Bear Creek Restaurant Inc — Restaurant in Town of Cicero

On this week’s episode of Iron Chef…

I really feel I’m not too far off on saying that. What should I get into first? The welcoming and friendly service to the nice décor or the amazing food. Let’s start with the food.

I like to try new drinks, and when a restaurant has a whisky/bourbon-based drink, I’m there. That being said, the Papa Bear’s Bourbon is delightful. Made with double shots of bourbon to give you a nice stiff drink, it pairs nicely with the orange bitters, peach and ginger ale to balance the drink to give you the desired smoothness. The added Rosemary gives additional dimension that only grows over time.

I don’t often brag about salad, but I actually wanted more. The house Italian with parmesan has the right amount of bite and is very nice. The romaine lettuce is fresh and cut into smaller pieces, the way I like it.

Let’s talk about the main attraction. The Ribeye Platter. The side choices I went with are the Onion Twigs and French Fries. Natural cut fries are the way to go all day every day. No one can convince me otherwise. The Onion Twigs with dipping sauce was hard to stop eating. The ribeye was cooked to perfection. I love my steak cooked medium, and have been hesitant requesting it cooked this way, as many places don’t know how to temp meat properly. The steak was cooked flawlessly and seasoned with just a little salt, pepper and garlic. The most tender and flavorful ribeye I have ever had at a restaurant. This truly needed nothing else on it, ya don’t mess with perfection.

Side note: my wife ordered the Smoke and Onions Burger, that came with their signature black onions, and she let me try them. All I have to say is move over maple onion jam, there is a new sheriff in town.

How about the Bourbon Macchiato Pie. Truly a slice of heaven, it is divine. The textures and flavors are lovely, and diverse. The warm bourbon butter sauce raises everything beyond compare. This experience is, dare I say, transformative. You may think I am exaggerating, but I think may have briefly reached another plane of existence.

The portions for everything are large, and the prices are reasonable.

I mentioned before the welcoming and friendly service, so let’s talk about that. Our waitress was so nice and conversational. The owner took time to visit tables and talk with patrons too. I really appreciate this kind of interaction, it is so personal. Even though it was our first time there, we felt like we were catching up with old friends. By the time we left, I knew more about what was going on in these people’s lives, than I know about some of my relatives.

We will be returning...

I will begin this post by saying: we as a community need to understand how fortunate we are to have such an establishment in our own "back yard".

With that stated. I have indulged in many of The Bear Creek offerings on numerous occasions. I can say from a personal and professional (retired chef 25+years) vanish point, they are the real deal folks! Quality, simplistic and home style food, prepared in a textbook manner at a reasonable price. What else can a customer ask for; especially in this area? FACT: From a restaurateurs point of view, Bear Creek rivals some of the best restaurants in Syracuse and surrounding areas!

They easily have some of the best appetizer offerings around (Bacon Board, Panko Avacado Wedges, Burbon Butter Riblets, Pot Roast Poutine among the most innovative and unique).

The burgers are jucy & delicious, and they are BOGO on Wednesday's!!! This is the DEAL OF THE CENTURY, especially now during COVID crisis and meat supply issues.

Sandwiches are fresh and flavorful. By far the best Philly in CNY.

Entrés are well thought out and executed to perfection. Offering diversity and choice to fit any palate, including children! My personal favourites: the Ribeye, Chef's Plate and Pasta Primavera.

The sides they offer are fresh and flavorful, the Mac-n-cheese being a superb exemplification of simple food done right!

The desserts they offer are suitable and satisfactory for this caliber of establishment (Peanut Butter Explosion).

They have a full bar and the service is very good as the wait staff aims to please . The atmosphere is lovely as I have had the opportunity and pleasure of eating in the dining room before the COVID restrictions.

Let me close by saying, in these difficult times, please find it in your hearts to be kind and understanding towards others. We are all in this together and I beleive that the Bear Creek Restaurant is trying their best to continue to provide great food & service to their customers and community, not only thru this crisis but ALWAYS!

Overall...

I ate here earlier this week,and the burger was good so I invited my husband to come this evening with me.We were greeted nicely by the server and we ordered an appetizer and I decided to try something new on the menu (a pasta) and my husband had a hamburger and upgraded to fries. The appetizer was good but not enough sauce to get through so I asked for another small cup of sauce since there was barely any in the first one. The bowl of pasta was very large however it was so soupy and there were only five shrimp (I had upgraded and added Shrimp for an additional 7.50) pasta sauce was supposed to be a creamy cheese sauce but I couldn't taste any cheese so I asked for some Parmesan. (Since the waitress didn't come to check on us, I got up each time we needed something and had to ask her because she was in a corner chatting and wasn't coming to our table to check on us.) My husband enjoyed his hamburger. My pasta was hard and soupy and lacked taste. The waitress didn't seem interested when she asked us if we liked it and really knowing if we really did or not. I think the thing that bothers me quite a bit was that they charged for the small portion of dip for the appetizer as well as small portion of Parmesan cheese and didn't seem interested in knowing if the food was up to par or not. I don't think we'll be going back and I regret having brought my husband there, although he did enjoy his hamburger 😁 But was disappointed with how few fries there were in the upgrade... that they also charged for. I have never written a review before but I guess I was pretty disappointed with the experience and the lack of interest in knowing if their client...