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Posted on Mon, 03/03/2008 - 07:12 — by roygur
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 9
Almost made it there last night but I couldn't convince the hubby :( Can't wait to dine there.
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 136
Roy-
Do you have any info about the place? Type of food, prices, ect? Sounds like American cuisine by the name, but who knows.
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 182
I've been in the one in susuin twice. Their menu serves the same types of foods as dennys/applebees. Portions are large. (at least in susuin) Price is about the same as a applebees or dennys.
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1
bigbeardiner.com
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 257
It's Black Bear not Big Bear. Typical diner food, about a step above Denny's, lots of food, Kinda pricey though. Bad location no parking, can't wait to see the police department all blocked in this weekend.
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 9
My family went there tonight for dinner. I was so excited for this place to open and I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed. My salad was served on a hot plate and the lettuce got nasty. My salmon was severely overcooked. The server didn't know my daughter's dinner came with fresh fruit and argued with me about it until I pointed out that it was stated on the menu. My daughter also did not get her drink until all our meals arrived.
I realize a lot of this can be attributed to working out the kinks, but I don't think I'll be rushing back.
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 182
I went there this evening with my husband. (early evening about 5pm) Lots of staff around, food wasn't as good as what we had in susuin a few years back. I'd only rate it as fair, and convient due to its location just a few blocks from me. I think I prefer Mimi's in Antioch. I'm not ready to throw in the towel on it however I wasn't impressed either.
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1
Went there for dinner with my family last night. Never been to one and heard that it was a must try.
We all enjoyed our food. The service needed a little help, but it is a new restaurant and new employeees. It takes a while to get it down. Portion sizes were amazing for the price. We will most likely check it out again next week and see if all is just as good. The parking can use some help, but it is still worth it. Oakley needed a restaurant like this. Met one of the owners who was really nice. I think it will be a great place for locals and locals from surrounding cities to enjoy a great meal. We were getting pretty sick of Mimi's, Dennys, Johnny Carrinos and Chilis ~ so this is good.
Give it a shot and remember folks, it won't be flawless for a while. Although, I don't think I have ever been to a restaurant listed above where it was flawless.
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 540
I lived for 20 years near Mt. Shasta, where the first Black Bear Diner still serves food. I gladly eat at Black Bear Diners whenever I encounter them on the road, and occasionally visit one in a town where I am staying. Dinners are alright, and as people have noted, the fare is standard Denny's with large portions ... passable, but not exceptional. However, Black Bear Diner's are best noted for breakfasts! Several notches above the typical roadside diner breakfast, to be sure.
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 9
I heard the place was very good.
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 257
Ok I've been there 3 times now (lunch twice and breakfast), and I am not sure that I would say very good (unless you consider your other choices in Oakley). Food is ok not quite as big of portions as the Black Bear outside of Redding, but bigger than you get at a Denny's or such. Service is getting better, but there are still issues, (the cold eggs I got last Sunday, the waitress forgot one of the orders in the group I was with on Wednesday for lunch, didn't forget what it was, she did not get her food period). Hopefully it will get better as the staff learns the menu and such. It is kinda pricey though. I may go back from time to time, but I will have to remain loyal to Bridgehead Cafe for breakfast.
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 24
We finally tried Black Bear today, and it's doubtful we'll be back. I'll start off with my husband's food. He ordered a cheeseburger. It comes plain but there are ketchup and mustard on the table to add yourself. There wasn't any mayo, though. I guess if my husband would have asked they would have brought him some, but he didn't want to bother. The burger had one slice of tomato the size of a fifty cent piece. We laughed about that. In the end, he said it was most definitely not worth $9 and he wished he just would have gotten a sirloin burger from Jack in the Box.
I ordered the small pot roast dinner with a salad. The lettuce in my salad was sliced to about 1/4 inch and was very hard to "stab" onto the fork (which was dirty, by the way). The pot roast was very dry and some pieces were hard, like they had been sitting for a long time. There was an enormous pile of mashed potatoes that had maybe one tablespoon of gravy on top. Once you ate all the gravy, the potatoes didn't have much flavor.
Some other observations were that they had entirely too many employees. The owners must have had all their kids and their friends working because they were pretty much all standing around with nothing to do. One boy was working his butt off bussing all the tables while the rest of the kids just stood around talking amongst themselves and watching him. One of the owners (I'm assuming this because he had on a Black Bear Diner polo that was different from the shirts all the other employees were wearing), yelled across the restaurant at one of the employees. And I mean he yelled, it was totally unprofessional. Then he walked out from behind the counter and he had shorts and sneakers on with no socks! Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I expect the people working where I'm eating should be fully clothed......unless I'm at Hooters. It was just kind of nasty looking with all that leg hair and varicose veins.
