While visiting Oregon for the Fairwell Festival, we happen to stumble upon this gem of a restaurant! The first morning we went we weren't quite sure what to make of it as we waited a little bit before getting seated. However, once we were seated, things went so smoothly and quickly. We quickly learned that the volcano was a ton of food! Our service was great Both of the days we went, and our meals came out quickly. They were hot, delicious, and filling. Highly recommend! read more

This is a solid location though staffing levels and time of year will vary - folks, this is a seasonally based location meaning that summer time just basically expect the establishment to have some issues as mostly likely they've just trained up a third of their staff in just the last week. Their food is acceptable standards for a chain - they use United Salad as their food service provider which is a family owned oregon company - their produce is mid level grade and meats are SP provisions - for the price point you're getting the convenience of large tables, close to hotels and the freeway, online ordering etc - it's a dennys style chain - take it at face value and you won't be too terrible disappointed read more

We were hoping to get biscuits and gravy. What we got was a hard "biscuit" covered in goo. The goo is tasteless and makes me think this must be what glue tastes like. Do NOT recommend. read more

Went twice for breakfast which was great with excellent service. We decided to try dinner. My wife had Chicken Caesar Melt. It had a strange taste and not good. I had the Homemade Crispy Onion Topped Meatloaf. I did not get a cornbread muffin. The meatloaf was 1 1/2 slices of less than 1/4 " thick salty gravy overpowering the meatloaf. I was shocked at such a thin small portion. The onion rings were the only good thing between the two meals. There weren't many customers and it took too long for our meals (ready to walk out) and slow service. read more

Food was amazing and big portions. My server Tiffney gave outstanding service with a smile read more

We actually ate here twice. The first time, husband had chicken fried steak and eggs breakfast and I had the tri-tip dip. He was pleased with his meal. Mine was very good also. I took the option of adding carmelized onions, peppers and cheese. It was more than I could eat. I ended up taking half of it with me when we left. A day later we warmed it in the microwave. It was still very good. The 2nd time we both had the special. It wasn't on the menu. We found it on a card near the salt and pepper shakers. There were several options. We chose the stroganoff. It was made with hamburger but was very good. Neither of us could eat all of our meal. Our waitress was having to deal with an obnoxious customer at the next table. Twice he had to change his order as they had run out of what he ordered. The waitress was a lot more tactful than the customer. read more

Our waitress Taylor was outstanding!! We have had her several times and I have never been disappointed in her service! MIKKI

Would not come back. We came in with a party of 10 on a Wednesday. The place was dead. As we walked in the lady in the hostess area got mad and said she was about to leave and there was only one other person on staff so she didn't want us to stay. Ummmmm what? Seriously? How is this place in business. Anyway, the rest of my party wanted to stay and told her we would just be patient with the one server. My family was so nice despite the rude lady. So then we were seated and the rude lady once again let us know it would not be great service and that the one lady on staff would get to us when she could. I really wanted to leave but yet again we stayed. The waitress on staff came by and greeted us kindly. She said she was new and had been here only 3 weeks. She was friendly. We all had been sitting for so long so we were ready to order everything right away. When she came back with the food she set everyone's food down expect my husbands. He had ordered a taco salad . She then told him they were out of beef and asked if chicken was fine. He doesn't like chicken. So it was a no. How in the world did she wait until giving everyone else their food? So now my husband had to reorder something else. She tossed the menu at him. So he quickly found something while she was visibly annoyed. Then she just forgot about his meal completely. She also forgot a bunch of sides and the drinks were wrong. I understand being new so some of this I can let slide, but a bad attitude and throwing a menu? No thanks. Good luck with that. read more

Our food was delicious there's something for everyone on the menu. We had a rockstar server named Gretchen. It was the best service we have had in a long time!! Would definitely go back. read more

As per the owner's statement on Yelp...I disagree their safety is a priority when it comes to Covid. First time I went in I had the longest hair in my food, so I haven't been back in over 4 years+ Today was Veterans Day, and the Owner apparently gave strict rules to not allow anyone take out for the Veterans' Meal. Although the gesture is thoughtful giving Vets a free meal, it's sad to know some are homeless, but if they walked in, would they be allowed a free meal? I honestly don't understand still during Covid why they would force us to stay in their crowded restaurant when we personally would feel safer to not butt up next to others not in our circle. We stayed, and were accommodated to a different part of the restaurant, but given lots of attitude. And if you're attitude is that we can just stay home, you're right. We will take our business elsewhere that allows us to remain Covid free as we've been thus far, and still support our "local" businesses. This isn't a political thing and people shouldn't be shamed in general. Especially as a Veteran who volunteers to do something most people don't- I don't usually pull the Veteran card, I just like to treat everyone with respect and dignity. So I left feeling unwelcomed. Not to mention I asked for a med, rare and got mostly raw. I took my food home in my own container so I could cook it a little better. read more

