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    Black Bear Diner El Cajon

    3.8 (1.4k reviews)
    Closed 6:00 am - 10:00 pm

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    BLACK BEAR DINER EL CAJON ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Outdoor seating
    Good for kids

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    Estefania C.

    Everything is bear themed in the restaurant. Delicious diner that has lots of different options. Great spot for breakfast all day. I got the French toast every time I have gone. They have good service. Menu is printed on a newspaper which is super cute. Lots of parking. I got the black berry bear claw French toast and banana pudding French toast. Both were different and delicious.

    On the carved bench out front of the business.
    James K.

    2nd time here (and amazing customer services credit Alicia) food was so good both times I registered with the promotional app as I'm sure I'll be back. Food reminds me of home cooked food and reasonably priced too. Great theme theming around the lodge & bear. Great ambiance.

    Wynesha K.

    It had been a few years since we'd been here as a family, but since everyone was craving something different, this spot was the perfect choice. Some of us wanted breakfast/brunch, while others (me included) were in the mood for something lighter--and the best part? Everyone got exactly what they wanted. We came in on a Sunday around 1:30 p.m. and lucked out with no wait at all. Either we missed the rush or timed it perfectly after church hours. The host was super friendly and seated us right away. Our server, Lilie, was amazing. Even though she was wrapping up another table, she acknowledged us immediately and took great care of us from the start--drinks, orders, everything. We went for the French toast from the build-your-own Bear's Choice breakfast and taco salads, and let me just say... the food always looks so good here. The portions are generous, the prices are fair, and the flavors never disappoint. The whole place has this cozy, cabin-style vibe that makes you feel right at home. I also love their newspaper-style menu and the fact that they highlight charities they support--such a nice touch. Overall, it was a great experience and definitely worth a visit. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner all day, so it's perfect when everyone in your group wants something different. If you're ever near a Black Bear Diner, add it to your list

    Turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, gravy, fruit and cranberry sauce
    Margaret A.

    I always look forward to my meals here. As I know it will be homemade and delicious! With friendly, speedy service and a relaxing cute Bear atmosphere. This visit I picked the turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, gravy and fruit. It was moist, nicely seasoned and the gravy had a wonderful depth of flavor that I enjoyed immensely. Note; they have numerous Bear themed, super cute, souvenirs for sale.

    Newspaper menu
    Jane L.

    This place is cute, and has mountain cabin decor, Bear things everywhere! The service was fine, but the food was less than mediocre. The chicken and waffles was so dry and made with chicken tenders. Yuck. According to the menu, they make home style fried chicken, so they could have used that instead of chicken tenders. The cinnamon roll French toast was exactly that. Just cinnamon rolls cooked as french toast. Just overly sweet and nothing to brag about.

    Alycia A.

    I just LOVE this black bear diner! There can be a wait on the weekends but we have never waited more than 20 minutes. Staff is always so nice. We love all of the food, the menu is amazing, portions are large!!! We always leave full and with leftovers. The Bear decor is so cute, they had bear puzzles, cards, reusable totes, adorable pjs... I finally bought the bear claw back scratcher! They have delicious pies as well! If you have not been, you must try!

    Western BBQ Burger with Homemade Crispy Onion Straws
    Wilde M.

    Food and service were great but what really made it was the dessert it was absolutely delicious, I had the home made banana cream pie, overall it was a great experience.

    Turkey dinner
    Sal F.

    Because you will never know "Black Bear " until you try it. Acknowledging "Black Bear " on skill, serve, value, and preparation on delivering great portions of American food. Keep up the great work "Black Bear ".

    2/28/2025.  Ayce Fish Friday for $17.69!
    Jeff F.

    I went here for the all you can eat fried fish on Friday for only $17.69! The food quality is decent but it's all about the quantity. The first plate includes three pieces of fried fish, choice of two sides, and three hush puppies. Each refill of fried fish will include two pieces and I was only able to eat two rounds total because the fish and sides were filling. Fried fish: the seasoned beer batter was crispy and the fish was tender and moderately flaky, 3.5/5 stars. Onion rings: these were typical, crispy batter with tender onions, 3.5/5 stars. Hush puppies: this is a filler but I still enjoyed these because these cornmeal balls are fried to a crisp while being fluffy on the inside. This is also a perfect compliment to fish, 3.5/5 stars. The service was efficient as we were seated immediately and our food was delivered to us without delay.

    The 11 Ounce Burger with American  Cheese.
    Tim M.

