What can I say oh yeah, out of the 3 chefs the head chef Gabriel couldn't handle the load of service, not being a team player with the staff, arguing with our server, half ass food made plus not getting my pancakes ugh I know right. The server was calm and handled everything, left her a good tip and manger gave us 5% off the meals. read more

I had pointed out the Black Bear to my husband as we drove by and I said that it was a good restaurant. I had to the Tulare location before several times over the years. Since my husband had never been, he was curious (and most importantly: hungry!) we stopped on our way back home. It proved to be well worth the trip! Today we had breakfast, juice, and a coffee for me! Everything was perfect, and we enjoyed some quality time chatting while we waited for our food. Yes, it took a bit longer than an average sit down restaurant would have taken, but when everything is freshly made it is worth the wait! Our waiter today was very attentive and he seemed nice enough if a bit stressed out. He was serving about 2/3 of the dining area alone and it was getting pretty busy toward the end of our visit. We were sure to show our appreciation for him when the bill arrived. I look forward to visiting again sometime, (The portions are HUGE, which is why I say "sometime" instead of "soon.") and I hope to find the same great place when I return! read more

Black Bear Diner Gilroy - California Eggs Benedict - Diners Near Me - Gilroy, California

This place was such a great find!! Amazing food, service, everything. My husband and I moved to Gilroy a little under a year ago and would always drive past this restaurant when we would be driving around our neck of the woods. I finally mustered enough courage to check it out one day while he was at work. It was the most unexpectedly pleasant experience I had in a while. The place inside is decked out with black teddybears and tons of really fun and cool merchandise. I just walked around wide eyed with a huge smile on my face as I admired how much effort and dedication Black Bear Diner put into making their little restaurant so comfy and wonderful for it's customers. The staff greeted me with smiles and set the overall tone to what would be one of tr best and refreshing dining experiences I've had in a while and my husband and I eat out ALOT as newlyweds. The menu is a newspaper (how awesome is that?!) and while I was in my booth, sipping out of my cute coffee mug with a black bear on it, I began to notice a reoccurring theme besides the bears, the smiles on all the diners! Everybody seemed to be overly cheerful and satisfied, it was awesome! The food (I ordered "The Grizz") and it was over the top delicious! The Huge fluffy homemade pancakes down to the thick crispy bacon was all wonderful and you can bet anything I will be back and be telling all my friends about this gem. Thanks Black Bear Diner for the breath of fresh air. To think, it took me almost a year to be so unexpectedly but pleasantly surprised! PS. Kudos to the guy in a black bear suit who was outside in the Gilroy sun waving at cars passing by on a Friday and who then came in and greeted young children who were celebrating their birthday there, complete with giant Black Bear balloons! =) read more

Black Bear Diner Gilroy - These pancakes were phenomenal... So flavorful it was hard to put my fork down. - Diners Near Me - Gilroy, California

black bear introduced to me a couple of years ago by a close friend of mine. Coming from san jose all the way to gilroy to eat I was thinking what a crazy idea. until i had breakfast at black bear. tri tip scramble, ny steak sandwich w/garlic fries, bacon burger, california scramble, I have yet to order food that i disliked. the service is always great and black bear is open late 12:00am. Well worth a drive to gilroy and its always great to walk around the gilroy outlets after eating a huge portion of whatever. read more

WOW, want a good BANG for your buck? GO HERE. After eating here, my boyfriend and I have agreed to our new rule while eating out and saving up: only go places where the portions are HUGE so we are each forced to only eat half of our plates, as leftovers are the next meal! Grillz breakfast: 2 tasty pancakes (made with sweet cream, and a touch of vanilla) 3 eggs (scrambled to perfection, not too dry or anything!) 4 sausage links (nothing to crazy, but decently good, 2 extra cuz i didn't want the ham thing) 2 bacon strips (thick cut, meaty bacon) 1 order of potato strip has browns (less flavor and less crispy than usual but that's because there's less oil used) Big Bear Burger: FAT ASS BURGER, with strips of pickles the patty was perfectly sized and cooked exactly as we wanted not much flavor or craziness, but a good hamburger lots of semi grilled red onions oh, and choice of many sides, we got garlic fries Everything is made in house...but I don't think the clam chowder is. Just my opinion. It's okay though, they forgot to charge us for that har har. Total for 2, plus a big to-go box: 22 bucks! The ambiance there is SO CUTE, I love it SO MUCH. It's definitely whored out; the whole bear theme, but i love it. Definitely coming back when I'm at the outlets. read more

