Bear Beach Cafe

Yesterday — Father’s Day. My 2.75 yr old son and I were out for a bike ride and decided to stop in as we rode by at 11 AM for a quick bite to eat. We waited a few minutes for a booth, which we expected on a beautiful father’s day, and then our friendly waiter took our order. I ordered a milk and fruit for my boy and OJ and pancakes for me. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. Well, a 2 year old has a limit and my boy was getting very antsy and a bit disruptive to the other customers. Finally, after hearing the table behind me complain that they had gotten the wrong order, etc., I decided to go up to the front to cancel our order — I just couldn’t wait anymore — about 45 minutes — for fruit and pancakes… They cancelled my order and charged me $ 7 for milk and OJ. As I was paying for it, I think it was the manager came out of the kitchen and barked at the girl at the register to stop seating people, they were backed up in the kitchen. The employees looked at each other in an uneasy way. He walked away and then came back muttering something and cursing about someone who had left and if they cared they should be here, etc. Very unprofessional. I accept that I wasted an hour of my day there that could have been better spent at the beach across the street. My son didn’t mind. He’s happy no matter what he’s doing. But I was a little bit shocked that they charged me for the milk and OJ. Not that I wanted something for free, but to me it speaks volumes about how an establishment values it’s customers. They made the mistake, not me, but I paid for it with my time and my money… And for that reason I will not go back. There are plenty of great little restaurants in the area who value their customers, and I’ve experienced that first hand.

Best part of this café is if u get a booth by the table the view of the lake if Awesome… service and waiters were good. ordered THIS LITTLE PIGGY WENT TO MARKET omelette. aka meat lovers omelette. with a blueberry muffin which was Bomb! The omelette was good. But…was kinda luke warm when got to me. cheese has already gotten harden… and they should stick with hash browns and home potatos they were over cooked

Rude manager! Not worth eating food!
I ordered steak and eggs and my steak was suppose to be Medium. After cutting a few bites into my steak the middle was cold and raw and the knife couldn’t even cut through it. Tried to find my server but he was in the back so I ate my eggs and toast. He finally comes out so I inform him nicely and he got the manager. She immediately came out defensive and said she wasn’t discounting it (didn’t ask her too) because I ate my sides. Didn’t say sorry and was b****. Don’t go here! Overpriced mush and horrible service!

Had an excellent breakfast experience with my family. They were happy to accommodate our group of 8 when other spots in the area were not. Service was fantastic. Dennis was very welcoming and did a super job of going over the menu and specials with us. Everyone else was equally hospitable, our drinks were constantly refilled, our food came out in a timely manner and was delicious to boot. It was a little bit pricier than I expected but worth it, in our opinion, for the meal quality and service.

This place is definitely underrated! I came in here with 7 of my family members the morning after my wedding and everything was awesome. We had some bad luck with other local breakfast spots not being able to accommodate our «large» party but I’m really happy because we loved our meal at Bear Beach Café! We sat out front on the grass with an awesome view of the lake. Everyone at the restaurant was top notch but our main server was Dennis and he was really great! Super cool guy that really added a nice touch to our overall experience. The food was also delicious. I loved the fresh muffins and country fried steak. Do yourself a favor and give this place a shot!

We love coming here every time we visit Lake Tahoe. This last visit wasn’t so lovely. My mothers chicken was undercooked and the waitress didn’t even seem to care or even care to show she was sorry. Secondly, she asked how we were doing as she was walking to the next table! Lastly, they were such in a rush to close that one of the hosts kept coming every second to clear something. I didn’t even walk out the door and my leftovers were already thrown away.

The service here was amazing. Fresh muffins that were great! Will come here again when visiting Tahoe for sure.

After waiting 1 ½ hours AFTER waiting to be seated the server Ben informed us he didn’t submit the order. This was AFTER he called me out very loudly and with hand gestures after I complained about the wait time. He said I should EXPECT that long of a wait. I had already paid the bill long before in an attempt to speed up our day so when food came we could just go. I actually gave a tip (which was before he was completely out of line). After he told us he didn’t put in the order, he gave us incomplete refund, didn’t even apologize to me and we never even got the food because he said if he submitted order again it would go to the end of the que. The experience was unbelievably bad. If Ben would have bothered to check order status 45 minutes into the wait, he could have picked up his own mistake, instead of yelling at me for a legit complaint. Are you kidding? No apology? Classy.

We had lunch here today and sat outside with our 2 kids and our dog. I love that they are dog friendly and even provided a dog bowl with water. I have celiac disease and have to be very careful not to have anything with gluten and they were so accommodating with my order. It was perfect service. They were fast, friendly and the burgers we ordered (mine lettuce wrapped) were delicious! I’d recommend the burgers and tasty brewed iced tea. We will go back again. The view of the lake was gorgeous and sitting outside was great to enjoy good food with a beautiful view!

Fantastic breakfast option. We had breakfast here during our honeymoon and loved it. We were able to sit by the window and watch the sunrise over the lake. Beyond stunning. If you’re looking for a great breakfast with fantastic views then look no further.

