Cactus Jacks

On a trip from Oregon to Iowa, we stopped once again in Rawlins, WY. On the way to Oregon, we visited the Peppermill Bar which is attached to Cactus Jacks. We had an appetizer and drinks which were very good. This time we went to Cactus Jacks for a sit down meal and it was very good. Our server was excellent. My husband ordered the breaded shrimp with macaroni and cheese which he said was very good. I ordered a half rack of ribs with a side salad and Mac and cheese. The Mac and cheese was creamy and good. The salad was super fresh with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, croutons…everything you could want in a side salad. The ribs were good. They fell off the bone and the sauce was great, but I think maybe it was the rub that really wasn’t doing it for me. The very end rib (the smallest) was dry and crumbly, but the bigger ribs were cooked properly. Overall, a great meal at a good value.

Pulled pork dinner Pulled pork with Honey BBQ: very dry and chewy, not a ton of standout flavor outside the bbq sauce, bbq sauce itself isn’t bad Pit beans: the hottest item on my plate and very flavorful. Nice little kick in it. Garlic mashed potatoes: also dry but there is some flavor, would be good with some kind of gravy on the side, pairs well with the bbq though. Texas toast: usually when I get it from other joints it is well buttered and has a nice flavor to it. This one is on the smaller side and has nothing on it at all. Sweet tea: perfectly sweetened Food was mediocre and my tummy is a little upset now but the service was good and they gave a military discount which is a plus!

I enjoyed this restaurant. I got the fish and chips...... Without the chips. The reason? The menu was a little confusing when it says "fish and chips" and then has sides, but you have to specify the "chips" as the side. Not a big deal, but just note it. The fish was done nicely, tasted good, and the tartar sauce was good. The side salad was pretty good too. The wait staff was prompt and helpful.

OMG all I can say is get a new cook. Saw quite a few women around the place and in the window area. Only 1 waitress doing all the work. She was doing her best for the situation. 10 min just to order drinks 25 min to get them 30 min to order 1hr 30min for food to come. Husband ordered the Brisket said was all dried out, didn't eat 1/3. I Ordered Chopped steak, asked for no onions no mushrooms no gravy no seasoning. Came out with gravy and it had seasoning. Didn't want to wait another hour for them to fix another one. Had her bring another plate and a bunch of napkins. Scraped and wiped the gravy off. All for nothing the seasoning was terrible. Ate a few bites gave up. They removed the Brisket from the ticket. Should have checked some of the other Reviews. Might have chosen some where else. Definitely will not ever go back.

We choose not to stay and try lunch. At noon, there was only one table with customers (not a good sign). We were told to pick our own table by a child, whom also brought us our menus. This young child then returned and took our drink order. When she brought us our drinks we decided that we were not going to stay to order. We left her a tip and advised an adult (that I had to find in the back), that we changed our mind and were not staying. Made us feel very uneasy and not comfortable at all.

The waitress was friendly and greeted us upon entry. We were told we could sit wherever we wanted. Grilled salmon, seasonal veggies and house salad! My husband enjoyed his food. I was full from dining earlier, however I would have ordered something to eat 😆. I didn’t want to stuff myself. We observed a dance floor opposite the restaurant side. The decor definitely had Western vibe going on m which was cool. I also noticed they offered Sunday brunch also!

I stopped in at Cactus Jack's, hungry from the road. Wanted a Country fried steak!!! There was only a group of four and no greater. Walked through a door that had CACTUS JACKS on the open wall behind it, there was a waitress standing at a counter talking with another female. I said, "is this where I go to check in"; the waitress' responded with "this is a kitchen" no smile no offer to help. I walked back out to the dining room and found a table. Same waitress came and took my order, no smile, no chat. The food was excellent, probably the best country fried steak I've ever had and the mashed potatoes and gravy also deeeelicious. I would definitely go there again just for the food. They had a casino also on the other side of a glass wall from the restaurant that was full, but no noise.

