An alright bar, but nothing much more than that.
I've been here a few times and what stands out most is the noise level. It's excessive. It's probably a combination of the crowd and how the music is really cranked up. There was also a very interesting mix of people here...Maybe it was an off night, but there were a lot of stuck up, rude patrons...
The drinks are okay, but somewhat overpriced. $5 for a weak shot and $8 for a mixed drink that was just okay.
2.5 is the rating I'd like to give, but since our bartender was very friendly (albeit kind if slow) there was no cover on a Friday night, and there were plenty of TV's, I have to give Black Bear a 3 on Yelp's scale.
I am DIGUSTED by the actions of this place. I am a popular DJ in the Hartford County area and filled in the New Haven area last night. I got done early and decided to go check out the New Haven scene. I do not get many nights off early and was real excited to go somewhere different for a change. I had filled in at BBS a while ago so decided to be a patron. I was dressed up and so was my partner/"Roadie". We got to the entrance and the doorman told us we could not go in. I asked why and they told us my partners pants were too baggy...(they were not baggy at all), He pulled up his pants and they still stated we couldn't go in. The doorman than proceeded to tell us "THEY DON'T ALLOW HIS KIND" in there....Ohhh KAyyyy...what kind is that...a person with a job, a pulse, money...i don't get it. I work in bars 7 nights a week and have NEVER been so disrespected by ANYONE in my lifetime as I was disrespected here. I would NOT reccommed this place. Looking in the window I saw people that were NOT dressed up, actually some of those women were dressed dispicably. little did they know between the two of us we had over $1000 cash on us. I am VERY upset about this situation and saddened that a hard working citizen can be treated lke this. Was this because he was not white??? I am still baffled about this and I am pissed that Black Bear Saloon ruined my ONLY night off. Shame SHAME SHAME on you!!!! And I am going to tell everyone and anyone about this situation. And I also Write for a paper.
Review Source:Food is typical cheap bar food, nothing more. Way overcrowded on weekends but for happy hour they have really good drink and app deals. The bartender normally there for happy hour is awesome, really friendly and comes out from behind the bar to serve all the tables too. Happy hour is the only reason it didn't get less than 3 stars. And buckhunter.
Review Source:I checked out Black Bear many times. My boyfriend and I actually were religiously going to see a bartender every Sunday for the football games because the bartender was great. On Friday and Saturday nights may God bless you if you think you are getting a drink in anytime less then 20 minutes. I can't even get a bartender to look at me on a weekend to pick up a drink or close a tab, very unorganized. I was just in there last night (4/16/2013) and the bartender was HORRIFIC! The two burgers for 1 and $5 pitchers is a GREAT deal, one of the main reasons we went in there but the bartender didn't give us silverware, napkins, ask if we wanted more to drink, NOTHING. The bar wasn't even full she just sat there on her iphone. Never cleared our plates, never offered us another pitcher. It was a disgrace because if I was her I would be pumping out pitchers to customers ALL night. We had to ask a manager to clear our plates and to give us our check because she clearly wasn't going to do it. Good food, good drinks, HORRIBLE service.
Review Source:Food is fine but nothing special. If my main goal is to eat, I don't go to Black Bear. Â Their burger specials are a good deal though, like two-for-one and buy-a-burger-get-a-beer.
Drinks are fine. Â Decent selection of beers on tap. Â Nothing that will amaze you, but certainly more than just Bud / Miller / Coors. Â Maybe 20 taps, although a few will be out at any given time. Not an especially deep bar for liquor... I've heard "we don't have that" for things that you would expect most bars to have.
Bartenders are all over the place. Â Keith is great and crazy in a good way. Â But some of the others seem like their job is to watch the other bartender stake orders. Â A pretty face or good body seems to get you a bartending spot here, at least for a couple of days.
Overall, Black Bear is fine (there's that word again). Â Not great, not terrible, a decent place to stop in and get a beer and that's about it.
I went here for the first and last time in October, a few days before halloween. It was disappointing. One bartender was super slow. The other was either on some serious drugs or completely hammered because it was 10:30 at night and she looked like she was about to pass out. I get that there's 2 bartenders, and like 50 people to serve... but this bartender was terrible. He couldn't focus on doing more than one thing, and he would spend about 5-10 minutes per person he served. It was as if this job was a joke and they were not at all concerned with making any tips.. Terrible setup and use of space.. bad music, and disgusting and messy behind the bar. I won't be back to this black bear location.
