I was on vacation in Arizona and stopped by Black Bear Diner, and I was truly impressed by the service I received from Janeth Galaviz. She was friendly, attentive, professional, and made us feel welcome from the moment we arrived. It's not often that you come across someone who genuinely goes above and beyond to make sure guests have a great experience. Janeth's positive attitude and excellent customer service made our visit memorable. Thank you, Janeth, for making our stop at Black Bear Diner such a pleasant experience. You are a great example of outstanding hospitality! read more

Came here with my new sales guy so we could do some training. Food was great and service was very good. The waitress never let my coffee cup get empty. I got the Lighter Breakfast omelette with biscuits and gravy and could not finish it. But everything tasted perfect. The restaurant was very clean and so were the restrooms, that is important for us traveling on business. Like most Black Bear diners, very nicely designed. read more

Black Bear Diner Tempe - Little less omelette w biscuits & gravy - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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I took my Mom in today for an early Easter dinner. They were offering a prime rib dinner special for $19.99. While the price was very good, the food was mediocre at best. We both ordered medium rare prime rib, and we both got medium well instead. They told us that was as rare as they had. I think it was cold and was reheated in the microwave to warm it back up again. The dinner came with 2 sides, but because it was not 4pm yet they didn't have any baked potatoes ready yet, so country red skins were the next best thing along with the green beans. The potatos were decent, but the green beans were canned and mushy. The salad was lettuce, 2 tomatos, 2 cucumber slices, and some shredded carrots. Their ranch dressing was decent, but I maybe got about a half of a tablespoon. The one thing both of us loved was their cornbread muffins. They were delicious, and I even thought about bringing home some extras because they were that good. The service was quick, but maybe a little too quick. I hadn't even finished putting the dressing on my salad when dinner came out. I still like this place for breakfast, but I don't think we'll be back for dinner again. read more

Breakfast choices are great and the food is very good. Usually get Bears Choice of scrabbled eggs, bacon and french choice. Price went up a little recently but still ok and food us tasty. Dalia is a great server. Very nice helpful and comes back often to offer coffee. Nice pictures and bear ambiance inside and outside. read more

9/14/25 Tempe errands. We were starving and BBD was the first place to appealed to us. First Visit to an east Valley BBD, last visit 8+ years ago far SW valley. Parking 5/5 Missed another rush, lots of private parking. Atmosphere 5/5 Like all locations, mountain lodge decor with sprinkles of Black Bears scattered about which made me think they should incorporate them into the restaurants name! You're welcome ; ) Service 3/5 Oddly they had plenty of servers hanging around but few customers. Several gathered near to bar stool counter chatting, and the waitress who was working our area was asked to give up our table so another server had something to do. He took our drink order and disappeared for 10 minutes. After delivering our drinks he said I'll be back and disappeared again. Meanwhile the server who was working our area was hustling, clearing tables. She was a go getter! The our guy came back we ordered dinner salads and Big foot Chicken fried steaks. Off he goes returning with our salads then dashed off. No silverware on the table and we waiting several more minutes until we flagged down Miss Hard worker who was kind enough to get us eating. Service here was terrible! Shame on the Manager, we won't be back. He was one of the gaggle gathered up front laughing and carrying on. Food 5/5 We both loved their Bigfoot Chicken fried steaks, salads and scratch mashed potatoes. Our experience was brightened by the "customer focused" server who rescued her coworker. She received the well earned tip! If I were hiring, I'd hire 10 more just like her. Good luck Tempe BBD. read more

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Shame on me for not visiting sooner. I live 5 minutes away and I never thought of going here for breakfast!! They don't advertise in the neighborhood like IHop and Danny's, so it just never came to mind. I was shocked when I showed up and the entire dining room was full!! It was Sunday at 10:00am! I waited 10 minutes to be seated, which was acceptable. The food took a bit long (almost 20 minutes) to come to our table, but my cinnamon French toast was worth the wait. The menu has overwhelmed amount of items, but that's why they are so successful!! No advertising and still packed! 10/10! read more

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One of the waitresses is mean, pretending to not understand my English and trying to teach me say 'togo' instead of 'take away', no manner, let alone a 10-min waiting after entering and a 30-min waiting after ordering without any checking in. Some waiter wore slipper-on, for the hygiene consideration you don't want to be here. read more

I love black bear. Always consisting of great food. Cozy atmosphere and great service. Never a complaint! read more

