They have great staff and steaks and rolls and great location and great statue in the front of the building

This was our first time at Black Bear diner. I gave it 4-star rating. We had about a 20 minute wait to be seated. Our server, Dennis was very pleasant and nice. Unfortunately I asked for a glass of water 3 times before I received it. As for the food I ordered the pot roast mini meal and it was wonderful. The meat was very tender and seasoned. It came with mashed potatoes and veggies. My husband order the open faced turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes. He said it was very good and seasoned. The issue with our food order...our server Dennis forgot to put our order in. He realized what had been done, came and apologized to us for the delay. He placed a 'rush' on our order. I appreciated that he took ownership of the error. Anyway we will go back, there is a variety of menu items we want to try. read more

Ate lunch here on Wednesday. The decor is super cute and our waitress ( Abby?) was great. I got the eggs hollandaise and while they were edible, they weren't anything to write home about. I might go here again, but not on purpose. BTW, their parking lot dead ends behind the builing, so you have to back out if it's full. read more

Terrible.. I thought it would be very good, but it was very disappointing. First off, the music is so loud that I could barely converse with the people I went with. Secondly, the price is outrageous for the amount you get. I got the Cinnamon Roll French Toast, it was three of them but they were very thin. My mom and aunt (the other two people I was with) ordered the Cheeseburger Salad and the meat was COLD. We waited 40 minutes after we were seated just to get our order taken. We even watched as our food sat under the warming lights for 15 minutes! By the time we got our food everything except for the French Toast was cold. The manager blew it off as it "being a learning experience" and said, "It is our first day open" like that is a proper excuse. I will never be going back to another Black Bear Diner!! read more

This open spaced rustic environment is host to pleasant customer service and plenty of great homemade food. The steak comes with cheesy grits, oversized biscuits and a large portion of shredded hashbrowns. Everything was cooked to perfection and you don't need to add salt or pepper. We also had pie and that was deliciously homemade as well. Our server was Demma and she was fantastic. The customers were friendly and happy along with everyone who worked there. I loved the experience and plan to go back again. FYI, the menu is large and everything looks wonderful! I wish I had taken a photo but I was so hungry and just dug in. ;o) read more

Been looking at trying the place out since it opened up. Finally hit them up for Breakfast one morning and loved it! Decided to give them a shot for breakfast as well. Service was great! The waitresses were very helpful, especially with my wife's allergy concerns. Great food. Great Service. Will definitely keep this on my options when I'm looking for a place to eat out. read more

For going on opening night, it ran so smooth! The wait wasn't too bad, staff was friendly, and food was amazing! Can't wait to go back!

Honestly, we try to avoid chains and patronize "mom and pop" places. However, Sunday we had missed lunch and were hungry and had limited options. Stopped in about 4pm and got seated. Upfront I will say that service was a bit slow, but we know that most eateries are short-staffed now, so we give grace (and tip well). That said, the food far exceeded our expectations! It is comfort food, breakfast served all day, brag about their coffee...you get the idea. Well I had the smaller portion meatloaf dinner, and it was quite good. Tasty and slightly different (they use some sausage in it), moist, and nice texture. Mashed potatoes (real!) were good, as was the gravy on both. Side of green beans was delish...not overcooked, plenty of bacon and onion. Meatloaf is topped with an onion ring for cutes, but I may have to get an order next time...was very good. Wife got a taco salad, which was massive...she probably brought 2/3 home. Fresh, plentiful ingredients and what appeared to be a homemade large crisp tortilla bowl. Price was quite reasonable. Lots of things to try, and we will return! read more

Just no. Food was ihop level. Service was decent. Wait was horrible. Unless changes are made to dining room layout, staff and attitude I fear this place will be on a Denny's level with customers needing low expectations. read more

I don't understand why this place doesn't have 4+ stars! Our visit was very good! Nice and attentive waitress and wonderful food!! Their cornbread muffins were amazing! I want to try the bear claw next time because it looked soooo good. Love this place! read more

This was my first time going here, and I was very impressed the food was delicious and the serving sizes were very generous. The staff was very helpful and nice. I will definitely recommend this restaurant. read more

