Our family enjoys this local restaurant we have here in willows. The breakfast options are extensive and delicious. The lunch options are also extensive and delicious with generous portions. read more

Lost order. When it came, fish wasn't fully cooked. Spent 1-1/2 hours and never got entree.

Best breakfast, service with a smile, gotta love black bear! Wouldn't recommend any other place to enjoy comfort food!

The food here is very yummy and the portions are huge, you could easily split pretty much every meal between 2 people. The workers are friendly and it has a relaxed, country atmosphere. We love stopping here when we're traveling! read more

I pass Willows frequently and stopped in here for lunch. There is not much else in Willows, but this restaurant is a real gem. Very polite and professional staff, you get the feeling the staff is very experienced and really care about the place. I don't remember the exact burger I ordered but it was your standard burger and it was absolutely delicious. I will definitely eat here again. read more

Service and food was good. What I'd expect from a small town diner. Nothing really made me want to go back and eat there though.

The food is good,peope are nice,the location is pretty and its realy perfect,i recomend ordering soda or coffee the water is comparable to LA's water read more

It was a bit of a wait but the service was great and the food was amazing ! I would defiantly recommend!

That was the VERY worst food ever. Guess we made the mistake of coming in at 8 when they close at 9. I ordered the chicken pot pie well the chicken was brown. In the discrimination said creamy white sauce.. Well the sauce was also brown oh and said flaky crust well when I went to eat it it was like trying to cut through a piece of rubber. The vegetables were cold which matched the brown rubber chicken pot pie. Oh and the so called server Stephanie one word for her RUDE. Sorry we made you work but you really should think about another line of work. Needless to say we will never eat at Black Bear restaurant again. If management reads this truly you need to review how Stephanie treats the customers and make sure no matter how close it is to closing that the food that is going out to your customers is actually eatable!!! Also the only reason I put one star is because it wouldn't let me go any farther without at least putting one star. Truly I give it minus stars. read more

Rolling back to the Bay from a ski trip up north and me and the fam fam decided to get some good ol fashioned grub. Of course it was Christmas day so NO ONE was open...but wait a minute, BLACK BEAR TO THE RESCUE!! We chowed down on the huge portions that they provided and we still had room left for some warm and tasty home made deserts. Service was great and the staff was super friendly despite being away from their family on this most righteous of holidays. Thank you Black Bear Dinner for a great Christmas meal! read more

Wife and I have visited several times in the last year. Wife's complaint is she never leaves 100% satisfied. Country potatoes felt a bit hard and bland. Chicken fried steak was a bit undercooked and chewy. The garlic fries are way over seasoned and sometimes the regular fries are overcooked. Bread pudding is quite delicious and is something other restaurants in town do not offer. Wife said this place use to be "good." Some servers seem a bit rude while others make you feel like family. The food is okay at best. Sadly since we have given this place so many chances we will not be returning. If the quality of the food ever improves we will visit again. read more

Extremely good food and very good service nice atmosphere and very clean environment have tried almost all items on the breakfast menu and not a bad one to be had read more

Caleb was our waiter and he was fabulous! So friendly and knowledgeable. We had a group of 4 adults and 3 kids. They got all of our orders correct and everything was served at the same time. We eat here every time we pass through the area. read more

I want to start by saying I love black bear diners food. I have been to many locations. When traveling we make it a point to find a black bear diner. The food is always consistent and delicious. This review is solely about service at this location. When I walked in after 1pm on a Tuesday (6/5/18) with 2 young children and a teenager we waited to be seated. The restaurant was pretty empty ( about 3 customers already eating) as we were being seated they asked if we wanted drinks. Since I was waiting for the teenager to get back from the bathroom I said I would order when she got back. She got back and we waited and waited and waited. We were in plain view of 3-4 waitresses but no one came over. They then proceeded to seat a couple across from us. They asked for their drinks and promptly brought them back and then proceeded to take there order. Meanwhile I still haven't been asked what we would like. She finally comes over takes the drink order and before I can order food walks off. Finally get food and asked for a drink that didn't show up until we were almost done. SHE NEVER CAME BACK AFTER THIS. Literally had to bring my bowl of fruit to the register to get a box and get my check to pay. And let's be clear at this point there were less then 10 guests that walked in after us. All the waitresses were around the register talking. Every patron who was older and without children were served in a timely manner (no smiles/friendly service for anyone). I hesitated to mention the child thing but honestly it was super obvious they didn't care for children. I get that kids can be rambunctious and mine were not perfect Angel's they are 4 and 7 and we were on day 2 driving on a long road trip. Next time I will just avoid this one and stop at the one in Mt. Shasta. read more

