The Little Bear

Live music: check. Unique décor: check. Classic bar food: check.
The Little Bear has all the makings of a neighborhood bar you’d expect. There’s a lot of decorations hung, stapled, and otherwise adhered to the walls and ceilings. If I had to give a style to it, I’d say «sophisticated hobo» but in a good sense. There’s live music which is a plus.
The buffalo burger was very flavorful and I’d recommend it to anyone. Make sure to order it medium rare or medium (at the most). I ordered mine medium and it came out medium well. Talking to others at my table, there seemed to be a temperatur issue with about half of the burgers.

I think the only reason this bar is okay is because there is live music. Other than that the food is average and the service is average. The staff is a bit rude. The place is covered in sharpie and dollar bills so it’s got a lot of character but it’s also pretty dirty.

Years ago, when I first lived in CO, I would only ever come up to Evergreen to catch a show at The Little Bear and it was always great and always packed. Now 15 years and 4 cities later I am back in Colorado and living within walking distance to The Little Bear. What happened? It’s the same 4 or 5 bands in rotation and it is usually nearly empty. It is really sad what this landmark has become. In a town with so much music The Little Bear could be so much more.

I try not to eat too much red meat due to health reasons. Inevitably when I do eat it I am mostly disappointed.
HOWEVER, we stopped by here to check out the little town and tripped up on this place. The smell coming out of the bar was irresistible. My friend and I both ordered our own versions of a burger.
This was not just a burger, this was cooked to perfections, drip down your hands, ridiculously amazing tasting burger. Definitely in my top 5 EVER! Crazy good.
Server was very nice, there was live rock playing on the stage and they seemed to have a very nice beer and booze selection (I was driving so didn’t drink).
Again, if you are anywhere near here, come and get the burger!!! I am serious!

Lol… nope, nope… never again.
I’ve been to The Little Bear a few times within the last 20 years so I kind of knew the lay of the land. We went last Sunday (9÷6÷15) and the place was about ½ full. We arrived at around 1 pm and since we hadn’t eaten at all that day, we were pretty hungry. My fiancé had never been here but had heard of it so he said he wanted to check it out (it was his birthday, soooo…). I’ve always been kind of ‘take it or leave it’ about this place, but it was his day, so to The Little Bear we went.
We walked around for a couple minutes trying to find a table that looked not only clean, but not crowded up against another table. We found one somewhat near the door, and though it appeared the cleanest, when we sat down I touched the table and it had sticky spots. I look around and we see food on the floor, on a pillar… etc.
Ugh.
If I hadn’t been ready to gnaw off my arm in hunger, I would have insisted on going somewhere else. My fiancé looked somewhat wary at this point, but we stayed. The super disinterested waitress came over to take our drink order and dropped off a couple of plastic covered menus. I looked at them with apprehension, as I assumed they would be sticky also. They were not… hallelujah.
She dropped off the drinks and we ordered. Then we waited. There was a guy that started playing about 5 minutes after we arrived and he was ok. Kind of John Denver-​ish. I actually liked John Denver and his style of music… in 1976.
Anyway, on to the food. I ordered the Chicken Tenders, and for some reason I assumed they came with a side of fries or something. My mistake for not knowing this, but I don’t think I’ve ever ordered tenders, and got just tenders. I’m not knocking off any stars for this, as it’s my mistake. It just seemed weird. Anyway, the chicken tenders were actually very good. They were a bit dark (maybe the grease was a tad too high), but the chicken was not over cooked. The breading was thin, which I really liked, as I’m not a fan of really thick, crunchy coating on my chicken tenders. My fiancé ordered the Patty Melt, and he enjoyed it as well. It came with a side of fries, so I was able to enjoy a few of his fries with my tenders.
So the food was ok.
Once we finished and our baskets were empty, our waitress came over and asked if we’d like a refill of our diet cokes, which we happily accepted. We also told her that we were ready for our check. We sat and waited a few more minutes, then she came by and picked up our empty baskets. We once again let her know that we were ready for our check. We waited about another 10 minutes… seriously, and she finally dropped our check off.
So the service, though friendly enough, was slow. And the place is filthy. Filthy, filthy, filthy. The floors, the tables, the walls. Everything needed a real good scrub down. And it has a stale smell to it.
I totally understand that this place is 40 years old and things deteriorate over time. Especially if you have a crowd every night. But that really is no reason to have stuck on food on multiple surfaces of your establishment.
Hey ‘The Little Bear’…this is some free advice that my parents used to tell me when I was younger. Have some pride in yourself! In other words… put your best foot forward, put forth your best appearance, and don’t rest on your laurels. These day’s your a tourist attraction more than anything else, so you don’t have to put your best foot forward because you probably don’t depend on repeat business. But wouldn’t you want to have a nice unsticky place? That doesn’t smell?
Because of the filth and slow service, I’m giving this place 2 stars.

