Black Bear Restaurant

I stopped at the Black Bear on the way home from Vermont. My travel companions and I had stumbled upon the restaurant getting off the Thruway for gas. We were hungry and the Black Bear was right there. I have to say I was surprised by what I got. There was a nice bar and a restaurant section separate from the bar. The bar had multiple TVs showing the Yankee game and college football. It seemed like it would be a great dive to hang out and have a few drinks.

The menu was very basic but the prices were really cheap. I didn't expect much and was pleasantly surprised with my meal. I ordered the cold meatloaf sandwich and a bowl of Chicken Dumpling soup. Both were good and hit the spot. One of my companions had the same thing as me with no complaints and the other in our party had a burger. The burger was basic but cooked to spec with all the fixings. A highlight for me was the service. Our waitress was fun and spot on with the service. She was attentive and actually seemed to care about our experience. She wasn't hard on the eyes either.

I read the other reviews posted about this place and have to disagree. I think you need to take this place for what it is. A nice cheap place for a few drinks and a basic meal.

This is the bar of the townies. That's really about all there is to say. Bar food, beer, and old people. They do have decent wings, but not better than Flanagan's.

While staying at a bed and breakfast not too far from Gore Mountain this past weekend, we needed to find a place to hit up for dinner, and Black Bear was right down the road and advertised "home style cooking".  Can't go wrong with home style, right?

Last time I checked, "home style" didn't involve getting served popcorn shrimp with hair in it.  I found that out the hard way.  Lucky me.  Consider me officially scarred and too traumatized to ever order popcorn shrimp again.

For dinner, I got a simple cheeseburger with fries, and that was acceptable, though I think it's pretty hard to mess up a cheeseburger.  I was intrigued by the Russian sauce that was a sauce option, served on the side.  The waitress had no clue what it was, and it was hard to pinpoint what it tasted like.  I'm going to say it tasted like fat.  It was like a mayo base with a slight orange tint to it, fatty, and otherwise, lacked any other distinguishable flavor.

Beware of the Black Bear.