Black Bear Diner
1011 North Harbor Blvd.
Fullerton, CA 92832
It's almost become a tradition that when it's a holiday my family always heads to Marie Callender's for their brunch buffet. My dad always makes the first reservation available, we get there early and wait for the doors to open, then we go through the brunch line maybe two to three times each, and then we are out of there by half-past 10 at the latest.
I like Marie Callender's sometimes; their Frisco Burger, Potato Cheese Soup, and their German Chocolate Pie are some highlights, but their brunch is not very good. Sorry Mom and Dad, but it's always too crowded, their food kind of tastes like it was made well in advance, and they changed their recipe for their once glorious Chocolate Chip Cookies. I just couldn't do it one more time, so I suggested that we meet at a place that my sister raved about a while back, Black Bear Diner in Fullerton.
I did not know it at the time we were here, but Black Bear is a rather big chain of restaurants. They have 133 locations, most of which are situated in the western US, but they also have some spots as far east as Missouri. They were founded in Mount Shasta in 1995 by good friends Bruce Dean and Bob Manley. Bruce is the business guy, who has plenty of experience in the restaurant business. Bob is the man who is credited with creating the environment and atmosphere of Black Bear Diner. That environment includes carved bear statues in the front of each restaurant, bear paraphilia all over the place, and a menu that doubles as a faux newspaper and is laden with plenty of bear puns for your perusal before your food comes out.
The menu includes lunch and dinner options, but of course, since we were here for Mother's Day brunch, breakfast is what we focused on. There's plenty in the way of egg combos, omelets, scrambles, benedicts, pancakes, waffles, and Mexican breakfast favorites. Prices range from $8 for small breakfasts to $16.99 for the most expensive thing on their breakfast portion of the menu, the Steak and Eggs.
This Fullerton location in unmistakeable as a former Bob's Big Boy. Entering one of these, whether it be a Carrow's, Coco's, or repurposed as another restaurant, always brings back a flood of childhood memories. We arrived at Black Bear just before 8:30 on Mother's Day and were met with about a twenty-minute wait, mostly due to the fact that we were a party of nine. We were seated in the back of the restaurant, which was actually nice because it was removed a bit from the hustle and bustle of the main dining room. We quickly made our selections, and here's how it all came out for us.
When a place is called Black Bear Diner and they have a Homemade Bear Claw ($5.99) on their menu, you have to give it a try. This came out warmed, which helped spread out the icing a bit. They offer a fruit-filled version, but we got the classic, which has a good amount of almond filling inside of it. Not that I've had a lot of bear claws, but this was the best I have had. The heated pastry was soft and buttery, the almond filling was predictably nutty, and the icing added just the right amount of sweetness. A good little appetizer while we waited for our food to arrive.
Both my sister and I got the same thing, the ScramBowl ($10.99). As is my usual when eating out for the first meal of the day, I look for the item with the most ingredients in it. This definitely had that for sure. Ham, bacon, sausage, potatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, onions, are all topped with scrambled eggs, cheese, and gravy. Yeah, that's quite the laundry list of breakfast items. This was fine, but not too many of those items shined. The breakfasts meats kind of got lost here, the gravy was very average, and this had some temperature issues. It was a little on the cool side, but not cold enough to send back. Good sized portion though, and I ended taking it home for breakfast the next day. This came with a biscuit, but I gave it to my niece Kaylie after she asked me for it. I'm sure she thinks I'm a great uncle.
Katie zeroed in on the Vegetarian Omelet ($11.49) at Black Bear. This omelet was made up of three eggs, with mushrooms, onion, spinach, bell peppers, tomatoes, and jack cheese thrown into the mix. Katie thought this was fine, but it needed more of a pop of flavor to make it more memorable. The hash browns came out nice and crisp, just like she likes them. The biscuit was definitely on the dry side, as she ate only half of it.
The Southern Scramble ($10.99) would be my dad's first meal on this day. I'd classify this more like a breakfast sandwich than a scramble. A split biscuit was topped with a sausage patty, scrambled egg, and then sausage gravy was ladled over it. Maybe because you don't eat this with your hands is why they don't call it a sandwich. Anyways, my dad was not too enthused with this. He thought it was pretty bland. The biscuit was a little on the tough side, the gravy was not very flavorful, and the sausage failed to shine through. The best part of this plate was the fresh fruit that my dad got instead of potatoes.
The Mini Volcano ($9.49) is advertised on the Black Bear menu as one of their smaller items, which tells you a little something about this place. This was the perfect size plate for my niece Kaylie. One egg, one strip of bacon, and two pancakes with chocolate chips topping them. Kaylie had no problem polishing this off. I found it a little odd that the chocolate chips were not incorporated in the batter, instead, of being placed just on top of the pancake. A good breakfast for our cheerleading niece.
I'm not sure when my mom became a millennial, but her love of Avocado Toast ($3.49) has appeared over the last few months. This is one of the newest menu items at Black Bear Diner. Avocado is spread across a roll that reminded me more of an English muffin. It doesn't get much simpler than that. My mom thought this was okay, nothing special. I'd tend to agree. Not sure why she got two sides of fruit with this, but she did end up taking one to go.
Last but not least was my niece Lillie's breakfast, the Bear's Choice ($10.49), which included two strips of bacon, two eggs, and a sweet cream waffle. Lillie claimed that the bacon was good, and the waffle almost made her jump out of her booster seat with joy.
Black Bear Diner was fine for what we wanted on this Mother's Day. A breakfast spot where we could get in and out pretty quick, and not have to wait too long. The food really did not impress too much, except my nieces seemed to like what they had. I'd describe the food here as an elevated Denny's. Nothing wrong with that, but don't come here expecting to be blown away by what you order. Service was fantastic when you consider how busy they were. Our server took great care of us and the food came out pretty fast. My mom will probably want to head to Marie Callender's again for Mother's Day brunch next year, and me being a good son will just grin and bear it. Get it, because of the name of this restaurant.
Out of five picnic baskets, (because of Yogi Bear of course), five being best to zero being worst, Black Bear Diner gets 2.5 picnic baskets.
For more information about Black Bear Diner, head to their website here: https://blackbeardiner.com/
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