Black Bear Diner Vallejo — Restaurant in Vallejo

The recent change in branding from classic diner to modern restaurant is kind of a mistake. While it's refreshing to hear some modern tunes, and better variety, the overall mood has shifted to be somewhat uncomfortable. Nobody seems to be liking the changes and it shows well in the guests and workers. But bigger problems than just music are creeping up at this location. They have a waiter here who's been here for years, and is quite possibly the worst waiter I've ever had anywhere, let alone at this diner. All the rest of the wait staff here is delightful and we have a few regulars we love to see. But we let out an audible groan whenever we see we have this man, because we know our lunch is about to be pretty bad. Sure enough, today he comes by to take our order, we have menus closed and are ready. He asks us for drinks, we tell him water and a coke, we say we're ready to order, he runs off and doesn't come back for 5 minutes. When he does, he drops our drinks and runs off again. Then he comes back and finally takes our order. We ask for straws, and he throws two out on the table, one lands in my water still in the wrapper and he doesn't even notice. We order and he leaves, food comes out a little bit later, not too long. My pastrami sandwich looks disgusting. Half the meat is untearable and flavorless, other half is gross in the other direction, soggy and with a biting flavor. Almost no sauerkraut on the sandwich at all. Meat falling off it when they put it on the plate. The bread soaked so thoroughly it was totally flat and my fingers were greasy from touching it. Disgusting. Left 10¢ tip, that's far more than he deserves frankly as the table behind me actually requested to speak with the manager about him, and sure enough let the manager on hand have it about the horrible service. I never did have our waiter come by again, I got one single refill on my water and that was it, the glass sat empty the rest of the meal and I left thirsty and hungry as half my food was inedible. Black Bear, want to keep your customers happy? Fire the few people that are...

A great family restaurant in Gateway Plaza mall in Vallejo. My wife and I came in late evening on a Wednesday (11/15/23) and didn't know what to expect. I was not looking for country comfort food but didn't mind the change of pace. (A little background on me, I mainly enjoy ethnic foods but was raised in Kentucky and also happen to enjoy country food, it's just not my first choice.) I was more than pleasantly surprised by the service, food and atmosphere. I ordered the Bigfoot chicken fried steak and eggs with home fries. I asked for extra gravy to make my own biscuits 'n gravy since it came with buttermilk biscuits. The buttermilk biscuits were almost the size of a softball. The fried steak was a 10oz steak. I'm a big guy and I couldn't finish all of it in one meal. The gravy was also done right. I'm going to get up on my soapbox, but I'm of the opinion that the gravy should NOT have meat in it. I feel that some places use the meat to cover up the fact that the gravy is not tasty or cooked well. But not here! The gravy here was perfect! Peppery but not too peppery. I had a tall glass of the huckleberry lemonade which just set everything off well.

As far as service, we were attended by a gracious server. I wish I could remember his name but he deserves a raise. He was the only server I saw and we were there around closing. He made great suggestions, checked in on us just often enough, and even went out of his way to make sure I got exactly what I wanted to eat, just the way I wanted to eat it. I thank him and management should do more than just thank him.

As far as decor, just imagine any family restaurant that had the word 'bears' in the name that your family took you to back in the 80s. Lots of wood carved with bear shapes and bear word puns etched everywhere. A great place to visit with the grandkids and tell them about the time you wrestled a bear with your 'bare' hands (see what I said there). Go...

Black Bear you were not on your game tonight. Usually what I order is so good half the sandwich is inhaled. The tri tip(boyfriend said it was more like brisk). Meat was HellA dry & fries super limp,if it had been Gordon Ramsey judging the food it would of got tossed across the room. We normally eat here once a month & it is usually really good. Sorry you get a failing grade tonight,mayb next time it'll be on par. P.S./ We have been there since,the end of June & the food was still not up to the expectations it once was. For starters Blk Bear fire your night shift cook,how anyone could mess up french fries i don't know. No lie the french fries were limp & old,If Gordon Ramsay saw those fries he would of thrown them @ the cook & said "what is this". The food was terrible both these times,fries were like that both times. Not sure what your change up that happened in 2018 but so far 2019 sux & i highly doubt we will be coming back. You used to be my #1 spot to eat out @,if your trying to put yourself out of business your on your way. I'm normally not the complainer but you...