    Waitress "Cassie" comes over, tells the wife and I the other waitress is now off shift and will be taking over. The wife gets the Tri Tip and I get the 11 ounce burger (M/W) with 2 extra 1,000 Island dressings. The char on the outside of the burger and the juicy inside was really good. The 3rd time in a row the wife has to get the Tri Tip that she loves so much. No need "to beg" refills and our orders were perfect. That dressing for the burger and to dip my fries is was the bomb. So we just had to ask the very excellent waitress "Cassie" what her favorite thing on the menu is? "The Blackened Salmon. We agree because that is the other item ("Product" in McDonald CEO language) I like. Why only four stars? Well, back when this place first opened up, had some bad experiences, but now that the seasoned veterans are taking over and management has drastically improved, I give it four stars and soon to be five.

    Very disappointed with my experience. I found a fly in my food, including part of its leg, which is completely unacceptable and a serious hygiene issue. When I reported it, both the employee and the manager only said "sorry" and that was it. No replacement was offered and no proper action was taken. What made the situation worse is that they still brought the bill and expected us to pay after this happened. Food safety should be taken seriously. This experience was upsetting and very unprofessional. I hope this place improves its cleanliness and how they handle serious customer complaints.

    Chicken Caesar Sandwich
    Eliko S.

    If you're not a fan of bears or large portions, this is not the place for you. But if you are, keep on reading! BBD kindly sent me a coupon for a free bear's choice breakfast for my birthday. Naturally, I couldn't let that go to waste, so we hopped on the 8 and arrived at the diner around 3pm today. There were customers already dining in, but there was no wait, and there were plenty of open booths/tables. We were seated in the way back at a booth away from everything. I didn't love where we were seated, but I figured maybe the hostess was trying to distribute tables fairly among the servers, so I let it be. Nevaeh was our server and she was friendly and efficient. I ordered the bear's choice breakfast with chicken sausage (small upcharge). M had the Chicken Caesar Sandwich with onion rings. The food took about 15 minutes to arrive and when it did, we noted that the sandwich was crispy on the top but a little soggy on the bottom. The onion rings were also good, but there were only five on the plate. :( There were cute little flags on each sandwich half though. The bear's choice breakfast was great! I especially loved the chicken sausage. The scrambled eggs were also tasty & I enjoyed my pancake. M. ate the other one and enjoyed it. We enjoyed plenty of water with our meal. Once we were done, we waited for about 10 minutes, and then Nevaeh brought it to us. We checked out at the front desk and the bday coupon took $15 off of the bill. Very nice! Overall, we enjoyed our meal. Notes:. Plenty of free parking in the adjacent parking lots, Cute bear themed decor, Some sundries and Bear-themed items for sale by the front door

    Corned Beef Hash (front) & Chicken Fried Steak (back)
    Jalina R.

    First time here. Our server was great. Happily greeted us, was friendly and helpful. What we got - Corned Beef Hash - this wasn't your normal out of the can corned beef hash. It was real corned beef with potatoes. Hash browns were good and the biscuit was so good. Needed a little seasoning on everything but it was still good - Chicken Fried Steak - bf loved it. He added salt and pepper to his food. Pretty good portions of food here. There's so much on the menu to choose from.. we'll definitely be back.

    Chicken Sausage, Eggs, Potatoes and Biscuit

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    1 month ago

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    2 months ago

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    2 months ago

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    3 days ago

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    20 days ago

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    4 months ago

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    5 months ago

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    5 months ago

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    6 months ago

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    19 days ago

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    3 months ago

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    Keep feeding your inner bear! We look forward to seeing you soon Sal!

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    7 months ago

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    Black Bear Diner

    Jeff, thanks for your 4-star review! Keep Feeding Your Inner Bear!

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    1 month ago

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    4 months ago

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    27 days ago

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    8 months ago

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    10 months ago

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    Jalina, thanks for your 4-star review! Keep Feeding Your Inner Bear!

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    9 days ago

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    1 month ago

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    11 days ago

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    11 months ago

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    11 days ago

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    7 months ago

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    25 days ago

    Always great food, and friendly service, ESPECIALLY from Sol, she is such a lovely waitress!

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    2 months ago

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    4 months ago

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    4 days ago

    Excellent! Been here twice now for breakfast and both times the food and service have been great! Definitely going to be back.

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    2 months ago

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    3 months ago

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    1 year ago

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    8 days ago

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    2 months ago

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    2 months ago

    Food was so good!! Service was also great. I love that there is breakfast alllllll day!

