Cj’s Bar and Grill

Best service in town! LOVE the salad bar, the teriyaki chicken and the wings. Dave, Tammy, Tina and Amy are just a few of the people in this great restraint that go above and beyond to make sure your glass is never empty, your food is hot and you are satisfied. Love this place!

Sweet potato fries are a must, but I would not come back. Never trust a bbq place with no toothpicks.

My husband and I tried CJ’s last evening. We have not dined there in years and won’t go back. I ordered the baby backs and a baked potato. The rib meat was dry and tasteless, baked potato was rubber. Yuck. My husbands brisket was thick cut and tender but tasted like roast beef. Apparently they don’t believe BBQ should have a smoky flavor. We decided not to risk dessert and opted to stop at DQ for blizzards on the way home. Based on food alone, I would give this place a 1 star review. A great server elevates it to 2.

Nice place, nice atmosphere, nice staff. The food? Not as nice as everything else.
I ordered a combo platter with brisket and ribs. I had high hopes.
The brisket was cut very thin, and had a consistency like roast beef.
The ribs were dry, rubbery, and flavorless.
Everything was doused in sauce.
I don’t know why I keep doing this to myself. I guess I’m still trying to convince myself that there’s a good BBQ place in Montana. Needless to say, this isn’t it. I’m still searching.
I’m sure there are other items on the menu that are just fine. I will probably try a burger next time I visit. But the BBQ? If you come from Texas or any place that takes BBQ seriously, I recommend that you steer clear.

I no longer recommend. Waitress acted put out when we asked if they’d wipe the table that they sat us at. It was very wet with chunks of something on it. She looked put out again when I asked if we could get a kids menu for our 7 year old. The food came quick enough but the chicken was dry and the Brocolli had brown spots and we sent it back. The shrimp tacos were not good. The lettuce in them was nearly frozen.
Nobody asked how the food was. Nobody asked if we wanted dessert-​just dropped off the ticket. And perhaps the worst was that the waitress wouldn’t address our daughter but kept asking me questions I’d then have to turn and ask her like, «do you think she’ll want some ranch».

All the food was very good. Philly steak, pulled pork sandwiches, sausage and even the chicken bites. Love the chips and sauce.
Had the BBQ with a 4 meat choice and salad bar. More than enough for 2 people. Server was outstanding. Food came out fast.

First time to CJ’s this Friday evening in a very long time. Wanted to comment that we felt like we were being rushed so the table could be flipped for the next customers. Our server never offered to refill our water glasses, never cleared our plates and never offered dessert. The food was decent but the experience was sub par.

My husband and I made a pact after this, our second, visit to CJ’s Bar and Grill: if we ask our server, «what do you recommend that isn’t breaded or that doesn’t have gluten,» and she says, «salad,» we will walk out on the spot. Really we just avoid gluten, our food doesn’t have to be sanitized of all gluten, so any grilled meat dish will do (this is a «bar and GRILL,» no?)
So, that being said, my husband and I had the rotisserie chicken and our son had the salmon. Both dishes were crazy over-​cooked and SUPER dry. The chicken was described as being smoked, but there was no smoky flavor.
I still haven’t gotten used to «skin-​on fries» really being potato chips, but they were our favorite part of the dinner.
Note to self, just in case a friend drags us in here in the future: the shoelace fries (really, just regular food service fries) must have plenty flour in them, because I did wake up to a bit of a gluten hang over.
In the end, the server was right: we should have opted for the salad bar.

I really like your salad bar and also there soups are great we came back for the barbecue and we got sidetracked because we found something else on the menu
good thing because it shows they have a good selection.
But I do wanna come back for the ribs at least it’s keeping me coming back

My wife and I love swinging by CJs for the Chips and BBQ sauce. We have never had a bad batch of them and they always come out hot and crispy.
They also serve the best BLT sandwich in Billings.
The wait staff is excellent and we have never had any issues with service no matter the time of day we come in.
If you need a drink and a quick bite to eat in a great atmosphere this is the place to go!

Server was curt, and we were less satisfied with the meal. I ordered a naked burger and it was basically a patty on a plate. Could have put it on a bed of lettuce and the buger had NO seasoning. My daughters sliders were dry and came with nothing on them. I could have paid the same price and got a better meal at Red Robin. Overpriced in my opinion, and service was lacking.

Really surprised to see the low reviews. Cjs is a great local place with a killer bbq sauce and amazing homemade chips. we eat here every year and have never had a bad experience. Always good food.

This was a nice little surprise in a strip plaza. The inside was very nice and modern. I decided to split an order of pulled pork sliders to start… And we never tried anything else! Holy bejeezus they were huge! We never moved on to anything else. Plus they brought out a cream cheese dip with «lavash bread» (which was really water crackers) but it was delicious.
We sat at the bar and the bartender Jana was really great. Friendly, attentive. The only suggestion with the bar? They keep the wine on top of the keg refrigerator and its getting too warm… It’s a bit above room temp and really ruins the taste profile.
We will be back here. Great discovery.