Review Source:All I can say about this place is that I am unimpressed. Â I went here with a few friends. Â The prices are a little high, the quality of the food I would say is average. Â I ordered a bottle of beer and I was shocked that it was over $6.00.
Everyone in my group ordered the fish and chips or hamburgers. Â No one said anything good about the food, just that Black Bear is in a nice spot. Â The sad truth is that no establishment has survived in that location for more than a year. Â
I would probably not go back here again.
I decided to add an extra star on my update. Since my initial review I have been back several times (primarily for trivia on Tuesdays), and I've been happy with the food, the drinks, and the service each time. I will miss this place now that I'm back home in Chicago. Trivia was a staple of my New Haven Tuesdays.
Review Source:Maybe it's because it's summer and all the children are gone, but it wasn't too loud or slow when I went in for happy hour on Friday last week, and I really enjoyed the place.
My fiancee and I sat at the bar and ordered some beloved Goose Island at $6 for 22 ounces, which seems like a good price to me in my limited experience of New Haven bars. We tried their "bear bites" buffalo chicken, which wasn't bad in taste or portion size for a $5 appetizer, and an amazing hummus plate. The hummus itself didn't approach the local Middle Eastern places, of course, but there was a lot of it, and it came with toasted pita triangles, carrots, celery, a pile of tortilla chips, and  - glory of all glories - grilled zucchini and summer squash. It's like they KNEW I was coming in that day. Several mini pita-squash-hummus sandwiches and a clean plate later, I didn't have to worry about supper. It was that much food. And I'll definitely be back for more.
A horrid experience. The waiter was unable to get a single order right, mixing up sandwiches and apps and bringing things in the wrong order. One item we requested was quite literally rancid. The food, when it came, was slightly better than the server's incompetence had suggested it would be, but that isn't saying much. I won't ever go back and I'd advise everyone to give this place a wide berth.
Review Source:I go to Black Bear most weeks for trivia. The bartenders on Tuesday nights are friendly, but usually fairly inept and forget what you ordered and forget to come back and ask you if you'd like to order food or more drinks. Unless you get Keith who is possibly the best bartender on Earth. Seriously, he's terrific. The food is pretty much as you'd expect from a gimmicky sort of bar/club - you get what you expect if you order fries, nachos, etc.
On Saturdays, there are pretty big dance scenes so I'd only recommend going there if you're looking to dance, not to eat. To be fair, this would never be where I'd specifically go to eat. Their entertainment schedule (trivia, karaoke, dancing) is their key selling point.
Horrific experience on a Sat night. Â We headed for the best burger in town at nearby Prime 16 only to find a 40 minute wait. Â We opted to move on and stopped at BBS. we were seated right away. Â There were only a few other couples and a large group of high school students in the place. Â 1 hour later we received our awful burger, salad, and sliders. Â The burger tasted like it had been cooking the entire time. Â We never received our appetizer. Â Will not return.
Review Source:Stepping into a Black Bear on a Saturday night, you'd think you were entering Dante's forgotten 8th Circle of Hell from The Inferno. Not only do the waitstaff/bartenders bring back feminism at least 30 years by flaunting their cleavage, the beers are over priced, and the food tastes like cardboard. The bar area crawls with bros and people that you genuinely do not want to be around. Do yourself a favor and avoid this place.
Review Source:My husband and I bought a deal on Groupon for Black Bear Saloon and decided to dine there last night. Â Our waitress was very attentive and friendly but the food was just an average meal you would expect from a bar. Â We had the spinach and artichoke dip which was runny but still tasted good. Â I was served with tortilla chips, pita bread, a single piece of garlic bread, and some celery and carrot sticks. Â I had the grilled veggie wrap and my husband had the blackened chicken wrap. Â Nothing to write home about...just okay.
Review Source:If you are looking for ambiance, style, or class this is the wrong place. It's full, it's loud, and there are more TV screens than I could imagine would fit in the place. Which is alright for a sports bar, I guess, but it's not a place I'd have a beer and then settle in for a couple more.
They pull a huge happy hour crowd, with beers for only $2 as of this writing.
If you like hole in the wall or authentic bar food, this place is not for you. Â We went for a Sunday night Pats game. Â The crowd was what we expected. Â The wings were reasonable, the onion rings were good, and the burgers were decent. Â The service was a little spotty and they weren't really full. Â There's just nothing memorable or particularly interesting here.
