The Bear Pit Bar-B-Que

The ribs was delicious, coleslaw was so so, potato tots was awful it tasted like it’s been fried in old oil that haven’t been change for many many months I wouldn’t recommend tater tot’s, besides that meet was great, service was great and price was great! And yes I will come back there again but I would have to order another side of the dish

This place is a valley landmark, Great food, Great service, I just threw back a full rack of baby backs and had the Cole slaw which was so yummy and sweet and the beans which are to die for. Don’t forget to dress up your ribs with their old fashioned sauce, great honey taste to it, this place still has it.

I come here more than I would like to admit. Sometimes I get this calling that requires the aid of barbecue beef or babyback ribs to satisfy it. That is why I go to The Bear Pit BBQ. I love all of their dishes. I get the steak and ribs dish when I come here. I try other things once in a while, but I am fixated on that one in particular. I love seeing a full plate of delicious ribs and steak when I’m here at the Bear Pit. It just makes me happy knowing that I will be enjoying my meal. The portion sizes are generous, so I nearly always have food to take home. I genuinely like the feel of this place, it is compact and the servers tend to you like a friend. I like the aroma of the barbeque indoors, but this place is well ventilated too. They have a pretty good dessert options, and I’ll order one If I am feeling ambitious after a feast. This is my go to barbeque place in the valley.

It’s hard finding a good BBQ place in the Fernando valley but this place is GOOD! Been coming here with my family for 10+yrs and it never disappoints. We ordered take out for my dad’s birthday and our pretty big order was done and ready for pick up in less than half an hour! So quick and the baby back ribs were perfect. Prices are good for what you get :) highly recommend if you’re in the valley!

Came in on a Monday night. The bf was craving beef ribs. The sweet bbq sauce was surprisingly delightful and delicious with the ribs. It made for a good combination. Kind of a bummer that the ribs came out barely warm. I wasn’t a fan of the beans or coleslaw. Coleslaw was way too tangy. Beans and tots were average. The garlic toast could’ve been better. But I managed to munch on most of it. The only thing that came out kinda hot was the mac and cheese as a tiny lil side. I ordered it as a last minute eat after everything. I liked it. But then again, I was pretty full by that point. So I couldn’t really enjoy it. I’d come back to this place. But don’t expect much. I wonder what sets this apart from regular Texas bbq since this was «Missouri style.»

Came here with a group of 6 and we had to share some foods just cause the portions were enormous. We ordered the Tastier Treat which can serve 2 – 3 people. Ribs are good, pork slices are tasty, chicken is juicy, and the garlic breads are bigger than your face — they give 3 pieces too.
Their bbq sauce is homemade and very tasty too.

Everything was so good! The whole family enjoyed the food, and I have a picky young eater! Great variety on the menu as well! We will definitely be back!

First time trying this place & I loved it! First of all, I love the cabin’s atmosphere. I ordered the Polar Bear feast which consisted of spareribs, beef ribs & chicken. The spare ribs fell off the bone and the sauce was very sweet & tasty. I also had my order with a side of garlic bread and potato salad which complimented the ribs & chicken quite well. The waitress was nice & attentive, and she made sure to fulfill any request we had. Not only was the food good, but I felt the service was fast and on point!
Thanks Bear Pit for an amazing experience & I will definitely come back again when I’m in the Valley!

My parents brought me here when I was just a kid & almost 50 years later it’s still the same place with the same great food. In fact I celebrated my 50^th birthday here… there was no where else I wanted to go.
The place had had some great remodeling done and gone are the sawdust floors but the food is sooooo good & the staff treat you like old friends. They even kept the Hamm’s beer display (and it still works!)! I highly recommend this place… get ready to leave in a food coma!

The log cabin look was a great touch, complete with sawdust laid around to decorate the floor of one half of the restaurant. I could smell the fresh barbeque from the moment I walked in, like the entire room was filled with smoked beef. This only made me more eager to get a bite out of my order, and I was not disappointed: the BBQ ribs were to die for and the sauce served with them was nothing short of wonderful. This is a place I would recommend if you are in the San Fernando valley and I would definitely go again!

Seasoned building and atmosphere which is essential in a good BBQ restaurant.
Always great service, always good food, clean premises.
Good BBQ beans, Potato salad, ribs, garlic bread, cole slaw.
We get the Family special for 5 with the Rib substitution.
We like the traditional sauce but all 3 are worth a taste.
Good people, good food, excellent parking, nothing more to ask for.

Man, this place really goes back for me. Ever since I was a kid, this was «The» place I would gravitate to for comfort food and some of the best BBQ food in the valley. Located at Sepulveda and the 118 Freeway, it has become a local institution with its reasonable prices and generous serving of fine BBQ meat sandwiches, and full on dinners that fill you up, although really messy with all that wonderful Missouri BBQ sauce. You start off with a relish tray of vegetables, and if your remember to Unilocal immediately, you’ll see a free side-​order when you order $ 30 in food. I jumped on this and got some of the crunchy onion rings that were done just right and hit the spot. A salad comes with your meal, along with baked beans and sourdough garlic bread that can be used to wipe up all those delicious juices generated from the choice of meat you’ve selected. Mind you, expect to take a container home because it’s a lot of food to consume, and you’ll want to save room for dessert. Because we were working, we were on the clock, so we had to eat and run and decline on the dessert this evening. But the whole experience brought me back home, along with fine memories of childhood dinners at the restaurant.

