The StrawBEARY Bear

Our Friday night Favorite restaurant. I love the Seafood Platter. 2 Scallops 2 large Grilled Shrimp and Blackened Cod. It comes with Au Gratin Potatoes, soup or salad and homemade bread. I look forward to it every Friday! My Husband loves the Grilled Salmon. Excellent service.

The fresh bread was to die for, the salad was made from home grown vegetables (how often can you say that), the butter was soft and just perfectly so, the food was fresh, the poppers were really a treat and the fish i ordered vanished from my plate before anyone could notice.
I even liked the waterless flush toilets in the bathroom conserving water! I would def come back here and so why then is it missing a star ?
The service I did not think was stellar. It wasn’t anything else, I just thought we waited a tad bit too long for food, had to ask for the bread, once the basket was empty it wasnt refilled nor were we asked if we wanted more. You know the silly things that makes the difference in the leap between above average and extraordinary. Dont get me wrong, I will absolutely go back for the food, no question about it — I just hope the service would have been better.

I visited a friend of mine in Strawberry and before I went up, as I quite often do when leaving the valley, I asked her to pick a place for lunch that served decent food and was not a chain.
It turned out I was extremely impressed with the building, the service and the food.
We arrived just after noon and remained the only customers for the nearly two hours we were there. I chose the prime rib sandwich with onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and swiss cheese. She had a small hamburger with cheddar cheese. This was the first time she had had the hamburger and said it was the best hamburger she had had in several years. My sandwich, which some places may have called a French dip was loaded with tender beef and was absolutely delicious. The fries that came with both were crispy on the outside and soft in the middle, while I may have preferred a little more done they held up well during the whole meal and had no off tastes from poor oil. The ketchup served was made real real sugar rather than HFCS which is a plus for me.
There are 4 restaurants in Strawberry and three of them are right on Highway 87 at Fossil Creek and are packed on any weekend the weather is nice. This place is on a side road about ¼ mile South of there on the West side of the road and is hard to find because it is just far enough off Highway 87 the trees obscure it. From what I understand most of the business here is from locals in the late afternoon and evening. There is a full bar, dining room, lounge and a smoking patio.
This place was closed for about a year and a half before the current owners reopened it last November. They have dumped a ton of money inside and out to bring the place up to what it once was. In a way I don’t want the folks from the valley to find it but if the weekend traffic doesn’t find it it may not be here the next time I go up. Currently there are open Wed-​Sun starting at 11AM until, I guess, whenever the last customer leaves. Or gets tossed by the Bear.:-)
One thing they could improve: They understand the need for social media in this day and age but they really should use a business listing on Facebook instead of a personal listing and the listing really needs to be exactly as it is on the business cards. However if you ask a local to direct you there, just ask for «The Bear»