Bear’s Place

My main reason for visiting Bear’s Place is the fact that they show independent/​foreign movies I can’t get anywhere else in Indiana as part of the Ryder film series. Ticket price is five (!) dollars (cash only), and one can enjoy any food or drink item from their menu while watching the movie.
Although the food is nothing out of the ordinary, they do have some good vegetarian options, and the prices are very reasonable. While Bear’s Place is an hour and a half drive from where I live, it is worth the drive to enjoy movies I would not otherwise have a chance to see here.

It’s a shame that the service is so lacking or else I would be able to give it more stars. If you come to Bear’s on a night during the school year, when it’s packed, you can expect fast service because the employees want good tips and to move you along quickly. However, if you want good service anytime before 8pm, no matter what week, don’t come here. Expect sitting and waiting 15 minutes before the bartender or waitress – if they even have one – notices you. After your first beer, you’ll have to either walk to the bar to order another drink or sit for another 15 – 20 minutes attempting to make hard eye contact with your server or bartender. This can be hugely frustrating especially if you’re looking to have a low-​key afternoon/​evening but with decent service. Then again, it may be the curtain of regular at the bar that prevent the bartender from seeing the people in need of their service.
Their saving grace is that they have $ 1 PBR pints all day on Wednesday. And the Hairy Bears.

Bear’s is growing on me. The more time I spend there, the more I seem to like it. I particularly enjoy their french fries. The food in general isn’t great, but I have never had issue with the wait staff. Let’s be real. It’s a bar– we’re not there for the food. The atmosphere can be fun. Obviously get a hairy bear. Another year out at bears and maybe this place will be perfect to me.

My mother and I met for lunch today and decided on Bear’s because I work at IU and it was close. She picked me up as I only have an hour for lunch. The booths weren’t full at all when we walked in. We picked our place and the waitress came up immediately and gave us menus. It however took 45 minutes to get our food (grilled cheese and a tenderloin), we didn’t have silverware or napkins (had to ask for them once our food came), and the ketchup bottle barely had anything in it (it was also brought to us by our waitress. She has to have known). I believe this nice young lady was serving the entire front of the restaurant, both taking orders and serving eventually. I put most of this on the management as 1:00 on a beautiful spring day is not a time when you want to be understaffed. Disappointed to say the least.

You have to go here and get a hairy bear. It’s big delicious and has a lot of alcohol. I can’t comment on anything else as I haven’t tried anything but the hairy bear.

Although I’m not crazy about the food, Bears has a great jazz series every Thursday that is cheap m, but features professors and players from the school. Thursday’s 5:30−8pm has become a tradition for me and my friends to go hang and catch some great jazz.

Honestly, every time I go, it smells like armpits, but only in the front. You can absolutely hold your breath until you pass the cloud in the front and enjoy the fun in the back. To be honest, I really think it is the customers and this is not the fault of Bear’s Place (sorry customers!). Although I’ve experienced better at other bars, if you’re in town, please get the Hairy Bear. It’s sweet, but your time will be sweeter after one or three of those. Aside from this, I have never been here while there has been music playing, so my review might be less valid to those who are indeed looking for music venues.

We came here for $ 2 burger and fries night adverted on the Hooked app. It was obvious that they were woefully unprepared as there was a line all the way outside and a «seat yourself sign». We hovered around to fight for a seat, and none of the waiters had any idea who had been helped or not. I was actually hoping to get an appetizer before burgers, but after waiting for 30 minutes to be approached by anyone, the waitress actually told me I couldn’t have a menu. What? Do you not want us to spend more than $ 4? Okay. $ 4 it is.
We ordered our food and were offered waters that never came. There were 4 leftover water cups on our table that we had to push out of the way to eat, but no drinks for us. 45 minutes later, we got our burgers. 30 minutes after that, we had to flag someone down to let us pay. People were obviously leaving without paying because there was so much chaos.
I can’t speak for the place on a normal day, but I would be weary of any advertised specials unless you have 2 hours to spare and want to choke down your food with no drinks.
I can’t blame the waiters; I’m sure they were doing their best, but holy crap. A little planning and proper staffing goes a long way. We heard from the marketing team that they started the night with ONE server. Hopefully they learned their lesson…

I come to Bears place once a week for lunch and it’s my favorite lunch place on 3^rd street. Good burgers, good wraps, we always get in and out during our hour lunch. I personally like the Buffalo chicken wrap.
I have been going here for about a year now and honestly service has gotten better over they last year. They have also added more staff, which helps during that lunch rush.
I have also come to Bear’s on Thursdays because the BF LOVES Karaōke. The set up is great.
Only downside is that sometimes depending on when you show up, the kitchen can be a bit slow, however that hasn’t happened to me in at least 7 months and I do eat here weekly.

