Black Bear Diner San Antonio Ackerman — Restaurant in San Antonio

First of all, let me say that I have never been disappointed at a black bear diner until now.

1st.....the place was not busy, there were about 10 tables of diners with more than half of them already eating. We were seated and waited quite a while before a waitress came over to get our order. In fact, we didn't know she was our waitress at the time that we witnessed her cleaning off a table. She finally came over and asked for drinks, having already been sitting there for some time, we knew what we wanted to eat also. She took our drink order and walked away. We thought ok, they get the drinks first and get your food order when they bring your drinks back. Thats not what happened. She set our drinks down and walked away again. We watched her go to another table that was seated after us. She did finally come back and asked us for our food order. I ordered scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, grits and a blackberry stuffed French toast. When our food arrived, my eggs were not scrambled, they looked like a cheese omelet. They tasted ok, so I ate them. I started to eat the French toast and noticed it was not cooked all the way in the middle, I took a bite off the end to see if it was like that all the way through. The waitress was called over and I showed her this. She said, they must not have put it on the griddle long enough, would you like me to have them put it back on the grill for you? I was stunned. I said you are going to have them put it on a grill that everyone's food is cooked on after I've taken a bite off it with a used fork? She then says, well no, I guess not, would you like another one. I said yes and could you just make it to go. I figured they would make sure the second one was cooked through...so that's partially me for not checking before I left. I got home and later went to eat some and found this one was also not cooked im the middle, actually a little more so than the first. I am disappointed to say the least.

2nd....the waitresses that were working that shift, never once smiled the entire time that they interacted with me and the other 2 people with me. They were not rude, just looked very unhappy to even be there.

3rd....I noticed the cook had a beard but nothing covering it as I went up to pay.

4th... the guy that checked me out rang up my tab almost 12 dollars higher than it should have been. I told him that was wrong, I'm not sure how he got that number but he said, oh I see what I did.

Like I said, I've never had a bad experience at any black bear diner until today. I chose this one in san antonio because it had the most stars and good reviews. I know people have off days but not the entire crew at the same time.

I will not be eating at this one again.

In the end, I spent $69 with a $5 tip which was not a great tip but I know they don't get paid...

Having recently moved back to TX after a 25 yr absence I was missing what had become a WI tradition of AYCE Friday Fish Fry. In WI the Friday Fish Fry is nearly a downright religious event, with individual tastes reaching impossible finikyness. An example would be an eatery making a slight modification to their FFF, that would either have your mouth watering by Wednesday, staring at the clock begging it to be 5:00 on Friday so you can rush to have your FFF. You can resist that religious fervor all you want, but you will succumb to it. And truly avoid discussing it as questions quickly lead to "where do you like to go?" This one singular question answered to the unliking of the poser, can quickly result in the termination of friendships or isolation from family as "the weird one". Not at all kidding.

Again this is entirely a WI aspect, and rightfully so. Therefore imagine my shock and surprise at seeing the AYCE FFF on the menu at Black Bear Diner, with a every common WI serving of coleslaw, fries, lemon wedges and battered fish, with marbled bread slices being offered.

I sat there dumbfounded, staring at the wording on the menu as it flashed - in my mind, with bright neon, pulsating waves - literally making it the only item legible on the menu. I could see other menu items, but only as blurry, peripheral things, while the words All-You-Can-Eat Friday Fish Fry pulsate before me.

I tried to look at other items, but eventually sighed, closed the menu and waited for our incredible waitress to come take our order.

Swear to God, even though my body KNEW it was in TX, how the waitress asked about the sides, my head told me I was in a WI tavern ordering the Fish Fry. It was a definite "Inception" moment causing me to blink hard and shake my head at the surrealism of the experience.

And just as quick in WI, we were served. The slaw was not to my liking, having a super sweet flavor, instead of the even balance of tangy/sweet common in WI. But the rest was utterly amazing.

So much so, that exiting the diner, I literally said aloud, "where are we?" as I was expecting the crunching of snow, and the bite of winter as I walked out the door in short sleeves and jacket-less.

Definitely a place I will be returning to next...

We went for a special sneak preview the sunday before their grand opening. So we happily went to try it out - now we have never visited any of the Black Bear Diner's so this was truly our First time! We got there and got checked in - they took us to our table and once seated our waitress Christina was there right away to take our drink order. She said she was excited we were there and would help us with any questions about the menu that we might have. The menu looked great! Alot of breakfast items, lunch and dinner - of which Christina mentioned that you can get almost all items at all times of day - they open at 6am and close at 10pm. On friday nights they offer all you can eat fish and chips and Friday and Saturday nights they offer all you can eat prime rib! Wow!

We both ordered a version of the Bear's Choice. I had: Scrambled eggs add cheese, bacon, waffle and a biscuit Husband had: Over easy eggs, bacon, sweet cream pancakes and a biscuit.

We both had coffee to drink - it was strong and flavorful. The offer several kinds of creamer - I got French vanilla and hubby had half & half.

Now let me tell you they have dedicated drink refillers that go around the whole dining room refilling drinks. I think that is nice because there is nothing worse than drinking all of your drink and it sitting empty while you eat your meal! I asked if they always have those and the answer is yes! Cool, I like it! Our food came quickly - and wow! The portions are BIG!!! The shining star was the biscuit which is the size of a softball! Yummy! Our food was hot and delicious - the thick cut bacon was crispy - my waffle was dense with a little crunch when you cut with a fork and oh so tasty! I couldn't eat all of my biscuit so I was able to get a to-go container to take that bad boy home! My husband is a big guy and he couldn't finish a triangle cut of his last pancake. That's how big they were!

Christina was friendly, attentive and eager to make sure we were taken care of. We told her we can't wait to go back and try...