Long day on the road, needed a good home-cooked meal. Baked and mashed potatoes where cold. No flavor or fizz to the soda.The ribs where 99.9% bone. Showed waitress, she basically stated they had ordered different style of ribs (wasn't thier normal). Fries where very soggy! No butter on burnt toast.

Just a quick stop after driving for so long on the road. Ample parking. They double uo in fun as a dance/bbq/ and bar establishment. We had the rocky mountain oysters and someone recommended the brisket plate with a baked potato and it was AMAZING. If you are brave enough to know and find out what rocky mountain oysters are then this is the place to try em. Not bad at all and super flavorful. Great service on takeout. Would love to come back.

After a 20 minute wait for the barbecue sampler, the order was still missing the side item of mashed potatoes. The interior is extremely rundown, and the staff seemed distracted. For what we paid for the meal, I would not feel comfortable returning nor recommending it to others.

Pretty much a typical Wyoming bar & grill, but with BBQ. After the excesses of Thanksgiving, I went for fish & chips. A fun feature is the side selection, which in addition to fries, has options of beans, potato salad, green salad, seasonal veg, and soup. The service was really good & friendly. Interior looks like any other bar in this state, Western decor, but nice and clean. Nothing special, but better than some.

Stopped through while on a road trip, it was a solid alright. The service was friendly, but very slow. The mains were good (I had a chicken sandwich) but the sides were just ok. Overall, not a bad place to stop for lunch on the road.

This is a decent restaurant in a small town. My husband really liked his reuben sandwich and sweet potato fries. My ribeye steak was enormous with good flavor, but it did have some gristle and a fair amount of fat (which OTOH does gives it flavor). The side salad was crisp and fresh, and the baked potato was large and well prepared. We did takeout, and they didn't include utensils or napkins or ask if we needed them (guess it was on me to ask), so we had to scramble back at our hotel room to be able to eat. Note to management. The restaurant itself is old and shabby and, as others have said, can be a little difficult to find unless you happen to enter the right door. I wandered through the pool room, bar, an intermediate section, an entry, and finally into the restaurant. But the staff was friendly and helpful. I wouldn't hesitate to suggest it if you're in town and looking for a decent place to eat. Just don't expect big city standards.

Good food, decent service. On our way to Yellowstone for a family trip we stopped in for lunch. My family all enjoyed their meals. However, I did not enjoy my grilled chickens salad. It was listed as an entree for $10.95. So with that, I was surprised to get what looked exactly like a side salad with grilled chicken added to it. It tasted fine, honestly. But not only was it portioned as a smaller side salad (not an entree dinner salad) but I was also charged $13.95! Smaller portion than expected and then charged $3 more than the menu price. I was very disappointed. The manager needs to update their menu prices or charge per the menu. Kind of embarrassing for the restaurant on more than one level.

extremely slow service. I had ordered coffee to drink and it took forever to get a refill on my coffee. After the first refill, never got another one. the chicken steak I had for my dinner was the best part of this experience. The place is clean and has big screen TVs so you can watch the game. It took 15 minutes from the time I finished my meal until the brought me my check.

Little confusing find this place. It is bumped up next to Peppermill and the signs were not actually on to say open. Staff were great! Super friendly. Asked if we wanted breakfast, lunch or both. Coffee was prefect. I love a good cup of black coffee. Hash browns are not seasoned but still crispy. I eat mine with eggs anyway. I tried the green salsa- has potatoes and pork in it- rather tasty and hubs loved it on the hash browns. Bacon thick and crispy. Hubs had two grilled porkchop and they were seasoned great. A great meal for a long road trip. Thanks!

Service was nice. Food was subpar. DIL got the ribs and they were cold. I ordered the prime rib sandwich and it was really just a slice of tough prime rib with two pieces of toast. It was very bland. Adult meals came out way before the children's meals.

Great service! Super friendly! Food was amazing! Clean dining area! Nice stop between a long drive! Everyone was very sweet and everything tasted good!

