I was recently in Modesto visiting my family. My brother and sister in law suggested this establishment. We had a party of 10 and were on a waitlist for about 10 to 15 minutes. The place was full but pleasant. We were seated and greeted in a timely manner. I think our servers name was Cori? She delivered our beverages and took our order. Approximately 10 minutes after doing so, the fire alarm goes off. All of the customers including ourselves, sat calmly looking around. Ten minutes goes by and not a single staff member informs us of what is taking place. So customers start getting up and leaving. We were content with conversing with ourselves, minus the annoying alarm. There were no signs of smoke or imminent danger. It was quite unprofessional for the manager on duty to be so invisible. I had also noticed that there weren’t any other staff members around. Until a busboy appeared to deliver us part of our order. Then a server named, Tanner, also appeared with more of our order. They informed us that it was a false alarm and that they were trying to shut off the alarms. They also informed us that they called and canceled the fire department!!! When all of us were served, there were things forgotten, but rectified and then there were things that were delivered cold. Seeing that we were the only ones there, that’s pitiful. I understand that it was our CHOICE to stay, but they still cooked and it was delivered cold, what a shame. But the biggest shame, is that 99 % of the staff abandoned ship, including the manager!!!!! I hope the corporate office will investigate and rectify the problem. There’s a protocol for this and it’s apparently missing structure!!! The manager finally appeared and apologized. The original server also reappeared to rectify her position. I’m hoping that Tanner received whatever tip my brother left.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
joshua foursha
Service was impeccable,
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
jose moreno
I came to see if a review was posted to an issue that happened today 1/17/25. A woman was upset because the math was not mathing on her tip. She told the cashier how is %18 of $52 is $17. I think the credit card charge unit was rigged. Be carful. I paid cash and left $5 for a $40 meal. After seeing her review and receipt posted I believe her. Take care and god bless.
Madalyn M
Scam alert. 2/17/2025 I paid at the register and when tapping as the top I hit the 18% for a $52.61 tab. When getting the receipt it billed $17.43. That is a 33% tip. Look out for the fraud at this place.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Nancy Mahan
Pot roast tasted terrible, just ate corn muffin and country potatoes
Food: 1
Mary Morales
It took around 7 minutes to be greeted /acknowledged. Once we were seated, the service was good. There appeared to be only one waitress, and her service was great. She was friendly. I used the women's restroom, and as soon as I got down the hall, I could smell sewer. It turns out one of the ladies' restrooms was out of order. That was a big turn-off. Once I got back to the table, things were good, but then the smell started to reach our area. We were almost done with our food, so we took it to go. I wish I had said something. I can't imagine the employees not being able to smell it. We won't be back because of that smell. I would think k they would want that fixed ASAP to keep the place from stinking up.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Bacon Eggs & Pancakes Family Meal, Corn Bread Muffin, Country Fried Steak
Rajitha Goonawardena
We went there, my girlfriend and Our kid and we were Very disappointed. My girlfriend goes to Black Bear Diner quite often in Merced, but this time in Turlock. The guy, white Skinny guy that works the weekends offered us a discount on some items that some people ordered and took off without paying so they had all these stuff that he was gonna discount at the end we got the New York steaks and curly fries even offered us desserts if we took part in this and we did and at the end, he charged us full price and pretended he knew nothing about the discount discounts that he offered even charged us for the desert not cool my friend !!
Cory Thurlow
Pretty good food, but it took forever to get served. It wasn't the servers fault. I recommend eating here, though. It's a roomy big restaurant.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Country Fried Steak
Lexo P
I dunno who messed up and let Ruben walk but that was the best waiter they had. You didn’t have to ask that guy for anything he was always on point and when you would think about needing something he was right there ready to hand it to you as if he read your mind lol. If they needed to train people on how to be a waiter that was the guy for the job cuz I don’t think I’ve ever had a waiter like that anywhere. Other than that the food is great and always hot. Btw I don’t know that guy personally but would only eat at the Turlock one because of him now I have to find out where he works just for the service.
Got our Thanksgiving Dinner here. I was expecting a pretty great meal. It was about $62 for two of us. The meal was quite disappointing. Ham was very grisly and just inedible. Mashed potatoes and salad were OK, nothing really good. Turkey very dry. Green beans just out of a can in the can water. So nothing special and even nothing special at all. Barely able to get a few bites of everything down. So really just tossed most of it. I expected something more edible just at least tasty enough to eat. Worst Thanksgiving experience so far. Just sad we wasted that much $$. 😩
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 3
Ron Stevenson
If you're like me, you've always thought of Black Bear Diner as a place to get large portions of quality food at a reasonable price. You may need to rethink. The "smaller bites" pot roast meal was tasty and reasonably priced. The full-size steak meal was so-so in quality and size, thus relatively expensive.
Our server (Felicia) was wonderful - personable, efficient, and perfectly paced. It was amazing that she was handling the floor so well and alone.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Pancho Fregoso
Understaffed With a 1 hour wait for our food. Highly not recommended for anyone who is hungry at this location.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
happy landifll
Clean, freindly, and delicious food!! You can't go wrong with black bear diner, but, what makes this one special is the atmosphere and staff. This is one of the newer black bear diners that spacious and has a more modern bear theme than other black bear diners. The cooks and waiting staff are patient, kind, and go the extra mile to make you feel at home!!
Come hungry, and feast like a bear!!
