We stopped by on the day before the eclipse for dinner, with a party of 2 vegetarians, and 1 vegetarian sympathizer. The server who helped our table managed to accommodate the needs of our party even though nothing on the special Eclipse menu was vegetarian-friendly and the fact that they were instructed not to serve anything that wasn't on the Eclipse menu! It must've been a "secret" menu. Wow!! Way to go team! The food was decent enough, but really great service. Major props to being prompt and chipper despite what must have been a record-breakingly long series of days. read more

My family and I use to really enjoy this diner alot. Now they raised the prices and took certain items off that use to come with the meal. such as cheese and mushrooms. It's one thing to raise the prices, it's another to charge even more to get the items back that use to come with the meal. read more

impressive for having lots of bears and supersized portions. Bears are really everywhere.. from wall paper, valance to kids' drink cup...

Happy to report that Black Bear is back to its usual standards--we'd had some pretty mediocre meals a year or so ago. We gave them another shot a couple months ago and have been in several times since and have been pleased. It's comfort food for sure. The bacon is awesome, the shakes are made with real ice cream and the portions are huge. The OJ is supertasty but not cheap. Good place to get yer chow on. read more

Good breakfast and cute shopping area. Would have loved to see more low carb options

The food is OK. I like the fact that they are service dog friendly. That being said however, I am deeply disturbed by the wood carving of the bear with the double barrel shotgun to its throat in a suicidal pose. And I have learned I'm not the only one that feels that way. My cousin said she took one look at it and thought "If the bear wants to commit suicide, the food must not be very good". I like the food. But I do not like what that bear represents. read more

A diner is right. The only reason i have taken away a star was because the music was a wee bit loud and they were vacuuming just a tad too close but he DID stop. The food. Well, the LOADED baked potato could've used fresh herbs and a little more cheese, two potatoes was nice but only a tablespoon of sourcream didnt cut it. However the bacon was great. There was a warmth between the waitstaff and a sense of everyone enjoying their job which was nice to see. My man's chicken fried steak pleased him and the salad was delish. I appreciated the extras on the canned green beans. Also, very clean restrooms. The one thing I wish people would get is, when you're working at a diner, you're busy and your body is moving. When you sit down to eat, you're relaxed and energy goes to digestion. Ever notice customers are always in sweatshirts and jackets? It would be nice to one day dine in a warm diner. :) read more

A strange diner that had hardly anything on the menu, yet the food was decent. Once we got seated, we received a one paper page for a menu. Worst for kids choices. Our kids ended up ordering breakfast for lunch. The only vegetarian dish was to omit meat from their salad, which turned out good. I had to get up to ask the server for kids crayon & paper. Well, it turns out there are more kids food option on the kids paper that we were never given, originally. Too bad we had already ordered our good. The server wasn't the happiest gal. Customer service wasn't her thing. We asked for root beer float for the kids, and the server said they didn't have root beer float...I asked, do you have root beer? She said, yes. I asked, do you have ice cream? She said, yes. Lovely. Good thing this place is far from home. read more

Found the review on Yelp. Went in for dinner and had quick friendly service. I ordered the Chicken Ceaser Salad. It was wonderful and huge, I couldn't eat it all! read more

This establishment is very clean and homey. The staff is friendly, the food is good quality, you will pay a premium for that. However it is definately worth it. I have only had the breakfasts here and I am a big fan. The rest of the lunch and dinner menu looks good as well. I'll be back. Thank You read more

One of the better BBD's. Huge portions for pretty huge price, but you get what you paid for here. We each had the Cheeseburger Salad and it was delishious. We could have easily split one salad between us. You won't regret stopping here. read more

Terrible service!!! Our server came up to our table and said "What do you guys want?". Very poor attitude in general. She never once checked in on us. We had to ask another server for refills on drinks, waited about 15 minutes for our check, which never came, so we got up & had to explain where we were sitting & what we had so we could pay... read more

We just had an amazing taco salad at Black bear diner, and had a excellent server, who is very kind, and come to found out he's the owner! What a way to serve your customers! Will never forget you Joe! You're worth the trip from Portland :-) read more

