Ehhh this place was ok...we kind of regretted coming here afterwards. This place was so hyped up in local publications that we thought it would be a great foodie, hole in the wall joint to check out...we were wrong. The food was so-so and tended to be overcooked and dry. We went on a Saturday night, so it was all you can eat beef ribs for $15.99. The beef ribs were dry and didn't come off the bone easily, which made for a very diffcult meal for me to eat. The lady had the 1/2 BBQ chicken which was dry and oversauced. Both entrees came with choice of soup or salad, bread, choice of potato (mashed or baked) and vegetables...none of which were very good and didn't look fresh at all. The restaurant was fairly packed when I was there and I don't understand why. Plus this place is cash only in a resort/tourist town!
Service was also terrible when we first arrived, with nobody serving us or coming to our table the first 10 min after we were seated. Then it was an ordeal ordering beverages because they didn't have anything I wanted...well why was it on the menu?! Once we placed our orders, however, service improved and we had no problem getting refills, napkins, etc. Because they redeemed themselves I'm bumping them up a star, otherwise this would've been a 2 star review.
Will definitely not be coming back and felt like it was a waste of $40 coming here...after coming here and it being strike 2 for local eats, we decided to steer clear of non-chains while in Big Bear!
I was so looking forward to the chicken pot pie but was very disappointed in everything except the pretty crust. Filling was mostly gravy which tasted suspiciously like the clam-less "clam chowder". The $5 dinner salad was only lettuce, croutons and dressing. We did get cinnamon rolls to go for the next day, and they were good, so maybe they have mastered breakfasts. Dinners not so good though.
Review Source:LOVE their world famous apple dumpling (as noted on the list of places provided by the resort we went to). Â I thought at first that it was similar to a small apple-filled empanada. Â Oh boy... was I WRONG. Â Good thing I ordered just one because it was good for 4 people to share. Â It was served hot with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.
Their serving sizes here are BIG. Â They charge extra for sharing and/or for requesting an extra plate. Â I ordered the Paul Bunyon (chicken country-fried steak with pepper gravy, scrambled eggs, and grits). Â The food was delish but how it was served still has room for improvement. Â Sadly, my grits were somewhat burned.
Service was awesome, considering that there was only 1 server when we went there. Â The place was packed but the server was still very pleasant.
Sadly, it was a cash-only place. Â I would have ordered some more of their pastries to go if they accepted credit cards.
Breakfast is great, dinner and lunch are pretty good. My husband and I went there yesterday for lunch. He had the Paul Bunyon, I had lunch a beef sandwich on sourdough bread. The food was good as usual, but I would say they do a better job on breakfast.
Why three stars? I always forget to get cash before coming. They have their own atm machine that charges $1.50 plus your bank charges you for using it. To me it just means the owner is too cheap to get a credit card machine.
One more reason for three stars, the iced tea is really weak.
Awful experience. My family and I ate here. They only had one, overworked waitress working the whole floor. All the listed ingredients wasn't in our meals. No one asked us for drink refills or how our food was. After eating most of my salad, I tasted something moldy. I told (the manager?). She just said okay and was unapologetic. When we got home I had diarrhea and my son threw up shortly afterward.
Review Source:I have owned a property in Big Bear for over 15 years and have been coming to Thelma's for at least that long. Its has gotten so bad over those years that I won't go back. In late July of 2013 I ordered a breakfast that can only be described as the worst breakfast in my life. When the waitress brought it to me she said "sorry it looks like the cook burned the side of the waffle". What it looked like to me was that the whole plate was dropped and they were too lazy to redo the breakfast. This place makes Denny's look like a 4 star restaurant!
Review Source:Good home style cooking. Â Super friendly service. Â The homemade pies are terrific. Â Nice large patio.
We had a slight issue with the Big Bear Fire Department who were dining on the patio when we got there. Â They started to complain when we showed up because we brought our 3 large dogs. Â
The owner of the restaurant said it was "OK" and sat us in a back corner. Â Our dogs were perfectly behaved and slept the whole time. Â Message to the Big Bear Fire Department "Don't be so quick to judge. Â I will match my dogs behavior in a restaurant to behavior of your children or grand children in a restaurant any day of the week."
Thank you to the restaurant staff to allowing us to eat on the patio. Â We enjoyed ourselves and so did our dogs.
Thelma's is just great for breakfast. Â They always give you so much food!
