Black Bear Japanese Fusion

Y'all need to put more respect on Black Bear's name! This is a restaurant that has been very consistent and takes their feedback seriously. I almost always only order the pork katsu or chicken katsu curry omurice, and I order it at least once a month for the last 4-5 months. The 2 for 1 uber combo gets delivered to me over a half hour drive and the omelet is still moist inside. The pork (pictured) is always a great portion and never dry or tough, and the curry (not pictured) comes in a 2 cup container and is delicious Every. Single. Time. I will always default to blackbear when I want a consistently good omurice (because Mine has always been good) and I'm convinced that a few others were unlucky.

February 23, 2024 on Google

I have been ordering multiple times from the restaurant, all from Uber. I used to give this place 5 stars but unfortunately the quality just keep dropping. The pork Katsu is super hard and dry. The rice is undercooked and super super hard. The carbonara is disaster. Super salty and soggy. It’s not a bit salty, it’s super salty and everyone on our group tasted it and agree with me. The supreme burger is the saving grace for this restaurant. It’s moist and juicy, that’s the only edible item out of all 4 different items we ordered. Did they change chef? Or what has happened compare to 3 months ago?

January 21, 2023 on Google

The restaurant is cute. There are not too many seats. The food is OK. I ordered the unagi rice burger, which was a little disappointing. The rice patty was probably made in advance. It was not heated up all the way through, and it is a bit dry and hard in the middle. My husband ordered a burger and upgraded fries to fusion Japanese fries for +$6.00. It is not that different from regular fries. It has a bit of seaweed and fish eggs, and just drizzled with mayo. We ordered a crepe for dessert, but it was so frozen. We could not break it down with the spoons that the server gave us. If I go next time, I will probably try something else. The servers are polite and courteous.

March 6, 2019 on Google

There is so much potential when it comes to fusion restaurants, but only when organization and a clear cut menu is present. The wait time for 2 dishes was longer than it was needed. We ordered our food at 7:17PM and was not placed on our table until 7:43PM. The amount of time to make these dishes should be max 15 minutes if proper prep time was involved. I will give the benefit of the doubt for their delay being a near full house at the time of order. I had the lobster pasta to eat. The lobster pasta was subpar; a small lobster tail that was overpowered by herbs diminished the pronounced flavor of lobster, and slightly overcooked where it tasted a bit rubbery. 2 over cooked scallops that was dry at the edges and chewy in the middle, that is not how scallops should taste like. The pasta itself was well cooked and sauced. For the price I am paying, it would be nice to have some lobster chunks within the pasta to emphasize the key ingredient of this dish: Lobster. I feel that improvements can be made by condensing their menu to handful of good dishes and getting ridding of slow selling ones. So the chef can focus on key dishes instead of a vast variety of chaos. Overall the place itself was clean and staff was friendly, just the food could be better which is the most integral component.

July 26, 2018 on Google

The pasta dishes were very tasty. Ordered soft shell crab spaghetti and sea urchin and crab spaghetti. They were done al-dente, the flavours were very good. Also ordered K-pop(3 skewers of fried chicken) with wasabi mayo(Monday special $5) it was very crunchy and juicy. Since I had a Groupon, I also ordered a pineapple and pork belly rice burger. It was different, did not know what to expect. But I also enjoyed it. The pineapple was sweet and the pork belly very juicy and tasty, the rice was used as the buns and had a crunchy layer to hold the rice together. It was something to experience at least once. Overall I enjoyed my visit and wouldn't mind to come back to try other items.

June 5, 2018 on Google

The lunch special is quite good. The chicken is very soft and tender. However, the sauce is a bit too little, if More tomato sauce is given, it would be great. Food is good but the service is not. The servers are all young girls. It just happened our server was quite unfriendly and she also forgot to ask us about the drinks that come along with the meal. When we asked her, she wasn't too polite and showed a bit attitude. What's more is that they gave the wrong thing for me (I asked for HOT lemon water But they gave me cold lemon water) but I didn't ask for exchange.

