I was thrilled seeing one of the (million) umpteen empty strip mall places in my area was becoming a Black Bear Diner. I've eaten at locations in Northern California a few times and found them to be dependable comfort food at a great price.
In a nutshell, the Tempe location needs some work - a LOT of work - before they reach the level of standards I've come to know of Black Bear.
The service was friendly, although everyone seemed to not know what they were doing or where they were supposed to be. They only offered to refill our waters literally when we were ready to walk out the door. I could have used that water when trying to choke down dried up meatballs...
I ordered the Spaghetti and Meatballs and was thoroughly disappointed. The noodles were fine, the sauce was relatively uninspiring and the meatballs could only be classified as WMDs... they were so overcooked and old that I could have hurt someone by tossing one at their face. Meatballs should very easily be cut with the side of a fork - I couldn't get through these buggers. Solid as a rock. They were utterly tasteless and not something I would feed my old, blind, deaf dog. When a server FINALLY made it back to our table to check on us, I told her they were inedible and she replaced them. But by that point, I'd had my fill of my spaghetti and took one bite of a new meatball and promptly put everything in a to-go box. The new meatballs were better - albeit pretty greasy. I'm wondering if they threw them in a deep fryer to moisten them up a bit.
My husband's Chicken Fried Steak - while delivered several minutes after the rest of our meal - was perfectly cooked and very nicely flavored. The gravy - perfect. Potatoes - perfect. Eggs - perfect. We ended up taking the biscuits home and I tried eating one for breakfast today and it was inedible - "dry as a popcorn fart" as my brother would say. Tasted like packing material. Our daughter gobbled up her kid's scrambled eggs and absolutely loved the apple dish.
I regretted ordering anything but breakfast and will probably file this place in the "breakfast only" category.