Categories: Food & Wine

Black Bear Casino in Carlton Minnesota, has a New Buffet and They Say It’s Improved?

For my Birthday my wife wanted to take me somewhere new and different. We chose the the Buffet at the Black Bear Casino. They’ve been heavily advertising their recent rebuild, as part of the construction of their new casino and hotel complex. Being Saturday we arrived just past noon, right in the middle of the time span allotted for their Brunch Buffet. The Saturday evening buffet wouldn’t be open until about 5pm, so this seemed like a good time to do a restaurant review of their new facility.

The extensive construction project is only completed in a couple areas of the complex. Giving the appearance of slipping in a back door, we entered through a temporary front door into the Casino. I noted to my wife the poor selection of permanent walk way material, considering the weather conditions and time of year. They have a wooden board walk leading to this entrance which was slimy wet and very slippery with the light snow and low 30’s temperature. I was picturing many broken hips as the elderly who flock to these casinos attempt to make their way to their favorite slot machine.

At the door we were met by a friendly security guard who directed us down a series of narrow corridors toward the Buffet. Expectedly every inch of wall space was lined with slot machines whirring and ringing the cha-ching of losing money.

We turned down a long, more narrow hall way, bare of all entrapments of a casino, finally arriving at the front desk for the Buffet. A warning red light went off in our minds, as there were only about a half dozen patrons sitting at the many tables and booths in the buffet area. We should have turned back at that point, but we continued on and were led to a booth.

The hostess and wait staff in general did their job. No enthusiasm, no friendly chit chat, just sit, eat, have a nice day. The most effort made by them was to pounce on the tip left by another couple the second they left their table.

Being told to go ahead, we made our way to the buffet line. Sadly disappointing, it was hard to find anything that even looked appealing. Salads and fruit looked old and wilted. The breakfast line consisted of some sort of egg roll with unidentifiable ingredients, scramble eggs. bacon, and sausage links that looked pale and white. Seeming half cooked, there was no sign of browning on the sausage. I left them on my plate, untouched. Chicken Fried Steak consisted of a prefabbed patty purchased from some low cost supply house covered with a heavy paste they called gravy. So thick it adhered to the serving scoop like cold oatmeal.

The lunch side of the line had au gratin potatoes that were saturated in grease, a dried out beef patty they called a smothered steak, and canned mixed vegetables that had been on the steam line long enough to contain brown cauliflower and shriveled up beans. Even the sliced ham looked like it had been on display for a week. I went back to the breakfast line to get a couple of biscuits for the creamed chipped beef, only to find them so hard you could break a tooth on them.

Who in there right mind serves butternut squash cut into one inch squares with the skin still attached. The presentation looked terrible and eating it was a lesson in frustration as you attempted to remove the dark green skin on each individual bite before eating it. Their laziness in preparation ruined many of the dishes.

The desert selection was varied, though it was obvious they all came out of a box from some supply house. Sara Lee would be an improvement. By far the only items in the whole selection of food that was at all tasty was something called a Cream Cheese Blitze. A sweet dough roll-up that had a cream cheese filling with a hint of a fruit of some type. They were good, but truth be told they had too much cream cheese in them.

This was a truly disappointing experience. We have eaten at the Black Bear Casino Buffet a few years back, well before the construction project started. We rated it barely satisfactory as the selections were limited and the flavors lacking imagination. By heavily advertising this new offering as a much improved Buffet, the consumer is being sadly misled. With what we experienced today, if the opportunity presented itself, the kitchen staff would be sent home and replaced from top to bottom. Our dissatisfaction was so complete, we left no tip and will not be going back.