Bear's Steakhouse — Local services in Town of Duanesburg

This restaurant is a rarity. It serves high-end, high-quality fare, specializing in Château briand - which is AMAZING - and is solely a family operation, open on a very limited and reservation-required basis. This allows them to focus on customer service in a happy and unhurried manner that won't go unnoticed. My wife and I came for the first time to experience their specialty. First, she had a glass of perfect wine. Then we had cold-boiled shrimp, which I thought was bland, and which came - without warning - partially immersed in a strong horseradish sauce. It was too strong and we should have been apprised of that and been given a choice to have the dip put on the side. But then came the extraordinary, best-of-show, beef vegetable soup, with a nice quantity of scrumptious stringy steak. It is world-class and we savored every single drop of it. When the Château briand arrived, we were taken aback. It was an absolute delight, in presentation as well as in taste. The tender steak came with whole baked potatoes, and baby carrots in a terrific sauce of steak juice and flavorings. The banana cream pie was so soft and perfect, that it didn't even fill us uncomfortably although we devoured every last morsel of it! Yet, had I been given the opportunity to rate this in less than whole numbers, I would have given this a four and a half because while there was no bones about the steak and the food, the operation is kind of bare bones. While the prices and the items on the menu are very classy indeed, the operation is out of an adjunct of the family's home, with parking in a driveway that is unpaved, and, when the ground is wet, as it was this evening, you are walking in puddles surrounded by mud. And the seats have no cushion whatsoever. You are sitting on hardwood chairs for your entire dinner experience. But you can dress in casual attire. And I had called several times to make my reservation and then during subsequent calls, to find out about the menu items and to amend my reservation request, and during most of the calls, I was talking to a woman who did not express any enthusiasm about her place of business and did not put forth an inviting demeanor. BUT DON'T AVOID GOING BECAUSE OF HER!!!! I think that she may be the one responsible for the beef vegetable soup. She does not represent the staff who will be serving you. Do not avoid this restaurant...

Ahhhh....The Bears Steakhouse...the iconic, the legendary, the essential Capital Region's top notch monument to red meat eating gluttony. I feel like this place isn't all that well known even though it's been around since forever. It's kind of a place where if you know, you know. Years ago they had an unlisted phone number and you had to get it from someone who was a regular there, but it's more open to the public these days. The restaurant itself isn't fancy. It's casual, and it's out of the mainstream local restaurant culture. They focus on one thing really, and do that very well. There's no menu and thus, no prices. Expect a large bill. That being said, what you end up paying for a meal there is expensive, but actually a very good value. There are only 2 appetizers available and a handful of desserts. Other than that, you get a choice: Prime Rib, or their Filet Mignon specialty, and you have to specify which as you make your reservations (a month in advance). And believe me, you can't even imagine it until you experience it for yourself. The quivering rare pile of prime rib steak slabs lands on your table with a thud and is maybe the most impressive restaurant experience you'll ever have. Most important though, they start out with an excellent cut of meat and it's cooked perfectly. There's so much food, you'd have to be that hot dog eating contest guy to be able to finish even a majority of it. It comes with potatoes and carrots mainly for decoration imo lol. The appetizers are great. The shrimp cocktail is perfectly cooked and cooled with very spicy sauce. The roasted red peppers and mozzarella is likewise done well. The 4 of us had 4 different homemade desserts and enjoyed them all. The carrot cake was sweet and dense, with the right amount of frosting. The drinks were decent. They have some reasonable bottles of wine available, a nice thing to see at this price level. Overall, a great experience and an...

Went for an anniversary dinner. In advance, we ordered what I understood to be their specialty, Chateaubriand, which I had never had before. Actually a better way to say it was that I have never experienced anything like it before. It was absolutely magnificent, kind of unbelievable. We found ourselves marveling at it as we ate.

Other amazing things: the cocktail sauce for the shrimp cocktail the homemade mozzarella with the tomatoes. the cheesecake..among the best cheesecake we have ever had the bread pudding, which was THE best we have ever had our waiter John, who was fun, engaging, and had great recommendations throughout the evening

The only complaints or warnings we might state are: it got quite loud in the room. However, that was because everyone was having such a great time eating this delicious food. Just recognize this is not a place for a quiet dinner, or an intimate one: you will end up making new friends, comparing dishes and sharing experiences with other patrons. knowing it would be outrageous to overcook this meat, I asked for medium rare but specified that we would have a hard time with truly bloody meat so to take it past that point, whatever they wanted to call it...and there were small pools of blood on the serving plate. I don't know if that message didn't carry through from the reservation to the dinner, or if they just can't bear to ruin this cut via overcooking it, but if you have a sensitive dinner companion, I would advise ordering separate dishes instead of a big cut like the Chateaubriand you have to share. Note that we still feasted on it even with this potential issue.

Overall, we spent much more than we normally would for a night out, almost $250 after tip for wine, apps, desert and Chateaubriand for two...and felt that it was...