Black Bear Diner Tracy — Restaurant in Tracy

May 2023; ordered prime rib with shrimp. Prime Rib was well done. No pink at all.....? No horse radish sauce. Never got the shrimp even asking twice! Also, I never received my corn bread! Didn't leave a tip...... very disappointed. Told staff who didn't care and never adjusted the bill!

When this restaurant made its inaugural opening back in 2010, it drew large crowds on a daily basis, particularly on the weekends.  The restaurant would be so crowded there would be a wait for seats and customers didn't mind because the food was really good.

The food was decent, well prepared, fresh, and delivered hot to the table with large helpings (back then), and the people were friendly.

The diner was well-known for its large breakfast servings, which they did well and generally draws a crowd.  We have dined here for breakfast on numerous occasions and always left satisfied.  Most of our visits were for breakfasts.

Now, sadly to say, you can come in, and ¾ of the restaurant will be empty.  On our most recent visit for lunch, we were very dissatisfied

After being seated and ordering from their menu, water was brought to us.  The water tasted like lemon when there should not have been, and upon closer inspection, you could see something in the water.

I had them replace my water, which was a little better, which brings me to the question; "did I get someone else's water who had a lemon inside?"

My daughter ordered a chef salad, but when it arrived, the lettuce was old (black edges around the lettuce), and to make matters worse, there was a "hair in her salad."

When I told her that I would reorder her another plate, my daughter said she had lost her appetite.

My son and I did not fare any better.  We both ordered their "chicken fried steak," which they say their famous for.  When our order arrived, again with "wilted lettuce" along with a "dried orange heel slice" (I'm not making this stuff up).  OMG, who eats the heel other than a horse!

Our orders came with a side of vegetables, which looked like they had been reconstituted.  Our chicken fried steak was too salty, and the country gravy tasted like paste!

My wife ordered their "Prime Rib Special," which arrived "over cooked and tuff!"  "What happened to rare or doesn't the cook know how to prepare a prime rib?"

One side was overcooked, and the other side was just a "slab of fat."  "I was going to snap a shot, but then the reader would barf."  Her dish came with a side order of fries, which looked like it soaked up all the grease from the kitchen!

"OMG," to say we were all disappointed, was an understatement.  Even the party next to us complained about their food arriving to cold, and I heard them asking for their check!

I'm pretty sure that it's not the service that's lacking here but the food preparation in the kitchen.  If "Chef Ramses" was preparing the meals when the establishment first opened, they needed to rehire that person because the current staff isn't cutting the mustard!

We have eaten at other BlackBear Diners in California and enjoyed our meals and would probably return, but the one here in town needs to improve, or it will go out...

If I could give it ZERO stars, I would. I have been to this and other Black Bear Diners several times in the past. The food has been quite good. I haven't been to the Tracy Black Bear diner in about a year. The empty diner area for breakfast, which the last few times around the time time was busy, should have been a clue. I even made mention to my wife that it was empty right before we ordered. Our server was fantastic, very friendly and attentive. Too bad he was backed up by a bunch of buffoons in the kitchen.

Heres a break down of our food when we got it.

Coffee: burnt and disgusting. Couldn't get through half a cup. More aptly it should be used to seal the parking lot blacktop.

Veggie Scramble: My wife is a vegetarian. She cannot eat pork without her stomach cramping and visiting the toilet many times after. Well, her Veggie scramble had a big chunk of bacon in it.. We both saw it, examined it, and notified a server. They brought it back to the kitchen and after several minutes another server came up to us. We were so kindly informed by another server that we were mistaken. It was a potato not bacon. WHAT? Now the cook is denying what clearly was bacon. They offered to bring another scramble, but you know what happens when you piss off a line cook in a dumpy kitchen. You get a little extra seasoning in your food. NO THANK YOU. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the fruit bowl that came with it. Old melon that was turning translucent because it was exactly that, OLD!

Joe's Hobo Omelette: When I have the chance, I'll gladly partake in a little bacon, sausage, ham, and cheese. I don't get to that often, so I was looking forward to it. I ordered the hash brown with it, go for the gusto. I received my omelette, and was less than thrilled. My toast was cold and soggy, with a big glob of un-melted butter in it, and my hash brown were about 10 degrees above freezing. I told the server and he quickly brought me another one. This time it was warm, but the potatoes were not even cooked properly and hard to the bite.

On to the omelette. The breakfast sausage that they tried to hide inside, had clearly been cut for a long time prior to being thrown in my omelette. It was hard and dry, especially at the cut ends. The ham tasted as if had been sitting out too long, also known as borderline rancid. The few bacon pieces that were in there were decent, just wish there would have been more.

Fortunately they removed my wife's scramble from the bill, but they completely forgot that my ice brown were unacceptable. Paid for our meal and got the heck out!

NEVER AGAIN WILL I STEP FOOT IN THAT...

Our Family went to The Tracy Black Bear Diner Monday 5/8/17, and two of our members ordered a Chicken avocado sandwich. one was on sourdough and one was on wheat bread. As we where eating we where finding small one inch hairs or fragments in our sandwiches. when i flipped my sandwich over it was covered with these one inch curly white fragments. i asked to speak to the manager. she came to our table and told us not to worry and it was just fragments from the blue towel that they use to sanitize when they wipe the cutting board. then she said if we didn't like it we could re-order the same thing or something else. i told her the fragments where white and not blue, and if i re-order it will still have the fragments in the food. they need a better process for cleaning their cutting boards. i told her our family will not be eating there anymore. it is disgusting that they know about this and are still leaving fragments in everyone's food. i didn't expect or want anything for free, just the process corrected. we got the bill and she took half off on each avocado meal, but we had only ate half the plate and left after finding the fragments. this ruined my morning, because of the bad experience and confrontation . the regular staff was nice, but honestly i have had other problems with this black bear. a year ago , my wife called in an order, i drove 15 to 20 minutes one way there to pickup the food and came home to find it was not our order and they said if you drive back here we will remake it. which meant i wouldn't be enjoying dinner for another 30 to 40 minutes and waste more time and gas. and my wife was pregnant, so you...