The Bear’s Den

From Cleveland, It is the only place I go for lunch when Im in Macon. The meatloaf is to die for, the squash casserole is amazing and the corn bread fritters are absolutely wonderful. Highly recommend it.

Bears Den is probably the best country food place in Macon. Plenty to eat, everything’s good. Nice staff and good service. I Go there often and always have a good meal. Get some cold banana pudding.

Good food that will fill you. On a college tour to Mercer University with our daughter we asked a local resident their recommendation for great soul food. The Bears Den was highly recommended. The food was delicious, particularly the chicken tenders, corn fritters, fried shrimp, cabbage, dressing and yummy lemonade. Surprisingly the fish was below sub par, all batter and no fish. The potato salad, banana pudding and mac and cheese were also below our expectations. The place is crowded but the line moves quickly and the staff is nice. Would go back again but not for the fish, potato salad, banana pudding or mac and cheese.

What a consistently great restaurant! Daily menu selections are always delicious and prepared well. The staff is always friendly and extremely helpful. I had an infant in a carrier with me, and one of the staff carried my tray to the table for me without being asked!

Fried chicken is excellent — crispy light batter. Squash casserole from my childhood — yummy.

I have to admit that when we walked in the food didnt LOOK great, but dont let looks deceive you. It was fantastic. My girlfriend wasnt eating but they hooked her up with coffee that wound up being surprisingly high quality coffee. Nice staff too!

The best fried chicken ever! Chicken tenders or the traditional type are both excellent Very friendly staff Great Mac and cheese homemade is the best Great service and price

Great southern style cooking. I loved it.

Bear’s Den is the best soul food in Macon! Mac and cheese is the bomb! the menu changes daily so I always have to check out the website to see what they are having that particular day

Ordered a chicken dinner with macaroni and cheese with green beans for the sides. The food was not nasty but it’s nothing to write home about either. I can make better at home. I appreciate the portion size. The mac and cheese was cheesy which I liked. The chicken was on the salty side. I don’t see myself returning as you can make it better yourself.

I missed good olé southern cooking on a recent trip to GA. This use to be my go to spot when I was in college in Georgia. Although after eating I never felt like studying which in turn I almost failed my classes. I can definitely say this is the best place to come for some good southern food. Although, I can not confirm or deny if it will cause you to fail your classes.

The food was amazing! Each day they have different food. We came here on a Friday. I got the beef stroganoff with cabbage and green beans. The stroganoff was creamy and the flavor was really good! Didn’t need salt for anything! My husband had the chicken parm with Mac and cheese and the cheese grits! It was so good! The sweet tea is perfect and the lemonade was amazing! Their banana pudding was delish! If it wasn’t so far away from where we live I’d go back often! The staff is very courteous and friendly! When we go back to Savannah we are going to stop by again!

If there’s anything I learned in my four years in Macon (attending Mercer), it’s that The Bear’s Den is Macon’s best kept secret. It’s an incredible value for how much food you get. With a daily menu that changes a bit every day, this is Southern cooking at its finest, read as: you won’t eat anymore today after a good meal here! Everything is truly great, and I recommend it to anyone. If you’re on a diet, go ahead and break it… you’ll be happy you did.

Bears Den has the best fried chicken. It’s seasoned just right and the mac and cheese is sooo good. The only thing missing that day was the strawberry shortcake. I just love love love

I love this place and enjoy eating here every time I come and I love the sweet tea choices of desserts too. I’m a simple lady and I love the treatment here service always great

Macon has a plethora of home cooking restaurants & this is def one of the best.
A typical «meat & 3». The meatloaf was very tasty as is the country fried steak, chicken tenders and fried catfish! The mashed potatoes were creamy & the gravy was mighty tasty. Don’t miss the sweet tea or the greens!
It’s an easy walk from Mercer’s campus and they even take the Bear Card! It’s a true don’t miss and was a regular lunch spot for a good collegiate career!

We come to Macon for the Fired Works Regional Ceramics Exhibit every year, and every year, we get lunch at The Bear’s Den after we set up for the show.
Excellent soul food in a classic meat and three! We’ve never been disappointed. The veggies are not over-​salted. They still taste like fresh vegetables.
The meats and entrees are delicious. The staff is so friendly and helpful, but even other customers are happy to tell you their favorites.
We love the squash casserole, fried chicken, beef stroganoff, cabbage, and corn fritters. The desserts are really good, too!

Awesome food. Great fried chicken! Friendly staff as well as patrons! Will definitely be back!

Soo greasy.
This place kind of mystifies me because it’s been around a long time and is always busy at lunch, despite serving up some pretty yucky stuff. I’ve been several times with friends and colleagues and I will concede that, if you are in a hurry, the cafeteria style service makes it easy to get in and get out.
That being said, finding parking is a pain and everything I’ve ever tried was nasty. Someone tried to convince me that I just didn’t appreciate Southern cooking.
Well, if Southern cooking is bland, oily, overcooked and salty, then I guess I not only don’t appreciate it, but I don’t really want to.
I think next time someone tries to talk me into going I’ll stay and eat out of the vending machine instead.

Based on the reviews, I decided to come here for lunch. The selection of meats and vegetables changes daily.
I ordered fried chicken (breast & wing), cabbage and potato salad. A choice of biscuit, cornbread or roll is included.
The seasoning used on the chicken was good, but not spectacular. Besides that the chicken was tender and cooked just right.
The cabbage and potato salad were good also. I could taste that pork meat was used to season the cabbage. The potato salad had a mustard based that was seasoned well.
I chose a piece of red velvet cake from the selection of deserts available. The rectangular shaped piece of cake was good, moist and covered with cream cheese icing.
The staff was friendly and I had no issues with the service. I would eat here again.
Parking is limited to the street and a small parking area behind the restaurant.