This place exercises the loosening of belt buckles! My family and I love this place for that home cooked feel of the food. We've been to a lot of their locations, and we happened upon this place on a drive from Los Angeles to Sacramento via US99. My daughter Yelp'ed for dinner along the way and this is where it led us... The food is always great. Comfort food would probably be a more apt description of what you can get from here. And the price is affordable, as the food is so plentiful! If you're not the person who exercises the right to ask for a "doggie bag", then prepare to stretch those stomach muscles. The decor of the place is much the same in all location. The cabin-like feel of wood ceilings, floors and even the posts are very inviting to the eyes. There will be times when the lighting might not be adequate, especially when reading the menu...and that's the only complain I may make, if I really had one. All in all, this is one place I will always come back to. Family in tow... read more

Black Bear Diner Merced - Eating at barstools... - American Near Me - Merced, California

Art was great! He took our order with attention to detail with each of our orders. The food was great too! We love The Black Bear Diner!

Had a wonderful time here thanks to the good food and service! Special thanks to Josefina for being such a great waitress!

Very friendly, clean establishment. Great place for Sunday breakfast with the family. You can order dinner for breakfast. I've been doing it for years. read more

Black Bear Diner Merced - Steak and eggs with English muffins and coffee. - American Near Me - Merced, California

Loved that they had a really yummy vegetarian burger. Nice options for the kids and adults. When I went Jalapeño poppers were on the menu and they were top notch. We went as a group of 8 and they were easily able to seat us without much wait and reservation. read more

My boyfriend was craving peach cobbler and we came here one Saturday night and the place was empty. They didn't have the peach cobbler but they had other pies so we bought the chocolate pie (I think that's what it was) and bread pudding. Both were good. So the next day we decided to have brunch there. We ordered scrambled eggs with bacon and a side of pancakes. We also ordered hashbrowns. The serving was a lot so we were able to share everything. The verdict: thr pancakes was really good. It was moist and sweet. I didn't need much syrup with it. The hashbrowns was too oily for us. We should and will opt for the house fried potatoes next time. The scrambled eggs was good. Now comes the price...we both think its pricey. Our bill for sharing the meal was close to $20 something. Not sure if we will come back. The ambiance was good. The staff were very nice. We didn't have to flag down anyone. We did sit by the bar so I guess it was very easy access for assistance. Be prepared to wait as this place does get busy in the morning and also on Sundays after church read more

The video speaks for itself look how delicious the food it :). We love it here it's basically like a IHOP/Dennys put together as a nicer restaurant and not over packed ! I love it here breakfast is delicious read more

Giant servings greeted us with great service. An extensive menu with something for everyone.

As far as diner food goes, it's ok. Went later in the morning so only waited for about 10 min. The Eggs Benedict was so so. The Hollandaise Sauce was kind of weird. It came with potatoes and while eating them I bit down on something hard, not cool. My wife ordered Huevos Rancheros, her eggs seemed under cooked. Apparently they have free refills on hot chocolates but it was never offered. The others in our party ordered more standard items and they seemed to like it, perhaps that's the way to go here. read more

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I live in Sacramento and eat at the Black Bear Diner up there often. Been go this one a few times. Food is the same quality but the prices are like $4.00 higher in Merced. Why would that be? It seems they should be cheaper in Merced! read more

the manager Arturo there is extremely professional! I came in last night and was told they didnt have the pot roast I love and he helped me find something else that was just as delicious!! the food is always out fast and never had a bad experience with an employee! def recommend to anyone ! read more

Had Wonderful Mother's Day this morning at black bear diner. Was instantly greeted by a smiling, energetic, friendly, hostess whom instantly made us feel welcome . I believe her she said her name was Crystal. I ordered a Shasta scramble and my husband ordered a hungry bear chicken fried steak in which was delicious. because the food was out fast and was really tasty and the customer service we got we will always continue coming here and this will always be our favorite restaurant! Plus I got a rose this morning for Mother's Day ! They're so awesome ! read more

Last week I had the best service at black bear. My server was on top of her game and she went the extra mile to make my family feel special. Her name was Bobby. If you ever stop at black bear make sure to ask for her. read more

Awesome customer service and yummy food no matter what you order made to your liking!

Over priced slop! Food was horrible for the price you pay! Omelet with potatoes and one pancake $20 Never again!

We try to hit up the Black Bear in every city we visit. This one was the worst of them all. Slow service, hard as a rock biscuit and after waiting for a long time (30 minutes) for food to arrive, we're told one meal wasn't available. Completely unacceptable, we should have been notified when meals went in instead of when brining food to table. Would not recommend this location. read more

I am not a picky eater, but I ordered the pancakes and tried to figure out exactly how they could be so bad. I couldn't eat them. The best meal we had was on a Christmas morning years ago when we had a hot fudge sundae for breakfast. read more

Great customer service and food. Have not hd a complaint up to this day. Kid friendly

Best Chicken Fried Steak I've had in ages. I got it to go on a whim and the portion was huge and came with eggs. Delicious - I'll be back. read more

Black Bear Diner Merced - Chicken fried steak to go... - American Near Me - Merced, California

Positives: I'm shocked that my favorite diner has not gotten reviewed by me. I've been here at least twice with my gf and others. Service is good , prices are decent, variety of food options is excellent - I've never found anything I ordered here to taste bad. Parking is typically packed on weekends but not overcrowded. The location is very competitive since there are barely if any restaurants in the area, and it's down the street from Costco. Restrooms are ok. Negatives: none! read more

We were in town to shop for a new car which the dealership next door had so we decided to stop and have some "brunch" as it was between breakfast and lunchtime. They were very busy which is fine we were seated within the time we were told but that's where the issues started. The waitress while nice wasn't too worried about getting her customers what they needed, we sat for more than 10 minutes with empty drink cups and had to finally ask someone else to refill them. Also we knew food would take longer to come out because they were so busy but it took 28 minutes from the time ordering to receive our food while the table next to us who was seated 10 minutes after us got their food about 10 minutes before us and we ordered the exact same thing. I would not ever go back to this location again. read more

Delicious huge portions. Good coffee Substitutions permitted. Clean Friendly waitress Food arrived quickly Did not disappoint. read more

Just waited 45 minutes for mediocre food and spent $100. Lovely waitress but this was ridiculous. Won't ever be back.