Black Bear Diner Tempe - Bears choice - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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I got the BLT with onion rings to go for the first time, it wa pretty good but not super special. I've had the omelettes before and am a big fan of their breakfast, I will probably stick to that in the future! read more

Black Bear Diner Tempe - BLT - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

In my humble opinion, blackbear diner has the best pancakes! There's secret is they use sweet cream to make them. The bacon is also pretty good...LOL read more

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Our server Erick was great and very attentive to us even when the kitchen was backed up from a 20 top table. Our food was hot and delicious when it came out and all the staff were working hard and all were very nice and working as a team Will come back again! read more

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I don't usually write reviews but I'm giving Black Bear Diner a 5star review because of Dalia's service! I hope that when I return she's there again. read more

Went for the Friday Fish Fry Tonight. Great fish and sides. Jalen was our server and was great. He anticipated our needs and provided wonderful service. Would definitely recommend. read more

Black Bear Diner Tempe - Friday Fish Fry. - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

Shoutout to our amazing server Dalia at Black Bear Diner Dalia made our whole experience top-tier from start to finish. Super friendly, attentive without hovering, and on point with every recommendation. Our drinks stayed full, the food came out fast and fresh, and she kept the vibe fun the entire time. You can tell she genuinely cares about her guests. If you're stopping by, definitely ask for Dalia -- she's the reason we'll be coming back! read more

Dalia always greets us and gives us Amazing service every visit . Food is always delicious .

We are regulars at a few of the local Big Bear Diners and are proud of it, they rarely let us down. This is one of faves and works perfectly during our local shopping near to it. The meals are consistent, the offerings are more than generous, taste delish almost always, and the atmosphere is excellent and the service at each visit has always been fab! At our visits over the past few months and beyond our coffee, orange juice or Arnold Palmer we've tried their renditions of Loaded Grits with real bacon chunks, terrific lasing of butter, and of course a hearty helping of cheese... one of the best renditions in Phoenix of my South's Cookin' loves! Their incredibly fantastic Chicken Fried Steak Omelette (our first time trying it) consisting of tender Chicken fried steak chunks (they have a fab batter by the way). It is chock full of tender fresh spinach, nice strong red onion, what appears to be fresh mushroom, chopped tomatoes, red and green bell pepper as well as jack & cheddar cheeses, and they top all this with their house made country gravy - yummy! Yes they do have other delish meals such as terrific burgers and an array of sandwiches for lunch. For dinner you can find delectable eats like salads and soups and a really, really good Chili, but you'll find many, many more items we've had that are too long to mention. Ensuring we go during their non-rush times to avoid long lines, we enjoy every visit. You should too! read more

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Food, service (Ashley) and atmosphere was amazing. Definitely recommend Black Bear Dinerfor any occasion. We had brunch and will be back for lunch and diner in the near future. read more

Recently had a fun Ladies St. Patricks Dinner at the Tempe location, and believe me when I say that we were treated like royalty! It was a Thursday night and not insanely busy, so they let us use the separate room for our event and we got to be the only ones in there. Our server, Carol, spoiled us rotten! She made sure each new person who arrived had a beverage within moments, and even closed the sliding door when the sun was blasting us. She was expedient and efficient with the order taking, and brought out the items as they came up rather than waiting for all the food to come up and risking the first items getting cold - we definitely appreciated that! She took pictures of our group upon request, and really made us feel so welcome. And my Chicken & Waffles were delicious! So if you want to feel special on your evening out, ask for Carol and thank me later! read more

We've been to this location several times. Last time we are coming here. Service was terrible. Our server Carol took 17 minutes to even come up to our table for us to order water. My husband asked for extra gravy and was brought a bowl with some brown stuff in it. The expediter expediting food moved a pancake on someone's order with her bare hands. This location is not what we are used to in term of service. We were never expecting this to happen. read more

I used to live near the Chandler location and ate there often in the mornings. Especially when one of my family members used to work there. Black Bear Diner is a family-style restaurant (breakfast, lunch and dinner) that originated in California by a couple of buddies wanting to serve home-cooked meals. They would cook up many of their entrees in house and make up their own meatloaf, cobblers and biscuits. Today, Black Bear Diner is a huge chain and has locations all over the U.S. I love to camp and appreciate the outdoor theme and wood-carved bears all over the place. The menu comes in the form of a newspaper and has articles that you can read in addition to their food offerings. The portion sizes here at Black Bear Diner are pretty big. I usually come here for breakfast and get the Bear's Choice or an order of Corned Beef Hash and Eggs. The sweet cream pancakes and waffle are amazing. I have yet to order them, but the pies and bear claws in the window display always look so good. The prices here at Black Bear Diner are comparable with other family restaurants. Sign up for their email and get a free breakfast meal on your birthday. read more

