Black Bear Diner Amarillo — Restaurant in Amarillo

Well, I have spoken highly of this place to my family for such a long time. So when they drove into town of course I had to take them here. In this story you are going to hear of many red flags that we should have walked out on, but at some point we were just curious as to how bad it could get so we stayed and endured hell.

One member of our party arrived early expecting there to be a wait due to Sunday rush. So start the clocks at 12pm when she arrived. We arrived at 12:30. At this time she had not even been able to check in to wait for a table. We discussed if we should leave because it was fully packed but many people were checking out to leave so we decided it shouldn’t be too long of a wait. Fast forward to 12.45 we get checked in to wait. We are behind 8 tables. 1:15 we are about 3rd in line. At this point we overhear the staff has one cook one waitress and one dishwasher. We decide to still stay. At this point there is only 5 tables seated. Every other table is empty and dirty. 8 tables are cleaned off but need to be wiped down.

Around an hour and thirty minutes into waiting I decide to ask the manager “ I know you are slammed and I’m not asking to be waited on until you have time but can you please wipe down those two tables so we can have somewhere comfortable to sit for the party ahead of us and ourselves?” She responded verbatim “I have accommodated you the best I can, but I can not leave my staff unattended.” I’m just gonna unpack this, first she never accommodated us at all. She had never even spoken to us. The host checked us in and we waited and had been staring at empty tables for the better half of an hour. (At this point they had about five employees total) second, and most importantly WHY WOULD YOU HAVE TO LEAVE YOUR STAFF UNATTENDED FOR YOUR HOSTESS TO WIPE OFF THE CLOSEST TWO TABLES TO THE DOOR? What the heck? So we wait, stupidly. Finally, we get seated. At this point there is only 3 tables with people eating. And about 7 staff members we could count. Oh but the story only gets worse.

So we order. It took 3 minutes for our drinks to be brought to our table, another 5 to get our order taken (not too bad but you now only have five tables and multiple waitresses). Our salads get brought out. They gave the wrong dressings to my mother not a big deal but I did notice hers had lids and mine did not. We joked mine might not be safe since I pisses off the manager about cleaning the tables. The joked turned oh so real when a big piece of raw bacon was found in my ranch. I’ve attached the image below for proof. So I kindly apologize to my waitress because I was sending back my salad and showed her the RAW bacon. She very quickly said “it’s bacon ranch. We cook it a special way which is why it looks like that but it’s cooked. Just bacon ranch.” Ya, ok. I’m a regular customer. I get a salad every time. Never has there been bacon, never has it tasted like bacon, never was I told it was bacon ranch, never have I seen it written on the menu as bacon ranch. Plus ITS RAW. So I tell her I’m uncomfortable with the way it looks and send it back and request to just forgo the salad. (Ps it wasn’t removed from my ticket I paid for that raw bacon ranch salad). Then my drink was empty it took her 13 minutes to bring me a drink after I asked for a refill (yes at this point I was running a timer because it looked like lunch was gonna be three hours) she brought two teas sweet and unsweetened she asked which one I had. I stated unsweetened and she handed me a glass. It was sweet. It took 5 minutes to get her back to the table to correct it and another 8 to replace it. My husbands side was incorrect, my mothers meal had gravy when she couldn’t have it due to diet restrictions for diabetes (but she was scared to say anything even though she had stated she had restrictions when ordering and ordered it plain). Two party members had white gravy both were extremely sweet almost like someone used sugar instead of salt accidentally.

And that was about it. I guess we lost our favorite place and won’t...

My friend local to Amarillo suggested I visit this diner while in town. I'll be honest in saying I wasn't expecting much for a small diner off of I-40 but they blew my expectations out of the water.

Upon entering I was offered a warm and friendly welcome by the host Jess. She offered some insight into the location and the history of the diner and Amarillo while I waited to be seated. She also offered the charge my phone for me as it was dead from being my GPS during my long drive.

After we were seated we met our server Mia again a warm and friendly individual, she was happy to guide us to some local favorites on the menu. I settled on the Chicken Fried Steak and the House Salad with bleu cheese and mushrooms. The food arrived quickly and again Mia brought it out with a smile and excellent service. The fried steak was tender, juicy and cooked to perfection; it maintained a nice crunch even while being smothered in gravy, an excellent recommendation from Mia and my compliments to the chef!

Mia was adept in maintaining mine and my friends drink refills while not disturbing our conversation and meal! When we had finished our dinner she again offered some local favorites for dessert. The Banana Cream Pie was delicious and didn't have the typical stale taste most diner pie's have. Mia was very thorough upon exiting and wished us a nice evening. She is genuinely one of the most hospitable and kind servers I have met!

After paying our bill Jess happily returned my phone with a now almost fully charged battery, and helped me with directions on how to get to my hotel.

These ladies made our experience at the Black Bear fabulous and enjoyable. I'm happy we decided to eat there rather than get fast food. We will...

Food was beautiful and hot and fresh. Staff terrible. Reading the newpaper place mats on Black bear diner philosophy and didnt hit any of those on there. Left a filthy rag/ towel on the table the whole time I ate in front of me. Ordered ice tea…… I guess theyre saving money on ice? Never got a refill till I was done eating only 1 but I was done. Not friendly at all. No check backs except when dropping my food to ask how it looks. Needed Tabasco but had to ask another order taker. Um if a customer orders something wouldnt you know what condiments to bring in advance? Prople think a tip is they serve food and that gets a tip? Servers and order takers . Im a easy large tipper sometimes 100% but there 5% is too much even. Train the front house staff!!!!! Tabatha was my order taker. Table 10/1 9:22am 25.22 check amount after my gift of $5. Update 05/15/24 06:30pm server Natasha, she has personality and wonderful smile very pleasant and has major potential! She kept up on my tefills took my order correctly checked on all her customers etc. I served and trained staff on the strip in Las Vegas for 27 yrs and shes got huge future potential to make money. Thatll depend on management training etc. Id come back just so she could be my server. Shes a shining star and should be recognized. Thanks girl for making my day! Raised my 3 star to a 4 only because she made my experience exceptional! Update 07/18/24 Mandi was my server and she was super awesome! Exceptional service and was so kind! First time in a longtime in any restaurant I wasnt rushed. Taco salad was crispy , meat was steaming coming out! Id come back if she was working. Oh and the place was freezing! A pleasant...