CITY GUIDES | THE WEST

Where Cheyenne Eats Between Trains and Trail Rides

The contemporary West has found a home in Wyoming’s capital.

By Jamie Dutton | Sept. 10, 2026

The Metropolitan Downtown

AUTHOR BIO: Jamie Dutton's job has her in airports regularly, as does a family spread out across the Midwest. She’s partial to BPTs and Bell’s.

The city of Cheyenne first drew its breath beside the Union Pacific, and the railroad still runs through the city’s center, past the golden-domed Wyoming Capitol and toward a horizon that seems determined to keep going. I love returning here, where the High Plains wind can rearrange your hair between breakfast in a trolley car and dinner near the tracks, and where Cheyenne Frontier Days turns an already Western city into the center of cowboy country. The best restaurants in Cheyenne carry that independent spirit through wood-fired pizza, smoked brisket, Taiwanese cooking, and steaks substantial enough for a ranch hand. These are the Cheyenne restaurants that keep pulling me back to Wyoming’s capital.

The Albany

$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE

The Albany has faced the Union Pacific depot since 1942, when the Kallas family bought the former Hotel Albany and opened the New Albany Café. The mahogany booths from those days remain, and the menu sticks to the dishes that have kept the place busy for generations: prime rib, chicken-fried steak, burgers, hot beef sandwiches, and fried bull nuts. Yes, those are exactly what you think they are. Order them, and you’ll have both an appetizer and a story to tell later.

Best for: A classic downtown Cheyenne lunch

Bella Fuoco Wood Fired Pizza

$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Bella Fuoco began as a food truck before moving its wood-burning oven into a permanent home. The Neapolitan-inspired pizzas arrive blistered around the edges and soft through the center, with toppings that wander well beyond pepperoni. Calzones, panini, pasta, salads, and desserts round out the menu. Sit close enough to the oven, and dinner comes with the warm glow of an open fire—and a clear view of the next pizza you’ll wish you had ordered.

Best for: Wood-fired pizza and a bottle of wine

Destination Taiwan

$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Destination Taiwan keeps limited weekend hours, and the restaurant asks customers to check on prices and availability. In other words, this is one lunch that rewards a plan. Wyoming’s first licensed Taiwanese restaurant serves a changing selection of Taiwanese specialties alongside bubble tea, including the classic version made with black tea and chewy tapioca pearls. Small-batch preparation means favorites can sell out, so arriving late carries the risk of learning what everyone ahead of you ordered.

Best for: Taiwanese cooking rarely found elsewhere in Wyoming

Durbar

$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE

The first thing to order at Durbar Nepalese and Indian Bistro is the momo, Nepalese dumplings offered with meat or vegetable fillings. After that, the table tends to fill quickly: biryani fragrant with spices, meats pulled hot from the tandoor, creamy korma, saag, tikka masala, and curries ordered at a preferred heat level. There are plenty of vegetarian choices, along with garlic naan for dragging through whatever sauce remains. One basket of naan is seldom enough.

Best for: Momo and a table crowded with curries

Hokkaido Ramen House

$$ | MAP | WEBSITE

Cheyenne waited patiently for a proper bowl of ramen, then lined up when Hokkaido Ramen House opened downtown. The open kitchen sends out tonkotsu ramen with slices of chashu, spicy beef ramen calibrated to your preferred level of heat, and chicken katsu curry with enough heft for a Wyoming winter. Sushi extends from salmon and avocado rolls to combinations involving cream cheese, strawberries, and an admirable disregard for restraint.

Best for: Warming up after the High Plains wind wins

Luxury Diner

$$ | MAP | WEBSITE

Luxury Diner incorporates a former Cheyenne trolley car said to have operated from 1894 to 1912. It became a working diner in 1926 and took its current name in 1964. Inside, the coffee comes quickly, and breakfast covers the table with pancakes, omelets, biscuits and gravy, a giant cinnamon roll, and burritos smothered in green chile. Plenty of restaurants borrow railroad imagery in Cheyenne; this one lets you eat eggs inside an artifact of the city’s transit history.

Best for: Breakfast inside a vintage Cheyenne trolley

The Metropolitan Downtown

$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE

The Metropolitan occupies an Art Moderne building in downtown Cheyenne, looking like somewhere people might have once arrived in long cars wearing excellent hats. The restaurant takes a contemporary approach inside, serving steaks alongside dishes for vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free diners. Creative cocktails and a considerable wine selection receive as much attention as dinner, while weekend brunch provides a respectable excuse to begin drinking before noon. It all feels celebratory, even if the occasion is simply that someone remembered to make a reservation.

Best for: Cocktails followed by a downtown dinner

Paris West

$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE

Cheyenne once carried the nickname “Paris of the West,” and Paris West has taken that bit of civic history somewhere delicious. French onion soup and beignets share the menu with Western comforts, including short-rib ravioli in Parmesan sauce and a peppercorn-crusted flat iron steak with mushroom-brandy sauce. The Get Shorty piles slow-cooked beef, Gruyère, and caramelized onions onto a hoagie, landing somewhere between a French dip and what a ranch hand might order after discovering Paris.

Best for: French comfort food with its boots still on

Railspur

$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Railspur occupies Cheyenne’s west edge, where the city’s railroad past meets one of its newer gathering places. The concise food menu currently runs from whiskey-glazed meatballs and pierogies in lemon-pepper butter to an elk gyro with tzatziki and a cheeseburger with caramelized onions. Coffee begins with a single-origin Kenyan roast and stretches to an ube white-chocolate mocha, while cocktails include a huckleberry sour and an old fashioned sweetened with sugar-cane syrup.

Best for: An elk gyro followed by a huckleberry sour

Southern Soul Kitchen

$ | MAP | INSTAGRAM

Southern Soul Kitchen moves between Cheyenne locations, so finding dinner begins with checking social media. The family-owned operation draws on Louisiana and Cuban roots, serving fried chicken, catfish, pork chops, wings, collard greens, cabbage, yams, and banana pudding. Sunday menus can stretch to dressing, spaghetti, and corn on the cob. The fried chicken arrives deeply golden, with the slow-cooked sides turning a paper plate into a full Sunday supper.

Best for: Fried chicken with collard greens and yams