Black Bear Diner Bend - I'm not sure but this doesn't even looked cooked enough to serve... - Diners Near Me - Bend, Oregon

This is a sad restaurant. I've been to several and all have been wonderful. We have given this one 2 tries now and will never return. The only good part of our dinners were the potatoes. Three of us ordered Tri tip steak. So tuff. It's a marinated steak, so thought it would be good. It was cut in 3/8" to 1/2" slices and then grilled. Anyway we thought we would have desert. Bread pudding so old it was solid. Berry cobbler had nothing but blackberry glue/goo. Apple cobbler was the same. They took off all of our desserts as they should not have even served them. Our server was so very kind and helpful. Th menus that were set on the table were in poor shape. Stains and tears. read more

Will not return. From out of town expecting no some delicious breakfast. Hopes were crushed Took 15 min after us sitting down to offer water. Even tho it wasn't busy. People around us got their food first even tho we order 25 min before. Food came to us cold. Potatoes weren't even cooked all the way thru. Super crunch potatoes. Servers running around doing a whole lot of nothing read more

I specifically went here for breakfast because I previously had the best corned beef hash I had ever had at another Black Bear Diner. This time it was the worst I ever had, consisting of some brown powdery stuff that barely resembled any kind of meat piled on top of fried potatoes. There was not even an attempt to combine corned beef and potatoes before dumping on the plate. Very disappointing!! Service was okay considering a very busy restaurant and only two servers. read more

Great service from the waitress that served me onion rings that were very oily inside to go with the California burger I ordered. Literally before biting all the way through my burger, I had to spit it out in my napkin. It tasted like bad fish. Yes it was fish fry night at Black Bear Diner. Had the onion rings tasted like fried fish....it may have been less of a shock than biting into my burger and tasting fish. The other person with me had soggy fries. The waitress looked confused when I told her I'm not eating that burger it taste fishy, she quickly took it away, got plate to leave my onion rings on and brought me a menu as she said I could get something else. I ordered a BLT as it was already way past dinner time and I figured a BLT is easy to make and hard to mess up. I got warm bread with burnt bacon. The waitress removed all my items from the bill. I could not bring self to tro to eat the blt my hungry tummy felt I need to bring to the motel as I needed to eat something. On the way back to room I stopped at a grocery store and got a yogurt. I have brushed my teeth twice and can still taste fishy burger. The person with me had never been to Black Bear diner before. I hyped up the diner idea by Raving about they are always good food and a homey ambience. This is my 1st bad experience at a black bear diner...ever! Super disappointed by the food. The Ambiance was good aside from a little to low of lighting to easily read the menu. The Waitress did an amazing job, was polite, courteous and helpful. I wish I got her name to tell her managers she handled it great and did not make me feel bad about complaint about the fishy burger or char burnt bacon. read more

Black Bear Diner Bend - Fishy California burger replaced with warm bread bacon charred BLT - Diners Near Me - Bend, Oregon

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Oh my goodness, what a complete waste of my money! And for free, I got to leave with a stomach ache. From start to finish, it was an awful experience. I ordered the tri tip steak and fried shrimp. I picked two sides, a baked potato and garlic toast. I also ordered a side salad for an additional price. Just five minutes later the waitress came towards my table with the entree. I said it couldn't be mine, I haven't had my salad yet. Oh she tells me, the salad comes on the side. Yes I say, but it's supposed to be first. She went to check on the ticket and at that point I let her know to cancel my salad. When she came to the table I reminded her that I had ordered the steak and shrimp. Five minutes later 3 fried shrimp are delivered with what looked like much of the oil they were cooked in. And the steak was actually 4 thinly sliced pieces of the worst tri tip I have ever had. I could only get through 1 1/2 the steak before I stopped. The best part of the meal was the garlic bread. The waitress never checked back with me during my meal. She was unprofessional and didn't care if I was happy or not. The restaurant was absolutely adorable inside and out. Very cute country vibe. read more