I doubt we'll go back. Maybe for breakfast, but even then, their prices are quite high. So what if the pancakes are piled high and the size of a dinner plate? Who could eat all that? And it's not like you can take the rest home and eat it later, breakfast just doesn't work like that.
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 446
I e-mailed this forum link to the owners of the diner. Hopefully they will take these comments as constructive criticism and improve on future dining experiences.
Roy Gursky http://gurskyranch.com
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 2
Ive gone three times now, and I have to say, I LOVE THIS PLACE. My kids love it, and Ive enjoyed my food each time. It is always packed when we go, and everyone is so nice to us. Its a nice change in this little town, and I am glad they opened.
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 3
My parents went there for breakfast on a Sa[]ay morning. They were seated within minutes. The waited for almost 20 minutes for someone to come take their order. It never happened. They walked out and we won't be dinning there ever.
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 446
Wow, some really differing reports quoted here. I would have hoped by now that the newness would have worn off and the staff had all their ducks in a row. Sounds like there's still room for improvement. Will have to try that ourselves in the near future. One of the owners is my neighbor and I've e-mailed him a link to this post a couple of weeks ago to let him know the differing opinions, especially of the waitstaff problems. Maybe they'll get it all together soon.
Roy Gursky http://gurskyranch.com
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 495
Roy, a gaggle of us will be going for lunch today. We will give the staff a run for their money. I will report back.
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 182
Isn't a gaggle a bunch of geese?
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 495
A gaggle is an unorganized group doing nothing. That is basically what we Red hatters are.
Okay there was 15 of us at Black Bear for lunch.(1 young man wanted to join us. It was his birthday) I had the Reuben. I asked for the souerkraut on the side(yummy) so the sandwich wouldn't be soggy. I had onion rings as a side and they were ve-ery good. I only heard 2 complaints. One was for the amount of fat in a sandwich and the other was for the amount of food on the breakfast plate.(too much). all in all the waitress was great, she gave us all seperate checks and I saw no mistakes in service. I honestly can't wait to go again. Next time I will take my husband as I know he will like it.
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1257
Too much food???
Yeah, that's the kind of complaint that should shut the place down :o)
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 182
I've gone a second time with my husband and the service was great (had a waitress that remembered us from buzz inn) Food was good also. I'm not going to toss in the ole towel. My husband had a hard biscut in his biscuts and gravey but they replaced as soon as we told them. It was a pleasant bkfst. Not as many youth around. LMAO now I sound like one of the old folks. My son Loves this place. He's gone multiple times with his friends and raves over it. I think they have tons of potential as a great place to go eat.
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 1
I think the most important thing we ALL have to remember is that this diner is going through a process that is going to take time in order to be where it needs to be. Oakley has never had a sophisticated family style restaurant and we as Oakley citizens need to be understanding of what these Owners and employees are going through. Training and memorizing menus are part of the waitresses job, however they as everyone else may get a little confused or frazzled in the beginning. We are not perfect people and I'm am sure that everyone reading or posting a comment on here in regards to BlackBear has had their share of mistakes and misfortunes at their employer too.
We all have unpleasant experiences when we go out, whether it be a store or to eat or our kids school, but that doesn't mean because we have one bad experience, we turn our backs on people who we know are trying their best to do their job and make sure your visit / experience is a pleasant one.
I have been to BlackBear many many times since their opening on March 3rd and I will be the first to say that there have been times where my waitress may have forgot to refill my soda or forgot a side i asked for, but all in all, we are human and a simple reminder to them and within seconds you will have it and their apology for the remainder of your visit.
The one thing I would recommend to all that have a negative remark or even to the people who have something positive to say would be, if you have an issue or something to say about a particular owner/waitress/busser/server, then you should tell the management while you are at the restaurant at that given time. If they don't know that the way they dress offends you or that you feel that "their kids" are hanging around bothers you, then they will never know that they may need to re-evaluate the situation or their appearance or they may have a very logical explaination that would change your attitude and stop any uncanny remarks. I think they would rather have the constructive critism said to their face so that it can be addressed in a more timely manner instead of people posting those negative remarks on forums such as these for them to see after the fact.
If you feel the need to eat elsewhere, then so be it. There are many other restaurants within our county that you can go to and I'm sure that Black Bear will be fine without the individuals that go there just to see if they can eat there and leave there with a piss poor attitude going in and coming out! We would like to keep it a happy, friendly, enjoyable and tasty place!!!!
