The Bear Pit

Who says things don't get better with age? Since 1954, slow-cooked, Missouri-style barbecue and famed garlic toast have been the hallmarks of this sawdust-floored family restaurant.

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What to Drink:: The restaurant serves a limited selection of wine and beer. Corkage is free.
Save Money:: Lunch specials and senior discounts are available.
The Extras:: The signature sweet barbecue is available for purchase at the restaurant.

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User Reviews (55)

ambiance	100.0% positive	“Great friendly atmosphere.”
drinks	80.0% positive	“the bearpit special is the best bar-b-que sandwich in town.” “The best is the lamb garlic toast sandwich with double bar b que beans, hmm.” “One of L.A.'s most overrated bar-b-ques.” “come from South Texas where REAL bar-b-que is the best.” “My friend married a woman from Missouri (Bear Pit is Missouri style bar-b-que), he's eaten a lot of Missouri bar-b-que, and he still claims that the best place in Missouri left and went to Mission Hills.”
food quality	79.86000061035156% positive	“This restaurant has a great looking menu, it smells wonderful, but the meats are dry, and all the food I tasted lacks in flavor.” “like their regular BBQ sauce.” “Im not sure what happened to the people that left bad reviews for this place, but I have never had bad food or a bad experience here.” “we spent over $75 on dinner and ended up taking the meat home to give to my dogs( they liked it) I ended the evening apologizing to my friends for recommending this place.” “The portions are small for the price, which turns out to be OK as the food seemed dry to us.” “The garlic bread is excellent.” “The food has always been good.” “The BBQ sandwiches on their ultimate garlic bread is heavenly.” “unless i have a hackering for over priced dry meat.” “Great sauce, great service” “Good coleslaw and really good potatoes.” “very dry meat” “the bearpit special is the best bar-b-que sandwich in town.” “The roast beef sandwich is the best I have ever had.” “The only HUGE portion you get is a piece of garlic powder toast, other than that the chicken and ribs I had today were tasteless, and dry to brittle dry if there is such thing.” “The best bbq beans anywhere.” “Small portions at gargantuan prices for mediocre food does not make great barbeque.” “The regular BBQ sauce herereally makes the sandwich great.” “My favorite is the BBQ beef, pork or ham served on garlic toast with BBQ beans and Cole Slaw.” “few friends and i decided to try it out,what a disappointment ,we all ordered the sampler plate with chicken,ribs and sliced beef , the meat was dry and the ribs had no flavor at all , ( shouldn't good ribs have some flavor without having to dip them in” “This is arguably one of the best places for bbq in the valley.” “The best is the lamb garlic toast sandwich with double bar b que beans, hmm.” “The sweet sauce is terrible.” “like my barbecue milder- I don't like getting my mouth burned with hot sauce.” “all the food is good here.” “prefer their chicken dinner the best, my husband likes the sandwiches.” “like the food, I like the lokk, but the sauce.” “every piece of meat was dry and no one bothered tocome back to ask how things were, tater totswere good (all 3) the bread was good.” “love the turkey and pork sandwiches on their awesome garlic toast, with beans and coleslaw.” “good bbq, without having to go to TX” “for great service and good beef brisket.” “love the Hot Links plate and wife swears on the BBQ pork sandwich on garlic bread (excellent)!” “This place has the best beef ribs I have ever had at a restaurant very tasty, they also have a great sandwich called the bear pit speacial with ham and roast beef on cheese toast ummmmm!” “the tv ads make the food look good.” “My Mom loves their beans.” “BBQ baked beans which came with the meal were good, but there were only about 4 tablespoons full.” “The regulars get the Bear Pit special on garlic toast or the Kodiak for big eaters.” “The food is great, the price very reasonable.” “If you like a sweet BBQ sauce you have to try this one!” “This might be a quicker way in getting your dinner on the table, but having the meat sit for hours results in some mediocre food.” “mediocre food but bad service” “The beef ribs are the best I have ever had, the waitresses make you feel like you are family and th.” “searched for bbq places in my area and the bear pit was not only the closest, but had really great ratings.” “Our server was fantastic, even going as far as giving us extra bbq sauce and garlic bread so that we can make some sandwiches with the leftovers.” “Good ribs, a great "Bear Pit Special" sandwich on grilled sourdough bread.” “Easily the best sandwich on the menu is the BBQ Beef on Garlic Bread (~$6.95).” “would recomend this place, the food is good, the portions are large and the service has always been friendsly.” “good food, good service”
menu variety	87.5% positive	“The menu is extensive with different combinations to suit your taste.” “This restaurant has a great looking menu, it smells wonderful, but the meats are dry, and all the food I tasted lacks in flavor.” “Easily the best sandwich on the menu is the BBQ Beef on Garlic Bread (~$6.95).” “Bottom line, there are better BBQ options available, we suggest you try them instead.”
overall	100.0% positive	“If thats all it took to make a restaurant great, than this place would be bearriffic.” “Its a great place for the family with saw dust on the floor.” “This place has the best beef ribs I have ever had at a restaurant very tasty, they also have a great sandwich called the bear pit speacial with ham and roast beef on cheese toast ummmmm!” “What a great place.” “It's hard to find a great place with sawdust on the floor.” “best thing about this place was the beautiful tall blond hostess.” “My friend married a woman from Missouri (Bear Pit is Missouri style bar-b-que), he's eaten a lot of Missouri bar-b-que, and he still claims that the best place in Missouri left and went to Mission Hills.”
service	85.29000282287598% positive	“The service is always awesome.” “our server was nice but seemed very rushed.” “The prices were reasonable, and the servings were large, with plenty of sides and excellent service--the waitress was prompt and personable, and brought refills without being asked.” “would recomend this place, the food is good, the portions are large and the service has always been friendsly.” “Im not sure what happened to the people that left bad reviews for this place, but I have never had bad food or a bad experience here.” “Great service!” “mediocre food but bad service” “The portions are huge, the sides are excellent, and the service is outstanding.” “Also, for those mixed, or minority people out there, this place is full of caucasian people, my friend is light skinned black and my kids are mixed, and we had a ton of weird looks being there.” “Great sauce, great service” “for great service and good beef brisket.” “good food, good service” “Great friendly atmosphere.” “The beef ribs are the best I have ever had, the waitresses make you feel like you are family and th.” “Our server was fantastic, even going as far as giving us extra bbq sauce and garlic bread so that we can make some sandwiches with the leftovers.” “best thing about this place was the beautiful tall blond hostess.” “The service is friendly and as quick as you might expect from a place as busy as this one is.”
value	66.66999816894531% positive	“would recomend this place, the food is good, the portions are large and the service has always been friendsly.” “Small portions at gargantuan prices for mediocre food does not make great barbeque.” “unless i have a hackering for over priced dry meat.” “The food is great, the price very reasonable.” “The portion sizes are huge- I always have a midnight snack left over.” “The portions are huge, the sides are excellent, and the service is outstanding.” “The portions are small for the price, which turns out to be OK as the food seemed dry to us.” “The prices were reasonable, and the servings were large, with plenty of sides and excellent service--the waitress was prompt and personable, and brought refills without being asked.” “The portions are HUGE, tastes great, and at a good price.”
wait time	100.0% positive	“The service is friendly and as quick as you might expect from a place as busy as this one is.”

