Amazing service! food was good and dessert was a plus! Big Shout Out to Ismael! The best server of the night! definitely recommend!

Very good service! We had Ismael help us out and he was very kind and gave us complimentary food and was overall very nice to us. 100% Recommend ‼ read more

Ismael great service and delicious food. night staff helpful and attentive. thank you Brian and Natalie and Ismael wonderful awr ice.

We stopped by last Thursday, hoping our friendly pup would be welcomed--we got the red carpet treatment! On our way home today, when the restaurant was full, we still got the smiles and the genuine hospitality. These ladies were tired, having worked for hours, and yet their kindness and eagerness to make us at home was outstanding. The taco salad was delicious--fresh, tasty and so generous. The blackberry cobbler was perfect--not too sweet and offered with or without ice cream and whipped cream. Our pup was offered water and our booth was perfect for all 3 of us. After driving all day, we could not have asked for a better experience. Happy birthday to Erika, who was working and smiling on her birthday. Thank you. read more

My food was exactly what it needed to be, my server was kind and always kept our water filled. No complaints there. However, the reason i'm leaving a 1 star review is that the lady who rang us out was SO RUDE. I was baffled. Erika, rolled her eyes at us, scoffed at us, and gave me the worst customer service i've ever had. Honestly, so frustrating. We went up to pay our bill, were nothing but normal and nice to her and she met us with the most attitude i've ever had. She was not only rude to me but everyone else in my party as well. As someone who works in customer service (and everyone who I was with does too) I would have gotten fired for talking to and treating a customer like that. It's unfortunate because I grew up driving the grapevine and getting black bear with my family but I will probably stop somewhere else now. I was honestly disgusted with how we were treated. Mind you, for no reason and entirely unprompted. read more

Stopped here for a break from driving on our road trip up north. Super clean vibe, lots of tables, greeted right away by Ashley. She was our server and was wonderful. We ordered the Turkey Club and the Build Your Own Bear's Choice Breakfast with scrambled eggs and biscuits and gravy as the choice. The Turkey Club was delicious, it came with the perfect amount of fries. The biscuits and gravy portion was HUGE with the Build Your Own Bear's Choice Breakfast. The scrambled eggs that came with that weren't that great, but the bacon was delicious! The bathrooms were clean and there was lots of parking. There is a gas station right near by (super high gas prices btw). There was an outlet at our table which was super clutch so we could charge our phones before getting back on the road. Great spot to stop for food, will definitely add this to my list of spots to stop on future road trips. read more

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Great place to stop by and have a meal if you are heading towards LA or heading up north. Service was very good. The food didn't take long to come out. AC is blasting so you can cool off before you get back on the road. Big screen TV to catch a game while you dine too. Turkey club is a great choice. I just thought they were a little skimpy with the onion rings. All in all a good experience at this location. read more

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On our way back from Six Flags we made a stop. This location had a small shop at the front and was spacious. It was clean and the servers were nice and attentive. 3 to our table, we ordered the Cesar Sanwhich and fries, the Bacon Burger and the build your own breakfast with biscuits and gravy as the main. All the portions were huge and we each took half our meals home. The only complaint I had is that the biscuits were not fresh or fluffy- mine were hard in the edges and crumbly on the inside so I ended up only eating one biscuit. Luckily I was able to share some fries with the others to fulfill my lunch. Overall a good place to stop for some good ol' American food. read more

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It was pleasing that this restaurant has two, clean, expansive dining areas and personnel were very friendly. As one enters, their specialty pies and desserts greet customers as well as a small area selling souvenirs and Black Bear products. One of us ordered the Ham Steak breakfast and the other had the Meatloaf dinner. The breakfast consisted of two huge pancakes, two large eggs with a thick slab of ham steak. The pancakes were a bit chewy and could have been fluffier. My "over easy" eggs were cooked too long and the yolks didn't stay runny after frying on both sides. The smoky, clove-infused hamsteak was quite good. The Meatloaf dinner however was a disappointment. Look at my photo. The breading was falling off the onion rings, which arrived "just warm", not fresh from the fryer. The meatloaf was a small portion covered in brown gravy that didn't look so fresh. The coleslaw was the highlight of this order - it was creamy and full of crunchy flavor. All in all, we like the homey vibe with their clean looking atmosphere and the friendly & helpful employees, but the food was a miss. read more