Black Bear Diner Bend - Tri tip steak - Diners Near Me - Bend, Oregon

This place is horrible! Don't waste your time or money. We finally have given up trying this place. The servers are more interested in gabbing than paying attention to seating you, offering you no water, no flatware, not bussing tables, not even bringing us menus. The last time we were here, the women's room wasn't working, we had to ask for silverware, and they couldn't even keep up with the few customers they had. We waited about 45 minutes for our breakfast. They actually told customers they couldn't seat them for at least an hour, and they weren't busy. The prospective customers weren't happy. One guy wanted to place an order and pick it up in a hour, and they refused to take it. read more

Awesome place to eat. My waitress Gretchen was amazing and made sure my family and I had an excellent dinning experience. She was so sweet and patient. Definitely plan on going back just because of her. read more

The waiter we had was very attentive and pleasant. We love all Black Bear Diners and seek them out when we road trip. The food portions are always very generous. We enjoyed tri tip French dip - delicious ! And a taco salad to beat all taco salads ! It was a huge gigantic taco ! Enjoyed some carrot cake and coffee and we were happy travelers back on the road. read more

Black Bear Diner Bend - Taco salad - Diners Near Me - Bend, Oregon

Pancakes were da bomb so good great food I couldn't stop eating those sweet cream pancakes and that butter so good read more

Black Bear Diner Bend - Bears Bear Choice* (400-800 cals.) - Diners Near Me - Bend, Oregon

Such a perfect breakfast spot! Our server, Tiffani, made sure we had an amazing experience. Will for sure be back!

so glad i paid almost $20 for a small pond of lukewarm, cinnamon, egg water, soaked french toast, with a side of 1/3 burnt bacon it just seems like a real lack of common sense on the staffs part, no wonder the redmond location is permanently closed i definitely wont be giving bend another shot LOL now i'm hangry read more

Black Bear Diner Bend - Cinnamon Roll French Toast* (1650 cals.) 1 Egg* & 2 Slices of Thick-Cut Smoked Bacon (170-240 cals.) - Diners Near Me - Bend, Oregon

very nice waitress, really yummy pancakes, nice cozy cabin vibes, wait time was long but everything else was great. 9/10. will definitely go back. read more

Caveat Emptor!!! I didn't even want to leave a star but, I had too in order to write a review. The following is a true and accurate statement, as to the facts, as they occurred: My friend and I ate at the Black Bear Diner in Bend, Oregon, in the afternoon on Wednesday, May 03, 2023. We ordered two Bob's Big Bear Burgers with French Fries, and one was a deluxe with cheese, bacon and two sweet teas. Both hamburgers had a strange smell like maybe it was rotten ground beef meat? The hamburger buns were soft and doughy. The French fries were wilted and soggy. The two sweet teas tasted like a used cigarette ash tray smells when wet. We asked the waitress what kind of sweet tea it was, she said she would find out and never did. The charge for the sweet tea was later removed from the bill. There was only one waitress/hostess in the entire restaurant. At that time, we took note the dining/counter area was filthy/unsanitary. The men's bathroom had no soap in the soap dispenser to wash my hands. The food cost for the two meals that were served: $46.05 minus the cost of two sweet teas. We ate a few bites of the burgers and fries and couldn't finish the meal. We got a couple of togo containers for the remainder. We had a long drive back home from the restaurant and began to feel sick on the way. By the time we arrived back home, I became violently ill from the tainted food that I/We were served. I experienced numerous violent expulsions from both ends and felt as though I was going to heave my entire digestive track from the severity of the vomiting. It has taken me more than several days to regain my composure enough to write this review of the horrific dining experience. I am holding the Black Bear Diner totally responsible for this act of food poisoning because; being experienced food restauranteurs, Black Bear Diner in Bend; Knew or Should Have known they were serving spoiled/rotten/tainted food to their clients! We have both eaten before at the Black Bear in Mt Shasta, CA in 1997 and had experienced great service and fresh food. We have both eaten before at this Black Bear Diner in Bend, Oregon in 2003 and had a good experience. Since the Covid-19 pandemic has ended we've noticed several restaurants in Bend the service and food preparations have gone downhill but, the Black Bear Diner in Bend, Oregon is the worst. We will never step foot in this establishment in Bend, Oregon, again! read more

Always can find something to eat here and they have a large variety. Better than Dennys or others like it.

Delicious Breakfast and Friendly Staff, the place was busy and everything was Excellent! Our server Tiffani was the BEST!