11/19/11

Best Authentic B.B.Q.

I've been going to the Bearpit since I was young with my family loved it then and still hasnt changed (LOVE it today!) Now tradition with my own kids and yes *family Favorite to this day! Brisket beef on garlic toast or turkey(yummmm) oh also babyback ribs with barbeque beans and taters. Its all good and real barbeque.

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01/24/11

It was meh

by jackiebob80

I had lunch here while visiting from Chicago and had an OK experience. The staff was friendly and took care of us the entire meal, but what's with the sawdust on the ground? Is that how BBQ is done in the West? Anywho, I got the spare ribs which were a little dry, but that was easily fixed by throwing on some of their BBQ sauce.

Overall, I'd say the food was OK, but not great. I've had better BBQ in Chicago to be honest, but this place seemed to draw a crowd so maybe I just needed to order something else. Parking was free and easily available, which is a plus.

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09/06/10

The Bear Pit's Good if You Like Boiled Ribs!

by Clotee Allochuku

I didn't feel ilke cooking for Labor Day so we decided to get some food at "The Bear Pit". Upon entering the place the staff was extremely friendly and when I tasted the ribs I thought, "They'd better be!". We ordered the "Hungry Bear Delight" with cole slaw, deep fried taters, Bar-B-Q beans, and garlic toast. My husband ordered the Bar-B-Q ham sandwich with fries and beans. The beans were absolutely delicious, the cole slaw was great, the ham was succelent, the garlic toast was good but the ribs tasted like "boiled bear hide". Now I know why they call it "The Bear Pit". These ribs did not have any seasoning nor even a drop of hickory smoked flavor in them. So if you go to the "Bear Pit" do NOT order the ribs. Order the ham sandwich on their famous garlic toast because it is loaded with flavor!

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02/11/10

Bear Pit a Genuine Pit

by Ronal60p

So, this is barbeque at it's best? This place serves some of the worst barbeque I have ever had. Small portions at gargantuan prices for mediocre food does not make great barbeque. And those potato balls, what in the hell are those unedible things? I feel sorry for anyone who can give this place more than 1 star, they really must be deprived.

I highly recommend finding a better barbeque restaurant as this one is terrible.

Pros: Plenty of off street parking
Cons: Terrible, overpriced food

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04/14/09

You've got to be kidding

by octobass

After driving past this place for 30+ years, thought I'd give it a shot. After all, the parking lot's nearly always full. It must be very good.

Well, it's not good. Actually it's horrific.

I picked up take-out ( Beef Ribs,Pork Ribs, chicken,turkey, potatoes, beans, cole slaw and garlic bread) and nearly gagged all the way home in my car from the odor. And--I might add--not one whiff of smoke--pretty weird the restaurant calls itself Missouri BBQ.

Starving when I arrived home, I attacked the food. Yikes, bad move. Most of it was totally inedible. The Beef Ribs were a fright, nothing but gristle and fat, tasting less than fresh and certainly never smoked. Pork Ribs had decent texture, but tasted like a swanson's frozen dinner from 1957. Chicken was passable.

The turkey? Surely this was a joke. The nearest smoke this turkey had been near was when the guy at the processing plant (2-3 years ago?) put it on the truck to send to California while smoking a cigarette.

The cole slaw was not bad. The potatoes were ghastly--How do you screw up potatoes? Is that even possible? I couldn't even look at the beans, let alone eat them.

The whole take-out horror is now in my garbage can, where it truly belongs. 45 dollars worth.

The Bear Pit

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Editor's Tips

11/19/11

Best Authentic B.B.Q.

by cincin1960

01/24/11

It was meh

by jackiebob80

09/06/10

The Bear Pit's Good if You Like Boiled Ribs!

by Clotee Allochuku

02/11/10

Bear Pit a Genuine Pit

by Ronal60p

04/14/09

You've got to be kidding

by octobass

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