Vegetarian options: They have clearly marked vegan and vegetarian selections and allow modifications without hesitation
Dietary restrictions: They have clearly marked vegan and vegetarian selections and allow modifications without hesitation
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bacon Eggs & Pancakes Family Meal, Steak and Eggs, Hamburger, Freshly-Brewed Black Bear Diner Coffee - 96oz
I was recently in Modesto visiting my family. My brother and sister in law suggested this establishment. We had a party of 10 and were on a waitlist for about 10 to 15 minutes. The place was full but pleasant. We were seated and greeted in a timely manner. I think our servers name was Cori? She delivered our beverages and took our order. Approximately 10 minutes after doing so, the fire alarm goes off. All of the customers including ourselves, sat calmly looking around. Ten minutes goes by and not a single staff member informs us of what is taking place. So customers start getting up and leaving. We were content with conversing with ourselves, minus the annoying alarm. There were no signs of smoke or imminent danger. It was quite unprofessional for the manager on duty to be so invisible. I had also noticed that there weren’t any other staff members around. Until a busboy appeared to deliver us part of our order. Then a server named, Tanner, also appeared with more of our order. They informed us that it was a false alarm and that they were trying to shut off the alarms. They also informed us that they called and canceled the fire department!!! When all of us were served, there were things forgotten, but rectified and then there were things that were delivered cold. Seeing that we were the only ones there, that’s pitiful. I understand that it was our CHOICE to stay, but they still cooked and it was delivered cold, what a shame. But the biggest shame, is that 99 % of the staff abandoned ship, including the manager!!!!! I hope the corporate office will investigate and rectify the problem. There’s a protocol for this and it’s apparently missing structure!!! The manager finally appeared and apologized. The original server also reappeared to rectify her position. I’m hoping that Tanner received whatever tip my brother left.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Service was impeccable,
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
I came to see if a review was posted to an issue that happened today 1/17/25. A woman was upset because the math was not mathing on her tip. She told the cashier how is %18 of $52 is $17. I think the credit card charge unit was rigged. Be carful. I paid cash and left $5 for a $40 meal. After seeing her review and receipt posted I believe her. Take care and god bless.
Scam alert. 2/17/2025 I paid at the register and when tapping as the top I hit the 18% for a $52.61 tab. When getting the receipt it billed $17.43. That is a 33% tip. Look out for the fraud at this place.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Pot roast tasted terrible, just ate corn muffin and country potatoes
Food: 1
It took around 7 minutes to be greeted /acknowledged. Once we were seated, the service was good. There appeared to be only one waitress, and her service was great. She was friendly. I used the women's restroom, and as soon as I got down the hall, I could smell sewer. It turns out one of the ladies' restrooms was out of order. That was a big turn-off. Once I got back to the table, things were good, but then the smell started to reach our area. We were almost done with our food, so we took it to go. I wish I had said something. I can't imagine the employees not being able to smell it. We won't be back because of that smell. I would think k they would want that fixed ASAP to keep the place from stinking up.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Bacon Eggs & Pancakes Family Meal, Corn Bread Muffin, Country Fried Steak
We went there, my girlfriend and Our kid and we were Very disappointed. My girlfriend goes to Black Bear Diner quite often in Merced, but this time in Turlock. The guy, white Skinny guy that works the weekends offered us a discount on some items that some people ordered and took off without paying so they had all these stuff that he was gonna discount at the end we got the New York steaks and curly fries even offered us desserts if we took part in this and we did and at the end, he charged us full price and pretended he knew nothing about the discount discounts that he offered even charged us for the desert not cool my friend !!
Pretty good food, but it took forever to get served. It wasn't the servers fault. I recommend eating here, though. It's a roomy big restaurant.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Country Fried Steak
I dunno who messed up and let Ruben walk but that was the best waiter they had. You didn’t have to ask that guy for anything he was always on point and when you would think about needing something he was right there ready to hand it to you as if he read your mind lol. If they needed to train people on how to be a waiter that was the guy for the job cuz I don’t think I’ve ever had a waiter like that anywhere. Other than that the food is great and always hot. Btw I don’t know that guy personally but would only eat at the Turlock one because of him now I have to find out where he works just for the service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The food was good but expensive for breakfast.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
Good place to eat good food and good service
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Got our Thanksgiving Dinner here. I was expecting a pretty great meal. It was about $62 for two of us. The meal was quite disappointing. Ham was very grisly and just inedible. Mashed potatoes and salad were OK, nothing really good. Turkey very dry. Green beans just out of a can in the can water. So nothing special and even nothing special at all. Barely able to get a few bites of everything down. So really just tossed most of it. I expected something more edible just at least tasty enough to eat. Worst Thanksgiving experience so far. Just sad we wasted that much $$. 😩
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 3
If you're like me, you've always thought of Black Bear Diner as a place to get large portions of quality food at a reasonable price. You may need to rethink. The "smaller bites" pot roast meal was tasty and reasonably priced. The full-size steak meal was so-so in quality and size, thus relatively expensive.
Our server (Felicia) was wonderful - personable, efficient, and perfectly paced. It was amazing that she was handling the floor so well and alone.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Understaffed
With a 1 hour wait for our food. Highly not recommended for anyone who is hungry at this location.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Clean, freindly, and delicious food!! You can't go wrong with black bear diner, but, what makes this one special is the atmosphere and staff. This is one of the newer black bear diners that spacious and has a more modern bear theme than other black bear diners. The cooks and waiting staff are patient, kind, and go the extra mile to make you feel at home!!
Come hungry, and feast like a bear!!
Vegetarian options: They have clearly marked vegan and vegetarian selections and allow modifications without hesitation
Dietary restrictions: They have clearly marked vegan and vegetarian selections and allow modifications without hesitation
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bacon Eggs & Pancakes Family Meal, Steak and Eggs, Hamburger, Freshly-Brewed Black Bear Diner Coffee - 96oz
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