One star only because zero is unavailable. We waited 45 minutes for a to-go order of two prime rib sandwiches. Finally got the food , sat in the parking lot & opened the styrofoam boxes to find the order was not only wrong but the food was inedible. The nastiest looking slice of over cooked meat with a piece of bread and cold greasy fries. All for the bargain price of roughly $40. Sorry I didn't snap a photo before going back inside to ask for a refund.

We had a great meal there while traveling across country. As other reviews have said, the sign out front is faded. Cactus Jacks is located inside The Peppermill. (I'm adding a picture of the sign.) Once we got in, we were seated quickly and enjoyed the food. The ambience was casual. The service was good. The restroom was clean. It checked all the boxes nicely for a quick easy lunch before getting back on I-80.

Let's just say that this was easily one of my favorite meals on a road trip. At the moment, my Mom and I are on a trip to go check out a college. We came in for lunch, and here was our break down: Mom got the Brisket sandwich, with a side of the sweet potato fries and I got the BLT, with added avocado with the same fries. These fries were perfect, and came with an epic cinnamon honey butter (holy cows, that stuff is so good.) The bacon lettuce tomato and avocado ratio was perfect, and Mom's sandwich was fantastic. Our waitress was attentive, kind, and helpful, and service was excellent. I honestly can't think of a better meal out here in Wyoming. Thank you Cactus Jacks, Rawlins, Wyoming.

The restaurant has a nice, friendly, small town feel. The Ribeye was top notch and did not disappoint. The hamburger steak and gravy was a little salty. Our waitress, Jocelyn, was friendly and took great care of our table. We enjoyed the stop!!

We had the combo platter of brisket, ribs and pulled pork with BBQ sauce and loaded baked potato and mac and cheese. . Broccoli cheese soup also. The mac n cheese was excellent. The rest not so much. The soup was warmish but definitely not serving temp hot. It had great flavor but watery and just not hot. The meat was all about the same temperature as the soup. Barely Warm. The BBQ sauce was hot enough to make some of the meat edible. Even the potato was underdone and not overly hot. The waitress was very nice though. The pepsi and Mac n cheese were the only enjoyable part of the meal. Next time I'd actually take McDonald's over this.

Absolutely loved the atmosphere, servers and quality of food. The prices were very low for what you get. I was saddened when we had to move because I loved coming for breakfast. The Cav's miss you guys!!!

Fries were mushy, ribs were dry and over-seasoned, floor and bathroom was dirty, and the music was too loud. Would not recommend.

My wife had chicken wings and she said they were the best she ever had. A nice smoky flavor. I had the pulled pork sandwich which also had a smoky flavor- very very good. I highly recommend this place.

The server was on her own and busy, which we didn't mind. BUT after waiting for a while the food was less than appetizing. No refills, and expensive prices.

Great for breakfast! First, located across from a gas station with large parking for our 5th wheel good parking on main lot too. Second, food: portions are large so come hungry. Breakfast burrito is huge with delicious chili verde. Great flavor. Pancakes and waffles and French toast were all basic but very good. But the star of the show was the country potatoes! Skip the hash browns and get the country potatoes!! Great flavor, crispy in the outside and melt in your mouth in the middle. My kids said the hash browns were really good too, but still kept stealing my potatoes! Third, service. It was one waitress and her son who was seating people and filling drinks. They were great, friendly, efficient, considerate. Just a great down home place with fun antique decor. Will definitely stop her again when we are through Rawlins again!

We ordered two ranch cut ribeye dinners with baked potatoes and seasonal veggies for one and hickory pit beans to go. Unfortunately the ribeye was more than one third fat-inedible! Based on their own website and the menus on Yelp, the dinners should have been $18.95. When we went to pick up the order the meals were $29.99 each!!! When questioned, we were told those were old prices and they were under new management. Since it was after 8pm and we were hungry we paid and left. Of course, there was only one table with another customer. I'm guessing word about their unethical pricing practices has gotten around. The atmosphere was a throwback to a 70s dive. What a shame!