Passing through town and this place looked good. Overall a good experience. The muffins were very good. The breakfast was ok. Nothing too special. I loved the special touch of the bears and how homey the whole place felt. Plenty of tables, despite how busy they were.
The only thing that was a little awkward was our table was near the kitchen. One of the male employees in a plaid shirt made a huge fuss about the clam chowder. Not entirely sure what it was about but he grabbed the whole side of the restaurants attention making a fuss. Not very professional.

Had the 3 egg bacon and biscuit with gravy breakfast. the gravy is delicious. Everything was cooked to order. even the bacon had great flavor and texture. really hit the spot. Breakfast just as you’d expect it. Will return.

I was very impressed with this place!
I loved their service and the food was just tooooooo bomb! Big proportions! And humongous mason jar sodi’s hehe… It’s just so cute with a beautiful view! Very affordable and comforting!
Thank you so much for your awesome service and delicious burgers & Fries… I want to return to Tahoe just to eat here… damn my mouth is watering hahaha!
PEOPLE I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS PLACE AIT.

The service is friendly. Nice and relaxing environment! Portions are big enough to for me to have two meals in one visit. My wife, daughter and I came to Tahoe for giggle and to get away from the mess in Bay Area. Chicken noodle soup is hearty and flavorful. The fries are close to steak fries. Soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. The walnut orange cranberry is house made and damn they hella delicious. I will come back for dinner to try their shrimp scampi over rice! (Hawaii on my mind)

High prices for average food, but it’s a tourist trap so it’s expected.
View of the lake from the front dining room is breathtaking and you’re definitely paying for the view. It’s cute inside but a little rundown.
The server we had was so nice and friendly and she made our experience extremely pleasant. She was attentive and our food came out in a reasonable amount of time without it being too fast. Solid 3 stars.

I returned to the Bear Beach the other day and got lunch and actually dinner to go… the wait staff was great and the food was really good too. So I’m upgrading my 3 stars to a 4 stars.
BTW — the hours in the winter are different and they do have a frequent diners card for locals :)

It was freezing cold last Monday, of course, because of the snow. But we needed a place to warm up really quickly before heading back outside. Came in here and didn’t want to just sit there and drink coffee so we ordered a soup to share. The lady who took our order was nice when taking our order. But when she carried our soup out to place on the table, she kind of just shoved it on the table and walked away without really saying anything. She looked annoyed that we just came in for coffee and soup… Since I still felt like we were a bother, I decided to ignore her attitude and go on with my day.

This place was terrible. Seriously. I am shocked at the good reviews. First, I asked for egg whites with my meal. The waitress told me «we don’t have those.» Seriously? How do they make their over easy eggs?
One of my biggest pet peeves is if a place won’t get you what you want– particularly if it can easily be made by existing menu items. This was just terrible.
Next– look at my pictures of the French toast… It was literally the worst I have ever had. It seems it was sourdough bread dipped in eggs. No cinnamon. No flavor. Just terribleness.
My sons fruit was not fresh. Who knows how long it had been sitting. It was $ 5.
Also, we constantly were asking for items. Silverware, cream, sugar, ketchup. These are staples, people!
Most Tahoe breakfast places blow. And this place is no different. Save your dough and go to a casino buffet.

This, unfortunately, was the saddest eggs benedict I’ve ever had.
I was a party of one, but it still took a half hour to get to me. When I got the plate, I saw that one egg was poached and one egg was fried. The fried egg was not on the benedict, but rather sitting next to it, as if it were an afterthought. Peculiarly, the whole thing was sauced, so it was apparent that whoever sauced the dish could have at least put the egg back on the benedict, but chose not to.
The «sundried tomato hollandaise» didn’t taste at all like hollandaise. Don’t call it hollandaise if it’s not hollandaise. The breakfast potatoes were complete mush. To top it all off, the bottom of the plate was covered with grease. I wondered how many other people’s breakfasts I was eating.
I didn’t send it back because I’d been waiting a half hour for it, and I needed to get on the road to beat traffic. I didn’t feel like waiting another half hour. Blegh. Sadly, I didn’t take a picture. They even lagged on refilling my water glass. I will certainly not return on my next Tahoe trip.

I’m rating them a 2.5 stars but I’ll round up to 3 to be nice — and 3 stars is being generous in my opinion.
I feel bad for rating them so low but I really don’t think their food was anything over 2.5−3 stars & they were kind of pricey. The only thing I really absolutely loved here was their blueberry muffins! I have to say that they are hands down, THE best blueberry muffin’s I’ve ever had. They were warm and really moist — as if they were just made from scratch and pulled right out of the oven. I didn’t get a muffin with what I had ordered but I ate half of my boyfriends which left me wanting more :(Oh, and they also give complimentary coffee as well which is always a bonus because I need my coffee.
I ordered their Fruit French Toast with strawberries and I didn’t really like it at all. The strawberries were drenched in syrup so you could tell they were from a can. I would suggest using real fresh strawberries instead. I had to scrape off all the strawberries and syrup and just eat the french toast… which was really thick and too eggy in my opinion.
I forgot what my boyfriend ordered but it was one of the omelettes that was highlighted. It was huge but not really worth remembering as well.
The service here was great and friendly. The restaurant was clean & they are located right across the street from the lake so you can get a fantastic view from their window seating if available. Other than that, not much else to say.