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Food: 3.5/5 Service: 5/5 Atmosphere: 5/5 But they had dirty silverware! I only felt it on the back of the fork after I had eaten half my food, and afterwards I felt a bit too grossed out to continue eating. Picture attached The decor is always cute in here and they have some merch at the front like pajamas or other things that seem to be decent quality, I think the pajamas were 100% cotton I ordered the little pot roast with the sides the soup of the day (creamy potatoes) and fruit while my partner got the pot roast melt with mashed potatoes. The fruit was relatively ripe and fresh, mashed potatoes were done well and flavorful, and the soup was hot and paired nicely with the crackers. It was a bit too buttery/oily for me but still nice. The carrots and lettuce in the pot roast were cooked well enough although carrots could be cooked a little more. The beef was cooked well, the sauce was a bit salty but overall enjoyable. Service was also fast and attentive and got our water and huckleberry lemonade to us pretty quickly. The lemonade is good but we prefer it a little watered down so we just added some water to it! I would rate 4/5 otherwise but dirty silverware is a big one for me, not sure if I'm really expected to inspect all areas of my silverware before using it every time we eat out? read more

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A great way to ruin an evening is to tell a customer that you're out of veggie patties... 15 minutes after your party has ordered, and 10 minutes after waiting to be seated. Edit: I wanted to come back to this review to add that the server did her absolute best to apologize and make up for the issue. She was incredibly sweet, gave us free desserts, and clearly felt so bad about what happened. read more

Time for lunch! A bit busy on a Sunday afternoon. Service was good. Food was tasty. Restaurant was clean. Cute decor, with all the bear stuff throughout. I had a burger and fries, both were good. read more

Ok I usually don't leave reviews for places but that was probably the worst service I have ever had at a restaurant. I will say as soon as we walked in the host was very nice and lead us to our table but our server Tay was horrible. She never introduced herself so I had to look at her name tag. She immediately just asked us what drinks we wanted and left. She brought us our drinks and asked us what we want to order for food then proceeded to disappear for over 30 minutes. I honestly have no idea where she was during this time. We looked around the restaurant for her but she was no where to be found. We waited a pretty long time for our food and all of the other tables around us got their food before us even though we were sat 10 minutes before they were. When our food did come up it sat there for a while and we had to ask another server to bring us our food since no one was. I am going to say if you are going to make it so the customers can see the food being placed on the bar for servers to pick up then no matter who's order it is the servers need to be running it because while waiting for our food I constantly watched food just sit their for 5-10 minutes while multiple servers went up to the bar, looked at it, and do nothing. They seemed to only be concerned if an order belonged to their table. It wasn't until we asked about our food sitting that they finally brought it over. Our server finally showed back up but only when we were done with our food. She never smiled once, had an attitude, and just looked like she didn't want to be there. I don't know if she was just having a bad day or if this is how she acts all the time but if she's like this all the time then she either needs to get out of the service industry or be re-trained. Also a lot of other tables in our section had to ask other servers for things because our server wasn't around. The server who brought us our food was very nice and apologetic so I wish I would have gotten her name. Spent over $65 and will not be coming back to this location. read more

I have wanted to try a Black Bear Diner for quite some time. Let me say this review is a mix of me probably ordering the wrong items, I am sure if I ordered comfort food, it would have been better. Starting with the service, decor and parking. There is a large lot with plenty of spaces, near the outlets and hotel, so that's a plus. Decor inside is all things bear, very kitschy and homey feel, I liked it. My service was very nice and made sure I had what I needed, speed of my food coming out was OK, seemed a little long, but not too bad. Now to the food, as I said, I am sure if I got a bacon cheese burger and fries, it would have been amazing, but I wanted something smaller and tried to make a little better choice so I went with the little less diner with the Santa Maria 6 oz. Tri-tip, came with two sides and I got a side salad with blue cheese. The good here is they give very large portions, even ordering the smaller dinner. My salad came out first with a homemade cornbread muffin, I would say the salad with their blue cheese and the cornbread were my favorite parts. Would have like another piece of the cornbread, very tasty. The tri-tip was decent, maybe a bit over done and I ordered medium rare, seasoning was nice though. Added some of the habanero sauce and made it a bit better. My sides, I tried to choose better than fries or beans with bacon, Cole slaw, etc. and ended up getting corn on the cob and a baked potato (minus the cheese and bacon, mistake). The corn on the cob seemed like it had been sitting in the water way too long, came with melted butter, but even that could not make it very good. The baked potato came with butter and sour cream (no chives or green onions BTW, that's a first and would have improved it) but same with the corn, seemed like it had been strong heated for way to long, dry and just not good, even smothering it with butter and sour cream. Probably would have been OK with bacon and cheese, that always makes things better, but it still would be not very good. All in all, decor inside is unique, homey vibe, service was good, food was a let down though. With that said, I would give them another shot and this time order some true roadside diner fare and I would imagine a much better experience food wise. Enjoy! read more