Second time here really don’t think it’s all that great. Without the bbq sauce the meat doesn’t taste like much of anything. The garlic bread is decent, the little potatoes are ok. The pickles were the tastiest thing we had.

Unlike Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley is not known for their barbecue ribs. I didn’t know where to go to eat until I heard about The Bear Pit. I think I saw it via advertisement on television. Well anyway, I went by to visit and wow I was shocked by the taste. They have a crowd as well so don’t go on a completely empty stomach!
When it comes to barbecue food, I love to eat it every now and then. Their beef back ribs are delicious, so good I had to stop myself from eating. Some of my favorite side dishes are garlic toast, coleslaw, and bbq beans. I have gone so many times, the servers can guess what I’m going to order.
This is by far the best barbecue restaurant in San Fernando Valley and you’re doing yourself a disservice if you are trying it out!

Where else are you gonna go for the best bbq in the San Fernando Valley? EVERYTHING the Bear Pit has is delicious! Living in the valley doesn’t provide you with a lot of options for good bbq but this place really hits the spot!
Their wood smoked barbecue beef and babyback ribs with a side of garlic toast, bbq beans, and coleslaw makes for a day in heaven. Staff is super friendly and inviting. Definitely a great place to bring friends or family for a night out. If I had to recommend one thing it would be their beef back ribs. Trust me it will be like nothing else you have ever tasted!

Yes, I am a BBQ snob. I admit it. I also admit that Good BBQ is really subjective. I prefer my BBQ to be pork and bit overdone not overcooked so that they can be easily fell off from the bone. I prefer my brisket to be with visible smoke ring and sliced thick and I prefer my pulled pork moist without being slathered in a sauce.
Indeed, this place has a great back story. It first opened back in 1940s aka around my grandparents teenage time, and has been passed to new owners a few times but remains the same as when it opened. It’s apparently Missouri style BBQ which suggests that it means nothing to me by showing my BBQ ignorance.
At any rate, this place gets great reviews by anonymous Unilocalers (3.5 star). First, I really DO NOT UNDERSTAND why some of Unilocalers rated this place 4 or 5 stars. One would think that BBQ joint with 3.5 star would shine. Perhaps, I dined this place on terrible day. But in my opinion, it gets 2 stars only the waitress was friendly and attentive and baked beans are great!
I ordered a plate with a little of everything that cost me around 25 bucks. I didn’t want to express my opinion on the place after just trying one item. See, I am being nice and very generous. They provide you an appetizer in a small bowl filled with ice that has celery, pickles, peppers and carrots. Okay, I admit, needed the veggies, but this was bit weird for me.
When I had few bites on my salad, decided it wasn’t very good and not to waste my stomachs space. Looked like someone just dumped a beg of pre-​made salad onto my plate and tossed one slap of tomato on the side of decoration. For the dressing, I am not familiar with how they make it, guessing it’s powder they just mixed with water and mix to desired consistency. Not very appealing and tasted very crap for me.
When the main course arrived on my table, it looked good and plate full of bbq. The brisket and turkey was cut very thin. Meat all kinds tasted same to me. There was a small plate of something that didn’t look like anything other than hushy puppy and asked waitress about it. Seems like fingerling potatoes that have been deep fat fried, cold, bland dripping in a grease. Yuck. Garlic toast was also soaked in grease as well. Looked like someone smeared butter and garlic on piece of cardboard and heated slightly. Of course, I ate it most of it because it was best thing on table. Chicken was deep fat fried and no flavors whatsoever. My meal came with 2 pieces, but one piece a wing was so crispy that would prevent me from pulling a string of meat off the bone. Brisket and turkey were terribly bland. The ribs were so bad that I ate half of one before deciding I would rather stop and get KFC later. May be it’s Missouri BBQ thing, but please for the love of God pull the membrane off the ribs. I don’t care what you think that membrane does for the meat while cooking. If you overcook the meat, membrane turns something into totally gross and undesirable.
As I said, the only saving grace on this 25 bucks meal was the baked beans which were good, tasty and full of BBQ flavor and sweet tea which was great as well. How one would mess up sweet tea, have no idea, so really that shouldn’t count as a win.
Overall, on my BBQ ranking scale, from one to five with five being awesome on the platter, rate this place 2 stars. Fast service, friendly waitress, baked beans are the only reason for two generous stars.
In a nutshell and to be brutally honest, this was the worst BBQ I’ve ever had and I’ve had some pretty bad BBQ.
A quote on their website said, «This is undoubtedly the best BBQ this side of SF Valley.» That may be true. But if this is the best, I would give up my day job, open my own business here. I’d make a killing, even with my limited experience. I could make better ribs in my sleep.
Avoid this place like a plague and go to Dr. Hoggly Woggly for fixing your BBQ cravings folks!