I ordered coconut cream pie and they gave me chocolate cream pie. I was like.... okay, that is fine, I get it. It isn't pie. It is literally a pie tin filled with pudding and chewy whipped cream..... No crust or anything. Disgustingggggg. I do not usually write yelp reviews because I think that is a Karen move but this was bad enough to talk about. read more

Black Bear Diner Bend - Diners Near Me - Bend, Oregon

I'm in town on business and this place just happens to be in the parking lot, so, I thought I'd give it a try. I've been twice thinking this week and it was terrible both times. The food sucks and so does the staff. Everyone is miserable. 10/10 DO NOT recommend. read more

Great food and service. Also one of the few places that still serve steak and eggs for breakfast!

Great Place! My son and I got our breakfast to go this Saturday morning from this awesome restaurant. We could not eat inside because of this terrible virus. We both wished we could have since the inside looked so cozy, warm, comfortable and very friendly. My so ordered the chicken strips, yes that's what he ordered for breakfast. Sounds odd, but that's what he wanted. Either way he seemed to inhale the tender tasty chicken strips and was 1/2 way done before I even opened my to go container. I wanted a breakfast burrito, but it was not listed on their shortened menu. The receptionist/waitress said "we can work something out for you" and she did much to my surprise. I got a breakfast burrito loaded with fresh cooked scrambled eggs, bacon and home style potatoes. It was delicious and extremely hot and fresh! We only wished we could have eaten inside since the place looked wonderful. We hope to come back soon do we can! read more

Breakfast is strictly quantity over quality all the way. Large portions of MEH food. A LOT of sauce/gravy that doesn't taste like much and drowns out whatever is under it. The staff were all super friendly and attentive. read more

My brother and I had dined in on 2/12/2021 evening the place was not very busy we were also informed that none of the All-You-Can-Eat specials were available that night. The frequency between our server coming to our table was very poor for refills or new condiments. Then we had expressed that the portion size of the fish seemed small tonight for the Fish and Chips, after discussing this with our we asked if could possibly get another fish to compensate. The server agrees to bring us 1 more fish filet each, but she had not discussed the additional cost; we had assumed that it would have been a courtesy. Then bill came and that is when we got the surprise $4.99 for just two pieces of fish that was no larger than the ones we had before. When mentioning to the server she had argued about the additional cost, so instead of making a scene we had just paid and left. Both my brother and I had been eating at the Black Bear Diner since we were children, our family would always eat first thing after the drive to Bend from Albany so we could see our grandparents. During the year of 2009 my brother and I had relocated to Bend and have lived here since, we had always looked forward to eating at the Black Bear Diner. When the Covid-19 state-wide lockdowns came in effect, we had thought all dine-in restaurants would remain locked down. My brother had heard that the Black Bear Diner was allowing dine-in, that was we had had both agreed to go for a much needed family tradition and eat at there once more. Suffice to say after last nights experience with our server and food, it seems the restaurant is heading in a direction that our family will no longer tolerate. Aaron read more

Black Bear Diner Bend - Receipt from 02/12/2021 - Diners Near Me - Bend, Oregon

When placing our order with the waiter I believe his name was Phil he acted frustrated when we were choosing our sides like we were taking up way to much of his time making our decision. I ask if cornbread came with the meal he said no. In my experience with Black Bear diners cornbread was always served with first course. Phil said he would bring some he did not bring it. I would have paid for it! We were not offered drink refills, not asked how our food was, if we wanted desert we were planning to take cobbler to go and if we needed a container to take our leftovers back to our hotel we left them on the plate. The whole experience was the complete opposit of all experiences we have had at the many Black Bear Diners we have been to. Looking at your recent reviews it looks like our experience at this location is not very different from many other customers. read more

Delicious and a working man's worthy breakfast. Food was plentiful and yummy. Pancakes are so delish.

After a long day of business travel that involved walking, bending and driving an extended distance in an uncomfortable rental vehicle, I was hungry and my back was bothering me. As I was traveling and dining alone, they tried to seat me at the counter, but I requested a table or booth and would be told it would be a short wait. A few minutes later the manager proceeds to seat me at a counter after I had specifically asked not to be seated there as it would further aggravate my back. Not sure why they wouldn't listen to me but I left before they could mess up anything more complicated. BTW, this review only applies to the Bend location. I have visited this chain in several other parts of the Northwest and they have been wonderful. read more