February 4, 2018 on Google

Friendly waitress greeted us warmly even though it was clearly very busy. They apologized for the wait and showed me and my boyfriend to sit in a booth. Service was warm and friendly, and they even asked for critique and suggestions at the end of our meal! My boyfriend got the sukiyaki rice burger. It was pretty tender and enjoyable. The fries were delicious. They didn't give us a lot of ketchup (he's a ketchup fiend), and when we asked for more they just gave us the entire bottle! 😂 I got the shrimp and mushroom omelette rice. They were a little heavy on the mentaiko sauce, but the omelette rice was delicious. Price was a little more on the expensive side, but we had 10% off so it was okay. Will definitely come again! EDIT: I revisited this place for a second time, and it seems like they've raised their prices. I got their squid ink spaghetti which was okay. Portion was very small for the price.

May 23, 2017 on Google

I sure had a significant different experience than "Anthony Lee" who gave the restaurant a five star review! Let's review the food since it is why the boyfriend and I are essentially at the restaurant. 1. Sukiyaki Beef "Rice Burger" with a side of salad - $14 The dish arrived in the condition in the first picture. The "rice patty" arrived cracked, there was no way I could've picked it up and eat the whole thing like a burger. It is a money catch. The rice shaped like a patty but certainly did not hold up like an actual bun. My experience with "rice patty" like Japan's Mos Burger would have had been lightly brushed with soy sauce to give it some flavour with a crispy outside. The filling - sukiyaki beef tastes fine, beef wasn't too dry or old. Pathetic Sukiyaki Beef "Rice Burger". 2. Japanese Fusion Fries - side fries upgrade $5 You must be kidding me. I regret not taking a picture before sending the dish back to the kitchen. When the fries arrived along with the burger, it looked like as if they have simply blanched the fries and served it. Last time I checked (and ate), fries were crispy unless it's meant to be in soggy shape but at least with a golden yellow colour. The boyfriend and I took a bite of the fries and I asked the waitress to send it back to the kitchen. The second time the fries came back out, it was slightly better, but not much different to be honest. We kept the fries this time but when we started eating the dressing on top of the fries, we realized the "Japanese Fusion Fries" had regular mayo on it, not the Japanese mayo. Odd. It had nori (seaweed) on top, that's fine. But in the menu it also described that it has roe on top. So...... when it arrived and as seen in the picture, it certainly has a dollop of the roe, but not enough to have more than five fries with it. I would consider the roe as a garnish and not a topping. Since it was an upgrade to the side fries that came with the soft shell crab burger, the owner made up the cost on the spot when we asked - $5 more. When the fries on it's own costs $7 on the menu. No problem, since I don't want to order extra food. But boy, if I were to order a fries there ever again (highly unlikely) it better only cost me $2. Sad "Japanese Fusion" "Fries". NOTE: Maybe they should go to "Hollywood" or "Blue Ocean" and see how real fries look and taste. 3. Soft Shell Crab Burger with side fries - $14 We better not have food poisoning tonight. I don't know where to begin describe the burger.... I guess I'll start with the shock I had when the boyfriend took a bite into the burger. Clear running crab juice dripping out of the burger. Yes. Clear running crab juice. I don't think I've eaten a "fried" soft shell crab where I would bite into it and have running crab juice. Then we peeled back the bun and discovered the dead corpse of a soft shell crab that looked so sad. Sad is how I describe the display of the soft shell crab because it must've been a painful death in the hand of the so call "chef" that's in the kitchen. (Boyfriend said it must've been a kid in the kitchen playing 'chef' slapping together horrible tasting food). The soft shell crab had no taste, it was not seasoned, it was not crispy, it also looked very unappetizing. The topping of the burger includes avocado, tomato, and lettuce, and ketchup. Not sure how I feel eating a runny soft shell crab with those toppings. The "chef" should go to his/her average mall sushi stall and try their soft shell sushi roll, I don't believe it'll have clear running crab juice come out when he/she takes a bite. Again, we better not have food poisoning tonight. I promised the boyfriend I will be on good behaviour and not say anything unless the waitress asks how our food was . And the waitress did not ask. You'd think they'd ask for feedback since it's their "Grand Opening". But since she didn't ask and I never got the chance to give them feedback in person, thus resulting in this very long post. Good Luck, Black Bear.

April 12, 2017 on Google