Black Horse Tavern & Grill — Restaurant in Norco

Wanted to celebrate the 3 day weekend somewhere other than a chain restaurant, so we went here.

It's a local dive bar that reminded me a bit of the one in the TV show "Cheers" because the bar is in the middle and the stools are wrapped around it.

Someone came in after us and was like "It's so dark in here!" and the waitress said it does take some getting used to. I looked it up and apparently, bars do it on purpose to make the atmosphere cozier.

We arrived early a few minutes before they opened and there was already a couple ahead of us waiting for the doors to open, but since we came so early, we had to wait a while for our food and I even had to cancel the appetizer because I was told it wouldn't be ready even after our main courses were served.

As a vegetarian, there are a few salads to choose from, but the majority of them still have some type of meat in them, so I ordered the Fresh Vegetable Plate that you could add meat to for an extra fee. The cream tasted good and the vegetables were so freshly cooked that I had to blow on them to cool them off.

My sister got the Chicken Fried Steak and the portions were so big that she took some home and got a second meal out of it.

The seasonal menu had something with a fun name called the "Marry Me Chicken", maybe because it's so good you want to marry it?

And keeping with the Norco "Horse Town USA" theme, there were horse photos on the walls. The one that caught my eye was by the restrooms. It was of a horse in a crate about to be mailed. I wasn't aware they used to mail horses like that.

So the bar/restaurant is a fun piece of Americana and...

My wife and I went here for lunch today, and I was a very happy camper. We were promptly seated (well, we WERE the first people in the door), and after just a couple of minutes, our server, Melissa, greeted us. Within 5 minutes of sitting down, we has our drinks, knowledge of the special of the day, and a few recommendations after letting her know it was our first time at the restaurant. I cannot think of a better server that I have ever run across at a restaurant. Melissa was extremely friendly, knew the menu quite well, and had a personality and demeanor that made you feel like you were old friends. She even had a pretty decent knowledge of one of the previous restaurants in that location, Texas Loosy's.

Between the two of us, we ordered the Philly cheese steak sandwich with a side of Irish nachos, the hangar steak sandwich with potato croquettes, the loco moco fries, and a bowl of their Texas red chili. Everything was wonderful, but my favorites had to be the chili, the loco moco fries, and the croquettes. My only complaints with the entire meal was that the hangar steak was just a little bit closer to rare than the medium rare I ordered (though I was fine with that) , and there were a couple of spots on the steak where the chef seemed like he went a little heavy-handed on the seasoning and the steak tasted just a tiny bit salty. I still devoured my hangar steak.

My wife and I were both thrilled with Black Horse Tavern, and we will definitely be back and hoping we get Melissa...

Updated review 12/11/23

I was so excited to see this restaurant on Groupon, I wanted to give them another try because the food was absolutely delish the first time around. Arrived on a Wednesday around 630pm, they had quite the crowd, didn’t wait long maybe 5 mins to get seated. I read on their menu the turkey burger was bussin and my friend had the fish and chips last time, so I already knew ahead of time what we would be ordering. The service was a bit slow, kinda friendly (so so) Both the meals came out at the same time and I was so disappointed that the fries were ice cold, I sent them back right away and she didn’t make new ones instead they just dipped them back in the fryer to get them warm. The fries were terrible, fish and chips over breaded and fried too long it was dark (I always take pictures and because we were in the moment, I didn’t get any) Nonetheless, the burger was ok, the Texas chili was good but overall, I am a bit disappointed in this place…..

05/24/23 Black Horse Tavern and Grill is definitely where the locals dine! If you are in the area, check them out! Its in an unlikely location but IKYK. They offer daily specials and happy hour! Got the Prime rib sando with fries, HH Caesar salad, HH Buffalo Cauliflower, HH Potato Skins and Fish and Chips! Everything came out hot and delish except the au jus that came with the prime rib was a bit too salty, way too much base but overall, the food and customer service was great! I would definitely recommend...