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the food was really good and the service was even better! Natalie was our server and she did a great job. she was very sweet and patient, and she answered any questions we had. we had a great experience and we will definitely be back! read more

On the road again and stopped for lunch. Quick to get a table at a booth. Again very good service. Chicken melt sandwich for me & a Cobb salad for my hubby satisfied our appetites. read more

Black Bear Diner Arvin - Crispy Chicken Cobb Salad with Thousand Island dressing - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Arvin, California

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I felt God in this Black Bear Diner! Girls trip from hell? In this diner it turned into Heaven. After a girls weekend our car broke down and we were stuck in Tejon pass for 7 hours. We walked into Black Bear looking for AC and some food. What we got was a top quality experience. Ishmael (hope I spilled it correctly) was the kindest soul. When our tow truck arrived and we needed our food fast him and the manager comped our food and threw in an extra pie! How delicious! After a long day that Black Bear Diner was all I need to shed a tear of relief. Rest assured our car is towed and our bellies are full. Thanks Black Bear Diner! read more

Server was great! Kitchen didn't read the order and sent out an item with Jalapenos. Server took it back before it even hit the table. Cashier/ Hostess was very snarky, sarcastic, rude, and dismissive. Before each response, she did a slight heh-heh giggle and kept answering me as sweetheart. I informed of a spilt beverage. She said it was okay. I said I didn't even get to enjoy it. She asked if I informed my server. I stayed she was at lunch. Never once did the Cashier offer to get me a fresh iced tea to replace it. Sorry, server, I didn't leave you a tip. read more

Let me tell you how amazing our service was and how delicious our food was. Food was very tasty and the biscuits were (big and fluffy) perfect! We also had a super sweet and kind and very tentative waitress by the name of Ashley. Ashley your service and personality on par. Never change. Two thumbs up from guys. Try it out on the way to Bakersfield coming down the grapevine. In regard to the ambiance well it is a dinner and it's semi quiet but nice. read more

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Natalie and Ishmael . Great people and great service. Thank you for doing what you do and taking care of your customers the way you did on our visit. read more

This place is horrible. The food is always over or under cooked. The service is bad and management doesn't seem to care. I think new management is in order to get things running smoothly. read more

Black Bear Diner Arvin - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Arvin, California

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Arrived at 6 pm on a Saturday evening. We are headed home to Arizona and are staying the night in the area. We were greeted within 5 minutes and seated. Server came within 5 minutes also. The place seems clean, diner clean anyway. I ordered chili with corn bread, chicken and waffles for my son and chocolate chip pancakes for my daughter. All was well at the Black bear diner. Good job guys! read more

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If you've never had the steak and eggs at Black Bear Diner, you're sleeping on one of the real heavy hitters of breakfast. This plate comes out looking like it means business -- thick-cut steak, seasoned right, grilled with that little diner-char that only places like this know how to do. The eggs? However you want them. Scrambled, over-easy, over-medium -- they always land soft, hot, and exactly on point. Put that together with their potatoes and toast, and you've got a breakfast that feels like it was built, not served. This isn't some tiny café plate. This is the kind of breakfast that keeps you full till dinner. Black Bear Diner really knows how to throw down a proper steak-and-egg setup. Highly recommend it -- hearty, consistent, and worth every bite. Jordan read more

The food and service were excellent and we really enjoyed everything. We were on our way to Los Angeles and decided to stop for dinner before going up the Grapevine. We were very happy with our decision. Large portions and great selections to choose from. We're familiar with other Black Bear diners and we're never disappointed. read more

