Entry No. 13 — the Missoula file — filed under: speakeasy-bar

Charlie B's (Dinosaur Cafe)

A dim, low-ceilinged Missoula dive-bar institution where the wall is famously lined with photographer Lee Nye's black-and-white portraits of longtime regulars, many now gone. The drinks are cheap and stiff, the crowd swings from midday old-timers up front to twenty-somethings in back, and the Dinosaur Cafe wedged in the rear slings genuinely good Cajun food. Esquire put it on its "15 bars to drink in before you die" list, and it routinely lands on national best-dive-bar rankings.

The move: Grab a po'boy from the Dinosaur Cafe in back, then nurse stiff cheap drinks under the wall of portraits and read the regulars' faces.

📍 Before you go It's a true dive (cash-friendly, can get crowded and smoky-feeling late); the Dinosaur Cafe kitchen in back has its own hours separate from the bar.

• 📍 Missoula (Downtown)
• 💸 $$
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Indoors

Where: 428 N Higgins Ave, Missoula, MT 59802

Hours: Added 2026-06-24 — confirm current hours before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4

last checked: 2026-06-24