Service was OK, but nothing to brag about. I had the Brisket, and it was far from tender like a brisket smoked 12 hours (as the menu claims). It tasted more like the steak strips from a Subway restaurant.
Definitely not worth the money spent.

I really like CJs for my weekly lunch with friends. It’s a perfect stop for my soup and salad fix. The bartender never lets my iced tea get empty.
I’m not sure why anyone would have anything bad to say about this place, it’s clean and the food is great, reasonably priced and super friendly service? What more do you want?

Upgraded to 5-​star after recent dinner here.
We had a wonderful waitress. The best service we’ve received in recent memory. Heather was her name. Shout out!
You want good food at Cj’s? Do what we do and order what I order and you won’t be disappointed.
For starters, Wing Zings (best chicken wings on the planet but just a wee bit spicy so beware). They are fat, meaty, tasty, juicy, delicious!
Another good starter is the Chicken Sliders w/​American Cheese. Again, a little spicy with a pickle, mayo and soft bun. Wonderful!
Their nachos will fill four fully grown sumo wrestlers! It’s huge and good and not very expensive.
The salad bar has real bacon pieces! Plus French dressing which so many restaurants are refusing to serve. We also love their beanless chili which you have to add onions and cheese to!
For dinner we ordered the rotisserie bbq chicken and it’s the best I’ve ever had anywhere. Fat and juicy and a perfect golden brown with crispy skin and juicy center. Even the white meat, breast, was succulent and tender.
The «skins» (homemade potato chips) have been much improved. They used to be soggy and greasy but now they’re crispy with no sign of grease anywhere. My kids also love the shoestring potatoes.
My son absolutely goes nuts over the cheese nachos on the Children’s Menu. He likes them so much because they’re like we make at home with a couple different kinds of hard cheese melted over the top instead of that processed «squeeze cheese» so popular at other restaurants.
One of our guests had their BLT sandwich, which is huge and loaded with bacon, and it was outstanding as well. Very delicious and crispy with a nice CRUNCH when you bite in.
If you like a little spice in your life, try their medium sauce. For us, it’s just the right amount of heat that doesn’t rob from the flavor. Wonderful for dipping the chicken or skins into.
Finally, they have a really good bottle of Merlot here that we order by Frei Brothers. Normally, we are Cab people but this wine was recommended and it was incredible.
I love the ambiance of this restaurant and it’s very popular in town. We prefer to eat in the bar area at a table over the booths in the restaurant. Go early or you’re going to wait!!!
And in the Winter when it’s cold, wear something «light» under your jacket. They’re not afraid of running the furnace in the winter.

Really has fallen in quality in the past few years. Used to like the place for the salad bar but even that has gone downhill. I wish I could say nicer things about this place but they will have to replace their cooks before I can do that. Oh. and their bill for salt from Sysco must be huge.

I tried a few dishes at CJ’s, honestly I was never that impressed but I kept trying it cause I had faith that they could do better. The one thing that redeemed them for me was the Nachos, they are pretty darn tasty. I don’t eat pork so I can’t agree or disagree with the posters on the ribs, I can say steer clear of the Chicken Au Ju, it wasn’t that good.

I could not disagree more with the other reviewer. CJ’s ribs are probably top three in the world. I would put them against the best of Texas, Memphis, St. Louis or the Carolinas.
They are cooked over mesquite to total perfection. They are cut St. Louis style. The house made chips complement them perfectly.
The rest of the menu is decent, but it’s all about the pork ribs at CJ’s.

CJ’s is a steakhouse that is trying to be a legitimate restaurant, and failing. If they decided to just be a steakhouse, and have awesome bbq and beers then it would probably be pretty great. Instead, they have some so-​so barbeque and some flouncy menu items that they can’t really pull off, and none of it is that remarkable, and the beer list is pa-​thet-​ic.
I had the pulled pork, which suffered from being covered in a suace more suited for roast beef or ribs and also being way, way overcooked. Pulled pork should NOT be crunchy! I also had a bloody mary, and was charged extra for asking for it to be mixed with Absolut freaking Peppar, even though the menu said I got my choice of vodkas. It’s not like I ordered Effen here folks.
Our service was poor, of the toss the food down on the table and make a dash for it variety; the waitress came by our table THREE times before I managed to stop her for long enough to order my bloody mary. There were also a LOT of children at the restaurant, even though we went in the middle of the dinner hour.
Sad as I am to say it, if you want barbecue in billings you’re probably better off at Famous Dave’s, and if you want a nice meal, you’re probably better off at any of 100 other places (Walker’s Grille, The Granary, Enzo, or even The Rex.)