I was on my way to Atascadero, but stopped here for breakfast. I hadn't planned on doing a review, because, it's bacon and eggs. How hard is that? However, my server asked if I wanted strawberries on my waffle and that sounded so good, so I said yes. The strawberries were so delicious! Cold, sweet, juicy, ALL the things! Caveat, I didn't realize they cost extra and if she'd told me that, I might have declined, but I'm glad I got them. Shout out to Alex, my server. The place was hella' busy and she was still professional, attentive and efficient. She's definitely a keeper. 10/10, would return. read more

Black Bear Diner Arvin - Scrambled eggs, bacon and waffle with strawberries. - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Arvin, California

Food, service, and ambience are excellent. This Black Bear looks like it's brand new and it's 12 years old! Can't say enough about this Black Bear. Come winter I'll hibernate here! read more

This restaurant is a must stop at when we go to El Tejon Outlets. Today's visit was not as good as the others. It was busy when we got there, MAYBE that's why we waited about an hour for our food and MAYBE that's why our food did not taste fresh and was a bit cold. But we are not ones to complain, well we do but just to eachother. I got my youngest the happy cub cake. Well just look at the picture, I was a bit bummed. My oldest liked her turkey club and I liked my chicken ceasar melt and my husband liked his taco salad. We all just agreed, the food tasted as if it stayed sitting for awhile. Our waitress was not rude at all but she did neglect us a little bit, unsure if it was intentional or not. But I've been to restaurants where they seem short staffed and the food was great. My oldest daughter and husband said they noticed people who got there after us and they were fed before us. I didn't notice that but my back was towards everyone. Of course we will still come here after a El Tejon trip but hopefully the food is fresher. read more

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Great service with a smile and welcoming attuide. Food was awsom. And the place very clean read more

Black Bear Diner Arvin - The scram bowl - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Arvin, California

We recently moved to this area, and we have eaten here several times now... their chili is the best I've ever had!!! We also tried their prime rib special last night, and it was delicious! The baked potato and the green beans were also tasty. You definitely cannot go wrong with their breakfast items. The chicken sausage, ham steak, and hash browns are my favorite. Moreover, the staff at this location are incredibly nice. It's partially why we keep coming back... thanks everyone, for all you do! read more

This place was SHORT STAFFED for a lunch rush. I felt terrible for them. The first thing I noticed was that the bathroom was filthy and the water wasn't running to the toilet. I informed my waitress about the issue but it had not been solved when I went back to the bathroom about 20 minutes later. When I came out, someone was already starting to clear my table. They were nice and replaced the coffee that they had taken away, but overall I got the message from the staff 'We are barely keeping it together and we don't have time for niceties.' The food was still great. I had pancakes and French toast. read more

Black Bear Diner Arvin - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Arvin, California

We usually love Black Bear Dinner but this location went wrong.. We are stopped here for quick dinner on Wednesday on the way home back to Bay Area. Our waitress seems fine at first, but she didn't bring us spoons, dressing for salad, no coffee refills, and wrong order. The waitress are looks nice to any local people. But not for tourists. Some local customer were very racists. There are two middle 40 aggressive Karen type of women were at the restroom and talked and laughed about us. They just followed me in to restroom. (Is she still in high school..？ read more

Service was quick, cooks were on it, employees were nice. One exception was a waitress's that was serving pulled from the window and was moving people food around their plate with her bare hands, no gloves, no washing hands just her open hand and fingers. After she was touching the counters, register, other plates etc. besides this one specific waitress everything else seemed fine. I did inform the cashier and she was going to let the manager know. read more

Stopped by for some great food and that's what we got! There was 8 of us and we were heading home from spending 2 days in Valencia for a funeral. We all knew we wanted to find a Black Bear diner. Place was so clean. We were seated immediately and drinks arrived fast. Our server was Tausha. She was wonderful! We teased and laughed with her. If you stop there ask her about the guy that wanted the channel changed even though he was sitting in a different area. Our meals were all perfect! Not one mistake . Always had coffee cups filled and drinks. Thank you Tausha for great service today, and Black Bear for delicious food! Oh, and the servings are huge! Not sure when we'll be down that way, but if we do, we will stop again. read more