The food was OK, but the event I most remember is this: As we left the restaurant, a waitress said, "I hope your guys's dinner was good." I was appalled by the grammar (or lack thereof). read more

I was at the Black Bear Diner in Willows CA on Sunday 9/6/15 (Labor Day weekend). My wife and I arrived just 10 minutes before closing. I ordered the fried chicken. When the waitress delivered the food she asked if the fried chicken was too well done and I responded that it was fine. Unexpectedly she spoke to the manager and when I paid the bill he removed the charge for the chicken. I was very impressed with both the waitress and manager. I'm sure she wanted to get home after a long day but instead of ignoring the crispy chicken she offered to have it remade. It was nice to see the waitress's and manager's pride in their restaurant chain and the extra effort they put forth to ensure I enjoyed the meal. They deserve the highest rating. read more

I stopped in for Breakfast Early Tuesday morning for Breakfast on my way home. I really loved this place. My server was April according to her name tag and she was excellent. The staff was wonderful. The Manager Janea came by and said hello and made us feel at home. This Black Bear is far better than the rest. It's refreshing to see people who love their jobs! Keep it up.. I will coming back soon! read more

I stopped here on a road trip and got a chicken club with fries. The service was great, it seemed like we caught them right in the lunch rush but even so it was very fast and helpful. The fries and sandwich were great for the most part but the chicken was very tough and very dry, sometimes nearly inedible. I assume this was just a fluke though as everything else seemed to be solid and classic American food. read more

A cut above Denny's with a small town feel. Service was friendly, but slow.

2/24/19----Everything was going well. Host (female) was very friendly and offered me a choice of whether or not I would like to sit at the counter, which I did. It was around 11:30am so it was kind of busy. As I was watching everyone run around I noticed someone who seemed like she was a manager on her phone like nothing was going on, she was bossing the hosts around and making snappy remarks while she was either on her phone or on the counter with her hands on her head. Someone asked her for help and she completely ignored them. I asked if I can have a refill on my water and she did but didn't seem happy. I ended up catching her name as everyone was referring to her as "Sherie" I felt bad for the workers. And to think she is a manger she called to what seemed to be a server and said "I'm going to go smoke" pretty loud. After she came back after a couple minutes I saw her grab plates of food ,hopefully she washed her hands. I'm no genius but I know as a manger and especially in the food business you shouldn't say that out loud....in front of customers....I ended up leaving and left my server "April" a tip. Good food ,nice service but horrible manager. I hope corporate reviews this and tells her to act like a manager & to start actually working. Needless to say I won't be returning back due to bad vibes from her. read more

We ordered two meals to go from a very frantic waitress who ended up having to have her superior submit the order. No problem. We all have our days. Come time to open the bag on the road and one sandwich was completely wrong and the taco salad was missing most of its toppings. Also, it seems that salt has replaced actual flavor in many of their dishes. I do miss the Black Bear Diner days of old when they were small and local. read more

Avoid this diner if you're hungry. There is hr + wait time to get food. When we got there, the diner was not packed at all. The wait for a table was about 5 min and the waitress got our order quickly but it took about an hour to actually get our food. The cooks were bickering at each other and the waitresses seemed confused as to which food belonged to what table. We were ready to walk out of there. I noticed other people that got there after we did got there food first, finished eating, and we still didn't have our food on the table. I complained to the waitress about our wait and she just said there were other orders before ours and we would be next, yet we still waited and waited. Other customers started complaining about the long wait too. If your establishment is so far behind with their orders, why not let the customers know so they can make the choice to stay or go somewhere else? It was a really frustrating experience especially when you have hungry children waiting. Read other people's reviews about the service and wait times. It seems to be a trend here to keep people waiting for their food. read more