I will admit that I have never been inside this restaurant, but due to Covid-19 I have ordered through door dash a few times now. The meals have had very generous portions, and the taste is better than anything from Denny's or IHOP (which is the closest competitors menu-wise as far as I can tell) highly recommended if your stuck inside and want some good food. read more

Ate here for Thanksgiving with my sister. Service was very good and the turkey dinner and dessert was great. Would go there again when I am next in town. read more

Breakfast is delicious, took the family. Personally had the steak with eggs and hashbrowns. Came with pancakes as well.. Steak was delicious. Asked for my eggs with a runny yolk and they weren't that way but it was delicious either way. My only negative was the hashbrowns didn't have much flavor. Would geothermal potatoes in the future. Will be going again. Kids loved it. read more

Tasty food, huge portions, not too much wait even in busy hours. My family and I have great experiences both dining in and taking out. One of the only places near us to get a good eggs benny. Very fun and homey atmosphere. read more

LOVE this place! Our 1st time there & the food was good, the staff was friendly & service was amazing! We'll definitely be back!

Food was good it's cafe style. But our waitress forgot to mention that their ranch dressing has bacon in it, I can't eat bacon and she never came back to check on us after bringing us our salad. My husband was done with his before I finally could get the attention of the manager. She was great and helpful. Will go back.. read more

First time there today. Incredible food, large potions, nice atmosphere. Definitely going back and telling friends.

This place is my sons favorite place to go! Love their breakfast! Biscuit and gravy is amazing especially for the price . I would recommend trying everything they have. Lol they don't disappoint! read more

My wife and I both ordered the biscuits and gravy. She ordered a side of bacon. We both ordered coffee. The bacon (4 slices) was nicely cooked and very tasty. The coffee was better than most restaurant coffee. The only problem was that we were not offered refills until we were getting ready to leave. We got 2 huge biscuits (each) MINIMALLY covered with a very tasteless white gravy. Is it really that difficult to make gravy that has some flavor?? We choke'd down what we could and left most of it on the plate to be sent back to the "chief" for his/her enjoyment. Maybe we will give them another try sometime in the future. Their prices seem a little high, but not excessively. read more

Our meals were mixed with taste and quality. We both ordered fish and chips, and the slaw that came with the meals had very little dressing and was like eating dry raw cabbage. The fish and hush puppies were very good. The server we had was lousy too; she only came by once to check on us and never came by again until dropping off our check. Both me and my Mom wanted more fish (it was all you could eat) and needed drink refills. I'd recommend waiting a few weeks for the restaurant to get their act together! read more

The service here is absolutely the worst service we have ever experienced! They said 30 minutes for a seat - 1 hr later we were sat and then after another 15 minutes waiting at the I had to go and ask for service. After another couple of minutes we were waited on for drinks, but it still took another 10 minutes before we were assigned a waitress to our table. Our waitress Chasity was great once she was advised she would be serving our table. The food was good, but certainly not worthy of an hour and forty five minute wait to get it. With no recognition from management for the issues, this was our first visit and for me my last visit to Black Bear. read more

Absolutely terrible. Went here with a grand total of 5 tables being served, figured we'd get service pretty quickly. My drink was made wrong, and then we sat for 15 minutes before walking out. I watched a couple of 2 get sat, waited on, and fed, while we're making eye contact with wait staff as they ignore our table. The table next to us called a waiter over and said their pies were frozen, and the waiter didn't believe them and tried to cut the pie, only to find it tougher than us trying to find someone to take our order. Watched them wait 10 minutes while I assume their pies were getting microwaved. The staff is unfriendly, unhelpful, unprofessional and I'd be surprised if they lasted more than a month with their current management. Don't come here if you want to actually order before the wait staff goes back to high school the next day. read more

Not good. Nice people, but very slow service... not enough seating with much empty space to add tables and chairs that they obviously don't get. I'm not sure who the manager is, but this person needs to see what we see or find a different job. Not impressed and will never go back. Corner Cafe has much better food, its just a few blocks away is superior compared to this place. Denny's is even better and its bad.. I had the meatloaf... there is no way this is made from scratch. One star is pushing it.. read more