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    9 months ago

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    9 months ago

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    1 year ago

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    4 months ago

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    Moana, thanks for your 4-star review! Keep Feeding Your Inner Bear!

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    1 year ago

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    Page 1 of 35

    Black Bear Diner El Cajon Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Black Bear Diner El Cajon

    Do you have corn beef and cabbage on St Patrick's Day?

    Yes we do!

    Is there a long wait on Sundays?

    Not really.. They get busy but they handle it very promptly. You can make reservations as well.. I was just there on a Sunday. Was a big line going outside, and we were sat in 15 minutes..:)

    Is there mac n cheese?

    Yes, white cheddar Mac and cheese. Then there is kraft Mac for the kids

    Do they serve beer?

    Yes they do, a multitude of them including a wine selection

    Do they deliver?

    No, I called and asked on that. Dine in and carry out.

    Do you serve mimosa's for breakfast?

    Yes they do...

    Tri tip dip sauce was very sour/tangy. Is that how it's supposed to taste?

    Yes it is au jus... it's literally beef juice

    Do they serve breakfast all day?

    All day every day Jaime ! Come on in and feed your inner bear!

    Sometimes we get free muffins sometimes we get charged does anyone know if I've been stealing these?

    Some plates come with them some don't. Sometimes we are trying to be nice if food is taking a while, and we might bring out some muffins to curve your hunger. If you are new to black bear, servers might bring them for you to try. If you had a less… Read more

    Is there free wifi?

    Yes I believe they did if I remember correctly

    Do they have a pet friendly patio?

    No they don't

    Any chance you have an allergen menu for soy sensitive customers?

    Yes! And we can look up the ingredients for any of our menu items upon request! We want to be able to accommodate and serve all our customers and attend to any dietary needs they may have!

    Do they serve alcohol?

    Howdy! We are in the process of obtaining our beer and wine licence and will be serving Beer, Wine, Champagne, and Mimosas once we obtain it!

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

    Izzy's Cafe - Strawberry stuffed crepes

    Izzy's Cafe

    (515 reviews)

    $$

    Bostonia

    The place was packed when we stepped in a little before 1 on a Tuesday. A good sign. Didn't wait…read morelong for a cozy booth, maybe 10 minutes. There were several quirky cute diners in the area so it was tough to choose. Ultimately, Izzy's menu excited me more than the others. I love the barbecue brunch thing going on, too. Very unique and we totally would've tried some ribs had we not gone to Phil's for the first time the night before and had a ton of leftovers. We split a Country Benny and the Jalapeño scramble, which had their homemade pulled pork in it. Julie was an outstanding server. Super patient, attentive, and helpful. You can choose muffins or coffee cake (only $1 extra!) instead of toast, which I love by the way, but I really appreciated that she asked if I had tried the coffee cake because it's not what I thought it was. She explained it as more of a vanilla cupcake with nuts and white icing? Which is kinda random that they call it coffee cake, but it made us opt for the zucchini muffin which was definitely the right choice. Moist, warm, and delicious to nibble on while we waited for the rest of our meal. She also asked if we needed anything else, like salsa, when our entrees came. Which, I usually alwayyys have to request but she was 2 steps ahead of us. The Bloody Mary was tasty and just strong enough to start our afternoon. I'm a huge sucka for biscuits & gravy and theirs really hit the spot. The sausage patty was so good and definitely homemade. Perfectly poached eggs harmoniously smothered in yummy gravy and fluffy biscuits. Crispy hashbrowns, great country potatoes. The scramble was good, too. Pulled pork had a nice smoky flavor and I've never seen nor had it with eggs before which is awesome. The portions were just right. Not huge, but we got full and everything tasted great so what more can you ask for? The deep fried pie! Duh. Super bummed we didn't take a peach one home...

    We've been coming to Izzy's Cafe for about a year now and really enjoy it. Most of the staff is…read moresuper friendly, attentive, and always makes us feel very welcomed. One of the things we appreciate most is that they remember our regular order, which gives the place such a personal and neighborhood feel. The food quality is consistently good and the portions are generous. From the outside, it may not look like much, but don't judge a book by its cover... the food and service keep us coming back. They also have plenty of indoor seating along with some outdoor seating options, which is nice depending on the weather. They also have a private parking lot. Overall, a great local spot with welcoming service and solid food. Definitely worth checking out.

    Black Bear Diner El Cajon - diners - Updated May 2026

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