Bear Trap Cafe & Bar — Restaurant in Riverside

Our first experience here would be rated 5 stars; it was a Tuesday and Karen was behind the bar. She said she only works Tuesdays. She was friendly and fun! We enjoyed talking with another patron and in all it was a good happy hour. We had taken a look at the menu and decided to return the following night. What a difference. We asked if we were still in time for happy hour, which we had seen advertised as being from 4-6 M-Th and all day Sunday. The waitress went to check with the owner, who was behind the bar, and she came back and said that information was old. So why is it still available? We observed this female owner bending over backward to take care of the locals there...never once spoke with us or even made eye contact. We ordered the meat loaf and the mac and cheese. The mac and cheese had decent flavor, with buffalo chicken, but needed a lot more sauce; the pasta was dry. The meat loaf was OK, good flavor, but also a bit dry. The salad with the meal was very nice, with lots of dark greens and no iceberg lettuce. Our waitress just seemed to not be interested in relating to us. Just perfunctory. So our tip was, as well. If we go back, it will only be on a Tuesday when Karen is there. Great gal! We get that the locals are the ones who give consistent support. But with an RV park across the street, and this ability to rate, I am sorry but us transients matter, too. We had expected the same friendly service for dinner and were really...

I would love to review based on food but instead I'm reviewing based on service. With a group of people we were told 10 to 15 minutes tops and to wait outside for a table at which point someone would come get us. Which we were understanding and accepting of. We watched several groups of people walk in and be seated, the server came outside multiple times without acknowledging or updating us at which point we went inside to inquire about a table. We were told a table was opening up and we could be sat shortly. We then watched another group immediately be sat at the table promised to us and when we went inside to inquire about said table we were informed she was too busy to let us know a table that we waited 45 minutes for opened up but she would bring menus and take our order outside. This would have been a lovely suggestion during the 45 minutes of waiting with no food or offering of at least a water let alone an ice cold beer or cocktail. This was disappointing because this restaurant has such fantastic food reviews. So while the food might be satisfying and delicious the service left something...

Well I would love to review this place but we didn’t even get to try the food. We had a group of 5 so we knew we would have to wait a little for a bigger table. We were told 10-15 minutes. We waited outside for 45 minutes while other people walked in to get sat. Around the 30 minute mark I walked in and asked about a table. I was told that they had a table wrapping up and it would be ours. No one ever came out to get us. I was walking in to order a drink when I saw the table I was told was going to be ours had been sat. At this point we decided just to leave. We were told “she couldn’t stop to coke out to get us” but she walked right past us to get ice and at that point she could of told us our table was ready. AFTER the 45 minutes we were offered menus and she could take our order outside but we didn’t feel it was worth it to even try at that point. All of us have worked into still work in the service industry and this was just...