Two things I don't enjoy doing: leaving negative reviews and complaining about food. I know everyone, in any job, can have off days, so I always try to take this into consideration and I observe before I decide to leave poor reviews or complaints. We came in for breakfast because we typically like the Black Bear Diner chain. We were seated quickly. There weren't many other people in the restaurant. Our waitress asked us our drink preferences and asked if we wanted coffee. We both denied the coffee but ordered ice tea and a water. Some time passed and we received the ice tea and coffee... I didn't want to be charged for coffee that I didn't want so I reminded her that we just wanted ice tea and water. Her response was, "Well, I guess I'll drink the coffee", and she took it away. She came back after a bit to take our food order and I again asked if I could get a water when she had a minute. She placed our orders with the cook, casually checked in with another table, checked out a couple and then seated another couple. When she passed by again we again asked her for a glass of water and she told us she'd, "get to it in a minute" with a snippy attitude. I did finally get a water, JUST ONE, because it was never refilled. We then received our food and my husband received another ice tea before he was even half done with the one he had. lol Ice tea must be easier than water here. We ordered one of the breakfast combos with chicken fried steak, eggs & hash browns and the 2 biscuits with gravy & a side of red potatoes. The biscuits with gravy weren't very appetizing. I ate about 1/2 of one biscuit and that was more than enough. The gravy was bland and dried on the top, the biscuits were cold, and it just didn't taste very good at all. The red potatoes were over cooked and burnt so many of them were hard and not edible. My husband's chicken fried steak meal was better and cook nicely. His meal is the only reason I'm giving a second star to this review. They serve big portions, which is great as long as the food is good but mine was not. Our waitress seemed attentive and friendly to some guests but not others, including us. She only came back to our table to say she was "all caught up now if we needed anything else" and brought our check to let us know we could pay at the counter when we were done. I work in customer service as well so I'm generally VERY patient with people but we'd had enough of the poor service and food at this point and got up to leave. I almost never tell my husband not to leave a tip but I did here. He still left a couple of dollars but I believe tips are earned. A tip is given for quality service and products, not just because it's expected. We won't be back to this location. read more

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Nathan was killing it. Someone give this man a raise. The food was great as well! I will be returning if I'm ever back in town.

Our Valentines Day experience was disappointing. We have been eating at Black Bear Diners for years and have come to expect high quality food and service. We were happy to find an open parking space near the front door. We quickly realized that the reason for the easy parking was that the restaurant was nearly empty. An almost empty restaurant on Valentines Day? I suspect that the reason was the quality of the food. My wife was disappointed with her BLT Sandwich, especially the quality of the bacon. Her French Fries were barely warm and limp. They most definitely failed the Good-When-Cold Test. My Southern Scramble was good. The biscuits, sausage patties, and gravy were up to my expectations; however, there was something off about the eggs. The country potatoes were very under cooked and tasteless. I tried salt and pepper with minimal improvement. Ketchup made the country potatoes ok. I give a third star for the excellent service. Since we will be trying new restaurants all over Bend, it will be awhile before we consider giving Black Bear Diner in Bend a second chance. read more

I love this place! Food is always good and fresh! Love the staff. Don't listen to the complainers.

We were excited to visit. It has been a year. Sadly this place has greatly declined in service, cleanliness, and food quality. Service: Our server Jenny, needed to be asked and then reminded for everything we needed (milk for coffee, steak sauce, coffee refill.) She also never gave us her full attention she was always asking us questions while passing our table. It appears she is the acting manager too and unfortunately this was done terribly. She was busing tables and then without washing her hands, taking cups and dipping those in the ice well with her unwashed hands to fill fountain drinks. She was greeting the guests by yelling across the restaurant but leaving everything in her wake half done. It was strange because there was a host there that seemed to be rendered useless by Jenny. Her voice was all we could hear in the dining room as she yelled across to other employees things like we have to bus our own tables, need silverware?, etc. She was also all we could see whizzing around the dining room except with all that movement and sound the very thing she was supposed to oversee (her station) was left in desperate need. Not just us, but another gentleman ordered oatmeal and was left wondering where his toppings were only to find out they were out of the toppings once he had the oatmeal in front of him and asked Jenny. People needing silverware, etc. Things like this happened the entire time we were there. Ordered a steak and eggs, steak medium and hash browns well done. When the food came my steak was well done an my hash browns were light. It had to be redone. I had to ask for everything I needed. I had to wait and remind Jenny every step of the way. When the food came it was not very good. Hash browns were very oily and the steak was chewy. In the end even with our order mix up, we were charged full price and then still had to call in to the restaurant to try and clear up a misunderstanding on our check. I hope this gets figured out. At this point I will not be returning to Black Bear Diner. Too much of a hassle and a downer for what has now become mediocre food. read more

I had pot roast dinner. The beef was tender but too much gravy on the potatoes. They forgot my salad and the vegetable was broccoli which was super old. Florets were yellow on the tips and black moldy spots. When the waitress told the owner, he said the broccoli was fresh. won't be going there again. read more