Black Bear Diner Puyallup — Restaurant in South Hill

If I could give 0 I would. I do not ever write reviews. I have been going to different black bear diner’s for as long as I can remember. This is my 3rd time at this one. It will be the last I ever go to this one. Things started out great we were seated quickly. The staff seemed stressed but kind. It was a Saturday evening. After a long day of kids stuff and I thought this would be a great way to end it. My mixed family of 6, all ordered. My son a plain cheeseburger, my daughters from the kids menu, myself a scramble with a biscuit, my oldest the pancakes, my husband the 29.99 prime rib and an lemonade All pretty normal things.

They were busy so it was slow, no big deal. I noticed my kids had something white all over their hands. turned out to be a thick layer of dust all over the back of the booth and upon looking, it hadn’t been cleaned for a very long time. Ok nbd just don’t touch it and scoot over, kids we are all tired. About 30 minutes pass and our food comes. My husband again asks for his lemonade, it had never came. She kindly came back about 5 minutes later to ask if everything was alright. I sent my son’s cheeseburger back that he had asked for plain, it was soaking in special sauce. And I showed her how hard the biscuit was from over microwaving it and asked for a new one. As well as once again the lemonade that never arrived.... Fast forward 10 minutes. Biscuit shows, missing the top she had cut off the top of the crusty biscuit and served it. It was hilarious 😂. Then my son’s burger came back. Covered in special sauce again but this time no pickle. So a step in the right direction. I cleaned off the sauce as much as I could and just told him to eat I wanted to go. The woman behind me also was served a rock hard biscuit she received an intact biscuit to replace it. Not sure why mine was beheaded. All of this I would have just let it be, and just left. But my husbands prime rib that was something else. Between the over mixed glue potatoes, the congealed gravy and the meat that smelled liked cat food. It was a sight to see and worse smell. I took a piece of it and my crusty headless biscuit to the front where I spotted the server whom had helped us. I explained everything to her and asked her to smell the cat food meat she agreed she wouldn’t eat it and it apologized. I did this in the lobby where there was not a guest around. I didn’t want to cause a scene. She was very kind stating she would refund the food and that I asked to speak with the floor manager. She said she would retrieve Jeremy and that the cook staff was new. I waited and waited and was stood up like an awkward date. I went back put my cat food and beheaded roll down. A few minutes later the server came back with a receipt and said sorry you ate most of it so he could only give you 20% off. She ran away I’m sure thinking I’d be the next tik tok Karen. I gathered my family and enraged husband and we left. In all fairness my husband did what most men do. Just ate because there was food. I had never asked not to pay my meal. But I thought maybe a conversation with the manager would be nice. The fact I was left stood up and Jeremy couldn’t be bothered with this old lady was what bugged my husband. I paid my bill with the 6$ off that apparently equaled 20% off of a 90$ meal. The math was not mathin for me or the woman who rang my bill up. But Jeremy couldn’t be bothered for my complaint nor the bill. So we paid the bill and left, still with...

I don’t mean to be that person but if I could leave 0 stars I would. My family and I have been coming to Black Bear Diner for YEARS at this specific Puyallup location. I’m not sure if the girl they have greeting and seating people is new or not but she was our main problem. I originally called on a Saturday morning around 9:30AM understanding there would be a wait, especially for our large party of 7, but I just wanted to see how long we should be expecting since our party included kids. When the girl answered, I’m not sure if she couldn’t understand a lick of what I was saying or she straight up just doesn’t understand anything beyond a question that requires an explanation rather than a “yes” or “no” answer. I was already put off by her ON THE PHONE but I figured we’re all human, it’s a Saturday and they’re probably busy and maybe she’s new or something. We arrive and get checked in. We were told 20-30 minutes. No worries, like I said we were expecting a wait. We got our name and number and everything checked in and we even received a text message confirming our reservation. We waited outside and in our cars. 30mins. goes by ….no big deal, they’re busy and the timeframe they give you is simply that, a timeframe 40 mins goes by ….nothing 50 mins goes by ….we’re starting to get ansy, especially with children with us An hour goes by ….finally a few of us, including myself, go in and see what’s going on The same girl, said she has no recollection of our party I said oh? What does this text message mean then? She then started telling us that we must of canceled the reservation. We didn’t. So I asked her what they’re going to do to fix this mistake that they made. She kept trying to point the blame at us. Listen, if I make a mistake I’ll own it but I know that none of us canceled the reservation. After we weren’t getting anywhere with this girl we left and went to Mod Pizza where we received great service, great food and didn’t have to wait not maybe 10 mins.

I also called the Black Bear to speak to a manager where the girl who answered said, “Why do you need to speak to Manager” in a very snobby way. When I did speak to the Manager he told me my party was helped in 3 mins? lol no, no we were not. I’m not sure if something happened with my phone or if he hung up on me but overall very unprofessional, especially the girls that he has out front WELCOMING guest

I will be telling everyone I know about...

We ended up at Black Bear Diner only because the Original Pancake House had nearly an hour-long wait. Now I know—it’s worth waiting next time.

Upon entering, the restaurant has a small gift shop-style setup in the waiting area, filled with bear and cabin-themed décor. I’ll give them credit: their branding is consistent and does create a quaint, cozy atmosphere.

Once seated, we looked for the menu—turns out it was a massive, newspaper-style layout that you have to unfold multiple times and flip over just to find the food options. Honestly, the menu is overwhelmingly large. I’m sure some people enjoy having so many choices, but it makes it hard to know what the restaurant actually does well.

My boyfriend ordered a cold brew mocha, which ended up tasting more like chocolate milk than coffee. I’m glad I just stuck with water. I went with the build-your-own breakfast: eggs, sausage, and biscuits and gravy. When the plate arrived, I was shocked—the biscuits were enormous, and not in a good way. Think softball-sized. They were incredibly dry and topped with lukewarm gravy that quickly went cold. I could barely get through half of one before deciding it wasn’t worth the effort.

My boyfriend ordered the “Biggie Breakfast” (or something like that), and everything on the plate—eggs, bacon, sausage, and hashbrowns—was just average. Not bad, but nothing to write home about.

Now, I’m not usually a pancake person, but I will say the pancakes were surprisingly delicious. The standout, however, was the thick-cut ham. It was juicy, flavorful, and honestly the only thing that would tempt me to return. And I don’t even normally like ham.

As for the service—it was fine, but nothing notable. Our server was polite but inattentive. She didn’t even acknowledge the untouched pile of biscuits and gravy left on my plate, nor did she ask if anything was wrong.

If you're looking for better service and food you don’t have to guess your way through, I’d recommend just waiting it out at the Original Pancake House. But if you do find yourself at Black Bear, at least...