Served a too rare, almost raw burger for lunch. Should not have eaten it anyway as I became violently ill within 2 hrs with a bug that lasted 48 hrs.
So send back any poorly cooked food here, or skip the food entirely and just enjoy the music and drink. Based on my experience, I would suggest avoiding the beer taps and drinking bottled or spirits…

Just had lunch at little bear. Excellent service, awesome rocky Mt burger & fish & fries. Definitely will be back.

I love this bar, TONS of history here very cool atmosphere friendly staff do I need to say more ?! Live music and beer and their food is good too! I recommend this place to everyone especially people from out of town. It is a landmark in evergreen.

Food was awful. I understand the attraction is the atmosphere but referring to what I am pretty sure was a microwaved cheese sandwich as «gourmet grilled cheese» is just garbage.

Do not go here for the food!
Music, bar scene fine.
But we came in the afternoon for lunch and the food was horrible (and not cheep).

This place is old –smells old– though the food is a bit in the unique side… but not so much thst you crave Little Bear. A been there done that mkment… no tee shirt or hat just a stapled marked up dollar on the wall

Huh. How have I not reviewed the Little Bear? I celebrated by 21^st birthday there back in the 90’s. This place, much to my chagrin, often has a cover charge to support the multitude of bands that come through an play this utterly unique Colorado venue. On the plus side, the cover is usually only like $ 6 bucks, so no big deal.
The building itself is old, and built log cabin style. The stage is the dominant feature, and almost all of the tables are situated around it. There is also balcony seating, if you call it that, on the upstairs level. Very fun place, though bring wet-​naps if you are OCD, as there is a slight stickiness to everything here…

Food was good, better than most bar food, actually. But on a slow Sunday night, I had to get up from my table more than once to order and receive my food and drinks! Kinda disappointing since I spent over 50 dollars on burgers and beers!

Burgers are awesome! Fries are on point! Bloody Mary is heaven. Skip the wimpy salad. Bands are always amazing

The coolest thing about this bar is the atmosphere. Granted we went here on a Thursday afternoon. When you first walk in, you instantly get this old man/​old beer/​musty smell. But then you check out the bras hanging from the ceiling above the stage and all the carvings in the wood.
History: this was an old church converted into a bar. If you go upstairs you’ll see the original pews and rafters.
Beer: the beer was warmish and served in plastic cups. $ 4 each.

If you’ve ever been here, you’ll know that the atmosphere and food is worth stoppin in. The wait staff is AWESOME! The place gets incredibly busy and their focus is to make you happy! Tammy, Emily, Jen and Lara work their asses off and the bartenders are quick and witty…

The Little Bear is right in the heart of Evergreen — and a fun divey spot to chill on a Saturday afternoon. We snagged a table about 11:30 and began with bloody mary’s which were quite tasty! Their burgers are easily ½ pound and delicious! Try the buffalo and also the onion rings. Laid back vibe and super nice staff make for a fun afternoon. Live music is also offered during the day.

I don’t even know how to rate this bar. It’s a local favorite. So it’s got that going for it. The bar is strewn with woman’s bras and all sorts of wild memorabilia on the walls. It’s small and dirty and just your typical small mountain local bar.
You come for the company and music. Not the food or ambiance. On a good night this place can be packed. With people dancing and getting all sorts of inappropriate on the dance floor.
The bands change all the time and they always include all types of music genres. The typical band is usually a known local band, but sometimes they have some bigger names come in.
It’s the sort of place you enjoy while your there but feel the need to shower immediately after you leave. With lots of soap. Maybe even bleach. (Depends on the night. Who knows.)
People rave about the burgers but I prefer to steer clear of the food at all costs.

Absolutely horrible service. We passed through on a Friday at lunch time, and sat down. We were completely ignored for 10 minutes. We finally moved to another table closer to the bar, and finally got someone’s attention. After ordering our food and waiting several minutes, the food came, but the server forgot the toppings for my burger. Since she had disappeared (again), I had to go to the bar for them.
After waiting several minutes for the check, I finally went looking for the server. She was on the other side of the bar, texting.
Our biggest mistake — other than going there in the first place — was leaving a tip.

Servers? We don’t need no stinkin’ servers. Yet it looks like at least 2 people have that job.
Very enjoyable old rock music. Very cool atmosphere. Would bring out of town guests for rustic mountain atmosphere.
Did not like that there is a cover charge to get in to see bands.