Black Bear Diner Arvin — Restaurant in Arvin

We had just spent the morning at the Tejon Outlet we were pretty hungry after a bunch of shopping. We only had a 30 minute ride back home to Bakersfield however we figured we would try out this restaurant my daughter found on the internet and said it had some real good reviews.

The first thing we all noticed the parking lot was dirty, trash was in the bushes around the building. It did not mean much until we walked inside and noticed the floors were quite dirty too [stains, food & debris]. Normally this might not bother me at say a Home Depot however I don't dine at places like that. The area around our table was very dirty, as if some child had been tossing bits of their meal on the floor & up on a shelf right next to where I was sitting. [it was never picked up the entire time we were there].

On to the service and the food. The meals were not good to be blunt, portions were good but the food did not sit well with us. The beef had so much fat & gristle, the chicken was flavorless, even the broccoli fell short. I left about half my plate I just could not finish it & I tried, I was very hungry. My wife & daughter had a similar experience.

The server was in her own world, each time we asked for something it was as if we were putting her off. We repeatedly had to ask her for utensils, water refills, napkins. Its like you have one job & I get it, I used to work at the Chicken Dinner Restaurant at Knotts Berry Farm, that place is ALWAYS Packed. This place was not busy.

I used to be a secret shopper for Marie Callender's in SoCal many years ago, there are so many factors you need to take into consideration like the initial greeting, how busy is it, cleanliness inside & out, your servers attitude, the bathrooms, did the manager come by, then you get to the food before you can honestly say weather a place is good, bad or terrible.

My experience at the Black Bear Diner in Arvin was neither Good nor Terrible, it was simply BAD! We were all very disappointed.

We may try them again, if we do I will come back to this review & add more to it. This one stands.

My hope is that this review of our dining experience will help y'all make a good dining choice.

God bless, Pastor...

10/13/2025: I ordered the Blackened Salmon with Broccoli and a Baked Potato. The cook clearly cares about presentation as my food was beautifully arranged on my plate. For me, however, that's secondary to taste...

Luckily for me, it tasted even better than it looked! The seasonings provided a deep, rich flavor and the sear was perfect! Like wise, the potato's skin was crispy with a fluffy interior. It was exactly what I want when I order a baked potato. Even the broccoli impressed!

I don't normally do desserts because of my diabetes, but with how good the dinner was I wanted to indulge and see if their desserts were as good as the main dish. I asked about their seasonal cheesecake and was informed that it was pumpkin.

I had to try it and it was amazing! The crust was wonderfully crisp and the filling was creamy and rich. This will likely be the only cake I eat for the remainder of the year and it was worth every bite.

The ambiance of Black Bear Diner is part of the reason to go. It has to be experienced. The bear carvings, paintings and, in the case of this location, the beautiful mountain views you get by just looking out the window... Wow!

My server was a woman named Trish. She was VERY friendly, professional and courteous. Even if the rest of the restaurant hadn't impressed me, she would have. She is what other employees in her role should aspire to be. I hope her employer recognizes her hard work.

It was hard to find anything to criticize about this location. The only thing I could find was that the mirrors in the Men's Restroom were dirty. It's a minor criticism and if I wasn't writing this review, I probably wouldn't have paid attention to it.

I will DEFINITELY be back, hopefully soon. I highly recommend...

I came to this restaurant with my family (party of 6), and unfortunately, our experience was terrible from start to finish. Our waitress took our drink order and didn’t come back for about 20 minutes—only to tell us that our drinks were “on the tray.” She then took our food order and the order of a group that arrived 15 minutes after us.

When one of my family members asked politely if the coffee was coming, the waitress responded rudely. When the drinks finally arrived, she slid the coffee across the table and spilled it on the person who had asked about it. When I pointed it out, she just said “oh,” shrugged, and walked away.

Our meals took over 45 minutes to arrive, even though the restaurant wasn’t busy. The group that came in after us was served before we were. It honestly felt like our waitress was treating us differently—possibly even with bias.

When my food finally arrived (a Cobb salad), the onions were chopped into huge pieces and there was no egg, even though it was listed on the menu. When the waitress finally came back (about 15 minutes later), I just mentioned to her the missing egg, and she said, “I can give you your egg to go.” When I declined, she said, “It’s just an egg,” and then loudly told the kitchen not to forget eggs on salads next time—something that could’ve been handled much more professionally.

Overall, the service from our waitress was rude and inattentive, and the food quality didn’t make up for it. The restaurant didn’t seem busy, but it did seem poorly managed and understaffed. Definitely not an experience I’d want to repeat...