I came here with family because we were all feeling like a good fish fry. I haven't been here in years and so I wasn't sure what to expect. The place hasn't changed much at all since I was last here. Still the classic log cabin setup with high ceilings, beautiful woodwork and various animal mounts. You really get the up-north feels here. Service is friendly and the place had a classic supper club vibe to it. The whole table almost ordered the pan fried walleye meal but my son decided he wanted to try the lobster bisque. Walleye was great, a nice piece of fish perfectly cooked. It wasn't a Shore Lunch camp dinner event but it was pretty good without making a fishing trip. My son's lobster bisque was really good, lots of meat and very rich. All in all, we had a good time at the lodge. I'm glad we went back to give them another visit. Fun place to visit, especially if you are a tourist or out of towner and you want an up-north ambiance meal. For the locals, this place still is a great place for a nice lunch/dinner. read more

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We had excellent service and were pleased with the variety of menu options. Our party ordered street tacos, burgers, quesadillas and soup. read more

Black Bear Lodge & Saloon - What up? - Steakhouses Near Me - Baxter, Minnesota

Delightful birthday dinner with family. Service was excellent - even giving us extra utensils for sharing. Walleye dinners and lobster bisque were superb. Mashed potatoes and au gratin potatoes delicious. Loved the complimentary cookie sundae we shared! read more

Great environment. Service has always been good. Portions are good to very good. Nothing jumps out but always a good option. Good menu variety. Walleye sandwich was large and filling. Kids liked their options. read more

We visited during a blizzard and the place was pretty quiet. The server was charming and attentive to us throughout the meal. We had cheese curds slightly over cooked and some great salads. We will stop by again in the summer to check out the patio. read more

Black Bear Lodge & Saloon - Vibes - Steakhouses Near Me - Baxter, Minnesota

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I wished it was great, I wanted it to be good... but it was terrible...service, quality, beat up outdated ... bummer!

Great service, very woodsy-cabin like feel inside with light background music and dim lighting , food was pretty good. Cheese curds and au gratin potatoes were the fan favorites. read more

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We stopped mid-afternoon for a late lunch so it was very quiet but the atmosphere was very nice and relaxing. The service was excellent as was our food. My husband has swallowing issues and the server was very attentive to what he needed which was much appreciated. read more

The service was great, both at the bar and our table. We both had a walleye sandwich, it was big and delicious. Good beer choices too.

The chips are !! Fresh made every day! Loved them! We got the shrimp burger and the walleye sandwich and will absolutely be going back! 2 in the afternoon and the service was great! Yes!! read more

Black Bear Lodge & Saloon - Shrimp burger! - Steakhouses Near Me - Baxter, Minnesota

Sweet heat wings were amazing. Large, juicy, great sauce. Waitress was also very attentive.

Stopped by for the prime rib only served Thursdays through I think Saturday. It was tender and rare the way I like it. However it came out lukewarm. Tasty though. Service was prompt and friendly read more

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Walleye was pretty good, salad was crisp and the drinks were stiff! Inside feels like a big cabin, pretty cool. read more

The decor is a amazing and we found the hospitality was great from when we entered until we left. Our cheese curds came out fast and our main dishes followed at a perfect time. All of our food was warm and had wonderful presentations. My pork shoulder could have used more Demi as it looked and tasted a bit dry but it was ok. They also have a great wine, beer and full bar selection with some fun in house cocktails. read more

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Our server recommended the chicken quesadillas and they were really good! It had Gouda cheese and nice simple appetizer hard to go wrong. I had the walleye sandwich which tasted so fresh and delicious, bread had a beautiful crisp on it. I didn't care for the chips that much but it was a good tasting pickle on the side. The wild rice soup was ok, I'm used to my mom's so I can't say I'm obsessed, I'm a bit of a soup snob. And the house salad was good had a lightly breaded walleye on the side which was refreshing, and fresh Parmesan (I had the dressing on the side). What threw me into a five star instead of a four was the server was phenomenal. All smiles and compliments made good recommendations and had a lighthearted attitude which made it easy to joke. I don't think you should expect this after a meal but he gave me some Carmel candy which was really nice and made me happy. The restaurant looked cool liked the log cabin look. Kind of a typical setting I wouldn't write a poem about it but I'd happily go again. Quick Overview: Chicken quesadilla- good flavor, would order again Walleye sandwich- fresh and crisp would order again Chicken wild rice soup- good but I'm a soup snob so would probably get something else next time House salad- nice and refreshing with delicious ingredients. read more

Black Bear Lodge & Saloon - Chicken Quesadilla - Steakhouses Near Me - Baxter, Minnesota