The place here during COVID isn't that great, I don't like eating outside. All though the employee was polite and helpful. I will have to come back again to get the full experience of this restaurant. read more

Black Bear Diner Merced - Good - American Near Me - Merced, California

Ordered the French toast, no meal. Received 2 pieces of French Toast instead of 3. The meals are supposed to get 2, the entree order gets 3. $16 for two pieces. Not good. Friendly staff. read more

They made our special day wonderful and very accommodating for our needs. food was great. conscientious service!

Egg Benedict sauce was oily and the egg was hard boiled. Flavor was good but cant call that a benedict. Also, not busy at all but each customer was crammed in the same area. read more

Went in today around 130pm and had Art as are server , he did a wonderful job he looked very busy and still was able to help with whatever we needed, the food was great big portions will be back Thanks art read more

Last time we ate there was the Friday before Mother's Day. I ordered the chicken fried steak little less dinner substituting a baked potato instead of mashed. My steak was barely warm and the gravy was cold, baked potato was still raw. Let waitress know - she sent back to be corrected. When she brought me the dinner back the steak was hot but gravy still cold and cook sliced through the potato like an accordion -- still not cooked and now like something for the garbage.The waitress did take it upon herself to deduct the cost of my meal from the ticket . My son ordered a the eggs Benedict breakfast with hash browns -- his hash browns were also not cooked properly-- they were undercooked- he sent them back and then waitress came back with his cooked properly. We have been going there for several years and rarely ever had any issues/complaints but we are hesitant to go back. read more

This Black Bear Diner has the best customer service! You can tell everyone takes pride in their job to make sure the customers enjoy their time. We will be coming back! read more

I love this diner because of my server, Bobbi, was super nice and tended to our needs to an excellent level. Will most definitely continue to go because of her. read more

Black bear offers gigantic plates of food. Parking lot is average but the spots are tight. Menus are newspaper themed so no pictures available. They do have an extensive menu ranging from breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts. I usually order from the breakfast menu or lunch but today I decided to get dinner portion. We order the tri-tip sandwich, breakfast Benedict, pesto pasta, loaded Mac and cheese. I could only rate my dish.... Loaded Mac and Cheese: 0/5 worst version of M&C in my life. First of all the dish looked old-didn't know what cheese they use but it was not that great honestly kraft box Mac and Cheese tasted wayyyyy better! Don't ever get this dish there I should've know better especially with no pictures if I saw how it looked like I would've never gotten it. All they did was sprinkle crispy dry bacon on top lucky it came with a side which was fries and I mostly ate that than my dish. I ended up just eating the two garlic bread and picking the bacon to eat the plate was left with mostly all the pasta. My friend didn't like the pesto pasta...pasta was too rubbery...same as mine. I usually get their club sandwich but wanted to try something new next time I'm sticking to the same stuff I always get! Server was alright but never refilled our drinks...the prices you pay for you food is worth it but only if it taste good! read more

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Very good food. We went to the Toyota dealership and we received a discount after showing a paper slip from Toyota. The food was really good as well are the breakfast menu was very large. Plenty of options to choose from. read more

Delicious As Always, Ordered Meatloaf, Was Fabulous. Would Order It Again. Dessert Was Fabulous, Bear Claw Original Deliciousness. read more

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Food is always great. The service is always great and friendly. The overall experience and atmosphere is very welcoming/inviting. I'm definitely coming back. :) read more

Took my family that came to visit from out of town to eat here this morning. It took over 40 minutes to get our food. The food wasn't great. The potatoes and bacon were burnt. The toast was so hard that it was not edible. We ate what we could and left. We will not be coming back. I do not recommend eating here! I'd give it zero stars if I could. read more

Worst place to eat in Merced the food was so gross we couldn't eat. I pulled the baby food out the diaper bag and grubbed down!!!!

My pals and I stopped by for a quick lunch whilst on the road. We were seated immediately but that's when the service took a steep decline. Our waitress did not stop by and check on us unless we flagged her down. Most of her time was spent cleaning or disappearing in the kitchen. We ordered tuna melts, if they could even be considered tuna melts! Normally that's not our first choice, but hey, it's lent and it's a Friday, so no meat. They were basically lukewarm toast with a smear of tuna salad. The fries were soft, soggy, and soaked in oil. All for a whopping price of about $16 after tax. Honestly we would have been better off getting tuna sandwiches from Subway. Definitely will NOT be returning to this Black Bear Diner or ANY ever again. read more

This was my first time at Black Bear Diner and I gotta say the ambience was very cozy and the food was delicious. Our waitress Malia was wonderful, she was very friendly and made a regular brunch turn into something a lot more enjoyable. I will definitely come again! read more

I've been here a few times for lunch since I've been working in Merced. The staff is friendly and accommodating. Now that cold weather is here, I love that I can get soup with my lunch. Cream of potato today; it was delicious! I like that I can substitute menu items I don't care for. I told my server to just omit the green veggies (yuck) and she offered fresh fruit instead! read more

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