Let me start by saying I usually do not write yelp reviews, but my experience at this establishment was so horrendous that I felt compelled to write a review as I do not want anyone else to have the misfortune of dining at this shit hole. I walked in to this piece of crap restaurant after just returning from a vacation along Shasta lake, so this was my first meal after being back on land. Needles to say I wish I had just stayed on the lake. I walked in and it took an extremely long time to get me and the rest of my party seated, nearly 30 minutes. We were finally seated in a shabby table, where we were rushed in to ordering drinks. I hadn't even gotten a chance to look at the menu. So right away I got the impression I was being rushed. I spent several minutes trying to look for a menu, and realized it was disguised as a newspaper. Very confusing and low budget. So the menu actually looked decent, and I decided to order a bacon cheese burger, i stressed that I wanted it plain. As a side note, the waitress was extremely unattractive and appeared to be strung out on crack while taking my order, this alone made me nearly lose my appetite. So back to the nightmare. The burger took 45 minutes to come out, and I soon realized the burger was not plain. It had everything on it. So naturally I sent it back, and the waitress has some major attitude about this, even though she was the person who got my order wrong. About 30 minutes later, after the rest of my party is almost done with their food, my second burger is served to me. This is where things really get ridiculous. The second burger comes out still with all the fixings. It is the exact same burger as before. So what were they doing for 30 minutes? Who the hell knows. At this point I gave up, I decided to scrape off the garnish and power though it. The burger was awful. The patty was small and bone dry, the cheese was disgusting and barley melted and the bun was stale and chewy. Don't believe anyone who says this place was anything better than awful, this restaurant should literally be shut down right now. I warn everyone reading this review, do not go here, there is a Denny's across the street which I'm sure is a lot better. Thank you for your time. read more

Short stay in town. Off freeway, great location, only one of the few restaurants in town. They are a chain, so food quality and restaurant standard are assured. I understand that this is a small town, but I don't understand why the manager will allow customers to stand in the front waiting to be greeted when there were empty tables through out the restaurants. To me that is revenue wasted. Maybe there are so few choices of restaurant in town that they are assured of customer and revenue. We ate there twice, one the last occasion, we were in a rush to leave town and the kindly waitress told us she would put "rush" on our ticket. Moments later, I over heard the manager, or some one who acts like the manager told her, "you can put "rush" if you want, but it doesn't mean that it will be any faster". They may have some operational problem, but that is not the way to run a business. But then again, if you are the only game in town. So be aware, when you visit this place. good food, good service, excellent location, but speedy service it is not. read more

Now before I say anything about this particular Black Bear Diner let me say this. My wife and I have been eating at Black Bear Diners for years and have always had a great experience and we will continue to support and recommend BBD except for this location in Willows, CA. Traveling up the I-5 on a Sunday morning we saw the billboard for BBD in Willows and decided we would stop and fill the void. They had a good amount of parking for our truck and fifth wheel, the place looked clean as expected, and when we walked in we were greeted and seated immediately as the place was about half full, odd for noon on a Sunday but it is Willows. Good start. We received our juice and coffee quickly, we were greeted within 5 minutes of receiving our beverages by the server who took our order and departed. Well, that was the end of the good experience, unfortunately. We proceeded to wait, and wait, and after about 40 minutes the server said our order would be right up and apologized for the wait. Another 10 minutes went by at which point my wife stopped our server who was busy serving 2 other tables that had arrived some 45 minutes after us. The server apologized again for the delay stating that the kitchen was unusually slow today for some unknown reason. He then went to his station, which was right across from us, and printed out a ticket. Having a direct line of sight view of the kitchen window, we watched the server walk over to the window (where the manager of the diner had been hanging out sampling food off of customer plates) and inquire with the staff about our order number. The cook spun the wheel holding tickets and found no such order number. At this point the server slid over the ticket he had just printed out and asked them to get the order out "now". In about 5 minutes we received our order piping hot and horribly under cooked. My pancakes were gummy, the whites of the fried eggs mostly runny and uncooked, the sausage links were pink on the inside and the bacon was, well, limp and squishy. My wifes plate was no different so we called over the server and pointed out the problems with the food. He again apologized for the "kitchen problems" and said he would have the manager take care of us. The manager apologized and after we explained that our schedule would not allow us to stay for the order to be re-fired, having been in the restaurant now for more than an hour, he was kind enough to comp us the meal. I hope they sort out their problems and come up to par with the other locations we have frequented (go Gilroy, CA). So take a gamble or not on this location but in general we still believe in BBD. read more