Review Source:Recently watched the USA/Ghana soccer game at Black Bear and that was my first time there. Â Decor is average sports-bar stuff and I'm told this place turns into a yuppie-filled dance party on weekends...which seemed fitting. Â Waitresses were scantily-clad and supertanned...also seemed fitting. Â We got there much earlier than the game because we were worried about getting a table for 8, but we got a good spot with plenty of room for everyone. Â They were having some sort of luau-themed party (I think to commemorate the bar's 'birthday') so they had pretty good drink specials. Â We ordered the "Bucket o'beer": A beachy bucket of ice with 5 random bottled beers stuck in it. Â It was $10 and in New Haven, that was a screaming deal. Â We got everything from Budlight Lime to some sort of Ed Hardy beer. Â I loved the blind variety of it all. Â Along with our buckets we ordered Mac & Cheese Bites, Chicken Finger Sliders, Onion Rings, and Piglets. Â All were good but not appropriately good for the price we paid. Â Very little food.
 Bathrooms were clean and plentiful, which was a godsend when the place became packed during the game.  Bartender was accomodating...when the bar ran out of the buckets for the drink special they sent out regular ice buckets to try to compensate.  We ordered bucket after bucket...it got pretty fun.  The busboys were awesome at clearing away our table!  They were hard workers.  All in all it was a fun place for the game...because of the drink special...I wouldn't go otherwise.
Average food, made better by a <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> certificate.
This place is super loud, so def not a place for a first date! It probably didn't help there was a quarter-flip game goin on. I had the southwestern burger--the lettuce was like a slide, taking all the bbq sauce and onions with it as it fell out of my burger! The fries were advertised to be shoestring but got steak fries, which were a bit on the cool side. My hub had the bacon bleu burger--said the blue cheese was very very strong and the burger was ok, sweet potato fries were good. We also shared a plate of the all-american nachos--not bad, but again, a bit on the cool side.
On a good note, service was friendly. Can't say we'll be returning anytime soon.
Lame. Black Bear is where you go when you want to wait 20 minutes for a drink, not be able to hear what you or your friends are saying, and try to dance while being surrounded by really gross, sweaty popped collar d-bags--in other words, its where you go when you're an underage girl and you don't know any better. Lame.
Review Source:It may not be obvious, but don't order the food here. As nice as the booths are with the tv's in them, I'm sure the food sucks because this is a crappy, no character 'Chili's' or 'Fridays' type place - but without the quality control of those chains... No, I haven't eaten here, but I just wouldn't.
That said this is a nice place to grab a pint if you brought your own company and need nothing more than a place to drink and talk, they have some okay stuff on tap and bar specials. I like the u-f-o hef they have right now. The music is the horrendous hip-hop kind where the sweat goes down someone's balls and all these females crawl.
Nonetheless, while the service is good, the staff is encouraged to dress as skimpy as possible and flirt loudly with the overweight lovers who come in for the attention. Yea, I'm overweight, too - but what are they selling in there? I think it might be flirtatious attention with a hint of short-shorts over 'Go Shorty, It's your birthday' and a wrestling match. .
The service wasn't very good....we were not checked on and it was to loud for the time of night it was. Â It was just to early to be that loud in there.
The amount of food for the price was not even close to enough. With Buffalo Wild Wings right down the street you would think they would try a little better to match or be better then a sports bar.
What sucked is that i have heard it was good and i was let down!
I would like to give this place 2.5 stars, but since I can't I will be on the generous side. This place seems like a typical chain restaurant. The food was average. Inside it was very loud....between the music, TVs and people. IMO the food and drinks are overpriced for what you get. This place is just OK.
Review Source:Depends on who you are, but I loathe this place. It's too noisy- you can tell their strategy is just to make conversation impossible so you end up buying more drinks. It has no character- Of course, it's a chain establishment. I'm not into the crowd- meathead guys and the girls that love them. So all in all I could see this bar being perfect for a lot of mall hopping suburbanites, but I will steer clear.
PS- Amazing, you can now also visit Black Bear at the CT Post Mall in Milford. How convenient!
There is no reason Black Bear should be as loud as it is, and it is a bad sign when karaoke night is the most aurally pleasing a place gets. Â Conversation is a struggle. Â The layout is also inconvenient, with a divider between the bar and the tables that inevitably results in overcrowding at the bar and cramped socializing around it. Â I've also had at least one terrible service experience, where I received a screwdriver in a leaky cup, lost half of it before I could grab another cup to nest it in, and was not only unaided and uncomped by the bartender inches away, but told that they were all out of orange juice when I tried to order a new one. Â Not cool, Black Bear.
Review Source:A Burger joint which has some drinks and other food for non-burger eaters. What else do you want? This place is just that. Its an american restaurant/bar kind of a place. The service is always cordial (i've been there twice) and the place is reasonably filled for lunch.
