The photos of this place don't do it justice. The night before, our Uber driver recommended we go to Black Bear Family Restaurant for breakfast. As an avid Yelper, I looked it up and wasn't too impressed with the photos, but I decided to trust a local's choice. We took the 10-minute walk from our Airbnb, and when we arrived, I was shocked to see how big the restaurant was. It was bustling on a Saturday morning, but we were seated quickly. Immediately, I noticed a warm and friendly family-focused atmosphere. Our waitress was kind and quick. She brought us the menus, got our drink order, and gave us time to look through everything. Since this was our first time in Wisconsin, we got an order of cheese curds and a breakfast skillet each. We easily could've shared one breakfast skillet, but they were both so delicious, and I'm glad we got our own. The cheese curds were phenomenal, even though we ordered them as an appetizer. They came out at the same time our meals did. I enjoyed our time at Black Bear and I'm even considering going back again as I write this review. A great spot for newbies in town and definitely worth checking out. read more

See all

OH YEAHHHHH this is the place you want. It's all-day breakfast, lunch and dinner, and it's like the upper Midwest on a plate. I came here with my darling children while home visiting my folks. We were seated rapidly and served rapidly too. I had something called the Tot Scrambler and it was basically an homage to poutine: tots, onions, bacon, scrambled egg, gravy. Yes, it's every bit as awesome as it sounds. My daughter had an egg-n-cheese croissant and sweet potato fries and the fries were excellent. My son had an enormous meal with French toast which he caused to disappear with remarkable speed. As is my custom, I give this place 5 stars because it is a perfect avatar of its genre. Being here is like the emotional equivalent of falling into a vat of macaroni and cheese. (Which, if they have it here, is surely perfect.) Parking was fine and handicap access was fine too. If I still lived here in Appleton I would come here every month for sure. read more

Black Bear Family Restaurant - My tot scramble plus a potato pancake - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Appleton, Wisconsin

Broasted chicken... AMAZING! Pancakes and sausage patty's are HUGE! Prices are unbeatable! Service was very friendly and the restaurant itself is cute and has a diner vibe that is warm and inviting! Would recommend and will be coming here again! Shout out to our server Hannah, she was so sweet! read more

A really solid place for breakfast. I've been there several times and have enjoyed the quality of their food, great service and decent prices. A good sign for any diner is a restaurant with a full parking lot. This place always has a packed lot. While the inside isn't fancy and is a bit dated, it is clean. There is also room for parties having a larger number of guests. The menu is packed full of breakfast items and their lunch offerings always sound appealing (I've always went for breakfast). I really like their coffee and they are always good about refilling your cup. The breakfasts I enjoyed have had ample portions, been properly prepared and are reasonably priced. In my book, those qualities are more rare by the day. I'll definitely continue to return in the future. read more

Black Bear Family Restaurant - 4x4 breakfast - two eggs, bacon, sausage and rye toast - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Appleton, Wisconsin

See all

This is a very good, family oriented diner. Plenty of seating and parking, even at busy times. Breakfast, lunch and dinner fare available, breakfast all day. Food was good, helpings plentiful and pricing very reasonable. Maria our server was cute, very friendly and attentive. We'll be back. read more

Very nice place for a family to visit in a while but not sure where you would want that place for yourself

American fries were great, but could have been hotter. See through bacon could have been thicker. Don't recommend a frozen puck burger. Why not make the king of sandwiches from fresh ground beef? Prices were fair. read more

Black Bear Family Restaurant - Eggs,american fries, bacon and links. - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Appleton, Wisconsin

Had the biscuits and gravy with eggs over medium and a sausage patty Bacon cheeseburger and fries Bacon, egg and cheese muffin Ham egg and cheese muffin And Pancake Biscuits and gravy were good with good flavor and the biscuits are not big, perfect size. The sausage and eggs were cooked perfect The muffins were also good and great flavor The bacon cheeseburger was also cooked perfect and had good seasoning Pancake was good and thin with good syrup read more

See all

Great place, gets busy, but I've never had to wait long. Breakfast is wonderful, I've had quite a few of their breakfast menu choices and all a pretty good. Coffee is always hot and good, the wait staff is fast and friendly, and the kitchen is like lightning! You barely get your coffee stirred and here comes your food. It's got that good old Midwest diner feel, which makes me happy! read more

I stopped here for dinner at 6 pm and the place was packed. I was seated right away, and my server took my drink order. When she came back, I ordered the Country Fried Steak along with American Fries. It was served right away, and it was really nothing to look at, but boy did it taste good. The steak was very tender and flavorful. There was plenty of gravy and the American Fries were perfectly cooked. Overall, this was a really good meal for the money and the service was quick and efficient, I will stop here again when I am in town. read more