Food wasn't bad...but it wasn't particularly good either. I was disappointed with the service and overwhelmed with hella bears EVERYWHERE. One person ordered a burger with no cheese and his food came out with cheese on it. The waitress took his food away and brought him another burger....with cheese on it. Wth, right? Got his order wrong, twice! Finally, he got his food...cheese free, but by that time, most of us were done with our meal. Also, I never got a refill on my drink until the end of my meal. Even though our waitress was nice, she took too long and made two many mistakes. read more

Such a nice diner! I always thought and didn't pay much attention to this place in Gilroy until I took a road trip through California. Seemingly they had a location in almost every town we drove through, or it may just have appeared that way. It was nice to see a familiar place other than the usual Micky Ds or Denny's. My wife and I plan to hit all their locations someday. LOL! read more

Homey cabin like feel to the place. I have always wanted to try it here. The waitress was very helpful and friendly. The place was clean and organized. We saw many other Yelper take pictures of their food and we were glad we shared the food! We got the Chicken Avocado Club with garlic fries. The garlic fries is not part of the menu but you can ask for it. The portions are huge! We also ordered our drinks and a bowl of chili. Man, the bowl was freakin double the size of a regular bowl!! Humongous I say!! But all in all, the sandwich didn't have much flavor that I had to add a little salt and pepper. I hate adding salt to my food. The fries are a little overdone and ok but they actually roasted the garlic bits which I liked. Never seen that done before?! I had that with a side of ranch for more flavor. As for the bowl of chili, it lacked flavor even if they added cheese and onions on it. It was also whole beans; not fond of that either. The chili came with corn bread and butter. Now, that was good and moist! Nothing special here unfortunately.... Not sure if I will be back as I have had better place. read more

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We had dinner here. I ordered the dijon mustard crusted salmon. DH had the chicken parm. Both comes with 2 sides and a salad. They forgot to give us our cornbread. Chicken parm was good! My salmon was undercooked. It was raw in the center! I had to send it backl Staff was friendly. Just really nice. read more

Wow! I had no idea Denny's had burgers this good! I ordered through doordash a double cheese burger and added bacon. A must try for everyone that lives burgees. This burger is huge. Definitely worth ordering. read more

Had the worst experience ever ! The manager was super rude when asking for a new order because they had messed up, she just had the worst attitude ever . The restaurant has lost all type of customer service . Never coming back here again . Save your money & time. read more

Gave it a one star because I couldn't go lower, horrible service and the manager should be demoted to janitor, seems to be more his skill level. Was with a friend and I got my food after maybe 45 min and he never got it till I was past done. Then the server said it'll be right out... place was a joke. read more

We went here in 2019 for Thanksgiving dinner. Sadly, it was the worst turkey dinner I ever ate. Neither my son nor I ate our dinners and they did not charge us for them. They were out of turkey gravy and substituted country gravy...not a good option. I wish they would have just said they were out of turkey instead of giving me shredded turkey picked from the bone. They tried, it just was not very good. read more

Sooo yummy!!! Always love supporting small business! Great food-just forgot to get us a water and kind of busy (because they're busy!) read more

Black Bear Diner Gilroy - Diners Near Me - Gilroy, California

Really good breakfast spot in Gilroy. Great selection, and everything is cooked to perfection. They even listen to special instructions like "cook eggs lately" which is important to my wife. read more

This place is great for a quick breakfast. Love the sweetness of the pancakes too! Customer service is decent, but the cooks are doing the heavy lifting! read more

Very busy today, had about a 10 to 20 minute Waited before we were seated. Did wait to long before we ordered and got our food rather fast. Clean and staff running around like crazy. All had smiles as they served everyone. Good food and the milkshakes were good and the leftovers on them were like getting 2 for the price as one. read more

Black Bear Diner Gilroy - Diners Near Me - Gilroy, California

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I was visiting this area and my wife wanted coffee so I stopped in for a break. We sat at the counter and Maria brought my wife her coffee. Maria has a great attitude. If I could put it into words it would be line, "How can I help you?" Maria you are a delight and we enjoyed meeting you. read more

Friendly service, patient wait staff, clean restaurant,, good food, good prices What else could Black Bear be? Building's a little dark inside but that's the way the building's situated, bit due to lack of lighting. It's our go-to when we have a group. read more

