In the never ending struggle to find a great breakfast place in the N. Valley we decided to check out this place.
When you walk in your greeted by friendly staff and surrounded by"bear motif". It's has a great diner feeling that is warm and welcoming. It reminded me of a few places I had been when I lived in the NW.
When you sit down the bear/diner motif continues. There are some neat things they do with the table setting that makes the experience fun. The menu appears to be a fold open newspaper from the 60's, the table setting has a bear print on the napkin and all of the sauces are made custom for this place. All along there is a good mix of 60's-80's music playing in the background.
Even though the menu was cool looking, it was a little overwhelming (seemed like there were 80 visible choices on the menu). I ordered "The Volcano" with the almond multi-grain pancakes and a coffee. The bacon and the pancakes were great, but the eggs were over cooked (ordered over-easy). The coffee was regular diner coffee - nothing special. The menu item was about $10.
This place actually reminded me of "The Place." However, the cool ambiance and more tolerable noise level gave the Black Bear Diner a step up in my book.
I'll probably be back to try something different.