See all

Delicious food that was great value for the price! Lovely wait staff that were very quick and helpful. read more

Black Bear Family Restaurant - BBQ Beef and Cheddar Brisket Sandwich - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Appleton, Wisconsin

Super-mediocre food: poorly cooked, poorly seasoned, and overall very bland. Tables are somewhat sticky, seats are cracked and dirty. +1 star for being affordable, but you definitely get what you pay for. read more

Black Bear Family Restaurant - Avocado benedict; I couldn't choose what was harder: the egg or the muffin - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Appleton, Wisconsin

We came here today for lunch and drinks water, I had chocolate chips pancake, my mom and grandpa had some else great food!! Nice place! I recommend this place read more

Absolutely disgusted with customer service. My Grandparents, who frequent this place, brought me here to eat for the first time this morning. They were busy, but there was a couple tables open, so Grandma proceeded to go ahead & sit. The guy at the counter says "just wait, sign says wait to be seated" which it did, but it must be something new, as they just always sat themselves, so new to them. That's the booth they typically sit in. The guy walks over to finally seat us & very rudely says "come over here, sign said wait to be seated" Papa (87 years old) asks, can we sit in that first both? The guy snaps at him, "No there is a reason we have- please wait to be seated" After this guy says this (& it wasn't so much what he said), it was how he said it. Papa then says, "well we can go somewhere else, if you don't want our business" At this point, you would think that be the case, as who would treat their customers this way. Grant it, we were in the wrong for trying to seat ourselves, but when he became rude, of course someone is going to say "well, we can go somewhere else" So Papa was about to sit in the booth the guy pointed us to, but then the guy says "nope, get out, go find somewhere else. I'm not going to serve you" Papa is hard of hearing so the guy said it again. So that's what we did...We left. I wanted to leave before he even came over to grab us to seat us, as he was rude to start, but my Grandparents said, no no it's ok we will wait. I will NEVER EVER try to go there again. I've seen other sites with reviews, & it sounds like this guy has been an issue before. I highly suggest they fire him. I will be calling & have also posted on all my social media sites, letting all my friends & clients know, DO NOT GO HERE! They came here a handful of times a month. Disappointed. They said the food is great, but I can find great food combined with great service elsewhere. They will never go back, & I will go without ever trying their food. read more

Not good. Chicken wings for appetizer and they were the worst wings I have ever had. Horrible. Main dish shrimp stir fry. No flavor. Apple pie for dessert was not good either. Wanted a cup of coffee with dessert but didn't order it because they keep their coffee mugs on the tables ... facing down on the table surface. Dirty. One star for the nice waitress. Food was just bad. read more

Great service, good selection of american favorites on the menu and modest prices. A neighborhood favorite!

Treated with a level of disrespect I have never experienced before while dining out (50+ years we are talking). Waited 45 min's for food order and then was told they were out of an item even though the table next to us got served the exact item and had only been seated 15 min's prior to their food coming out. No manager ever came to the table to offer reconciliation for mistakes. Steaks were way overdone & awful. Realistically, their ruined our family Christmas dinner experience. The receptionist/cashier told me to go ahead and write a poor review and not to bother coming back, EVER. I am taking their advice and I suggest you spend your hard earned money at a quality restaurant that cares much more about their patrons than this group. This place is a dive!!! read more

I know not everyone cares for 'Liver & Onions', but if you do, this place has the best! I've been here a hand full of times now and never left disappointed or hungry. read more

The breakfast was amazing. So flavorful. Service was with a smile. Love the bears. A d. Very reasonable.

Good service; nice simple breakfast. I had eggs and bacon. I'd eat here again when in town.

I'm picky and I recommend this place. The food is great, ambiance is good, and service efficient and friendly. It's Sunday at lunch and packed. When we came in,we were greeted right away and had to wait about 15 minutes to be seated. The food was delicious and cooked perfectly. The hashbrowns and fries were not greasy like most diners. The portions were good also. My only complaint is the parking is not good. read more