Mediocre food. Pancakes were dense and not fluffy. Hobo omelette was tasteless. Biscuits was bad as well. Burger was OK but nothing special. read more

The Black Bear Dinner is a great place to pull over and grab a large meal for reasonable price, with a great staff on hand to help you choose if you find yourself needing help! The restaurant has a rustic but clean feel! If you enjoy a great glass of orange juice, you must try there orange juice!!! I think that they use 9 or 12 oranges to make a the best glass of oj in Central Oregon! read more

Love the black bear diner. Been here 5 times. People are really friendly. The prices are a little high but for good food I am ok with it.

A friend said try this place. He was right it is a good place to eat. Big plates of food and very reasonable prices. Excellent fast service. I know why people drive miles to this place. read more

I had the acapulco scramble, it had egg whites, chicken, tomatoes, avocados and cheese in it. It was interesting, I should of gotten something more normal. Service was good, restaurant very clean, OJ very fresh and strawberries tasted as if they were just picked. If I am ever in Oregon again I will give them another try for sure. read more

Options galore of food! Plates are full of food to eat that if you leave hungry it's your fault! Family fun atmosphere and very homey feeling. Friendly service and we ordered and got our food quick! We enjoyed our dinner tonight as always when we visit the chain in other cities. read more

Great burgers! This place is uniquely decorated, food was great and the service as well. Everything was fresh and looked just like the photos. read more

Super long wait to get food at our table. There was a black hair cooked into my omelet. So I went without breakfast after waiting 45 minutes for my food. Disappointed! Going to Starbucks now! read more

Great food and friendly people. My girlfriend came out to visit and since I am a local on Madras I know that there is not much to for here for food but I knew that black bear dinner was a must. I got the usual, a Belgium waffle with strawberries and whip cream and a side of country potatoes. She had the pancakes with a side of hash. It was delicious and always for a great price. So if you are ever out in Madras stop by and enjoy an awesome breakfast or lunch and dinner. Their menu has a great selection. Overall a great place to eat, possibly the best in Madras. read more

This place is a tradition with us. We have been going there for years and seldom pass this way that we do not stop. It is a little back woodsy and a little high class truck stopy and a whole lot of local family atmosphere. Remember, this is not Portland. It is Madras! The food is good. The portions are huge. The service is friendly and I see some of the same faces I saw there years ago. I was talking to the manager last time about why this particular Black Bear Dinner seems so much better than the others I have gone to and he said it was mainly the long term quality employees. If I remember correctly he said the chef has been there over 10 years. I have eaten breakfast there and loved and also dinner and loved it. Try it yourself. If you like this type of atmosphere, you will love this place for sure! read more

Great little family place. The food was delicious. Very yummy breakfast. I had the cinnamon french toast and it was amazing. He had the Bigfoot chicken fried steak. They really hit that out of the park! Service was courteous and prompt but no one went out of their way to make us feel overly special. Once my water glass was empty it stayed that way. We could tell it was definitely the place where the regulars in town hung out. It was very clean and comfortable but missing that extra charm from the staff. read more

Quick service, they turn on the air conditioning to run people in and out I think. Either way my Chicken fried steak and hash browns were pretty good, the gravy should have sausage though. read more

The food was OK, but they had the most grim-faced wait staff we've ever seen. The tall old bat who seated us announced sternly, "we don't serve alcohol," as if she was scolding me for asking. read more

Great breakfast, lots to choose from and fast friendly service. The omelettes are large and flavorful. The sausage is ok, I've had better.

I was not impressed by the waitress. 10 minutes to get our drinks. 20 minutes to order and over an hour after ordering to get the food. After telling the manager about the service we were receiving. The manager had our food in 2 minutes time and checked back on us. The manager was awesome, but the waitress needs to learn more about customer service and moving fast if she expects to make it in this business. The food was good. Hopefully this waitress goes back for re training . read more

Bland food. Service was friendly and quick enough, and it was clean, but it's pretty sub-par food-wise. Not bad, just extremely boring.

