Black Bear Diner Colma — Restaurant in Colma

When arriving, we were seated by a server. This is my second visit to this establishment. Upon being seated we ordered drinks, a sweetened iced tea the drinks came out. I was served unsweetened tea which had to be returned. This is my second visit as a Google reviewer to this establishment. My First visit and review of this place two months ago wasn’t very favorable the last time. This is a typical American Greasy spoon restaurant. I definitely had reservations about coming back here and eating a second time especially after the very first time here. The atmosphere was cold inside, and at the table the condiments and the bottles were unclean. And we’re not full. I ordered a fruit bowl as an appetizer before the main course. I also ordered chicken sausage links with a sunny side up eggs with french fries, white toast and an order of bacon. The meal came out for a late breakfast upon serving me, the server dropped one of my fries on the floor from my plate and just left it on the floor and walked away.. immediately my order was wrong. They had served me a chicken fried steak with country gravy. Instead of the chicken sausage links. And the Food had to be returned to the kitchen. Some time later, the food came back out, with the correct order, the appearance of the chicken sausage links over cooked and greasy to the look and to the taste. The Fries were cold after the first order mistake that was wrong being returned to the kitchen the eggs were now also cold and the toast was luke warm. All because the original order was wrongly placed by the server and made by the kitchen my bacon had gone cold by then by the time the rest of the meal came back out again. Bacon was overcooked and two crispy that it was crumbly. For dessert I ordered a banana cream pie that arrived. It was very appealing from the outside, but was warm in the middle. For something that is probably frozen and defrosted in a microwave by the kitchen which this should be refrigerated. The cream on top was warm. The cream was prepackaged and these pies are probably ordered from another supplier. The banana cream pie the bananas filling were at the bottom and off color brownish. The taste of the banana cream pie was very unappealing, overly sweet and left a bad taste in my mouth and I refused and couldn’t finish this desert . So for an $80 order for two people. I found the quality of food and the service very below par and this disappointing. Upon leaving I was sickly ill from the quality food that was served. I can see the definite reasons why they have declining ratings being at present a 3.0 stars on Yelp and on Google this place has bad reviews by customers. Definitely not a place i would not recommend this place as the food preparation and the quality of food were definitely not healthy and was not budget friendly. Food is overpriced. And I can also see the staff don’t enjoy the job and are not very customer service orientated. This will definitely be one place I will put down and not recommend to frequent for a meal. there’s a lot more cheaper alternatives and better quality food and service...

There's a lot that I really like about this place. The decor/theme are nice (mountain lodge-ish), there's a parking lot at the entrance, the large portions of food and the quality, the prices are all right, there's ample seating, the menu is robust, they have good desserts, and the wait time for my food was surprisingly short. I even dig their fun menus that are fashioned after newspapers. And of course, the staff was really great as well. All good.

I tried their corned beef and hash since I didn't see anyone else post photos of it... and it's one of my favorite breakfast dishes (after eggs benedict). It was amazing! I prefer corned beef & hash where the ingredients (corned beef... potatos... veggies...) are tossed together, not flattened into a single "patty." And to this end they delivered. The eggs and toast were also great, and they included some nice garnish to make it presentable.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have their own line of hot sauces, too! There's pepper, habanero, and I think smoked chipotle sauces to liven up your dishes.

There's only one thing that held me back from giving 5 stars, and it's a bit of an odd one for me. The lighting. Most of the tables have lights hanging over them, however the lights hang so far down and close to where you're sitting that you're being partially blinded by a bright light bulb. I know: weird, right? It's not something I expect them to fix... any time soon or if ever... but having to actively avoid looking up too much avoid being blinded is a real drag. Thankfully some of the smaller seating arrangements don't have lights over them, but the majority do.

That's all! Great place though, I'll definitely come back with my partner but I'll be sure to request we sit somewhere not directly under the...

Ok I waited the amount one should wait for a "new" chain to get it together since their grand opening, hoping I wouldn't traste new grill taste. So 25 min wait to be seated sounds better than half hour * the hostess was happy energetic and very polite and pleasant. Our waitress for the evening was Ashlie (who is the best from what I have read) she appeared to get our drink order with in 2 min of seating.* the place was half empty seating capacity but there were people waiting to be seated. ( a sign of under staffing or way too many call outs) just to point out from walking in the door to walking out the door was 1 hour 7 min. Not bad for a Weeknight. So the food was all good except one of the plates was served with cold French fries. Mine was missing something which Ashlie tended to right away but it was not her fault the kitchen missed something. The thing people do is always blame the waitstaff when it is all staff. I saw a "manager" and a hostess and a cashier all standing up front when several tables had empty drinks? I saw people waiting for the food sitting up under the lights while waiters and waitress were taking orders not very team efficient if management is watching but not moving to pitch in for the home run. This place has the ability to be as good as other Black Bears but the management is gonna have to step it up and either hire more waitstaff or get their hands dirty and help out. The milkshake was perfect* the onion rings were great as most BB's*. I know next time I go I am hoping all the bugs will be gone or maybe I should say Kinks? Overall what you read is right food is good if not cold or prepared wrong and there will be a wait because of improper staffing but that can be fixed with a couple hands...