauce. Both raved about their orders, especially the man who selected Mike’s made-from-scratch mashed potatoes with cream gravy.

A choice of the mashed taters, baked potato or fries comes with each lunch special. A salad and fresh roll are also included. Our youngest diner liked the rolls so much, the waitress had to bring our table a second basket.

Another reviewer ordered the “Mountain Mamma Ribeye” ($10.29) off the dinner menu, which came with the same set of accoutrements. He said the chef cooked his steak to “medium” pink perfection.

The last reviewer loved “Mike’s Big Beefy Burger,” ($6) a one-pound fresh ground mound of grilled steak and cheese. She said it was “the freshest ground beef” she’d ever had in a restaurant. She also enjoyed what fries she got to eat with the little one rustling them off her plate.

The iced tea ($1.39) is great at Mike’s, and from previous dinner trips we know the beer ($2.50) is cold and “Mike’s Manly Mountain Coffee” ($1) will put a spring in your step. For desert, the huge hunks of carrot cake ($4.49) are to die for.

But we suggest making a separate trip just for the desert alone.