I ordered the Famous Hobo Breakfast along with the biscuits and gravy. Â Wow! Â The breakfast practically SHOT out of the kitchen it arrived so fast!
The Famous Hobo breakfast is almost too much for one person; 3 Eggs, a huge helping of Polish sausage, onions and home fries. And you can even add cheese! Â It's a filling, comfort-food type of meal.
And then there's the biscuits and gravy. Â The biscuits were piping hot, and smothered in exactly the right amount of gravy. Â The gravy was terrific. Â I didn't expect FOUR biscuits, so it appears that my eyes were way bigger than my stomach when I ordered.
The service was great, the waitress was attentive, and I just can't say enough good things about this place for breakfast. Â I'll have to head over there for dinner, I hear the chicken pot pie is worth braving the cold!
I think I didn't order the right dish. I had pork chops and eggs and the pork chops were so thin and dry it was difficult to eat. My girlfriend had pancakes and said they were great. This looks like it would be a great place to go for bake goods, so I think I just choose the wrong item.
Review Source:We had their chicken pot pies that are only served on Saturday and Sunday. Â They were so good! Â It was as homemade all the way. Â Yum!. Â I have tried a few restaurants around Big Bear Lake hoping to find a classic diner with a cool mountain diner feel to it. Â This is it. Â Great service and great food! Â 5 Stars!
Review Source:Recommended by our friend Rob as the best cheap eats in Big Bear. Â Thomas enjoyed the homemade chicken pot pie with Filo crust, and I really liked the Cobb salad with big hearty chunks of bacon! Â Yum!! Â
They lost a star because they are cash-only. Â Yes, we were adequately warned by signage on the way in... but what year is this?
Originally gave four stars, but had to take one away. It's 2013, you need to accept credit cards. Thankfully we had enough cash to cover the check. There is signage ahead of time, so no surprises. But still, wish I had the freedom to use my MC/Visa.
The food was average. I had the london broil. It was ok. If I had to do again, don't think I'd get it. My kids had cinnamon rolls and those were well received.
That said, the Apple Dumpling they serve is a 5 star dessert. It was amazing! Great ice cream, sweet apple and pastry, and just a little bit o heaven.
Lunch: Â My tuna melt with cheddar was delish and the fries were hot and crunchy. Â The Hub's chili size was a different story. Â The chili tasted like spaghetti sauce with added kidney beans. Â And his ice tea was so weak, he had to trade it for Coke. Â The service was friendly, but they took too long to tend to us considering we were in the middle of a major heatwave and they had no air conditioning, so we sat outside hoping for a breeze and faster service. Â I have a feeling this is a good breakfast place, but lunch is hit or miss. Â Big Bear is beautiful though!
Review Source:Had some breakfast here to kick off the 4th, and cleared my plate. Food came out lightning fast, I don't know who was slingin gravy in that kitchen, but I'd like to study in the dojo that ninja came from.
Knocking one star for the pricing, everything was a couple bucks pricier than a place like this oughta charge, but then again, I'm the one who decided to go to a tourist mountain town for a Holiday...
Came here for a business meeting a couple weeks ago. Â
Big bear is beautiful... Thelma's is meh.
We were waited on by a young guy who was very attentive and never failed at a chance to "check-in" with us. Â Unfortunately, in a business setting, this is considered "bad service". Â I didn't blame the guy, he was certainly doing his job. Â But my boss left practically fuming at him because he cut off my boss's pitch multiples times throughout the meal/meeting... (mealting?)
I had a 1/2 order of biscuits and gravy which was SO MUCH food... smothered in a pale chunky gravy. Â It didn't taste bad per say but I've had better. Â
Nice outdoor patio space, but the food is decent to average at best.
The crust on the chicken pot pie was good. Â They use a phyllo dough. Â However, the gravy was a bit pasty and there wasn't a ton of chicken. Â The presentation was nice, but I've had better.
The Hawaiian rolls are really good. Â I could eat two or three and they're served with honey butter. Â Yum.
I had a steak. Â Not great, but tasty and filling.
My daugher had the child's spaghetti which was $7.95, and then they charged an extra dollar 'cause she wanted alfredo sauce instead of red sauce. Â Bit of a rip.
Cash only.
There are better places to eat in Big Bear.
