Black Bear Inn — Restaurant in Village of Cottage Grove

I was with a group of 10. My fish fry special was good - fish was hot enough but hash browns were barely warm. Others in my group said their fish wasn't hot & hash browns not ever warmed enough to melt the cheese on them. The way the fish special was hand-written on a "Special-of-the-Day" board, it looked to me like it said the 3-piece Friday fish special came with fries & cole slaw - no price was listed. Our wait person offered a choice of potato - fries, hash browns or baked. Clam chowder was also noted. I ordered the chowder but all of us who ordered the fish special did not receive our cole slaw. After asking our wait person FOUR times about my/ our slaw, she finally tells me I don't get slaw cuz I had the chowder!!! The way it was written on the board, my interpretation was that slaw came with the fish special & the chowder would be a separate charge. NOT clear to me at all - and why did wait person not tell me sooner??? I also ordered additional food to go and specified that I required it to be ready to go at 645pm. The location of the Black Bear requires driving on an unlit, out-of-town highway to get into City of Madison where I live. Due to vision issues, I cannot drive out of the city after dark. My to go order was not ready on time, no one was at the register for me to pay, it was later than I wished leaving there & I experienced great difficulty driving home. Not sure how soon I will return to this establishment. Again, my fish was very good but others advised not served hot enough. Yes, they were very busy. But sorry - not an excuse in my book. Will review to-go bacon cheeseburger & fries after I eat it tomorrow - and will allow for the fact that it will be reheated. Overall, a very frustrating visit!!!

Next day review of my to go order of bacon cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato & fried onions and fries: even reheated via microwave the burger was juicy & tasty - cooked correctly to medium, the onions nicely sauteed, tomato slices were fresh, and large-chopped lettuce was much better than limpy leaf. The fries were not seasoned in any way & did not seem to have been made from fresh but were likely frozen. Nothing wrong with frozen fries, but they just weren't anything special and certainly nothing different from what anyone can make at home. I would definitely order the burger again - if I believed I would not re-experience the hassle & stress noted above...

Black Bear Inn

In our quest to try a bunch of local restaurants near us, we ordered carryout from Black Bear Inn. The staff was super friendly over the phone and made ordering super easy.

Upon pickup, the food was ready promptly at the time they advised. The atmosphere of the bar was pretty cool. The huge skeleton statue was awesome. The staff was friendly and helpful, even making sure to go over some specifics we had mentioned when ordering.

The food was great overall! The burger was moist and tender. The cheese was melted to perfection. The bun had a gorgeous sheen to the top, looking freshly baked.

One of my favorites was the mozarella sticks. They were super thick and stuffed with cheese. The breading was well seasoned, and they weren't the least bit greasy. They had a wonderful flavor and were definitely well worth it.

The chicken strips were also delicious. The breading had a great taste, and the chicken inside was moist white meat. The seasoning was great and complimented the chicken well.

My wife loved the chicken parmesan sandwich. The marinara tasted a homeade, which was a pleasant surprise. The chicken was super tender and juicy. The bun was great and added a nice softness to the crispy chicken.

The fries were good but not crazy seasoned. If you like more potatoey fries, these are the ones for you. Nothing super special about them but a solid side.

The chicken wild rice soup was thick and creamy. The chicken in it was tasty, and the soup itself had almost a gravy like consistency, which was super cozy and warming. Our toddler loved it as well!

Overall, we will for sure be going back to Black Bear Inn and would recommend it to anyone in the Cottage Grove area!

Until...

This used to be one of our favorite local finds. Unfortunately after this last trip we won't be returning. I'll start with the one good thing, they waitress was polite and friendly and did everything she could to make the best of a bad situation. In the end it wasn't enough to turn the situation around though.

First, our food took a long time to arrive, even for a sit down restaurant the wait was extensive. Between 30 and 45 minutes before it affived. When it came the bacon burger had moldy lettuce and a hair in it. The taco salad was iceberg lettuce with a springling of cold hamburger meat on the top and a little cut up American cheese. The Baja Burger (their spicy option) was missing the jalepanos and was basically just a cold burger with hardened cheese. And they forgot the order of fries. Again, the waitress tried to fix it, she took the salads and the bacon burger with hair and mold, back. The replacement salads we're still sub par. The fries were forgotten again. They gave us a burger to go (that's the one in the picture) but they forgot all the toppings and the tiny handful of fries must have been an afterthought. And then when the check came we were told that there is a limit of one senior discount per table. That's just absurd. THey even advertise their senior discount, I double checked when we were leaving and it doesn't say anything about a limit of one per table. I wish I could say it must have just been a bad cook, but the senior discount decision is on management. We go out to eat with our parents often, and that alone would have been enough to avoid this place in the future. On top of everything else it's enough to avoid it, and reccomend that others...