Echo Lake Cafe

I love this place. It’s one of the highlights of visiting Montana. I can’t visit bigfork without stopping in here at least once. I usually get the same things every time since I love it so much. The French toast is very thick so I usually order a half order of that and than share the eggs Benedict with someone. I usually get the regular Benedict but everyone I share with usually gets the veggie Benedict. Their orange juice is freshly squeezed as well which I love.

Great down home cooking! Large portions and great selections! Love going here for a nice weekend breakfast with the family!

A very nice country restaurant specializing in their own tastes and spices!
Your choice of indoor or garden patio seating. Place is surrounded by a flower garden and is very popular with the locals
Wait staff is friendly, food hot and prices very fair

Always good; always friendly service and always busy! There’s a reason they get voted «Best breakfast in the Valley» over and over. We are local and go there frequently as well as order takeout.
For breakfast try the Vegetarian Eggs Benedict. I’m not a vegetarian but I order it every time because it’s so good. Their muffins are really yummy too!
For lunch — hamburgers are great; I usually order the Reuben which is consistently delicious with tons of meat.
Not a complaint but I’m not wild about their corned beef or hash browns. Wish the hash browns were crisper but they are always so busy they probably are cooking them as fast as they can. Corned beef is not so much a hash but just the meat onions and potatoes all fried together.
My only suggestion is have some fans installed. It is usually very warm inside. Oh and open for dinner! I know it would be awesome!

Not a joke, this place is the best breakfast I’ve had in Montana.
Coffee is great, excellent biscuits, and legendary huckleberry syrup. Only open until the early afternoon, but worth the drive over to the east side of the lake to get a solid pre-​hike breakfast.

Wow! Everything we had was exceptional. I had Joe’s scramble and it was delish. Try their coffee cake.

We were driving from Great Falls (The Electric City!) to Kila, and we were seriously ready for lunch. I had the breakfast burrito with chorizo and polished that sucker off. The waitress said she had never seen anyone finish the breakfast burrito, so… I win again!
That made me feel good, but not as good as eating the whole thing had *already* made me feel. This place is delicious, and I’d go back in a second!

Fairly alone at a quiet intersection along a two-​lane highway sits the Echo Lake Café. You won’t know how it got there — it’s fairly distant from Bigfork proper, near the titular out-​of-​the-​way lake and a harrowing mountain road leading into the Crystal Basin. Rest assured, the line of patrons out front waiting to dine will safely indicate you can check your «roadside diner» expectations at the door. Echo Lake Café competes favorably with your brunch of choice in any urban enclave. They have a sister location in Lake Tahoe, which won’t come as shock in the slightest. They get breakfast. It’s the quality I’d expect from a California joint, infused with laid-​back, cabin by the lake Montana cool.
As the menu will explain, they bake fresh on the premises, offer up gluten free and vegetarian options, and locally source many of their ingredients. I tried the veggie eggs benedict, which easily lands in my top five bennies of all time. Bedded on tomato and avocado with perfectly poached eggs covered in thick, rich, gluttonous hollandaise sauce, it was a taste dreamboat. The home fries were devoured greedily, and the thick cut, well seasoned bacon tasted of America. Be sure to try any of various huckleberry treats from the bakery, because it’s Montana and you’ll surely be all about huckleberries.
I have to knock a star for a long wait on food (25+ minutes). I’m sorry! It pains me, but them’s rules. Otherwise the service was friendly and great. Our cups kept filling with their delicious warm coffee like magic. If you’re gearing up for a day of Glacier Park or northern Montana adventure, consider Echo Lake Café an ideal pre-​game.
(Oh, random post-​script that didn’t fit anywhere else: There’s a chipping green outside for you to practice your short game while you wait. So cool.)

Sat down and looked at the menu and said «this looks like FireSign Café must be good.» Later we found out that owners opened FireSign Café in Lake Tahoe first and then opened Echo Lake Café. Small world!

We love ELC — it is one of our top 3 – 4 breakfast/​lunch spots in the valley. In fact, we make plans around eating here on our way to whatever we are doing for the day! However, the last few experiences we had finally lends me to write my review which I have been meaning to get to anyway. This last time, the service was very, very apathetic. She was nice enough and when she did come to our table I was happy with her but our drinks sat empty twice on a 90 degree day (we were on the porch) and it took at least 15 minutes after we finished eating to receive our check. I. Hate. That. I haven’t tipped so low in a long time. If the waitresses are overwhelmed management needs to do something about it.
Otherwise, I always love my food here and we absolutely love to sit on the porch and enjoy the day. The cobbler is always good too!
But, I felt it time to make it known that we have received some sketchy service here and they need to do something about it before they lose more customers. I think it will be a while before we go back, which is sad.

What a great find while on vacation in Montana! Food was exquisite. A couple of us had smoked salmon incorporated into our dishes and it was amazing! They do so much on premises that everything tastes so fresh and the dishes are very well put together. One of the best breakfast/​brunch places I’ve ever eaten! The buckwheat pancakes with bananas was heaven. Nothing bad hit the table.

Excellent food. Our party of six each ordered a different entrée and were more than pleased. I highly recommend the French Toast– all ingredients were perfectly proportioned and my husband and I were so happy we ordered a half size to go with our individual meals.
Fair warning– serving sizes are huge. Two people could easily split one entrée. However I wouldn’t recommend doing that; you’ll miss out on trying each other’s food!

Went for Sunday brunch last weekend on our way to the north fork! The food was decent nothing to rave about the photos actually look better than the food tasted!
The service was ok a bunch of high schoolers as the wait staff. They hover and spill water and coffee during refills… You have been pre-​warned.
Nice patio seating to enjoy the warm summers! Get here early for some reason every Sunday they end up with a line and a long wait. We beat the rush by 30 min and I’m so glad we did I would have gave this a 2 star rating had I waited for this food.

Food was absolutely delicious and well worth the wait! Big servings and delicious. The service was awesome — server was attentive and our coffee cup was never empty. We loved this cozy, homey restaurant!