Black Bear Bistro & Brick Oven 32 Main Street, Warrenton, VA 20186

"Not very happy with my experience yesterday. The food we ordered was bland, we ordered crab dip and fried pickles for our appetizer and I ordered a crab melt for lunch which consisted of 1 piece of bread and the same crab dip we ordered as an appetizer on top with a piece of semi melted cheese on top of that. (It did not look or taste like a $16 meal) I could barely eat it. My friend had a steak and cheese which looked more appetizing. We ended up paying $83, which I thought was ridiculous for the poor taste and appearance of the food we ordered."

"We had planned to eat across the street and truly wish we had waited for that kitchen to open… With only 20-25 customers total in this restaurant, it was more than hour before we got our food. I counted at least 4 servers working, so this was not a “we are swamped” situation. Our server would say, “I’ll give you a few minutes” then show up 5-15 minutes later. When we placed the order (30 minutes after being seated), he told the bearded guy at the pizza oven what we had ordered. The reply was… amazing… “Ok, whatever, I’ll get to it when I’m done.” He walked outside, lit a cigarette and played with his phone for 15 minutes. During this time, our server showed up with the bowl of soup we had planned to eat with the pizza. I asked if it was possible to have both items together, and his response was, “sorry, too difficult to do since we work with two kitchens.” He then walked out and joined his bearded buddy for a smoke break. WTH? It gets better… Bearded guy walks back in after a larger gentleman started behind the counter, and tells him “I’m going home now”. So, our bearded hero needed a 15-minute break before leaving for the day — and that break was more important than our food. Wow!!! The soup (crab bisque) was pretty good, as was the pizza. However, if we have to do this again, we will definitely not choose this restaurant — not unless we have just had a meal and have a few hours to sit around watching employees go on smoke breaks while customers wait.i"

"Sadly, I did not take any photos of the horrendous burger they tried to serve but it was still raw when given to me. At first sight, it looked great but I went to cut into it to see if it was cooked like I asked, and blood shot out of the burger when I cut into it. Upon opening, it looked like raw ground beef. They of course took the burger off the bill but they should’ve comped the whole bill if you ask me. The first drink I got (Mexican mule) was terrible. The old fashioned, didn’t look like an old fashioned. Everything about this night was a chaotic mess. The only saving grace, was our server Jake."

"I had a great experience here. They had a list of specials for the day (including the pesto gnocchi pictured below) along with their normal menu. I got a personal pizza which had a great finish and taste to it. No complaints for the food. I did not get anything at the bar but they seemed to have a good selection. The location is also something to note. Plenty of shops and places to get coffee if you are interested in doing something after you are done. Main reason for the four stars is there were a bunch of flies around our table that the staff didn’t seem to care or do anything about, and it took about 20-30mins after we got our take home box to get a check, eventually had to ask. Minor details but felt they needed to be mentioned. I would come back for a to go pizza!"

"I was supper excited to try Black Bear Bistro because of all the reviews and word of mouth. I was nothing but disappointed. We waited a bit for menus then ordered an appetizer of crab and spinach dip. Took forever to get our appetizer and when we did, there wasn’t enough bread to eat all the dip. The worst part is our meals arrived right after so we didn’t get to eat much anyway. All the food lacked any seasoning so it all tasted bland. The bread was stale and the fries were soggy with no salt or seasoning. The lettuce on the sandwiches had brown spots throughout and the chicken salad had gristle in it. There was four of us and we got our check, $100 for lunch, which included a 10% tax. What??? This is the most expensive lunch for something that was beyond disappointing. We will not be visiting this restaurant again."