Black Bear Diner is one of my favorite places to eat, they are all usually very consistent with there food and service. This was the worst BBD I have ever been to. The service was so bad, it took 45 minutes to get a salad and a hamburger. My salad was wilted and brown. The bathroom was dirty. No paper towels or toilet paper in any stalls. Needs new management. read more

Never ate here before today, very glad we came in. very satisfied! Customer service was excellent very fast. Very clean family friendly place. Food was delicious fairly priced great portion. I got the tri tip dip highly recommend. read more

Great dinner at Black Bear Diner. We were looking for something different and they truly have something for everyone. We had Meatloaf and mashed potatoes along with stuffed cheeseburgers and garlic fries. Everything was really good and the service was great too. We look forward to coming back to try other menu items. read more

Black Bear Diner Gilroy - Bacon and Cheddar Cheese Stuffed Burger with Garlic Fries. - Diners Near Me - Gilroy, California

This place doesn't deserve even 0! Awful old steak which was also burnt to death (asked for medium well). Chicken smelled weird & tasted the same. Vegetables were terrible & unsalted. When I told the waiter about the steak he seemed to ignore it so i just asked for my check! $43 for all this! Never will be back again and do not recommend to anyone! Only water was fresh! Thx for that at least! read more

I don't leave a lot of reviews, but when you have a hungry mama bear and two wild cubs at home and the whole order isn't there, then there is a problem. Unfortunately it's not the first time we've had this happen at this location. The first time was biscuits were missing (oh well, we don't need the carbs). This time we are missing 3 eggs. Might not seem like a lot, but when you have a hungry house someone isn't getting their eggs (papa bear gets left out). The first time was a phone order, this second was an online order. You might tell me to check my boxes next time, but when they hand you a huge bag full of boxes and it is busy, you trust it's accurate. Saving grace for the stars is the food is always good! read more

Wonderful service and staff! Hardworking people serving quality food with real hospitality! 5 stars!

Traveling alone with a dog makes for some interesting choices of where to eat. I decided to give the Black Bear a shot because it was adjacent to the hotel I was staying in, and I could see my car, and keep half an eye on my dog while waiting for my order. I called my order in from my hotel room and got a pick up time. My order should have been a slam dunk. Salad. Pot roast. Pie a la mode - heated, ice cream on the side. I showed up at the appointed time and my order was not ready. It wasn't ready 15 minutes later. Nor 15 minutes after that. Finally, I hear my name. I check the bag. There is no dressing for the salad. There is no silverware, no napkins, no salt and pepper. This seems to be more than my waitress can handle as first she drops the dressing, has to have someone set up another cup for her, and has to be reminded several times that I still need silverware, napkins, salt and pepper. I've never seen a wait-staff person move so slow. Back at the room, I discover that there is no gravy on the dry pot roast. The steamed vegetables are pablum. The "pie" is cold. Then it turns out that it isn't even pie. It's "cobbler", or an aluminum bowl full of berry pie filling with a thick piece of dense crust over the top of it. At least I was able to make the best of a bad situation by throwing away the crust, heating the pie filling up in the microwave, after pouring most of it into a paper coffee cup, and pouring the hot filling over the ice cream. And THAT was the best part of this meal. Incompetent service, sketchy food, an attitude that showed a lack of pride and care. Would not eat here again. read more

My mother-in-law, daughter & I went here to get lunch today. The manager; I didn't get her name but she wears glasses & has short dark hair. I asked how long the wait was & she said, 20 min. We waited for those 20 min & I asked how much longer it was going to be & was told that there were 7 other people ahead of us & it was going to be at least 30 min longer. I asked why we were told 20 min & the manager gave me an attitude saying I was given "a guesstimate". She even stated, "What am I supposed to do? Tell you to leave?" How does the manager not know how to guesstimate time frames to be seated? So now... I'm at Applebee's. Too bad Black Bear. And I'm a good tipper. Won't be going back there for a while. read more

Terrible customer service on phone orders... poorly managed. Why is your to go service so poor. Called for a to go order after 4 minutes on hold still no answer.. I called back and they said We are busy and no manager and no one able to take a phone order.. poorly done James. I asked for another person to take phone order and after another 3 minute hold I hung up. Terrible customer service?? read more