Breakfast was great, bacon amazing, generous portions, service impeccable. And the local color on a Saturday morning was perfect. And they have fixed the signage so there's no confusion as to where the restaurant is. Atmosphere a little gloomy.

First: Cactus Jacks is INSIDE the Peppermill. There is no visible signage from outside, it's long faded. Next: Cactus Jacks serves breakfast until 2pm but you might need to ask for that menu during lunch hours. Despite a small staff, service is quick. The food is great

Not a place you go for ambiance, or quiet. I walked in and no one told me you had to seat yourself. Cheap tables and chairs. You could hear hip hop music from the kitchen. That said, the ribeye steak, baked potato and coleslaw I had were excellent. If you want ambiance, flattering service or nice things, skip it. But if you just want a satisfying hearty American Wyoming truck-driving cowboy/cowgirl kind of meal...go ahead and seat yourself.

I found this place as we were traveling in Wyoming. There isn't a proper sign when you drive up but it is Catus Jacks. Everything from the waitress to our food was great. I heard other patrons commenting as well how good their food tasted.

We wanted to stop for a bit on our way from Rock Springs to Cheyenne. We chose Cactus Jacks based upon other reviews. It smelled great when we pulled up and we were looking forward to a good meal. I would love to give a review on the food, but we didn't get that far. We walked in and were told to sit anywhere. We sat down and waited for twenty minutes before we left. No one ever told us they would be over soon, no one asked for our drink orders, etc. There were probably six tables being waited on between two servers when we came in, so not terribly busy. Three more tables came in after us and got menus and drinks before we finally left. Seems like you need to be local to get decent service. We ended up going to McDonald's instead.

Excellent find in Rawlins on our way from Kamas to Denver. Great food and really friendly staff.

Ribs stringy, burgers charred, garlic mashed potatoes had no garlic. Service great. Wouldn't go back on account of food.

Not a lot of options for dining in this area and most have very similar menus , gotta say This place gets 5 stars based on service!! I think our server was the owner or manager- she was just very attentive, open to lots of questions, gave us information on our first time trying Rocky Mountain Oysters , which while they don't taste bad...the worst part is what it is. Since we are here on Easter Sunday I had their spiral ham special with a baked potato and seasonal veg. Hubs had chick fried chicken with Mac and cheese mashed potatoes. Everything was generally good HOWEVER the Mac and cheese was so creamy and worth an extra mention.

Found it after the first bar (Whiskey something)closed down (damn coronavirus). It was a great atmosphere full of laughter and fun. Anyone in the area would be foolish not to frequent this establishment. Food was good, brisket was a little thin, but the variety of sauces was amazing.

Stopped here for a late dinner after a long day of driving from Yellowstone. Wasn't expecting much, however ended up being a good little bbq pit joint. Kid got homemade pulled pork, wife got true smoked chicken wings, and I went with the ribeye, which was exactly what I thought it would be; cowboy style pit ribeye cooked to perfection. Good quality stop!

Neat little place. Private parking lot. Really quiet. But my barbecue wasn't too good.

Amazing food and friendly service! Note that the restaurant and the bar have separate entrances.

The burger was cooked to perfection! The toppings were notably fresh. However, the service was the best ever! I sat and watched as the waitress, Laura, ran from table to table keeping an upbeat attitude and smile on her face. There were literally at least 13 tables that she was waiting on! I definitely recommend checking this place out!

