J.W. Heist Steakhouse

Great staff. Food not worth the price. Underwhelmed by the taste and presentation.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 5

We came here to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary, and it couldn’t have been more perfect. The 18oz prime ribeye was cooked exactly how we like it, rare with a flawless Pittsburgh crust. The beef tartare was silky smooth and incredibly flavorful. I normally hate beets, but the wood-roasted beet dish completely won me over, easily one of the surprise standouts of the night.

And don’t even get me started on the desserts and drinks, absolutely phenomenal! Every course just kept raising the bar.

Our server, Jameson, made the experience even better. He was super knowledgeable about the menu, gave great recommendations, and had us laughing all evening. He made us feel like family, which really added to the celebration.
Absolutely worth it, can’t wait to come back!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Not a pork chop lover but that was one of the best pork chops I've ever had and I'd totally order it again.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Excellent every time I go. Steak cooked to perfection. The manager Sam is probably the best host and professional I've ever seen at a restaurant!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Service was GREAT- the whole staff was incredible, steak was absolutely amazing. Our server, Jordan, was very good and attentive. I forget the name of the other server that greeted us but he was also great and professional. I saw an earlier review about dress code not enforced, not acknowledging the special occasion - and we had a similar experience and thought. Not the end of the world; but was slightly disappointing. Would come back

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Mary get food

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Likes:
Accommodating- We concluded our earlier business early and arrived well before our reservation time and they were able to seat us quickly.

Atmosphere- If you are looking for an upscale, beautifully appointed place with perfect mood lighting and wonderful big band music, this is your place.

Food is reasonably priced for a restaurant of this caliber - The price for a 10oz filet is the same for what I would pay for an 8oz filet in south Florida at a comparable restaurant. The excellent Cabernet was priced at least $4-$5 less than back home as well.

Despite the policy mentioned below, our waiter WAS able to pace out the various courses in a timely manner.

Food has generous portions and overall was good. My rare filet was slightly overcooked, which may be due to all of the order going in at once and the main entree having to sit under a heat source while we finish our appetizers(?) Caesar salad, which we split, had white anchovies and was delicious!

They have Béarnaise sauce- it’s getting harder to find these days. I love it!

Dislikes:
Dress Code is not enforced- It is so disappointing when you take the time and effort to adhere to the dress code posted on the website only to walk in and see patrons wearing a wide brimmed yard work hat, a tank top and shorts. Several patrons in tees and shorts.

Tables for 2 are spaced too close together - If you are larger than skinny and are seated along the banquet, you will feel uncomfortable squeezing out to leave or use the restroom. You are right on top of the table next to you and it tends to make you feel like you are in a can of sardines and that they are packing as many patrons in as possible. Which I get, but it doesn’t lend itself to feeling comfortable or valued as a customer.

Process feels rushed - Their policy is to take the entire order at once (apps and entrees).
I get this for large parties, however as a ‘general policy’ this makes the patron feel like the restaurant wants to move you in and out, expeditiously. At a restaurant of this caliber, I want to feel like I can take my time and enjoy myself.

‘Manager’ doesn’t introduce himself when asking about your meal - this is a huge pet peeve of mine. If you are not wearing a Name Tag, introduce yourself and your position.

Finally their biggest ‘fail’-
Despite their reservation platform ‘Resy’ asking if there was a ‘Special Occasion’, which I responded that it was my daughter’s birthday, no one acknowledged the occasion. I thought…’well maybe this is one of those places that doesn’t do anything for special for occasions’, however 2 seconds later the same desert we had ordered was walked past with a candle on top. Not sure where the breakdown in communication happened, and I surely did not want to bring it up to management in front of my daughter, but I did write a brief note on the back of the check with an arrow leading to my much diminished tip.

Hopefully management will read this and take appropriate action so this doesn’t have to diminish someone else’s experience.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 2

Looks like an amazing place and great staff. Viewed on.Amagansett Press. Would definitely go if I ever end up in that neck of the woods :-)

If you would like to order the tomahawk- be aware that it takes some time, anywhere between 30m-60m

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 4

Excellent steakhouse. Being from NYC we are consistently at amazing steakhouses. This is a gem located in Bozeman and we were happy to have went. Amazing food and drinks, great service. Will return!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We enjoy the sommelier Ryan
and the food

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

For a high end steakhouse the steak wasn’t any better than the steak I get from Costco. I actually shouldn’t put Costco down. The Ribeye I had was tough to cut with all the gristle that it had. Ok now let’s start with the warm shrimp cocktail that was a little iffy at best. The Caesar salad was terrible…. Warm and taste bad. The “corn pudding” was terrible. The only good thing at this place was the Service and that was margin at best. We spent over $300 for crap. We’ve eaten at many high end Steakhouses all over the country and this was at the bottom of the list… especially with all the money that was spent. Golden Corral would’ve been better for way less.

Save your money and buy your own steak from Walmart…… you’ll be much happier and not feel like you’ve been bent over.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 2

Great high end steakhouse in downtown Bozeman. Great Western vibe.

Bartenders and wait staff was great!

Waygu ribeye was fabulous 👌

Stay for the dessert!

Atmosphere: 5

We brought our out of town friends here last night. Compared to other times we’ve been there it was packed. And extremely loud. We had a nice server however he was not very attentive. He forgot our guest had ordered a salad. Never filled water glasses and never even. Questioned if the guys had issues when he saw their left food. My salad the heist salad was so bland with an herb that was so overpowering to the senses not worth eating. But WORST of all my husband and our guest got the “prime rib” both left 3/4 on their plates. My husband was not happy the meat was entirely cold …. Not warm ….. cold it was tough and lacked seasoning as well. I had salmon which was fine and our other guest had scallops which were fine . But a steak house charging what they charge (our bill was over $500 is a steakhouse that has horrible beef!!! We were so embarrassed that we brought our friends there and we won’t be returning. And if you want excellent Prime Rib go the Mint. In fact Heist you should be producing exceptional beef but especially Prime rib so maybe take a page from Mints book!!!

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 2

Visiting Bozeman with the family and went to JW Heist for dinner. Nice restaurant on Main Street with good reviews. Food: we had the wedge, shrimp cocktail and onion soup as appetisers. Shrimp Cocktail was ok, Horseradish sauce was quite bland and missed the sting from the horseradish it should have had. Wedge salad was very strange with shredded egg and instead of crispy bacon the salad had a large piece of pork belly on the side. The entire dish was strange. Onion soup was very cheesy with more bread and cheese than soup.
Steaks were top notch and tender and exceptional, as well as mushrooms and broccolini. Postmark Cabernet was very nice as well. Main reason for the low scores here were as follows. When asking for the check I was presented with a bill for 213 Dollars and the bill included everything we ordered. I noticed this restaurant charges a CC surcharge so I decided to pay cash. I gave our waiter 250 Cash and a few minutes later he came back and told me I must have made a mistake, because the bill was 293. I apologised and said I must have made a mistake when looking at the bill and added another 100. When pulling out the bill it was 213 but after explanations 293 was the correct amount but I was presented with a bill for 213 and this was a screwup on the restaurants side, not mine. Very disappointing that this was made to be my mistake while it was clearly the restaurant. As far as a 3% credit card surcharge for a high end steakhouse, that’s just pathetic, Nickle and diming customers. As a former Montana Resident and very frequent traveller this was very disappointing. No sure we’ll return when we return to Bozeman.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 2