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The drinks and food are consistently good - we come here regularly and they always have some items on a rotating menu to keep things fresh, which we appreciate! read more

Black Bear Lodge & Saloon - Grilled Prime Rib Sandwich - Steakhouses Near Me - Baxter, Minnesota

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Came in for dinner with my family on a Saturday night to celebrate a birthday. We were seated right away we all ordered steaks. One of our steaks there was so much fat on it. It was not trimmed. 1/3 of the steak was all fat and gristle that is normally not how ribeye is supposed to be properly trimmed. It appeared to be a very poor cut of meat and lacked in flavor. The other two steaks came out almost blue and they were both filet mignon's well one of us was eating. The other two waited for the steaks to be returned only to find out they put our existing steaks back on the grill. One of them came out completely overcooked when asked and brought to our servers attention, she went back and spoke to the manager on duty and they took $40 off of our tab. my daughter didn't even eat any of her food except the baked potato that $40 did not even cover her meal. It was one of the worst experiences we've had as far as steaks for quite some time, and this place came highly recommended. We felt the way this was handled was poorly, as well as the compensation to try to remedy the issue. The server seemed irritated as it was almost the end of her shift so we paid our tab and left. Our bill still came to $177 with tip for an entrée that tasted like it was microwaved. Our salads had brown lettuce in them and lack in flavor. The entire experience at your restaurant was poor at best. I feel like our time was wasted, and our special occasion to dime together over a birthday was ruined by poor service and poor quality of food. read more

Went to Black Bear Lodge and Saloon for dinner and ordered the Walley sandwich for $17. This is not Walley. So disappointing. Definitely not going back. read more

Black Bear Lodge & Saloon - Fake Walley Sandwich for 17$ This is not Walley. So disappointing that they would try to pass this off as such. - Steakhouses Near Me - Baxter, Minnesota

Firstly the "legendary" wild rice soup was not legendary. Lobster bisque was heavy but good. Despite what doctor purk said the place was nice. Fish tacos were good but the sauce was too much. Fish was fine and fries were fries. Cheese curds were decent at best. Overall okay read more

I really like this place. I keep ordering the same thing because dang it ---it's tasty. The wild rice soup and a reuben hoagie sandwich. Delicious. Drinks are decently priced and made well. Nice atmosphere and decent friendly service. read more

Outstanding dinner again from Black Bear Lodge. The Take & Heat dinner option is awesome. Ribs, Au Gratin Potatoes. Salad and wings. In the oven for 20min, and voila. If you are up north, order and pickup your diner here. Oh and skip dessert and get a quart of the chicken wild rice soup. Decadent. Support our small local restaurants that are getting killed by government overreach. read more

Good food and service, reasonable prices. We got served promptly by very friendly wait staff!

Ordered the walleye dinner, everything was excellent! Very gluten free aware restaurant. Had rolls and buns for dinner and burgers. Love the environment and our waitress, Jessica was great! Overall awesome experience! Would go back due to so many menu items to choose from..love! read more

The Wild Rice Soup and Lobster Bisque were tasty. The Walleye sandwich would have been better if the server placed the order correctly. Asked for Fried git pan fried was good but really wanted deep fried. The onion rings were greasy and soggy. All in all it was a satisfactory meal but not necessarily going to go out of my way to head back. Should have recognized the #1 sign of questionable restaurants an almost empty parking lot at Sunday Lunchtime... read more

The building is beautiful. The food is very over priced for what it is. Don't expect anything too amazing, which is unfortunate compared to the atmosphere. I had their catering at an event recently however and it was significantly better than their sit down experience. read more

Yum! We stopped for supper and were surprised by the wonderful food. The lobster bisque and chicken wild rice were incredible. We had the cheese curds (they were ok but not amazing). The Cuban sandwich was very good & the dressing was tasty. The chips are homemade. The lobster Mac & cheese was amazing. The burger was also very good. The server was very attentive and polite. We will for sure be back. read more

Love this place! Best chicken wild rice soup in town. Pleasant staff and good drinks. Chicken quesadilla is also bomb. My favorite is the half turkey sand with soup. Definitely recommend. read more

I've been going to Black Bear for years. The chicken and wild rice soup is awesome. I will say I think the menu is overpriced for what you get. Basic sandwiches and burgers are good but are probably not worth $14. Service is a little slow. All in all, I'd recommend. read more

Black Bear Lodge & Saloon - Chicken and wild rice soup - Steakhouses Near Me - Baxter, Minnesota

