Black Bear Diner Mesquite — Restaurant in Mesquite

1st time here, came on a Saturday at 4:00pm. Not busy at all, but to be expected, since it was definitely an early dinner. Food was OK..typical diner food. Service was lacking but really no fault to our server as they were pretty much the only one serving the tables, while I watched 3 servers AND a manager sitting on their butt's cutting up. You know your server is frustrated from not getting help when they're yelling at other servers across the room to wait on another table. So on to the food. Ordered the NY steak dinner, the eggs benny and chicken fried steak dinner. Apparently, they were out of a lot of their sides...no soup so you could only get a side salad (house only) and you only get 1 type of dressing...which is ranch (i wasnt asked what type of dressing we wanted so ranch it was). . However, I was stumped on why there were "chunkies" in the ranch. I'm guessing there was bacon..maybe some cheese...onion..and I believe I found a piece of purple cabbage in one of the containers. So I figured it was a loaded bacon ranch dressing or something..it tasted good.. and the salad was quite large for a side & was nice & cold. Was a good salad. Seasonal veggies were only corn on the cob this evening, so green beans it was..those were pretty good too. Upon arrival of the steaks...they actually looked pretty good... but upon cutting into them, they were clearly cooked from frozen, inside was a little 'mealy'. Not a huge deal..but basic seasoning..like salt only..At least put pepper & garlic powder on them. Not grilled, griddle seared. Steaks were just "ok". The Benny came out and it was sad to see the hollandaise sauce was broken, so it looked curdled. I didn't taste it, but my guest said flavor wise was good, nothing to write home about. Came with your choice of potato's and they chose the home style potatoes which were delish...but needed salt. Speaking of potatoes, one steak entree came with their hashbrowns and those looked darn good too, not your basic breakfast hashbrowns. Onto my entree, I decided to get the chicken fried steak because some reviews said it was the best they've ever had. Well...it wasn't homemade..Definitely premade- frozen and it literally tasted like Dairy Queens steak fingers...like to a T, or the frozen chicken fried steak patties you can get from Sam's Club. That's not a bad thing, but not what I was expecting for the price. Their biscuits were some of the biggest I've ever seen! And if you get them with your entree, you can smother them in sausage gravy, & that's only a buck extra.. Bacon was flimsy & greasy, but thicker cut...I should have told them to cook crispy. One thing I loved was their freaking iced cold brew! Coffee is delicious..and im sure because it was freshly brewed. They have a mocha and another flavor..but its not needed at all..plain black is delicious without additions. I think if I come back, it will be for breakfast options, even though the pot roast sounds good. But to you mister manager, sitting on your behind while your server was...

As much as I really wanted to enjoy this place and praise them for their beautiful presentations of their dishes . . . I unfortunately must give them the review that they deserve . And I will make this as informative and as concise as possible .

An older , bald gentleman (not trying to be rude but this is the best way to describe him since I did not get his name) took my check at the registers . I kindly asked him if he could please make an adjustment to the check because there was a plate that never arrived to the table . But before I could finish explaining , he storms off !

I thought he was very immature . Incredibly irate . And so I asked to speak with the manager that way I can have my check corrected and pay for my meal . To my surprise . He informed me that he IS the manager . Wow . I feel bad for the staff .

He stormed off about 2-3 more times and on the final run away he tried to poorly convince me that I did receive the plate even though I did not . And I even had photos to prove it .

He raised his hands and did not care to take a look at my photos and threatened to call the police as he walked off for the final time . Volatile , isn’t he ?

I sat down at an empty table by the front and waited . I should have walked away . I should not be doing business with any establishment if they are going to mistreat me or anybody else . But I wanted to do the right thing . And so I waited . And to my surprise he returned and offered a $5 discount on my meal .

This is not what I wanted but I figured it was a step in the right direction and it eventually adds up to the amount that I should be paying for (or closer to the amount I should pay for) and so I payed for the meal .

As I was doing so , he mumbled something . I could not quite understand what he said , I’m sure his intentions were to insult me or offend me , none of which worked because I didn’t understand him . And so I simply said have a nice day , took my receipt and walked away .

All in all , I AM EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED ! Not because of the food , not because of the atmosphere , but because of the experience . And even though it was my first (and most likely last) experience at Black Bear Diner , I’m almost certain that Black Bear Diner would NOT APPROVE OF THIS MANAGERS BEHAVIOR !

And as a note to the staff , everyone else was great . Very friendly and attentive . But I would strongly encourage each and everyone of you to seek better employment elsewhere . Because if this is the way the MANAGER treats his guests during open hours , I would not want to imagine how harshly he treats his employees during closed hours or behind closed doors .

From now on , I’ll stick to ihop or dennys if I want some pancakes . At least I know I won’t have a horrible...

came back to update my review but not rating. they were busy (not jam packed busy) we had no wait to be seated. when we were seated, there was food on our chairs and liquid on another. floor was littered with crumbs and food. there were SO many employees on staff i could see at least 5 sitting or standing around, you would think the place would be cleaner. MOST of their floor staff are very young and based on our service, not properly trained. saw a lot of staff sitting at the counter talking, playing with their hair. our server never told us his name. i ordered sweet potato fries which arrived to the table a little soggy and just warm. also got a house salad. nothing remarkable about house salads i guess. my son ordered a cheeseburger and fries. both were just warm. my granddaughter ordered chicken tenders tossed in redds hot sauce with fries and vanilla shake. her food was the only hot plate we received this meal. she said they were good, but a bit too spicy for her. my mother ordered two eggs over easy, breakfast potatoes and sausage. her food was also just warm. her english muffin was brought out 3 separate times because it wasn't even toasted. also no butter on it or served on the side. our server never tried to fix, had to ask for the english muffin every time it was sent back and when asked how the kitchen was cooking their english muffins, his reply was "i dont know i don't work in the kitchen" he also mostly avoided us during our visit after we sent back the first english muffin. we had to track him down to ask for refills. we weren't offered any refills on our water that was two out of the 4 in our parties only drink. when we left, there were 4 employees behind a two register station taking amongst one another while they checked out guests. they have KIDS basically running this place. and that's great that they want to work, but in my experience they are the least likely to be concerned with the type of service they give. and it was obvious here. they might be friendly, but do NOT know how to give a positive dining experience. i could see into the kitchen and there were older individuals doing the cooking and looked like an older person who was the kitchen manager. she never came to see what the problem was when we sent the same thing back three times. it's also VERY loud in there. i will never be back and definitely NOT worth the over $50 spent. poor service, food quality and environment.

can't tell you anything. there were literally 15-20 people waiting OUTSIDE to get in. wanted to try it, because it's new, but the wait was ridiculous, so we just went next to Snuffer's where we had no wait to be seated, enjoyed EXCELLENT service from Selena, and ate super hot and...