Very disappointing. Drove up from San Jose to eat here and the restaurant was freezing cold. All the customers were wearing coats. Just miserable to go out and eat and then be treated with such lack of respect for the. customer. Plus, my food was cold. So to sum it up I drove 30 miles to ate in a miserably cold atmosphere to eat microwaved food! Menu was still limited so no reason to ever go back! I told the manager ant the end and got a n apology but he should have picked up on the situation earlier. My husbands food was ok, his steak was over seasoned with something so he could only eat a few bites and his vegetables were cold. His fries were good and hot. read more

We had to stop by the outlet mall here in Gilroy so we decided to do it right around dinner time nine we had several choices in the area. We decided to come to Black bear diner knowing the reputation, and other services we had at other facilities. We arrived here place is pretty full of other clients but we were pleasantly surprise to get a table very quickly, although the hostesses seem like she was very upset or mad at something she had no personality whatsoever. As we shut down the waiter came to our table - for drinks and probably brought those drinks for us. We were ready to order in which he did take. At the end of us place in our orders our waiter was very good at making sure he repeated everything to us as we have special items on a few of the orders. Upon the food arrival it was hot it was fresh and it was well served we didn't have many complaints about this location. The reason we did not give us a five star rating was for two reasons. Reason one of the hostesses was very unpleasant almost to the point of being rude. The second reason is due to how cold it was where we were sitting we happen to be sitting underneath the air vents and since it was a warm day outside we know why the air conditioning was on not a big deal but enough for us to put on our jackets read more

I am writing this review for others with small kiddos who might be doing what I did- heading to Gilroy Gardens for the day and looking for a breakfast/brunch spot on the way. This is a perfect location for a stop in on the way to GG - and it is very kid friendly. The kids menu is very reasonably priced with most options hovering around $4 and for huge huge portions. I was pleased to find healthy (under 550) calorie options on the menu - and ordered an egg white scramble with grilled chicken, avocado and spinach. The waitress was very kind to me- solo with two toddlers and even brought over extra napkins and hot water at the end to help with the syrup explosion. A few things on my food weren't perfect (it ended up coming with chicken sausage, not chicken like the menu indicated) and I couldn't locate the avocado, but for $20 in and out and friendly servers and crayons.... it's a win! read more

I hadn't had a chance to get back to BBD in several years but I ate there yesterday and am happy to report that it's as good as ever. Portions still huge, prices still reasonable, service still solid. What hit me when eating there again is COMFORT: Comfort food, comfort (oldies) music, comfortable atmosphere. Love BBD. Wish we lived closer. read more

Black Bear Diner Gilroy - Gotta love a place that unapologetically puts customer service first -- and lives up to it - Diners Near Me - Gilroy, California

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Literally treated like I was invisible. Finally just walked out. The food looked like shit as well, chicken tenders looked like safeway frozen. read more

We went into this diner hoping to eat inside, but Monterey County restaurants were ordered shut for dine-in customers due to COVID-19. The staff was still extremely nice and helpful. We ordered food to go and they brought everything we needed to eat in the car out to us. Portions were still large and all of our food was fresh. read more

The food was okay and the place seemed clean but the extreme volume of music playing made it a bad experience. We asked our server if the music could be turned down. (We were there for breakfast and the place was empty). The server made some unintelligible excuse and the volume remained the same. So we left as soon as possible, no lingering over a cup of coffee. read more

This probably my favorite restaurant for breakfast I love the waffle with fresh strawberry.. service is great Food really good too.. read more

I went to visit this place couple days ago. I've always the hype of this diner and it pretty much lives to its hype. You come in this cabin like diner and the menu is a newspaper. I looked at the menu and it had a variety of food. My go to is to always try a diners chicken fried steak. This is basically my measuring stick to see if they know what they are doing. The wait was decent and the place is usually packed. When my order came I was happy. The portions were pretty big. The harshbrowns looked good and crispy. The gravy had flavor and the eggs were cooked how I liked them cooked. The bonus was they let me have pancakes as a sub to my toast. I was a good meal. Would come to a black bear diner again. read more

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They're not open when they're supposed to be. Might have permanently closed down. I've tried to visit this place 3 times for breakfast. They don't have a sign to indicate if they're open or closed and the doors are locked. read more

We have been here several times, and never disappointed. It is a popular place, and the typical wait is about 5-10 min. It is worth stopping by. The staff is great, and the food is good. I have had great breakfasts, and great lunches here.... read more

Good food, and good service. The tables were well seperated and the staff worked well together serving the customers.