I'm a 71 year old disabled veteran and this is my first yelp review in my life. I had just gotten out after spending four months in the hospital with cancer and a month in rehab. a friend had suggested i try this restaurant. I went in with my wheelchair and got seated by a young and inexperienced waitress who came to hand us the menu. We were discussing the specials and I commented how every restaurant has fish and no other specials on Fridays. realizing she had no idea what I was talking about, so I asked for the manager.She kept telling him how she didn't know why i was mad at her, even though she hasn't done anything wrong and I wasn't upset about anything. I asked for the manger and he came Right over but seemed to be in a hurry. When I asked him why you only have fish specials on Fridays when you can have other specials too. He started to explain to me that this is Wisconsin and this is what you do on Friday night. Remember, I'm a 71 year old man born and raised in Wisconsin. I think I know fish fry traditions. what I was trying to get at a couple specials plus the fish specials before I could get that out of my mouth, he threw the menu at me, hitting my arm, and told me to get out of here, I was in shock. I'm like what is this guy talking about? I finally said are you serious? I backed up with my wheelchair up to the podium where he was working and I asked if the owner was in, and he said no, so I asked for a card so I could call the owner and he refused to give me one. Then I told him to go to hell, loud enough for the rest of the restaurant to hear, and I left. I called the restaurant the next day between the breakfast and lunch rushes as to not be a pest, (i owned a supper club for 10 years) and asked if the owner was available. The owner came to the phone, and I identified myself, and explained the incident the day before, she said she had heard. I wanted to explain my side as I was sure she had only heard one side. At some point in the conversation I asked if the manager was her son, and she said yes. At that point I realized that mama bear was going to protect baby bear and I wasn't going to get anywhere with this issue. Thank you for taking the time to read my experience. read more

Every time we go there it's great service and food Just a great restaurant for the people read more

Didn't like it when it was Golden Basket no change with new ownership...poor quality food, terrible cooking, poor taste and no seasoning on anything. Decor is horrendous and the carpets are disgusting. Let me help you out and choose for you because anywhere else in town is better than the food here. Pro: nice wait staff read more

Amazing breakfast food! Great and fast service. New favorite breakfast place!! Highly recommend the chorizo skillet. Try this place! You won't be disappointed read more

We went there Easter Sunday. Even though it was very busy, the employees were friendly and we got our food fairly quickly. The food was very good and our waitress did a great job. Highly recommend this place. read more

Great food and service. Full menu and greT value. Excellent service very prompt. Highly recommend.

Great food, atmosphere, and very reasonable prices. I recommend this place for breakfast especially, but I'm sure their lunch and dinner food is as good as their breakfast. read more

In town for a hockey tournament. This small diner was packed. Service was quick, food came timely and was delicious. We ate breakfast and would recommend this place! read more

Looked on line they were in the top restaurants for Broasted know chicken. It was awful. The Grig was out so had to find a different place. I heard their breakfast is good but this was not. Service was good read more

Not sure how this place has a 4.4 rating. We found it mediocre at best. Service was OK, food was not that great. Ambiance was plain. The bear was great!​ read more

Great food, reasonably priced, big portions and fast service! AND they are open until 10:00 pm big plus for traveling folks!

If you can get past the waitress, the food was amazing everything cooked to my liking, tasted very fresh and had lots of flavor, but the waitress did not make any attempt to give us any service on top of that barely showed any willing to help us if we needed anything was not accommodating at all but the food was amazing read more

Have driven by here many many times, but stopped here for breakfast and am completely satisfied. Good service, good food, very affordable, big menu. If you like family restaurants/coffee shops, you will not be disappointed. read more

Today (1/8/2024) was my first visit to your restaurant. I was not impressed at all. Your menu states homemade chicken noodle soup. I could clearly see this was NOT homemade and served cold. It looked exactly like what you'd get in a can of Campbells chicken soup. I will not be back as this is false advertising. The only good thing about this place is the friendly, and upbeat staff. The food is horrible. Thank you. read more

This restaurant is a gem! Great family-style atmosphere accompanied by great food at a very fair price. Highly recommend this establishment for an old-fashioned breakfast, lunch or dinner! Will definitely be returning every time I'm in Appleton visiting relatives! read more

Coffee was served Luke warm at best,,water had already melted ice,just remainder of ice cubes where floating, like they had it set aside waiting for someone read more

See all

Other than the new paint job and newly printed menu everything is the same as it was when the place was called Golden Basket which is great because we loved Golden Basket. We're happy and will be back read more

I have been wanting to check out Black Bear for months and this visit did not disappoint. I had tue biscuits and gravy which can be a risk because so often it's a bland, white, pasty gravy but this was delicious and flavorful. The biscuit was fluffy and the bacon was crispy and delicious. Service was friendly and efficient. I will definitely be back! read more

Our first time here was a really good experience. The place is bright, clean and attractive. We were greeted promptly and found all staff with whom we interacted to be very friendly. The menu was broad, appealing and bargain priced. Dinners include choices of many sides, including dessert! The broasted chicken we ordered was was very good, but may have been sitting awhile, because it did not come hot out of the fryer. The side of canned corn was, well, like canned corn, but I don't hold that against them, because the salad was far better than average, the broasted potato was excellent and the included sundae was an uncommon treat. All in all, a delightful family type restaurant. We'll definitely be back. Oh, BTW, they're open 7 days a week from 5:00 AM till 10:00 PM. Nobody keeps those kind of hours anymore! I don't know how they do that. read more