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1982
That's so true. When a new place opens you have to cut them some slack. You would hope that they hired people that live in the community even if they didn't have a lot of experience. There's always going to be some on the job training because it just isn't feasable for a new restaurant to postpone opening to train everybody. By the time they get their occupancy permit to open their doors, they are probably hurting from all the money going out to build the place with nothing coming in. But even with a restaurant that has been around, I take all the comments from people on this forum with a grain of salt. We've seen too many restaurant review threads where the comments were all over the place, and that's to be expected because everybody has different tastes when it comes to atmosphere, food, service, price, etc. It's fun to read what people think, but I don't let it stop me from going and forming my own opinion. I remember when the Quiznos by me first opened and I thought it was the worst sandwich I ever tasted, Really dry and boring, but I think they just didn't know how to use their equipment. I go to the same Quiznos about every other day now and I think it's great. It's worth going back and trying again.
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1257
I would wager that 99.99% of the time, if you asked a person who makes the kind of complaints you read on these forums whether or not they ever worked in a restaurant, the answer would be no. It ain't an easy job folks. Especially when a place is new. All these kinks aren't going to be ironed out overnight, especially, as has been stated here, if the management doesn't hear from any dissatisfied customers while they're there. And please, it usually helps if the criticism is constructive and civil. They want your business and I'm sure that they would welcome your comments.
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1982
Good point Stoney. A restaurant can't possibly make everybody happy. A good example is how you prefer a more subdued, relaxing, atmosphere with soft elevator music in the background while dining. I think that's because you grew up in the era of folk guitars and the loudest thing you heard was shouting protests on a bullhorn. On the other hand, I like a faster-pace and loud, boneyard music, or in-your-face mariacchi band kind of experience. I grew up in a younger and noisier generation of amplified wah-wah pedals and monophonic synthesizers. People have different tastes and digestive systems and a restaurant can't cater to them all.
Sometimes you can make the restaurant work for you. If it's a place with limited parking or you don't like crowded noisy places, just adjust the time you go so it's quieter and easier to find a close parking spot. It's hard to find a restaurant that has everything perfect and your experience is going to be different every time unless you get the same server, same menu item, same table, are in the same mood, have the same appetite, same fellow diners, etc. There's too many variables, it would be too boring if every experience was always the same. Not having been to the Oakley Black Bear yet myself, and judging it just on paper, it appears to be something Oakley needs and a good fit for that location. Hasn't anybody tried the cobbler? I've been craving cobbler ever since somebody started that pie and cobbler thread a few moths ago.
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 12
We tried Black Bear a few times up in the Redding area where the chain started... Sorry, but it was really bad. Tried the Oakley BB, they were still drilling, and hammering during lunch. Very uncomfortable. Waited while the waitress waited on a table that came in after us, came to our table after around 20 min. IMHO Oakley is tring to be something it will never be. Sorry, I won't go back.
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1257
Hey, The Ray Conniff Singers and The Lennon Sisters are good for the digestion.
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1982
Yep, that's how I counteract the effects of my Bowling Alley Cheez Cake so it settles in the right place.
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1257
You mean there's more than one place for it to settle depending on what kind of music you listen to? I thought stomachs were one big sack, not divided into little subdivisions. Are stomach acids like traffic cops, directing some foods to go in this parking place and others to go in that parking place? I guess all bets are off with head banger music and it's total chaos down there with the occasional back-up of traffic and the inevitable reversal of fortune.
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1982
Well, actually I was thinking it would be better for it to settle in my stomach and not on my thighs like 001 said it would do, but technically speaking, if it's in my stomach and I'm sitting down, it's on my thighs too. Shoot, I guess the best way for me to keep it from going straight to my thighs is to eat it standing up! At least there will be a little lag in time there. Or is that a lull? A hiatus perhaps? Is that what they call a hiatus hernia?
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1257
I think the correct term is hiatal hernia.
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1982
Oh... then what's a hiatus hernia?
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1257
That's when you get a hernia lifting the beer keg out of the back of your SUV during a commercial break in the playoff game.
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1982
Ouch, that kind of hernia would sure hurt... but it's a good kind of hurt.
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 561
And you got the liquid pain killer.
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 12
What happened to the one in Lucky Shopping Center???? It has a sign up that says Oakley Cafe. Quiznos had great sandwiches. And someone said something about "sophisticated dining" In Oakley? Can you tell me where?
No matter where you go, there you are.
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 257
"Sophisticated family style" I guess that means that it isn't fast food or a buffet, and you don't have to stand up to eat. Not too sure that "sophisticated" is the right word to use when you are describing any diner. I think the Oakley Cafe still has Quiznos stuff they just expanded their menu a bit, and changed the name.
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 182
Second Visit for breakfast and It was Wonderful. Haven't tried any of the other meals there but I'd now rate Black Bear in Oakley as worth Repeating. I'll go back again!