Black Bear Diner Tempe - Hot Sauces - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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Food and service was bunz. Service quality was not good, never got my sweet tea. My friends had gotten raw steaks, when they returned from being "cooked" they were no different. Bad experience. read more

We stopped in for an early dinner, the restaurant was empty. There are 2 of us, and we have been here many times. I appreciate she is the only one on the floor too, Black Bear needs additional servers. The server took our order, nothing special. The kitchen needs help. Both orders were messed up. A few gentle men in back of us, there order was messed up too. We were missing a few items from our dinner. A few of the items never showed up. I mentioned it to our server and she took care of it. One server, she is acting as seating host and server. The food took over 25 minutes too. That is on the kitchen. I was noticing there seemed to be a lot of Ghosting in the kitchen. I believe the kitchen needs help badly. This is one of the only great restaurants in the area, and please take this as creative criticism. read more

This was not the first time we had visited this Diner. Last visit it warranted a 5 star review. This time hardly a 1 star. We were seated right away but took forever to get our iced tea and water. Then, came the time to order. Husband ordered biscuits and gravy along with medium eggs. My order was for what sounded like a great hot roast beef dinner with potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and onion. Sounds good, right? Well, the meal arrived and we were flabbergasted (yes, that's the right word) with what was served. The biscuits were so hard a fork wouldn't even poke into them. We both tried. Eggs were cooked hard. The hot roast beef dinner was also unbelievable. Carrot (notice not a plural word) was shredded and maybe 1/4 teaspoon was on the plate with no onions, no mushrooms and maybe a half a sliced small red potato AND also mashed potatoes. The small piece of roast was covered with gravy. The lady across from us had ordered the same roast dinner. Hers included green beans with bacon..... she was allergic to that and didn't know why. She was trying to pick at the packed mashed potato and also was surprised at what was served. We didn't stay. We didn't eat it. Ridiculous. Manager apologized but neither of ours or the other plate we saw, should have left the kitchen read more

I have been to this location many times and it's always been a good experience. Food and service have always been good. Will be back many more times read more

My family and I come to Black Bear Diner all the time and always ask for Alex. She's seriously the best--fun, fast, and always on top of everything. She makes the whole meal feel easy and comfortable every time we're there. Love seeing her face when we walk in! read more

I am writing this review solely because I felt wildly misled by its rating. The booths are all shredded open from overuse and very dirty. The ice in beverages has a very pronounced and off putting flavor. The salt shakers on the table are crusty and damp. The food is fried in stale oil. The staff were all very friendly, welcoming and kind though. If you dont want to eat and want to sit in a dirty divey place with nice servers, this is it. read more

Had the best experience recently with Carol, she treated our group so fantastic we will come back many times and hope she serves us again. The food was excellent and the ambiance was perfect for our group so we can talk. Thank you Carol for making our night! read more

Carol was our server and gave our party of 10 outstanding and friendly service last Thursday night! We all appreciated her attention to our many requests, she checked on us often and made sure everyone was satisfied with our meals. The restaurant has great food and a cute atmosphere. We will definitely be back. read more

I love Breakfast! Went here for the first time with a coworker. We both were really impressed. You walk in and the atmosphere has a unique charm. Knew right away it was gonna be good. And it was. Everyone was really friendly. The manager walked around making sure everything was ok. Honestly one of the best breakfasts I've had. read more

The service was efficient, and Ashley provided excellent customer service. I will definitely return in the future

Black Bear Diner used to be really cute and kitschy. I've had a few great experiences here for hot, tasty food. This past experience was super subpar. The floors were icky, service was super slow and food was a disappointment. Some of our entrees came out colder (presumably waiting on others coming out the same time), grits were cold and lumpy, cheese omelette had a small piece of bacon inside of it (not great for ovo-lacto vegetarian) and potatoes were undercooked. The presentation of the pancakes with strawberries was pretty! Maybe I'm just being a bear, but overall it wasn't great. read more

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Excellent service. I ordered 1 diet Pepsi, potato soup, and corn muffins....zero flavor potato soup and no corn flavor in the corn muffin...NOT an employee problem. I hope you fix it. read more

This location is the best out of all locations in AZ. I know I have been to all of them. A big thank you to Alexandria. She is wonderful. And the manager Gabriella is awesome too. The cooks don't get enough mention either. My food was absolutely perfect and delicious. They do a great job. Would highly recommend this place. read more

