Plates filling fast at Cody Cattle Company, brisket smoke in the air, guests leaning into the room before the first guitar note. A specialty cocktail made its way into my hand while other guests settled at their tables.
This isn’t fine dining with tweezers and foam. It’s a Cody, Wyoming, dinner show built around food, music, and Western showmanship, the kind that knows exactly what it wants to be and doesn’t apologize for the cornbread. The cornbread is delicious, by the way.
The official schedule lists doors at 4:50 p.m., dinner at 5:30 p.m., and the show from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. nightly during the 2026 summer season, May 25 through Sept. 25.
The author was hosted for the dinner, show, and rodeo.
Why Cody Cattle Company Belongs in Gourmet Travel
Cody Cattle Company doesn’t chase white-tablecloth polish. For Cody, that works. You get a full plate, live music, local personality, and a room full of people who came ready to enjoy themselves.
The buffet keeps the night loose, friendly, and blessedly uncomplicated. Families, couples, solo travelers, groups, and road-trippers can settle in without studying a menu like it contains state secrets.
The show turns dinner from a meal into a full Cody evening. Dinner ends before the music begins, so nobody has to juggle ribs, applause, and a fork at the same time. That small bit of order helps, especially when ribs and applause both require two hands.
This is where you eat brisket, clap on beat if possible, and accept that Wyoming has no interest in your coastal restaurant anxiety.
The Event Started Long Before I Arrived at Cody Cattle Company
At Cody Cattle Company, the show starts before the musicians take the stage. In my case, it started at the Cody/East Yellowstone KOA Holiday.
Buffalo Bill Cody picked me up at my lodging, East Yellowstone KOA. He drove the van.
I traveled solo and car camped at the Cody/East Yellowstone KOA Holiday. When I discovered the campground offered a free shuttle to the nightly rodeo, I asked about getting to dinner first. They arranged for a Cody Cattle Company van to pick me up in time for opening. Meeting Buffalo Bill Cody behind the wheel delighted me before I even reached dinner.
Marc Schmeiser, portraying Buffalo Bill, moved from upstate New York to Cody about 29 years ago after falling in love with the area. He has portrayed Buffalo Bill for about 20 years and first got into it through Interactive Entertainment in Cheyenne, including work connected to Cheyenne Frontier Days.
At Cody Cattle Company, Marc says his role happens before and around the dinner show. He greets people, visits tables, entertains guests, shares historical facts, challenges children with questions, helps direct tables to the buffet, and stays busy throughout the evening. He summed it up nicely: his “show was on the floor.”
The Triple C Bar at Cody Cattle Company
Signature cocktails are available before dinner. The Buffalo Bill Bloody Mary gives an old classic a Cody twist, one even Ol’ Bill might have loved. It combines local pickle vodka with a smooth Bloody Mary mix. I ordered it because I love pickles.
Guests can substitute traditional vodka if pickle vodka is not their thing. A single costs $7 and a double costs $12.
The bar menu also includes the Cody Cattle Cooler, made with gin and blueberry lemonade. The Triple C mixes Wyoming cinnamon moonshine, heavy cream, and a splash of Coke. The menu claims it goes down smoother than the band’s harmonies, which feels like both a promise and a warning.
The CCC also lets guests customize cocktails from a broad spirits list, and the nonalcoholic choices cover adults and kids.
The Buffet Dinner: Come Hungry or Admit Defeat Early
The buffet doesn’t flirt with restraint. It goes straight for comfort food. A person could pretend to “just sample a little,” but that person probably also claims they only read one chapter before bed.
The all-you-can-eat, family-style meal starts with beef brisket, chicken, and pulled pork. Guests can also order a flat iron steak upgrade.
The sides include potatoes, baked beans, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, and salad. Dessert brings the kind of chewy chocolate brownie that makes seconds feel less like a choice and more like a civic duty.
Coffee, tea, lemonade, and water come with the meal. Soda and alcohol cost extra.
I must admit: I got so caught up in the evening that I forgot to photograph my meal. That almost never happens, which tells you something.
The Live Music Show: Western Entertainment With Real Chops
Ryan Martin and the Triple C Cowboys offer a Cody, Wyoming, live music mix of country, Western swing, bluegrass, jazz, blues, and more with strong family-friendly energy.
Ryan Martin brings serious credentials, including first-place honors in the New Mexico State flat-pick guitar championship, Wickenburg flat-pick guitar championship, Guitarmageddon, and Instrumentalist of the Year from the International Western Music Association. He excels at acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, saxophone, harmonica, and vocals.
After the show, one musician told me he and his wife also appear at Barleen’s Dinner Show in Apache Junction, Arizona. I later attended Barleen’s and recognized the same polished, family-friendly stage energy. It reminded me why Cody Cattle Company worked so well: the entertainers knew how to hold a room without phoning it in.