If I could leave a zero star, I would. My family and I decided to try Black Bear Diner for the first time, today, Christmas Day. We called ahead to see if we could get on the wait list assuming there would be a fairly lengthy wait. We were told there was no wait at this time, there were plenty of open tables, and to come on in! Excited to hear, we loaded up our party of five (5 month old included) to get there. When we arrived, just like the person on the phone said, there were plenty of open tables. We were sat right away and our waitress, Bobbie Jo, came over almost immediately to greet us and take our drink order. She came back within a few minutes to give us our waters and took our orders. We waited for about 15 minutes and she brought my salad out. At that time I asked if we could all have more water (3 out of 4 cups were just ice) and she said she would. Waited another 15 minutes and she came by to drop off cornbread, I asked again if she could please refill our waters. I was met with, "I am trying. I have seven tables and a very large party, so I'm busy." Not a great response, but hey, it's Christmas so I decided to cut her some slack since the hosts were telling the seaters to seat people wherever was open instead of rotating through sections. Another 10 minutes goes by and she drops off our water. During the time we were waiting for our food we witnessed a table with a family complain about cold, incorrect food, and poor service. Also, another table that was sat and never greeted or asked for their drink order up and left. After waiting for 45 minutes (with a limited menu that only offered 9 meal options) we got our food. Steaks were cooked wrong, missing cheesy, bacon grits, burger was mushy, and French fries were cold. We asked for the grits when we finally saw our server and there was no apology they were forgotten, just an, "I'll go get them." She brought them back plain. Someone in our party said they thought they were cheesy bacon grits. The waitress said, "I'll go get you cheese." She did bring back small containers of cheese and bacon, still with no apology about the missing/incorrect food. She didn't come back to check on us, ask how our food was, or take dirty plates that were sitting at the end of the table. I really wanted to like this restaurant, but I will never go back. Ever. And if any one I know asks how it was I will tell them to not go. Shame on management for not staffing properly. read more

I'd give this place a "minus" five, if possible. Four of us met for lunch on Nov. 22nd. The service was horrible! Each of us ordered different luncheon meals but "everything" was so salty, none of us could finish our meal with the exception of the cornmeal biscuits, which we had to ask for. We were just anxious to get our $$bill, pay, and leave each agreeing we never wanted to return. read more

So, we had dinner here, and I was not expecting it to blow my socks off, but I was not expecting everything to come out of a freezer or a bag from a commissary. It is overpriced for the lack of quality. The service was horrible, but that is what happens when you hire teenagers to wait tables. Don't waste your money. There are plenty of wonderful restaurants in Kansas City. read more

We tried Black Bear Diner today for the first time. I expected a long wait and was fine with that. The food was decent and I will go back to try more. However, I was not happy with the hostesses and waitresses hanging by the hostess station looking pissed off to be there. They sat at us a table and couldn't find the waitress even though there were 4 to 5 employees hanging around the hostess station. I asked for the manager and he really turned the experience around for me. He was so nice and helpful! If all the employees were like him that place wouldn't have any negative reviews. He took our orders himself and sent our waitress over with our drinks. She had a valid excuse for not getting with us in a timely manner and was an excellent waitress! My advice for this company if they see this post: Get friendly staff who smile and acknowledge guests. The manager and our waitress were great, but a majority of waitresses I saw looked unhappy and there was a group of younger ones who just stood around the hostess talking. The manager and our waitress turned this review from 1 star to 4 stars. read more

Great food, our waitress was good, hostesses were awful! It's pretty bad when you ask a hostess for a box and they pretend to ignore and look the other way, looking around the other hostess to appear that she doesn't notice. I think they need a different job that doesn't involve customers need. read more

We have been to several Black Bear resturants. Most were terrible. The last time we swore would be their last chance. Our service was bad and our food was cold and the gravy like water. Taste was not very good either. We paid and complained. That was the last time we will visit a Black Bear resturant read more

Great breakfast. I had pancakes and my wife had cinnamon bun French toast. Both were really good.