Black Bear Diner Tempe - California Bacon Benedict (870 cals.) with the fresh fruit as it should be. - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

My mom and I went yesterday and every time we order a dish that isn't on their breakfast menu, we are disappointed. Our server was great but they seemed understaffed. We told the manager about the food being inconsistent and needless to say, he didn't take it very well. Not sure we'll be back again. read more

Perfect place to come if you want to hear your conversation and if you want a good portion of food! We did a breakfast date here and the location was perfect for us! The staff were all very nice! Our waiter was awesome!!! I had the Grizzly meal but they forget my grits which I didn't notice until after we left. Usually it's a great meal with 2 big pancakes , ham, bacon, sausage, and grits which again they forget to bring out. I love this meal honestly and will get it everytime I go! Tons of free parking on site! read more

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Service was awesome ! Ashley was so sweet and very helpful. She took a lot of pride in being our server and the Black Bear Quality/Menu. She recommended deep frying the hashbrowns ?! Mind blown : life changed ! Lowkey the customers in there are the only flop aside from some nice families. Just nasty attitudes and rude to the staff :/ twisted behavior. The Hostess was taking on so many of those people and she was so sweet and really great at her job. I believe her name was Emily ! Anyways, we loved !! read more

I have found that breakfast places tend to be quite packed in the mornings, especially on Sundays. As such, it takes awhile to get your food. Since this place was packed, it must be pretty popular with people for good food. All of the tables seemed full. When I ate the eggs, they tasted sweet to me. I usually go for salty eggs. Even when I make eggs at home they usually don't taste sweet or salty. If I put salt on the eggs I make at home, then they taste salty. The eggs I got were still a bit runny. You can select from a few different options for how the eggs are cooked. I thought the egg would have a yellow that was not runny but not solid. It should be the egg would have a partly set yolk where it is still a little creamy (yet not thin and runny). If you know what your yolk is like from a 7-minute soft-boiled egg, you know what you get with over-medium. My waffle was soft both inside and out. It had a really cute bear paw print on it. The outside did not have a light crispy texture to it. I had the sweet cream waffles. I thought they would have sweat cream or whipping cream on them. I didn't see any whipping cream or sweet cream on top of them. They also didn't taste sweet. The eggs were sweeter than the waffle. If you order on the web, they have a charge for the take out box. They call it a packaging fee. I ordered ahead and I was surprised. Tax is also applied to the amount charged for the take out box. I have never seen this type of charge before. read more

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I love Breakfast! Went here for the first time with a coworker. We both were really impressed. You walk in and the atmosphere has a unique charm. Knew right away it was gonna be good. And it was. Everyone was really friendly. The manager walked around making sure everything was ok. Honestly one of the best breakfasts I've had. read more

My family loves Black Bear Diner. This specific day we went for my son's birthday and we were not given service after being seated for over 30 min. We even saw people who came in after us with food when we had yet to receive a simple greet or drinks. Decided to leave and go elsewhere. Please do better as we would love to eventually come back read more

I really do not like writing bad reviews but this was not a good experience at all! First time I have eaten at a Black Bear Diner and it will be my last. Our server was ok, I think she was tired.. She forgot to bring my salad which sucks because I think it may have brought this score up. I ordered the trip tip and at first bite it was good but as I ate more the spices were just way too over bearing. It had a funky taste that I thought could be a spoiled taste?? Anyway I did not eat any more of it. The green beans came out in a soup cup and at first glance I wasn't sure what it was, it was a bowl of grease with some small pieces of green beans yuck. Our server was nice apologized and they offered to make more and bring out a fresh serving. By the time they came out I was just ready to get out of there. My daughter ordered the grilled cheese, I get it a grilled cheese not much to mess up right? Well, it was not very good either. The bread may have been stale? It was super crumbly with a half melted slice of orange cheese in it. She ordered fruit took 2 bites of the cantaloupe and that tasted off. Not sure why. The manager did apologize for the food and gave me a 30% discount however, I would have preferred a comped meal (at least what was not eaten), I'm sad this is not a good review, hopefully things will pick up? When I checked out the gal at the register asked how everything was in which I replied not good and probably will never be back. She said she had just started working there and had heard the Laveen location is much much better and that the kitchen is not that clean at this location (probably why I had to shoot fruit flies or a gnat away), Pretty sad that the employees are not fond of this location either. Hopefully an off night? Certainly it can't be that bad all of the time? Totally bummed out about our food but moving on! read more