The Black Bear Diner is definitely one of those places where they set up the restaurant for a whole eating “experience” – you don’t just go for the food. The restaurant is very well-decorated with a “in the woods” kind of feel – wooden bears carved all over the restaurant. The booths are very comfortable and the people very friendly. The menus are printed on one-time-use newspapers (on the inside). We had difficulty finding it when we first got there.
Don’t expect to go for fast service. If you’ve ever watched the show “Guy’s Big Bite” on the food network, the food that this place serves reminds me of that. It’s a LOT of food. Surprisingly, it was not overpriced either. However, when we got the check, we realized that they made up for the losses in revenue in terms of pricing the dishes low in the price they gouge for the drinks.

My fiancee and I have frequented Black Bears before, the restaurant that is. We started at the one in Avondale AZ where it was a regular place for us. The one here in Olympia is just as awesome, from the belly up counter to the friendly diner style waitresses and the freshly squeezed orange juice (juiced right at the counter for you to see) and the old juke box, how can you go wrong. The prices are reasonable and the portions large, the Black Bear is a consistent winner for breakfast, lunch or dinner!