We decided to try out the new diner with our friends. We were seated right away and our server was pleasant. Once she took our order we waited 35 minutes to get our breakfast. I commented to our waitress who proceeded to let the manager know. He came to our table and stated that all the orders were in line and he didnt see anything out of the ordinary. He apologized and he stated he would come back to check on us - he never did. We finally proceeded to the cashier(s) to pay and 2 young cashiers were carrying on a personal conversation and did not stop talking to each other. One of them took our ticket and money without any words or eye contact to us and we left. Very disappointed at the lack of concern of how our meal was or if anything was to our satisfaction. Unfortunately will not be coming back. read more

This place is great! We were worried to try Black Bear Diner because the initial reviews weren't great, however I think they have their issues figured out. We were told it was a 25 minute wait and we waited exactly 20 minutes. We had 2 breakfast entries and 1 lunch item, and it was all delicious. We had California Benedict with hash browns, and eggs/sausage/pancakes, and tri tip dip sandwich. The pancakes were really good - fluffy, moist and tasted like vanilla cream. Tri tip was super tasty. The hash browns were a little greasy for my preference, but tasted good. One of the sausages was a little burnt, but they didn't mind bringing us a new sausage link. I don't think the coffee is worth $2.60, but you can take a dress cup to go, so drink your fill! Veronica was our server and she was so kind and understanding and patient with my family's particular requests. I would ask to sit in her section next time! We will be coming back for breakfast, lunch and dinner! read more

Saturday December 28th our family traveled from both Lawrence and Ottawa to celebrate my daughter's birthday at Black Bear Diner. Having enjoyed eating at three of your California locations, we were happy to see that they had open one within driving distance of where we all live. Even though we had a party of eleven our wait time ( on a Saturday night) was only about twenty minutes. Our waiter Marcos and all of the other servers that helped him were great! ( I wish I could remember all if their names). Both our drink and food orders were taken quickly and delivered to our table promptly. They were very attentive. They kept our drinks refilled and once again we were very impressed with the food and service that we received at the Black Bear Diner. read more

Very disappointed for a first time experience. The wait to order was over 10 minutes and about 30 minutes to receive our food. Apparently my order had been made incorrectly (not sure why that had been a problem since I ordered exactly as the menu offered). It then took another 15 minutes as a new order was prepared. When both mine and my husband's plates were presented, his was no longer hot and he sent it back. He did make another selection while I went ahead and ate mine. His took 15 minutes (again) before he was served the second time. The coffee was horribly bitter and waaaayyyyy too strong. I commented to our server and she said it was fresh. I tried adding water, (a lot of water), but it didn't help. For sludge, it would have been excellent; as coffee it was unpalatable. My husband made the comment that at no time did anyone ask if we were enjoying our meal, either as we were eating or as he was paying. All-in-all, the food was subpar, the service was okay, but the overall experience was such that we will never eat at a Black Bear Diner again and we will definitely NOT be recommending that anyone eat there. read more

I've been here a few times and it is delicious. The portions are huge and the food is soo good. The place does get busy however I think the food is worth it! read more

We recommend eating here. It had a fun atmosphere, good service, and decent food. I had the chicken fried dinner and my husband had the hamburger salad and they were both delicious. Then we had the bread pudding for dessert that was ok. They were attentive enough with out being over bearing. It was clean, good social distancing practices. The prices were very reasonable. read more

Food was awesome. Our server was Ms. Simetria and she was very sweet. She made us feel like we were welcomed. My only concern is that tables were all open around us and we only had about 3-4ft of room. Not sure how that is acceptable with the COVID-19 guidelines. Please check out to make sure everyone is 6ft apart as I know restaurants will shut down if not. Other than that, everything was a great experience. Thank you. read more

I love this spot. I was so excited when they opened up as I used to eat at one in Arizona. Huge portions and I think that the food is a good quality for the price. read more

We eat out a lot, decided to give it a shot! Atmosphere is great food was great. We sat at the bar and were practically invisible to the servers and it wasn't really that busy. We really want this place to succeed it is a good option. We will give it one more shot, if the service is the same we will not be back. Again, great food, great atmosphere. Servers need to be more aware. read more