Stopped off at Black Bear Diner in Arvin on our was to Sacramento for breakfast. The food was served warm, flavorful, but what made it great was the service. Our server was Trish, exceptional serve with a smile I'll remember for a long time. read more

Stopped by this black bear on our drive to San Diego and I'm so glad we did! Black bear was our go to diner in our first home town living together. So this place already holds a special place in our hearts! The decor is classic. Love the merchandise being sold in the front. Our servers were very sweet and our food came out quick! I got the stuffed berry French toast, which was more like a stuffed bear claw to me. It was yummy, but I probably wouldn't get it again. The bread was too thick. My husband got a country fried steak -- always a good choice. My daughter loved her berry pancake. read more

Black Bear Diner Arvin - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Arvin, California

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Today I got the Volcano which came with everything you need for breakfast. The bacon portion was great. The service was really nice, but they were heavily understaffed for breakfast. The seating is comfortable with nice design. We had to wait at least 40 minutes until the food came. There was only one waiter for the whole side of the room which was full of people so be prepared for a long wait. Also, the fries are okay. They're crispy but little dry. McDonald fries are better imo. read more

Black Bear Diner Arvin - Menu - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Arvin, California

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I stopped here on Friday to grab a quick meal while traveling to San Jose. The place smelled strongly of mold--not sure if it's due to poor ventilation or something wrong with the carpet--but it was definitely unpleasant. It took some time to get used to it. The server was polite and seated me quickly since it wasn't very busy. I ordered an omelet, assuming it would be one of the quickest and simplest items to prepare. Instead, it took 40 minutes to arrive. Honestly, if I were at home, I could go to the grocery store, buy the ingredients, prep, cook the omelet, and clean up in that same amount of time. It was surprising--and frustrating--that it took so long, especially after I had to follow up to get my food. The omelet itself was very basic. They chopped and mixed avocado directly into it as a topping, which was unusual since most places serve it on the side. It was also extremely bland--no salt or pepper at all. The vegetables inside were lightly seasoned and had an okay texture, but nothing memorable. The hash browns were the worst I've ever had: slightly raw, oily, and soft. That's especially disappointing considering I cook frozen hash browns at home and they've never turned out this bad. The toast was fine and adequately buttered. I genuinely feel bad for the locals who eat here and, by doing so, encourage the business to keep serving subpar food to new customers. I won't be dining at any Black Bear Diner again--I'd rather get Panda Express or go to the Denny's across the street. read more

Driving down from up North we decided to stop here. Our waitress ( didn't get her name was sweet). Everything was fine BUT when we went to pay I asked for separate checks and Lulu was so rude. She split the bill. Anyways Lulu couldn't figure out the register. Ms. Irene came to the rescue. She was able to do separate checks. Lulu I'm sorry if you're having a bad day but your customers do need your attitude. read more

Stopped here for a solid breakfast with my son on our way up to a Metallica concert in NorCal. I've been to this location before during a business trip a few years back, and it was nice to return. We both ordered the Italian Sausage breakfast--mine with a side salad, his with hash browns. The sausage was just as good as I remembered: hot, flavorful, and satisfying. Eggs over easy were cooked perfectly, and my son said the biscuit reminded him of the ones they serve at school--which, surprisingly, is a compliment coming from him. I usually get the coffee here. Something about their coffee just pairs so well with the food. But I had to skip it this time since I was driving, and coffee tends to hit me quick when I'm on the road. This location sits right off the freeway and caters mostly to travelers, so it's not as loud or crowded as some of the other Black Bear Diners I've been to--and that's a big plus. My son's a fan of their Original Pepper Sauce "Baby Burn," while I go for the Habanero "PaPa Burn." Another great experience at Black Bear. Consistent food, good service, and a nice quiet stop before a big day. read more

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It's next to the outlet mall and right off the 5 freeway, parking lot is big and tons of spots to park. A cute little shop as you enter, hostess got our name and we waited maybe 5min to be seated. The menu was a newspaper and it was very niche. Food didn't take to long to come, but some confusion when handing plates, we basically got plates of things we didn't order. Plus somethings we did order never arrived. It didn't make or break our experience, still left a nice tip. It's has a friendly atmosphere and family oriented. read more

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