The food is average at best and their prices are reasonable. Generally, there's so much to write about a place, but there's nothing outstandingly good/bad about this place so I end my review here :)
It pains me to give this place 3 stars but there isn't a better place to watch sports in New Haven. Â Especially Sunday Football. Â It's loud and crazy but that's the point.
Besides the cute blonde bartender that keeps her bottle opener tucked in her tight pants pressed against her sweaty hip (hey, is that safe...?) the service here is horrible. Â If you DON"T have a personality and want to wait tables at a snails pace apply for a job here. Â
The food is average to below average. Â You'll be safe with a sandwhich but don't order a burger here. Â Wings = awful. Â Â And even though this place claims that one of the house specials are the sliders they are more bun than burger and what little burger there is is god awful.
Five bear claws for the amount of televisions here. If you want to watch sports, there isn't a better bar in the downtown area (they win by default, basically).
Four bear claws for replacing Neat Lounge. That bar sucked an egg.
Three bear claws for the decor. It's all wood, it looks clean and nice, and the layout ain't bad.
Two bear claws for their happy hour specials. Nothing spectacular, but they do have deals on food which can be appealing if you want a cheap bite to eat and a frosty beverage or two while watching said sporting event.
One bear claw for the crowdedness on weekends. I'm sure it will die down at some point, but for now this place can get kind of annoying. It's really one of the only few "hangout" bars downtown, so I wish it was a place where I could, you know, hang out.
One big bear bite right to the ass for the quality of their sliders. Their mini-burgers are $1 each on Tuesday nights, but they taste like sliced hockey puck boiled in water. If you don't care about flavor in your food (I do) then you can fill your belly with these, I suppose.
This place did not excite me and it is doubtful I will ever go back.
This bar has a somewhat unique atmosphere. Â It's new looking; all the surfaces seem shiny and pristine, and it's brighter than most bars with wood surfaces. Â It's also very open, with very high ceilings. Â Although there's plenty of space in the restaurant/seating area, the bar area is much smaller and can become very cramped. Â For such an open room, having such a cramped bar area doesn't seem to make sense.
My main issue with this place is the noise level. Â While there are louder places in town, this place is simply too loud to carry on a conversation. Â The room is rather live but the main reason it's too loud is that they play the music much too loud. Â And yet it's not a dance club. Â I don't quite see the appeal...what's the point of going somewhere where there is no dancing, and yet the music is too loud to comfortably carry on a conversation with the person standing immediately next to you? Â I'm sorry, but if you're gonna have loud music, I want to be getting my groove on.
On the drink end, this place does have a few decent/interesting beers on tap, more so than the typical bar. Â When I was here though, none of them were local brews, they were all big names from elsewhere in the U.S. or overseas. Â I'm not sure how often they rotate their beers.
Drink specials? Â Nothing exciting; the usual bar offering cheap quality drinks at slightly reduced prices, nothing enough to actually bring me in the door.
Bottom line? Â This seems like a "big", "generic" bar...one of the corporate enterprises, a money-making deal. Â I guess it's just not my style. Â I prefer places that are more genuine and have more character.
I finally went! And I couldn't tell you a damn thing about the drinks (I simply don't remember), the whole atmosphere (I never got past the front of the bar) or anything of real, significant importance. I do know that I had a good time even though it was really crowded because I bumped into some fabulous old friends that I hadn't seen in forever and a couple of new ones. What I do remember is finding comfort atop of a chair to chat with said friends, which I didn't dare move from for fear of being stepped on. Damn my little-ness!
Review Source:Caveat: I've eaten here once for lunch.
That being said, I thought the food was fine. Â Pretty standard stuff in large-ish portions. Â We ordered nachos to share among 4. Â It was HUGE and I was told the chili con carne was really good (I made them put it on the side, as I don't eat red meat...). Â It was more than enough for the 4 of us. Â So much so that I could not finish my BBQ chicken wrap and had it for dindin that night.
Their fries deserve their own paragraph. Â You see, I love potatoes in all its beautiful forms, but ESPecially fried. Â Sometimes, I go to a place just because of their fries. Â I'm not sure if Black Bear will be one of those, mostly because there are better fry options in New Haven. Â But they were still pretty good. Â They were the crispy, slightly batter-y and salty kind, which are my favourite.
As a bar... Â I couldn't attest to its credibility. Â But I can say that the Black Bear has a pretty large space, which could work to its advantage. Â I.e. it probably never gets overly crowded, but I can't say for sure.
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