Black Bear Diner

Good food, horrible service and dirty. As soon as I saw this dirty I felt like throwing up. I made my food to go. I can’t imagine how the kitchen looks. Never again at this place

A Coworker and I passed through Merced on our way home and the experience was great. The atmosphere was cheerful and upbeat, our good was great and the wait staff was prompt and very helpful. This is one of the best Black Bear Diner’s I have been to. Our waitress was Katrina and she was on top of everything, special things we asked for and keeping the coffee cups full. Bravo!

This place was awesome! Had one of the best breakfasts of all time!!! Food was cooked perfect and the biscuits and gravy were out if this world! Our server Crystal was awesome and made our experience even better! She was prompt and super nice and sweet! Definitely will sit her section again!

I had the California Benedict and it was very good. I asked for the muffins to be week done and grill the tomatoes. That’s the way I like it and that’s what they did. Service was great. Black bear is a little high on the prices. I had OJ also for $ 17.80.

I had breakfast here this morning and I have no complaints. The Veggie omelet was great and the biscuit was ginormous. I have never seen a biscuit that big. Will definitely come back. Service was great too

I was there Tuesday morning for breakfast 1÷12÷16, and I had the Hobo Omelette. It was the best omelette I’ve had in Merced. My server was a sweetheart and the young lady who sat us was too. Everything was nice and clean and this was just our first time here. The food came out fast and just perfect there was SO much food! I will be back for breakfast again very soon!

I have ate at other Black Bear diners and I have to say I was very disappointed in the restaurant. I should have known that when you see a restaurant not busy that is a sign. The food was hefty but I can cook better at home when I want to. When you need a break from cooking it should be worth it. This was not. I also feel it was too pricey. I don’t go out to eat alot, but when I do I don’t want to be let down.

I want to give this place a worse rating, but the wait staff was very friendly and helpful that I can’t rate them too low. My experience about a week ago was not a good one. I had only been here about 2 times in the last 3 years. I figured I’d give it another try since I thought it was pretty good last time I was there. When the food came out, my scrambled eggs were a big, runny mess of yolk and slimy egg white. Gross. I notified the server and he apologized and took them and brought me fully cooked scrambled eggs. I started eating the corned beef hash/​egg plate. After a few bites of the corned beef hash, I was surprised to be crunching down on hard pickling spices and peppercorns. Really?! Who serves something like that? I picked out all the hard peppercorns and attempted to eat my meal. The corned beef looked like bottom of the barrel with hard, crunchy pieces of corned beef. I did not send it back, but instead told the server of my discontent. He apologized profusely and offered me a piece of pie, which I declined. I appreciate him trying to make my experience better, but they need to work with their cooks to ensure they are serving edible food. I wouldn’t boycott the place, but I may wait to see if their food gets better.

My family loved eating here for breakfast. We use to dine here at least 2 – 3 times a month, until one of the hostess who seated us licked her fingers to separate the paper placemats that she expected us to use at our table. That just grossed me out! She did give us new ones when I politely asked her to, but did not wash her hands before giving us «new ones». I just haven’t had the appetite to eat there again. As for the food, Black Bear restaurants in general are great with reasonable prices. Love the pancakes and chicken fried steak. Also love their omelets.

This review is about the food, not the service.
We stopped in for dessert and coffee after visiting a local attraction. The desserts we were served were dry, and tasted as if they were stale. For a company that brags on their website about their «home-​style cooking from recipes like your grandma used», I was shocked at what we were served.
After eating just a few bites, we decided to get «to go» boxes and head home. As we were boxing up the desserts, we noticed that the dish the dessert was served had a «use by this date» sticker from the day before our visit.
As we looked at the other dishes (there were 4 of us)… we noticed all the desserts (Bread Pudding, Cheesecake, Molten Chocolate Lava Cake, and a Bear Claw), were dated from the previous day. Upon mentioning it to the manager, we were told that their desserts have a shelf life of 2 – 3 days.
We were charged just north of $ 38 for 4 desserts and 4 coffees; definitely not worth it considering the quality of the desserts.

Used to be great. I’ve come here a lot. Enjoyed it a lot… in the past. I stopped eating here for about a year, up until recently because i found a dust ball attached to the bottom of my sandwich. Never complained; just stopped eating here. I decided to start giving the place a shot again recently and my experience has been… bad. So today was the last time unfortunately. I ordered a chicken avocado club sandwich, like always, for carry out. Got the sandwich, brought it home and when I opened the box, i was shocked to see the avocado in my sandwich was just covered in mold. How the HELL are your cooks ok with serving this? How dare you serve this crap! I’ve posted the pictures of the avocado on the sandwich, so feel free to check out how disgusting it was. To be honest, I feel like I have to report this as a health violation.

This restaurant chain is my «go to» for breakfast when I’m traveling. Fresh squeezed OJ, «real» sour dough bread & well put together meals.

First time here, heard a lot about it and we’re glad we came the biscuits & gravy are really good. Definitely coming back when we’re in NoCal.

Service was horrible. Staff stand around chit chatting instead of being attentive. I went in for breakfast at dinner time (closer to 9pm) and was served sour cream instead of butter for my pancakes. Server was short with us and wanted to watch the UFC fight instead. Pancakes tasted sour! Ewww gross, we clearly didn’t even take more than 2 bites and all the hostess said was sorry and didnt take it off the bill. Likely hood of returning here… slim to none. Such a disappointment!

I had dinner here with friends and came back for breakfast the next day. Yes, it’s that good. Their salads are huge, great food, and all the staff who served us were really nice.

We were searching for restaurants in the area and this was the only one that closed at 10pm. It only gave us about 45 minutes to eat but we were satisfied with this choice. The waitress was quick and efficient with taking our orders so our food came out within 10 minutes. One peach cobbler a la mode, a blt sandwich and fish tacos. Peach cobbler was more like peach pie, no cobbler topping but it was decent. Blt was mehh, nothing special. Fish tacos were good, fish was fried well and it came with refried beans, coleslaw, pico de gallo and sour cream. The coleslaw had way too much vinegar but it ended up being the best out of all three items, Iwould give it a 6 out of 10. We were done eating within 40 minutes, I’ve had better diner food so I won’t be returning.

Love the food. The 3 stars is for the food. However, I brought my little brother & sisters out to dinner here one night & there were two girls at the front desk that pissed me off. (Excuse my language)
We walked in and they looked straight at us yet did not greet us. One of the girls looked at us and left and the other stood there looking at her computer for 5 minutes until she would even look up at us. Talk about awkward.
I felt completely disrespected. Those two girls need an attitude check and a job that doesn’t require them to deal with people; their social skills suck.
However, our server was great! I guess it’s a hit or miss with the staff.

Food 4 – 5 stars. Service 4 stars. Bathrooms –1.
Not only was the layout weird (6 inches clearance on either side of the toilet in the small stall), but dirty. I’ve seen cleaner restrooms in gas stations out in the middle of the desert.

Traveling through! Hungry for some breakfast! AND DID WE GET BREAKFAST! The largest portions of everything you could possibly want (delicious to boot) for an all-​American breakfast! My goodness! I still can’t believe the size of that biscuits and Gravy! The only thing I was sorry about was that I got full with so much food still left in front of me.
We had excellent service… friendly all around. Loved it and will eat there again when passing through.

Decent little diner, I’ve been here a couple times with friends.
The Chorizo Scrambles my favorite– it’s just not as spicy as I’d like. The Sweet Cream waffles are decent. And apparently the steak & eggs are delish! Definitely a good little breakfast spot– Never had lunch here, so I can’t speak for that. Service is always on point, Richard was our server & he was hilarious!