The service was friendly, but the food was not good. Â The meat for the chicken fried steak tasted low quality and fatty. Â They put a ton of gravy on it, and the gravy was delicious. Â They don't serve it with mashed potatoes during lunch, so I was forced to get fries. Â Their fries and good but too salty. Â The croutons on the side salad were fried, extremely oily, and not good. Â The fried chicken plate was a disappointment. Â It came with 4 small pieces of fried chicken with barely any meat on them. Â The batter tasted awful. Â KFC is about a million times better. Â The side of carrots was bland. Â The carrots were not seasoned at all. Â So it came with fries that were too salty and unseasoned carrots. Â Overall, the food didn't live up to the hype and was a disappointment.
Review Source:I have visited this restaurant several times, all during breakfast/lunch time. Sitting in the patio is always nice if the weather cooperates. It's located in the quiet side of the town, and has a " country comfort " feel. The waitress makes you feel you are in good hands now and can relax and enjoy. She has a nice smile and only comes to your table at the right time. The  portions of the food are great, even the coffee cups seem bigger than other places'. I liked the Californian Omlettes. My friends liked their Ham & Cheese and some kind of burrito combo. We don't eat American food very often and are not experts on the subject. But overall we all liked our dishes. All three breakfast plates with coffee/soda come to a total of $36. Next time we go up in the Big Bear mountains, we'll definitely make a stop at the Thelma's again.
Review Source:Well when we got to Big Bear there had just been a big dump of snow. They stay is was 6 to 12 inches, but it felt more like a couple of feet. Stopped there for some lunch. the staff was so nice and helpful. Told them we are staying over night and they gave us some good tips. Lunch was good and just the right price for us on a budget. We will come back.
Review Source:Wow...this place is going down hill. Bottom of the table we sat at was delaminating and was dropping into my lap. We where handed menus that could use a good scrubbing...maybe they are trying to cultivate spores. Waited for 20 minutes and STILL NO SERVICE. Â Walked out of Thelmas for the last time.
Review Source:HORRIBLE!!! In EVERY way! Dirty inside, poor service but worst of all the food! Goodness gracious great balls of over cooked salt!!! Not even my son who eats ANYTHING would eat this god awful greasy over cooked and over salted mess. We ended up leaving and grabbing a Little Caesar's hot n ready pizza! Don't waste your time or money here!!!
Review Source:Came in here drunk from Oktoberfest an hour before it was to close.
The staff here was really nice and welcoming, despite my inebriated and clumsy state. LOL.
Promptly after being seated, we were asked what we would like to drink.
Service was quick and checked in a good amount of times.
We ordered these asian style chicken wings, which were so yummy! The sauce was warm and sweet, and the wings were still crunchy. So good!
For dinner, I ordered this huge football shaped chicken pot pie, a weekly meal special offered on Saturdays. The crust was so flakey and buttery and crisp. Not one part of it was gooey or undercooked. It was so amazing, that I got impatient waiting for it to cool down and burned the roof of my mouth. The burn was so worth it though. :)
The mix had carrots, potatoes, chunks of white chicken, peas, and a creamy sauce. Â SO GOOD! I highly recommend it!
I'll definitely come back here for that chicken pot pie...whenever that is.
Sadly, no Louise. Â While they're open for all meals, it's sitting outside on their lovely outdoor patio when nice weather permits, that is the little something extra. Â The food is good, not amazing -- but it does have a huge menu, serves breakfast until 130pm, and features daily specials like roasted chicken, or Saturday's -- all you can eat beef ribs -- it gets very interesting, indeed.
Inside, it needs a little makeover...but I think for the country setting of Big Bear, it's just fine, as the the clientele seems to draw mostly local folk. Â This is also a CASH ONLY place. Â One demerit extra for that.
As for me, breakfast on the patio on a nice day (no, not in winter)...wins the Randy Berger gold star award.
This place is kind of like a diner vibe, it is decent food at decent prices. The thing that stole the show is the desseret it is called the APPLE DUMPLING. GET IT! YOU NEED THIS IN YOUR LIFE! If you are in big bear head straight here and take two of these and write your review in the morning. This is also a must.
Review Source:I went there for breakfast with my son and my bf. The men ordered meat, pancakes and eggs and thought that it was very good. I tried to keep it on the healthy side. That evening  we went back for dinner.  The chicken dinner was very good.
Two weeks later i wanted  chicken for dinner. It had rained that day but cleared up so we were seated outdoors and that was very pleasant. The  dinner not so good..
My chicken was dry, the corn cob looked like it had been cooked the day before and the baked potato was small and dry as well.