ZERO stars. 100% do NOT recommend this place. 2 adults, 3 kids. Our server was not able to provide any idea as to what kind of drinks they have, just that they have a "regular bar"...tried to order a hot buttered rum and neither the waitress or bar tender had ever heard of it, I figured that was a commonly known drink but maybe I'm wrong. I ordered the blonde beer on tap and got a beer in a can. We ordered a full rack of ribs, loaded potato skins, beans, 2 sides of corn on the cob, making sure to ask if this was enough to feed our family of 5 and we were told these are "regular sides"...it was literally a half cup of beans, 4 tiny pieces of corn on the cob (like 2 1/2 inches long), 4 potato skins (fine, we had two little ones that split one) and about a half rack of ribs that did taste good so I'll give them that. we asked for 5 plates and got 3, got 4 spoons, 4 forks & 3 napkins. It was simply not enough food or dinnerware for the amount of people we had. It was super slow so no excuse for all that. The waitress had huge wide eyes and either was or just acted totally clueless about anything, it felt more like she didn't give two shits about serving us. then I decided to check out the bar side, but fat no go but that's another story...but I walked right by the hostess stand and there were kids coloring sheets with a kids menu...had we known that, our order would have been entirely different but we were not even offered kids menus and assumed they didn't have one. that ticked me off, as my kids are 3, 5 and 9...small kids. I hated this place and couldn't wait to leave. And I'm still hungry. There's more but this is long enough. Waitress never checked on us, we had to holler to ask for more napkins, took like 15 minutes to get that can of beer, it was just terrible.

Cactus Jack's was recommended by our hotel if we wanted great food and friendly service. It definitely was all that! Honestly when we walked in I was a little skeptical but as soon as the server greeted us my apprehension melted away. The brisket and pulled pork plates were delicious and plentiful. We both had leftovers for lunch the next day. We had spent a long day traveling and now at our stop for the night so we treated ourselves to an "adult beverage". I am not a big Chardonnay fan but have to say it was quite good and a very generous pour and hubby was very happy with his beer. We would highly recommend stopping into Cactus Jack's. Great food, service and fairly priced!

Great food and service !! Must stop while In town. Had the wings and Prime rib sandwich !! The best ever !! I wish this place was in my town.

This is a true bar, no fancy drinks or snotty people. Down to earth friendly people. Loved the fact that this is a local hang out and they were very welcoming to outsiders.

Friendly, speedy service & reasonable pricing. Great tasting food! I had the pulled pork sandwich w fries and a side of ranch. 3 different bbq sauces to choose from for your pork- all yummy. Ranch was house made and delicious! Kiddos had the kids burger baskets-my daughter said '5 stars!!' & my son ate more than he does usually. Hubby got ribeye steak with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, he finished it off! (He's a ribeye buff, so no complaints is great!) Could use a more clear sign, but definitely worth the stop!! We're stuffed & happy!

I'm 43 years old, this is the only restaurant that I have walked out of TWICE due to (can't say poor service) NO service!! I am a local and try to support locally owned businesses, however Cactus Jacks will not see another cent of mine. This evening my family opted to try them out again. Upon entering a server stated to sit wherever we would like. We chose to sit at one of the center tables, near the kitchen entry. We weren't acknowledged at all for approximately 12 minutes though the staff were walking past us frequently. Another set of patrons entered, sat at the table next to us and were immediately brought menus and greeted. The service is ALWAYS bad, you're lucky if you get a glass of water typically, but this is absolutely disgraceful!! The staff are obviously not held to any sort of expectations concerning customer service. Horrible place!!!

Holy hell! What a random find. Passing through on Monday and nothing was open. If you've ever driven the 287 in Wyoming you know there is nowhere to eat for hours and the only spot open (minus fast food crap) was this, dive looking place. What the hell, why not. Surprise! It was awesome! 70's/80's cowboy/late night dance place vibe. It was early, only saw 1 other customer at first, and we were casually greeted by a guy towards the kitchen and he said have a seat where you like and got the waitresses attention. We sat down and my gf went to the bathroom. The waitress (sadly didn't get her name, she was great) came right said hey and set the menu (breakfast) down and asked about drinks. I said "can get lunch this early? and before she could answer a voice from the back corner hollered "Get breakfast! the huevos rancheros is fantastic!" Seriously. I looked at the waitress and she smiled and said " well our breakfast is pretty good." She was Hispanic so I asked "is the green sauce good?" She said "we just made it today so it's gonna be really good." She lied, it was waaay better than really good! My gf got the $7 breakfast (one with eggs n french toast in the pic) We were blown away that it was that good and only $7. Tasted great all around, hash browns are crispy old style. My chile burrito was as good as it looks in the pic and huge. Zero complaints at all and nothing I would add, good mix of meat and other fixings. But if you're a lightweight be prepared it's huge! Definitely coming back next time through (hopefully when it's later and the night time crowd is around).