Black Bear has the classic "Up North" log cabin charm. When you walk in the front door, you can either go right into the dining room or left into the bar dining room. The dining room was closed for a private party so we went left into the bar dining room. Service: Our server was great. She was hilarious, she kept cracking jokes and we loved it. She was very busy because she had about 7 tables to her self but she always kept our drinks full and was very attentive. Food: My dad and I are obsessed with wings. We ordered wings as an app. We had half medium and half honey BBQ. I'm not a huge fan of medium wings because I'm a whimp when it comes to spice, however theirs were delicious. They had the heat element, but they had great flavor of sweet and spicy. They didn't just burn as they went down. The honey BBQ were also very tasty. As my main meal I had the Cuban. My favorite part was that they added pepperoncinis. I've never had that on a Cuban before! ***This is a note for the management. In the bar there was a large gap between the doors that go out to the patio. It was -7 the day I was in Brainerd and the bar dining room was FREEZING. You could feel the breeze from the crack across the room. This is an issue that can be fixed with with $10 worth of weather stripping. It would also save $$ on heating costs! read more

Black Bear Lodge & Saloon - Crack in the doors in the bar dining room. Hello outside in -7 degrees - Steakhouses Near Me - Baxter, Minnesota

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The food here was good considering. The wine tasted like the last of the bottle. The server was great. read more

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Sat at bar. Great bartender. She was very attentive to my every need. The prime rib dinner was great. The potatoes au gratin came in there own little bowl and was a nice touch. This is a dismal boring part of town along busy highway. I stayed at the Super 8 and walked there. read more

Black Bear Lodge & Saloon - Prime Rib splurge - Steakhouses Near Me - Baxter, Minnesota

Great atmosphere. Clean and lots of light. Service very professional and very hospitable. The appetizers are very good and the food is high quality and abundant. I gave 3 stars instead of four due to an issue that repeats all over many restaurants. Spicy hot food. I am not talking Thai. Regular delicious American food contaminated with habaneros, and any other tongue burning ingredients. Like hot spicy honey? The restaurants are concern, with no reason, about gluten. Gluten is good, except for ONLY the 1% of the population that suffers a medical problem. Restaurant do a nice propaganda for their own benefit to attract that 1%. What about the 30% of people that suffer gastritis? The restaurant give no alternative to " hot burning " free meals. It would be a 4. Because as a whole it is a great restaurant. read more

Decided to find a good steak dinner! We were pleasantly surprised! The steak was good. The atmosphere was nice! The only reason I am giving a 3 star rating is because the female bartender was very loud. This was a week night so not many people...but she was just loud and appeared to be sort of abrasive to the couple men sitting at the bar. As I said, the steak was pretty good!! read more

Pretty cool place. I got a vibe like it was possibly a chain, probably because they have a very extensively architected log cabin theme going on, but I only saw the one and the food was better than I would expect from a chain. I had the fried Walleye sandwich which was great. I had never even heard of walleye before I went to Minnesota, and I was an instant fan. The creamy wild rice soup was awesome too. read more

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Awesome atmosphere. Great decor. I ordered the grilled prime rib sandwich. 10/10. Will be back.

Great food, well priced lunches, and nice staff. Definitely would return. Wish I lived closer, it would be a go to place. read more

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We stopped here with friends one Sunday afternoon for lunch based on the Yelp reviews. We were not disappointed. We ordered the walleye plate. It was DELICIOUS! Even the mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables were out of this world. (And I am a stickler for mashed potatoes. In most restaurants they taste fake). For dessert we ordered the bread pudding due the waitress 's recommendation. I normally would not order that. It was AMAZING. The waitress (Tammy) could not have been nicer. Really personable. She made our visit very enjoyable. I am sad I do not live closer to this restaurant because it would become our go to place if we lived close by. If we are ever in the Baxter area again we will certainly dine there. read more

My food was outstanding and my server was really attentive and kind! I recommend the lobster bisque and club sandwich read more

Black Bear Lodge & Saloon - Steakhouses Near Me - Baxter, Minnesota

When you show up it seems promising. The prices looked reasonable from the look of the place you would expect nothing less. Then the food comes to the table and.... WOW what is this? Did I just go to a drive up and eat Checkers.... Because that is the quality of food that is given. But wait we have more! The taste matches the presentation of the food. So the best part is any drink you can buy to try and wash it all down. As for why I gave it a two stars is simply because it looks like a nice place so you would expect nice food. But looks don't feed you sadly. If you read this and still go try it for yourself. Just remember you have been warned. read more

They have the best buffalo wings I've ever eaten. They are crispy but don't have thick breaded coating . And the sauce! I could eat it with a spoon! The buffalo sauce and blue cheese dressing alike, they make them both from scratch in house and they're both amazing. read more