After listening to the hype of this place for years, I finally gave in and tried it. It wasn’t completely disappointing.
I ordered an Arnold Palmer to drink. It was very obvious that it was instant lemonade so I just took ice tea when offered a refill.
I like that they start each table on a bowl of pickles, cucumbers, and carrots. It was definitely different.
I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich with fries. You could tell it was grilled fresh and it was tasty, but it lacked the pizzazz that I expect from a restaurant with so much hype. The fries were definitely previously frozen, not fresh potato. My husband ordered a pork and beef sandwich that he really enjoyed.
The service itself was okay. The waitress was not only not personable, but almost not courteous. She never offered to refill our drinks, and only did when asked toward the end of the meal, despite the fact that all of our drinks were near empty when she brought out the food.

After a fun and exciting trip to the nearby Nethercutt Museum, Schoolteacher and I were wondering where to get some lunch. The Nethercutt actually had a sheet at the front desk with all the local restaurants on it, which we acquired a copy of. This place was on it. It had also coincidentally sat on my bookmark list for quite some time. I figured I’d take the opportunity to revisit it and cross it off my list.
FYI: There is a Coco’s right next to the Bear Pit, and while their parking lots are adjacent to each other, they are not actually connected in the back.
After walking across the brief separation from the Coco’s parking lot, we walked to the door, pulled it open and looked inside. We were quickly greeted and escorted to a table in the back room, where we were seated with menus, and asked about drinks.
We discussed the cars and automated musical devices we had seen earlier, wished we were as rich as the people who owned the museum, and then waitress arrived with beverages and pickled items. Not all of which were pickles. Looking at the menu, I went with the com-​bear-​nation sandwich with sliced pork. While Schoolteacher went with a grilled chicken salad. See what they did there with the name of the thing? Com-​BEAR-​nation? Heh heh heh. Good one Bear Pit.
The sandwich had many options of meat, came with a BBQ cow rib and side, and was made using their ‘famous’ garlic bread. I figured that would give me a fairly decent cross-​section of the restaurant all in one plate. All the while, our beverages were kept full by our waitress.
When it arrived, it certainly looked and smelled quite wonderful.
Upon closer examination and eating it, it was quite wonderful. The pork was juicy and tenderly ripped apart in a bite. The garlic bread was also quite flavorful and tasty. A good choice by Scott. Schoolteacher’s salad was piled high with veggies, had a generous topping of chicken, and was coated with their ‘famous’ bbq sauce and salad dressing.
After eating, we took care of the bill (about 40 dollars) up at the register, and I just BEARly avoided getting some of their ‘famous’ bbq sauce, and after that large lunch, I felt as if I could BEARly fit through the exit door. After exiting the door, I had to BEAR left to get back to my car in the Coco’s parking lot.
So, the food is really great, albeit it’s a tad pricy, but you do get a massive meal, and can legitimately make all the bad bear puns you can… until you get hit.

Is it the world’s greatest BBQ? No. Is it a great place to get dressed up and take your lady out to dinner? No. Is it a place that has a cool history, reminds you of times past, and makes you appreciate that places like this are still around instead housing a trendy new chain? Absolutely!
They start by bringing out some celery, carrots, and pickles over ice. Probably been doing that for the last 60 years. The place first opened its doors in the late 50’s. We went with the Kodiak special. Comes with a sandwich of your choice of meats. We went lamb and also opted for the garlic toast bread instead of regular. Looking back, lamb may have been an odd choice compared to pork or beef but it sounded good. After a good dose of their BBQ sauce, it was a pretty tasty sandwich. 2 ribs, good. French fries, tasty. Coleslaw, good. We also ordered 2 Louisiana hot links to compliment the meal, not bad.
The menu said beer on tap was $ 8.95. Sweet. What beers do you have on tap? Budweiser. That’s it. We’ll take it. Server was nice and the meal was enjoyable. Wouldn’t hesitate to go back in a second. We went at 7:45 on a Friday night and the place was packed. Glad we’re not the only one who appreciate culinary staples.

This is one of my boyfriend’s favorite places to go! He’s been a loyal customer for years. And since he has great taste in food, I had to check this place out.
This place used to have saw dust on the floor. But they recently just renovated so now there are new booths, tables and chairs. It looks a little bit more modern but all the drawings and the walls are exactly the same. It definitely has a homey feel.
The service is pretty good here. It can get busy on the weekends, especially around dinnertime. It’s a good place for couples, families, or small to large groups of people.
My usual order here is the BBQ Beef Sandwich on Garlic toast! They give you a generous portion of sliced beef that’s very tender. They dress it with their special BBQ sauce (and there’s a bottle of it on the table if you need more!) which is slightly tangy. And the best part is the garlic toast! I don’t know what they do to it but it’s perfectly toasted and you can taste the buttery, garlicky goodness of the bread! SO GOOD! And you get two sides with it. I like the fries and the beans.
I’ve also tried their beef ribs which I didn’t care for. The meat seemed a little dry for me.
FYI, you can ask them to bring a cup of their other sauces (sweet and now spicy!).
There’s plenty of free parking in the lot behind the restaurant.
Overall, definitely come here and try one of their sandwiches on garlic toast! You won’t regret it! :)