It's true that the food here is very good, but what I love most is the service. I was on the road and made a to-go order so that I could pick it up on my way through town, and the nice man on the phone told me they'd get everything ready in advance, except the pancakes, which they put on the grill as soon as I walked through the door so they would be fresh. How many other places give you that level of service in this day and age? Aside from that, I've never been disappointed by the food at Black Bear. The quality is consistenly high and the service consistenly friendly. To me, that makes for a fine establishment. read more

We had the meatloaf and T-bone steak. Everything was delicious. And we also tried the bread pudding - it was the best bread pudding I ever had! read more

Stopped on my way through Madras for a late lunch decided to try the French dip sandwich to my surprise it was great probably the best one I've had in a long time also I am very picky about my potato salad and again to my surprise it was very good almost up with my mother's I know I will definitely be stopping there again as it was plenty of food price was right and it was very good. read more

Orange juice costs about $5 a glass. The best thing I would recommend is the French dip at lunch. As far as madras goes, it's probably the best place to sit down and eat. I would just drive the extra half hour to Redmond. There are way more better places to eat there. read more

The staff is always so friendly regardless how busy they are you can except great personalized service. Whether you're just grabbing something to go, getting a booth or sitting at the counter they're happy to wait on you. Refreshing. read more

I ordered the fried shrimp and was very disappointed. Each shrimp was mainly bread and you get a very small proportion of them, I'm sure other items on the menu are much better but my meal failed to satisfy. read more

We have had the longest day of travel, and after suffering through a detour and road closure, pulled into this diner about an hour before closing. Our server was kind and attentive, made great suggestions, and kept our drinks full at all times. The food - well, it was outstanding. We had dinner at a highly regarded French Restaurant in LA last night, and this meal put it to shame. The breaded chicken was seriously so good. We would come here again and again. read more

I was passing by decided to try Black Bears Diner , the steak was very good and people wore friendly , A+

Use to think it was great. Then portion sizes went down. I got the taco salad that I use to love and now it's literally 97% lettuce. Asked about it and got charged extra for meat. Waitress was great but food was not read more

Horrible service. Mediocre food at best. Horrible Coffee and ridiculous management We didn't have a lot of choices and didn't know when we would as we were traveling through. I would have been happier eating mcdonalds pancakes and that says a lot. The place was busy but not so busy service shouldn't have kept up. Our waitress could have helped us but was too busy visiting with the table next to us. The food was okay. Typical diner food. Eh. The coffee was horrible and the waitress never came back so good thing my Husband didn't want a refill. When I talked to the manager he said well we are busy so service gets real slow. I said it would have been fine of our waitress wasn't figuring out where she was going to party later. He was embarrassed and I said as a manager you should not make excuses you should correct it for your next customer. I used to work on the service industry so I have empathy and compliment and tip well when warranted. I also will complain when warranted. Skip this place. There has to be better in madras. I'm not sure where but I'm sure there is read more

You will need to wait, and be a little pushy. I went in at the tail end of the Sunday brunch crowd. The host/esses were seating folks and taking names off the list, but no one seemed interested in writing down new customers' names who were arriving and waiting. There was a whole lot of "that's not my job" going on that day. After about five minutes and a few eye rolls, we got on the list and we were eventually seated. We got water, menus, sodas... and more waiting. After 20 minutes of nothing but staff avoiding eye contact with our table, I politely caught the attention of a random server to ask if our table had a server. He pointed and said, "her," motioning in a general direction but no one in particular, and when I wouldn't break eye contact he reluctantly sighed that he'd ask her to come over. When our server did decide to grace us with her presence, she took our orders and left. More waiting. It took about 40 minutes for our burgers to come out, but at least they were hot. Our server didn't check with us after we got our orders, which was fine because I don't like a lot of checking in while I'm trying to eat, and it was the busiest time of service, but some soda refills would have been nice. The food was good, nothing remarkable, and the server was adequate, it was everyone else from the host/hostess/cashier to the runners who went out of their way to ignore anyone not actively trying to leave that rankled me. read more