Black Bear BBQ — Restaurant in Asheville

So so.... I had a "dinner" plate to go. I'm hungry still. 3 paper/cardboard covered cups are placed in a cardboard covered to go plate....wasn't very visually appealing, but I suppose they try to not have food run into each other if all placed in the plate. I ordered chopped brisket, collard greens and brocolli casserole. First, If you want sauce on the meat that's an extra charge .50 cents - really? you can't just put a squirt of sauce on the small portion of meat? The chopped brisket was tender, but not really flavorful - so meh! Broccoli casserole was weird...hardly saw any broccoli and it seemed to have some sort of topping that I couldn't discern....it tasted just ok, but sorta non-descript. The collards were perfectly cooked, but again just weren't flavored. Cornbread was ok - again, nothing special. I think that Blk Bear needs to put their flavor spin on their dishes rather than sending out blandish food. ((As an aside, their were complaints about the size of the sides...I thought they were reasonable sized for a side.) I WANT to support a local restaurant, but can't see myself rushing back. I've been to 12 Bones BBQ a couple of times and although I haven't written a review it's heads and tails over Black Bear in the flavor catagory....the quality of food is excellent. I wish I could have felt differently about BBBQ considering it's a...

I've been here a few times and wanted to be fair about my review. Also returned to try different menu items. The Chicken bbq and Jackfruit bbq were good. Food served was luke warm to cool both times. Sweet potatoe side was really good the first time, second time it was kinda runny like baby food consistency. Collards were ok but a bit off in taste, I chewed on this bay leaf or something in them that was really hard so it turned me off from finishing. Last time, I had the cornbread it was good but not warm. So I was actually looking forward to eating it the next time just going to tell them to warm it up. This time it was so crumbly couldn't even pick it ulp without it falling apart. I tried potatoe salad and for it to be homemade per the cashier it was ok. I personally would not order again. Mac and cheese was pretty good if you like a peppery taste. I think it could have used a little more cheese but thats me and could have just been the visit. I gave 3 stars because the people are nice, atmosphere is inviting, and they have good sauces despite the food being inconsistent and it seems I can't just get a hot plate of food. In my opinion, all items ordered should be pretty warm to hot unless it's supposed to be...

This is what happens when you try too hard. Waited a week for the burnt ends... And they were worse than what you get at Costco. They were dead.. so well done and overdone they were inedible.

But they won't even sell you just brunt ends: this is one of those places where they have a "chef" vs pitmaster. God forbid you ask them to modify the sandwich. I mean, who wants pate on burnt ends?

There are other places in Asheville that do burnt ends right.. they should be like candy. A chef should have known not to serve this to customers.

The pulled pork was ok, only reason U have them 2 stars.

8/16 Update: My suggestion would be to offer both a plain sandwich or platter at the same price, as there is no additional effort. We were told over and over that no changes were allowed to sandwich, contrary to what they shared below. We had to argue with the chef and staff to be able to remove the unwanted items from the burnt ends. However, serving dead/well done burnt ends (or any meat) is...