This was my first visit to a Black Bear Diner, and I wasn't that impressed. The food was ok. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. My husbands food was really greasy and the country gravy was a little weird tasting (again, not bad, but just not that good either). The restrooms were a little dirty. Not the dirty as in not being cleaned at all, but more like dirty as in built up dirty, or in other words, the cleaning is not done very well. I always question restaurants with not very clean restrooms because then it makes me question how clean or dirty their kitchen is which then makes me question the food. Also, they had some dirt or something on the floors near the restrooms and I almost slipped and fell on my way out. The service was friendly, no doubt about that, but I wasn't impressed enough to return the next time I'm around the area or to another Black Bear Diner for that matter. read more

Save your money as this isn't the Black Bear Diner that we all remember. The kitchen was all over the map turning out plates for different tables out of order and having tables eating out of sync with their party. Frantic front desk cashier clearly not up to speed. Disappointing at best. read more

My boyfriend and I normally stop at this location at least once a month on our way down to the Bay Area from Redding, CA. The last two times we have had a server by the name of Ellen and she has been incredibly rude. I suffer from food allergies and when I ask for changes on my food she had made comments on how I was "picky" and looked at my boyfriend and said to him, "Have fun with her, she will be picky for the rest of your life." This last time we were in there, the kitchen made a mistake and left chopped onions on my salad after I had asked for no onions (because of my allergies). I had sent it back explaining I had an allergy. I don't normally make big deals about these things because I realize people make mistakes and I have also been a server so I get how the job can be stressful and demanding. But what made me upset is when I got my food back is that Ellen proceeded to tell me that if I would have told them the first time around that I had a good allergy the kitchen would have probably been more aware and wouldn't have made the mistake in first place. She made me feel like it was my fault that the kitchen got the order wrong! I shouldn't have to explain every time I go out to eat that I have a food allergy when I ask for my order to be a certain way. And if I ask for my order a certain way, I shouldn't be shamed for it! read more

Numerous stops at this BBD, and today's was hands down the worst. On weekends, when they're packed, it's not bad. They get it done. And I write this as a past Shoney's waitress. Back in the day. Also, I basically built my business on the back of BBD placemats in Gilroy. So I've spent a lot of time in them. This morning, a Monday, hardly any customers, over staffed, and weird. The highlight was the floor supervisor. She did more work than the other four combined. Hint, it's not advised to refill the ketchup bottles from other ketchup bottles, on the bar, knocking the old gooey stuff from one into another... Gross. Then cleaning them off with napkins, in front of customers. Yuck. We waited 15 minutes for someone to take our order after our drinks arrived. And we were in front of the bar, kitchen area. Watching 3 girls chat behind the counter. While the supervisor ran her buns off. If I owned this place, I'd have cameras in that area, and do quite a bit of re-training. For attitude checks, how and where to clean and refill condiments, etc... The food was great. But the supervisor had to ask for our corrected order 5 times. The correction came from kitchen mistakes. Our neighbor's hamburgers sat under the light for 10 minutes waiting for French fries. It felt like watching a bad episode of Bar Rescue, only this is a restaurant that already has supposed strong systems in place throughout their chain. I also suggest a mystery shopper program. That would help management get a clue fast. We had this at Shoney's. Drink order within one minute of being seated, food order start checking at 2. No excuse for this poor of an experience. And thank goodness they have one good one on board. read more

The pictures on the menu look appetizing, but the food was disgusting. A couple of the people at my table ordered the meatloaf and it looked like it was a frozen dinner that they just heated up. The staff wasn't very attentive during my visit there either. The one good thing I'd say is that the atmosphere was clean and cute with all the bear decorations around. I definitely won't be eating there again. read more