I was in Rawlins for work and stopped in for lunch. I had the brisket, mashed potatoes, and brown beans. Everything was terrific and my server couldn't have been nicer. Excellent array of homemade sauces as well. Don't be fooled by the exterior. The food here is great.

We try not to eat at chains and scoped this place out. Was confusing which place to eat at--Cactus Jacks and Peppermill share a kitchen. Owners kept both names since there are reviews for each. We went in to the Peppermill bar and grill--seemed more like a bar area. Went to the left past pool table and into Cactus Jacks which had more tables. I had the philly beef steak sandwich and added mushrooms. Came with french fries and "au jus". Absolutely delicious. Service was great. Drinks were great. So glad we stopped!!

My quest was to find the best dinner in Rawlins at a reasonable price. Captain Jack's had the best yelp reviews with two $$ signs. Located roughly 2 miles from the interstate, cactus jacks was connected to the Peppermill. We were seated and in roughly 5 minutes, the waitress took our drink orders. We got our drinks and read the menu in depth. We made our decisions and ordered our food. My salad came quickly. It was fresh, a good Garden salad. In fact, all the food was delicious and an excellent value with a nice selection of side dishes. I had the brisket and the baked beans - awesome! My wife ordered the sampler platter. I was hungry and had a chance to try it all from her plate. Wonderful food. Unfortunately, food is just one element of a dining experience. Service is another important part of the meal. There was one server for the entire dining room. She seemed nice and friendly, keeping my drink filled. I can only wonder what went wrong and why it took so long to get our main courses served. It took ONE FULL HOUR before the main course was served. The wait was horrible and ruined our experience. Furthermore, they made no effort and seemed to ignore that anything was wrong. Nothing was done for us to make us feel better - maybe a free dessert would have been nice? In summary, we had a bad experience at cactus jacks. The service ruined it all. Salute!

Four of us came in hungry and figured barbque would do. Messed up drink order. Meat was cold, dry, and without much flavor. Sauces were lacking. Burger was dry and bland. Chicken fried steak was like shoe leather. Tv's were all damaged with lousy picture. Bus boy committed the worst crime: he wore a dodgers cap!!! And he's from Rawlins. All bad

Not worth it. We ordered four things - chicken strips, Philly cheese steak, chicken fried steak, and Mac n cheese. The best was the chicken strips - how hard is it to mess that up. Philly wasn't too bad but au ju had zero flavor. Chicken fried steak was burned badly on the bottom and the mac n cheese was doctored up with what seemed to be nacho cheese - the kind that has been sitting in the warmer for a month.

Where to begin?! Service was very slow and inattentive. Luckily they one good server that new what she was doing. Food was not good - portion size was small for what we paid. No real value. Food took forever for a couple of sandwiches and the server was MIA. I got food poisoning just to find out that they added 10% tip to my total check that I signed off for, which is illegal. Didn't call to dispute because it wouldn't be worth it to deal with this establishment again. Do not go here, safe yourself the trouble.

Great local place we found on the way through on our trip back to North Dakota.... Places like this are getting harder to find so please stop an check it out! Food was great I had shrimp and two sides, very good! Wifey had half rack ribs baked potato and salad very large portions and great flavor.and she said ranch for salad might be the best she has ever had.... Building was a little older but was clean and staff was friendly!!!

We came in late from driving all day and started looking for a place to eat. we stopped at Cactus Jacks/Peppermill Grill because it had a good review on Yelp and was close to our hotel. What a delightful surprise. the food was fresh and very good. Everything is freshly prepared and it shows. we had Chicken Fried Steak. It was hand breaded and one of the best I've experienced. Our server was a delight. what a great experience at the end of a long day.