I ate what I could but thought that it was worth mentioning so when our server came by and asked about it. Â I told him it was dry. He said well, Â white meat is, and hurried off never to be seen again.
I will say if I return I would order the special of the day. That evening it was chicken pot pie and it looked delicious.
Thisssss place. Got there after a snowboarding trip... pretty starving after only one double chocolate chip muffin.
Ordered the eggs benedict like a boss!
I saw, I cam, I conquered that dish like a king.
Good stuff, good stuff.
Friendly staff, cozy environment, good meal, good vibes.
took 1 star off since it's not relatively cheap and the dish was good but not special or exceptionally good.
Have been coming here for years!
I always get down with the Chicken Fried Steak and Mash taters! They sometimes have this amazing Prime Rib special that you will not finish. Its huge! Chicken Pot pies are made fresh on Fridays and Saturdays and look and smell amazing. Â Also the service is very friendly and accommodating.
The only reason Im putting down 3 out of 5 stars is for the following:
You can come in and sit anywhere you like, but this is a problem with a large group (especially with kids & infants). Â I dont like the idea of battling for a place to sit, if people are scattered throughout the restaurant. Â Id rather a host or hostess confirm that something is available in just a moment instead of hunting for 3 tables to put together myself to make it happen.
Also, its a cash only place now. And if your low on funds you can use their ATM and pay the $1.50 service charge. That's just lame. I use to be able to use my debit or credit card.
Over I do like and support Thelma's! Its far away from downtown Big Bear's main drag (which is a nightmare to find parking or a decent place to eat.), and the menu has something for everyone. Oh Snaps! Â DO try the pie! We purchased an entire homemade apple pie that was heaven!!!
Enjoy!
We were up in town for Oktoberfest and stopped by a pizza place. I asked the guy, "Where would you go for breakfast?" His response was Thelma's.
Delicious. Best chicken friend steak ever. Super crispy on the outside, and perfect on the inside. Pancakes were average, but not bad. A lot of my friends got omelets that looked fantastic.
While the service to our 10 person group was a bit slow at first, the waitress was really helpful whenever we asked for anything. Good show.
Watch out! So appearently "All dinner items include a side of house veggies", doesn't apply if your main item already has veggies in it! I ordered the 'Chicken Pot Pie', and when I asked for my side of house veggies the owner (who is also a waiter), literally argued with me that it already had veggies IN IT! Which by the way had none of the veggies used in their side dish.
An arguement over what is their mistake?... I won't be coming back and I recommend you spend your money else where.
This place is only good for one thing! Â Pancakes! Â If your a foodie you will want to avoid! Â Very bad service, bad food, small and tight spaces. Â Can not recommend this place to anyone while in Big Bear and I'm from Big Bear! Â
Plus a  restaurant that doesn't accept debit or credit cards can kiss my A**!!!  What year is this anyway?
This place gets a 2.5 for its complete MEHness. Â We had the Saturday night specials - all you can eat beef ribs and the chicken pot pie, both came with soup or salad and we opted for the salad. Â I mean we asked for salads but we got lettuce swimming in tangy, sweet italian dressing. Â (-1 star) Not a good start. Â My pot pie was pretty good and the bf's ribs were aight but totally covered in some bbq sauce and not actually that meaty. (-.5 star). Â His also came with the Sysco frozen veggie combo that always makes me weep - what is so wrong with finding some fresh veggies?
Anywho, after we got our dinners down the hatch we got dessert to go - banana cream pie and an apple dumpling. Â I was hoping those would save Thelma's rep.
Back at our BnB I heated up the dumpling and took a bite - pretty good. Â However the banana cream pie was an atrocity to mankind - horrible fake banana taste and a whipped topping that coated your mouth with ickiness. Â (-1 star) I should have just eaten a banana Runt - at least I would have expected to taste crap.
This place is cashola only so have some handy if you decide to venture here  (don't...there are better places down the road, hell, Denny's is probably better!)
Thelma's. Â Sweet little place!
My onion rings were blah and kinda cold. Â But the regular fries were delicious! Â My Club sandwich was pretty good. Â My hot chocolate had a mountain of whipped cream on it (YES!) but it made my hot chocolate not hot. Â Eh, whatever.
All of this should have made this place 2.5 - 3 stars in my book, but it gets a whole 'nother star. Â Why?
4 words: Â Banana Creme Freakin' Pie.
Banana good, creme good, pie crust good, all so delicious and yummy and good.
I considered buying a whole pie to bring home. Â I should have.
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