My wife and I sometimes have dinner here passing from Sacramento to redding. The food is always pretty standard and reliable. Today the service was pretty poor however. Waitress was abrupt, little effort was being made to be nice. I realize everyone can have off nights, but we could also hear bickering among the staff which was unpleasant to hear. Overall the food was decent, but the staff set the diner apart in all the wrong ways. We would come back again for the food, but not if we have a similar experience with the people there. It only takes a smile and a quick nice word to totally change the feel of our meal. Hope they improve in the future! read more

Had a good Reuben. Huckleberry ice cream was tasty

After waiting 45 minutes for our food order to come out, with no contact with the waitress, not even refills on our water, we walked out. Too bad. We used to enjoy stopping here on our trips south down 1-5, but today was probably the last time. read more

I've been to Black Bear Diner in Alturas (no longer there) and Salinas both of which were some of the best diner food I ever had. The homemade hash and eggs and single dish pies were great in memory. It has been several years since my last visit. Stopped here on my way to Oregon hoping for some of the same warm service and hot food. Not to be. This was the worst experience at any diner I've ever had. First of all the manager lady had a completely unfriendly attitude and our waitress "Stacey" was not at all helpful or inviting. Simply took our orders without a smile and did not ask what we wanted as our sides. My little boy ordered the spaghetti, I ordered the Black Bear Burger and my wife ordered the Southwestern Chicken Sandwich. I wanted a salad and my burger cooked medium but was not asked and was served fries and a bone dry well done hockey puck. My wife ordered the potatoe salad with her sandwich..more later. Our table was near the kitchen "window" where the food is staged under the lights /warmer. Our waitress was called by the cook and our food sat in the window for (yes I timed it 6 minutes) She walked by our food four times and did not look up. No the restaurant was not busy, It was 2:15pm on Saturday. My burger was luke warm and fries dry and cool. My 5 year old son took one bite of his spaghetti and did not eat any more. I tasted it and it was cold noodles and flavorless ketchup sauce. The potatoe salad topped the unpleasant experience as it was bad/sour. Stacy never checked on us after dropping off our meals and only tried to make conversation when she dropped off the bill. I walked up to the cashier to complain and was told our food had already been taken back to the dishwasher and I had to pay the bill in FULL. Cute Bear wood carvings out front were the only highlight of this total mishap. STAY AWAY the Black Bear Diner has gone way down hill! I'll never give any business to this establishment again! Too bad as I've told many of my family and friends how good our experience was 6-7 years ago. I've told them all NOT to chance it! read more

Didn't make one of our meals right, so the California Benedict sat while the other was remade. Upon arrival it was cold and solidified... a big dissapointment because it sounded great. The bacon seemed pre cooked and the fruit salad side seemed a bit old and tasteless. Hashbrowns were cold but good. Bathroom was plain and a little grungy. A disappointing California chain restaurant experience. read more

The food is completely inedible! My boyfriend and I didn't eat our meals and went to subway instead.

Slow. Hate to see this place if it's busy lousy service I think the people need to be retrained

this was the first time for us at Black Bear. we enjoyed a delicious meal of comfort food. the server was interesting when we asked what her favorites were. she said that she was spicy eater and did not eat any of the things we asked about read more

this has great food for a chain diner. i was a little skeptical when we were passing by on the highway and were hungry and my friend said that it was good, as i eat pretty healthy and am kind of picky about what i eat, but i trusted her opinion and we stopped. (she had been there before and knew it.) the service was very attentive and friendly, the portions were large, the flavors were satisfying, and the food was cooked just right: trout that was flaky with a nice pecan crust, vegetables that were not over-cooked, and a perfect baked potato. it is a big step above fast food, and definitely better than most diners. i would not hesitate to stop again if i were on a road-trip and were passing by at a time when i needed a bite! read more

Service is slow, clam chowder is salty, would not recommend this place at all. All the other Black Bear is always exceptional, but I guess there's always exceptions. Our server is slow and forget half of the other customer's orders!!!!! read more