Restaurant in Greenough, United States
Live-fire tasting menu, 24 seats, book ahead.
The Social Haus is Pearl's recommended pick for special-occasion dining in Greenough, Montana. Chef Brandon Cunningham's nightly-changing eight-course live-fire tasting menu, served to just 24 guests inside The Green O resort, earns its reputation through serious technique and a genuine sense of place. Reservations are required; book as far ahead as possible, especially for peak summer and fall dates.
The Social Haus sits inside The Green O, a resort property on Backcountry Road in Greenough, Montana, and if you are already staying there, this is the one dinner you cannot skip. If you are not staying there, it is worth understanding what you are committing to: a roughly eight-course, live-fire tasting menu in a 24-seat room, with a price point that reflects the resort context and a level of ambition that earns its place on Pearl's 2025 recommended list. The format is fixed, the experience is hands-on, and the cooking is serious enough to justify a special-occasion booking from outside the property.
Chef Brandon Cunningham built the menu around live fire and a deliberate sense of mystery. Each course is listed on the menu in just two words — "chestnut and raclette," "ham and coffee" — and described in full only when it arrives at the table. That structure is not a gimmick: it creates a dinner-theater cadence where the reveal is part of the experience, and the roughly eight courses give Cunningham enough arc to move through textures and temperatures with purpose. Past dishes have included Hokkaido wagyu on toasted Japanese milk bread with caviar crème fraîche, roasted sturgeon with eggplant, puff-pastry-wrapped venison with chanterelle mushrooms, and salted milk jam crullers. The menu changes nightly, so repeat visits produce a genuinely different meal.
Cunningham trained under chef Jason French at Ned Ludd in Portland (an open-fire-focused kitchen), refined pasta under Matt Sigler at Renata, and worked directly with chef Sunny Jin , formerly of The French Laundry in Napa and El Bulli , at The Resort at Paws Up next door. That lineage matters because it tells you the technique behind the fire-cooking is grounded in serious kitchens, not resort novelty.
The 24-seat dining room uses shou sugi ban wood , a Japanese charring technique , stained to match the pine trees immediately outside, so the boundary between indoors and forest is deliberately blurred. Seating choices include the inner-circle bar, a small dining area, a lounge, and an open kitchen counter where you can watch the fire cooking directly. In warmer months, alfresco options are also available. For a special occasion, the open kitchen counter is the most engaging seat in the house; booths by the fire work well for pairs who want something more private. The 24-seat count is a structural advantage: the room stays quiet enough for conversation, which is not guaranteed at fire-forward tasting restaurants in larger markets.
Reservations are required. Given the 24-seat capacity and resort-based clientele, booking ahead is strongly advised , guests staying at The Green O will have priority access, so external bookings should be secured as early as possible, particularly for weekend dates or peak Montana summer and fall seasons. The venue is at 4069 Backcountry Road, Greenough, MT 59823, which means you are driving into rural Montana; factor in travel time and, if you are not a resort guest, accommodation logistics before committing. The dress code is resort casual, meaning smart-comfortable rather than formal , Montana backcountry does not require a jacket, but this is not a jeans-and-flannel room either. Vegetarian and gluten-free options are listed as available, which is useful to flag when booking given the fixed tasting format. For a more casual taste of Cunningham's cooking without the full tasting commitment, the kitchen also offers a special pizza available for in-haus delivery , a legitimate option if you want something lighter after a day outdoors.
For broader context on dining and staying in the area, see our full Greenough restaurants guide, our full Greenough hotels guide, and our full Greenough experiences guide. If live-fire American rustic cooking is your category, also consider Artisans Restaurant in The Adirondacks and Tree Room in Park City for comparable regional tasting experiences. For farm-to-table tasting menus with a similar commitment to place and season, Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Tarrytown and Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg are the peer benchmarks worth knowing.
The Social Haus is at its leading for couples or small groups celebrating something , an anniversary, a significant trip, a milestone that deserves a dinner with a clear arc and a memorable setting. The 24-seat room, nightly-changing menu, and live-fire format all work together to make a meal feel like an event rather than a restaurant visit. Solo diners who are comfortable at an open kitchen counter will find this format genuinely engaging. Larger groups should note the 24-seat total capacity and plan accordingly. Google reviewers rate it 4.6 across 767 reviews, and Pearl's 2025 recommendation reflects consistent quality rather than a single standout year.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Social Haus | Easy | — | |
| Le Bernardin | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Atomix | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Lazy Bear | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Alinea | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Atelier Crenn | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
How The Social Haus stacks up against the competition.
Yes — it is one of the stronger cases for a special-occasion dinner in Montana. The 24-seat room, eight-course live-fire menu, and deliberately theatrical format (each course named in just two words, revealed tableside) are built for a meal that feels like an event. Booths by the fire seat pairs side-by-side, which works well for anniversaries or milestone dinners. If you are already staying at The Green O, this is the obvious choice for your best night of the trip.
The venue data lists 'resort casual' as the dress expectation, which at a backcountry Montana property means clean, put-together clothing without a formal dress code. Think well-cut trousers or a casual dress rather than jeans and a fleece, but you are not expected to arrive in a blazer. Match the setting: considered but comfortable.
Greenough is remote — Backcountry Road is not surrounded by a dense dining scene. The nearest credible alternatives are in Missoula, roughly 40 miles away, where you will find a broader range of options at lower price points. If the live-fire tasting format is what draws you, there is no direct local substitute; the Social Haus is the primary reason to seek out this address.
Possibly, but the format favours couples and small groups over solo diners. The open kitchen counter is the most practical solo seat — you can watch chef Cunningham work the fire, which makes the experience more engaging than sitting alone at a booth. Ask for the kitchen counter when booking if you are dining solo.
The menu changes every night and lists each course in only two words — you find out the full dish when it arrives. Expect around eight courses built around live fire, with ingredients ranging from wagyu and caviar to venison and chanterelle mushrooms. Reservations are required, capacity is 24 seats, and The Social Haus is a Pearl Recommended Restaurant (2025). If you want a more casual option, the property also offers pizza delivery to your accommodation.
Book as early as possible, especially if your dates are fixed. With only 24 seats and a captive resort audience at The Green O, availability can close quickly — guests staying on property have natural priority. For peak summer or fall foliage season, booking weeks in advance is the safer approach. Reservations are required; walk-ins are not a realistic option.
Yes. The venue has an inner circle bar area where seating is available, giving you a less formal alternative to the main dining room. It is a workable option if you want the chef's food without committing to the full tasting experience, though the full eight-course format is the main event here.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