This place is rough. Having worked in the restaurant business most of my working life, I forgive a lot of mistakes. We are all human. But this is really sad. I’ve been to Bear’s a few times and the service was insanely slow (which is partially the kitchen’s fault, I’m sure) and not once did I have a remotely competent server. I’m not talking a one or a few little mix ups. I mean repeats of the same mistake over and over. Missing beers, missing food, wrong beer, SLOW beer. Even these things are excusable if you can fix them promptly, but most of the time the server is nowhere to be found. One evening, two beers and an order of fries between two people became a two hour ordeal, from sit-​down to paying the bill. That’s really sad. I know the restaurant world is stressful and bars are crazy, but it IS doable. It’s a cool place and I hope they get it together.

Your hands will stick to the tables, your shoes will stick to the floors, your a$$ will stick to the toilet. If you can brave the thick lacquer of sweat and grime on every surface, you’ll find cheap drink specials, including the demonic Hairy Bear and the crippling Jamaican Sunset (the latter has about 7 ounces of booze). Go there to drink between classes at IU, do not order food. I won’t lie, I’ve had some memorable times there. But one does not go to Bear’s Place to feel good.

Food isn’t awesome. But the fries are. And $ 9 pitchers on Friday. Yes. This is why I love bears place.

Bear’s Place has made a concerted effort to improve both the food and quality of service since the change in ownership/​management or whatever it was.
The Lil’ Bear is one of the best hamburgers in town. The beef is from the Butcher’s Block and the bun is from Scholar’s Inn. Comes with fries, too. For $ 5 you’d be hard pressed to find a better deal elsewhere.
Yeah, it’s a dive bar, and you might run into some guy who looks like they walked out of duck dynasty drowning themselves in vodka tonics at noon on a Tuesday, but so what? This place has absolutely no pretensions, and that is why I love it.
The waitresses are really nice, too

Bear’s will forever hold a special place in my heart. You can’t ask for a better college town watering hole; it’s legendary. Excellent pub grub, serious cocktails, and an ethos that is uniquely its own. Bear’s knows what it is, and it embraces it proudly. Terrific live music and comedy acts as well; may it forever be a Bloomington institution!

This is located right next to campus and has ½ off burgers and beers on Sundays. We arrived around 6pm and the front of the bar was completely empty. It took a while to get the server’s attention but when she arrived she was pleasant. We ordered immediately for fear she might be hard to find later. We all ordered easy burgers with minor requests: one no pickle, another no mayo…
We received our drinks right away. Two of our party noticed the Guinness was flat. The food took an hour to arrive. The waitress mentioned it was due to a movie party theme in the back of the bar. But when I walked back there to the restrooms (awful) there were many people back there drinking and talking, not eating and watching movies.
Bottom line– the service was slow, even for college standards, the kitchen was hopeless, and the burgers were burnt/​chewey. All burgers arrived cooked and prepared exactly the same way, despite the requests. The server offered to take the burgers back to have them prepared correctly but we were starving by then and were not prepared to wait an additional hour. The only redeeming quality of tonight was the awesome fries… and half price Sundays.

By far my worst experience in Bloomington. The staff is not just incredibly rude but also abusive. We walked in at 12 AM… the staff let us in without a word. Five minutes after being served our first (and last drinks), we were informed rather rudely that we need to leave the place in the next five minutes. A long-​haired member of the staff told my party to ‘get the eff up and leave!’ Totally uncalled for to a party that had simply begun to protest being shooed-​out.
The staff seemed to believe they are indispensable to Bloomington, and that having to deal firmly with customers who are actually inebriated gives them the right to abuse other, perfectly well –behaved customers. They were obnoxious, high-​handed and displayed no understanding of how to behave with customers. My party was offended beyond words and swore never to return to this place again.

The BBQ bacon cheeseburger was fantastic! I highly recommend it and the service was good. Had a nice lunch and got in and out of there pretty quickly. The place was very clean and professional. I really enjoyed the burger though easily the best part of my experience.

New owners Andrew and Devin Thomas have already started making huge improvements in the week or two they have owned it. Big improvement from the previous owner! Glad to see new owners making the right moves to bring bears back to what it use to be. Great drinks, good food, and a fun place to hang out.

Big fucking cocktails. That’s mostly what I have to say about Bear’s. Try the Hairy Bear, it’ll knock your socks off. Love hanging out here late at night with friends. The bar staff is very friendly and usually drunk. There’s a photo booth now which I love.
Don’t come here for dinner, come here for drinks. Very comfortable bar.

Came here for round 2 with some people on a Wednesday night — almost empty. There was a live band going on but decided to sit inside since we wouldn’t be able to talk to each other. and the fact that there was only 2 people watching/​listening the live band.
Was visiting a friend and he got us all Hairy Bear — we got the monster version (Monster energy drink in it). I couldn’t really taste the alcohol — overpowered by the sweetness of the Monster drink so I guess that’s a deadly combo? oh wells. kills it and was ok. One more and I would have felt it. But definitely a HUGE drink.
Not sure if it was the alcohol but ordered from fries to nibble on and the fries were nice and hot/​fresh and pretty tasty. Would definitely recommend the fries if you just want to munch on something.
Overall, seems like a cool place — carvings of people’s names on the walls and bartenders seem friendly. But if you are just visiting, definitely get the Hairy Bear.