Then the music starts, and the room changes. What could have become another tourist dinner turns into a real stage show with musicians who know exactly what to do with a guitar, a harmony, and a crowd. The musicians can play. That sounds basic until you’ve survived enough “themed entertainment” to know the difference between talent and a hat with lighting cues.
Meet the People Behind the Night at Cody Cattle Company
Cody Cattle Company thrives because the people behind it understand both sides of the room: the stage and the dinner table. That kind of experience shows when you ask guests to eat, listen, laugh, and still make it to the rodeo without checking their watches.
The owners, Greg and Ann Pendley, previously ran Cody Trolley Tours for nine years, have worked as professional musicians for nearly 50 years, and still take hands-on roles with guests.
Band manager Ryan Martin, front-of-house manager Billie Jean Martin, and bar manager Krista Clemens help keep the evening moving without making it feel managed to death.
If this is your first time at the Cody Cattle Company, you might not realize that the people seating you, bringing your drinks, and getting you settled are the performers who will entertain you on stage. It feels more like joining the host’s living room than filling a chair in another tourist show.
Should You Add the Cody Nite Rodeo?
Cody Cattle Company offers several ticket options, including show-only, the Daily Double dinner-and-show ticket, and the Trifecta ticket with dinner, show, and rodeo.
If you’re already in Cody, add the rodeo unless your idea of a wild night involves hotel ice machines and cable news. No judgment. Okay, maybe a little judgment.
The timing saves visitors from the usual vacation math: dinner here, show there, rodeo somewhere else, and everybody cranky by 8 p.m. Enjoy dinner, the show, and a cocktail or mocktail, then walk the short distance to the Cody Nite Rodeo at Stampede Park.
The show ends in time to reach the bleachers without sprinting across town like you lost a bet.
After the rodeo, guests can ride the bus back to local lodging through Cody Cowboy Stages, operated by Mike and Linda Smith for 30 years.
Stampede Park runs with the kind of polish you appreciate when hundreds of people, horses, flags, families, and rodeo contestants all need to move in the same direction.
The night includes bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, flag ceremonies, and galloping horses. Cody knows how to put on a patriotic Western night without whispering about it.
The Trifecta package works best for travelers who want one big Cody night: barbecue, live music, rodeo, and transportation handled without turning the evening into a logistical rodeo of its own.
Who Will Love Cody Cattle Company
- First-time Cody visitors
- Families
- Couples who want a casual Western night
- Group travelers
- Road-trippers heading to or from Yellowstone
- Travelers who like music with their meal
- Anyone who wants dinner handled before the rodeo
Who Might Not Love It
- Travelers looking for quiet fine dining
- People who dislike buffets
- Visitors who want a long, slow restaurant meal
- Diners who prefer small plates and chef-driven tasting menus
- Anyone allergic to organized fun, which can become a serious condition in tourist towns
How to Pair It With a Cody Day
With so many exciting things to see and do in the Cody area, I recommend starting your Cody day with a visit to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Five museums in one. Early opening hours allow for a relaxing half-day visit, then rest in the afternoon so you keep up your strength for the buffet and rodeo in the evening.
Other options for things to do include the Cody Trolley Tour and Old Trail Town to get an overview of Cody and historical figures such as Butch Cassidy, Rose Williams, and Jeremiah Johnston.
What I Liked Best
The Dinner Doesn’t Pretend
The buffet gives travelers exactly what they likely came for: hearty Western comfort food, plenty of it, and no lecture from the plate.
The Music Has Muscle
The show lifts the evening from dinner stop to Cody memory. These entertainers bring real skill, not just cowboy costume play with a microphone.
Dinner, Music, and Rodeo Without the Scramble
The evening moves in one clean sequence: eat, listen, walk, rodeo, ride back. No scramble required. For travelers trying to make the most of one Cody night, that kind of convenience earns real gratitude. Nothing feels rushed.
Know Before You Go
- Location: 1910 Demaris Drive, Cody, Wyoming
- Season: Summer season, currently listed for May 25 through Sept. 25, 2026
- Doors: 4:50 p.m.
- Dinner: 5:30 p.m.
- Show: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
- Tickets: Book ahead, especially during peak summer travel
- Best ticket: Trifecta if you want dinner, music, and rodeo in one night
- Food style: All-you-can-eat barbecue buffet
- Best for: Families, couples, groups, solo travelers, and first-time Cody visitors
- Rodeo: Begins at 8 p.m.
- Transportation: Cody Nite Rodeo Bus with stops near local hotels and campgrounds in Cody
Cody Cattle Company gives visitors the West in the order many travelers secretly want it: a full plate, a good song, a little spectacle, and a night that doesn’t ask you to behave too carefully. When you’re choosing Cody, Wyoming restaurants, make room for this one. Come hungry, stay for the music, and save enough energy for the rodeo.
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