Bear Rock Cafe

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with this chain. I went to a location recently and they appear to be an upscale "soup/slald/sandwich" type chain, similar to Panera but with a few differences.

Like Panera, they bake their own bread. and have a nice atmosphere including a fireplace, etc. The one that I went to was smaller than Panera locations and unlike Panera they did not sell bread by the loaf.

Another difference is that Bear Rock seems to have a slightly wider menu, with some grilled snadwich selections like Mahi-Mahi, Angus burger, and crab cake. And they have small pizzas and baked potatos on the menu.

I had a turkey sandwich on whole wheat, very tast, the bread was good. I may get more ambitious next time, just wondering if anyone who frequents them has any particular favorite items.

Their baked potato soup is awesome.

Well we don't have one in this area as much as I think so..... So.......enlighten us backwoods folks... where is this place at ?

The Bear Rock that was located in Knoxville has since gone out of business. I went once. Didn't really seem like anything special that I recall. As you said, similar to Panera, Atlanta Bread Company, McAlister's. Just packaged different.

Decided to bump this up a bit, since a Bear Rock is literally a two block walk from my work in Virginia. I actually didn't know they baked their own bread, but it doesn't suprise me: the place is very similar to Panera, Cosi, etc., so I imagine it's a staple of this 'cafe' type.

The best food I've had over there are the salads. Both the Napa Valley and the oriental chicken (forget the menu name) salads have been good for what they were. They actually beat out Panera's salads, although I've found that your typical Bear Rock sandwich isn't anything to write home about and was as good as Panera/Cosi/etc. Their cookies/baked goods are supposed to be good to, but I've never tried them.

Weird to read about the Knoxville location going out of business since the locale by me is never really empty. So yeah - it's nothing special overall, but it's pretty good if you're looking for a quick lunch to snag back to the office.

Apparently a recent addition to the "food Chain" in North Carolina this outfit has expanded to 38 stores with 150 franchises in various stages of building in 11 states.
Here's their website-- http://www.bearrockfoods.com/

A couple of clues as to the thinking of the owners/investors.
1. Locations and Franchise info is ahead of any menu mentions on the home page.
2. The company history speaks of investing and company growth with little or no discussion of food or customer satisfaction.

The closest they get to the West Coast for "Napa Valley" Salads or oriental anything is the Phoenix area of Arizona.

I've been there twice. I have no idea what I had the first time but the second time I got the Angus burger and it was really pretty good. I would get it again.

There is one in the Denver area ( Littleton ). I havent ate there yet but do pass it everyday on my way to work. Some of my more younger co-workers actually make jokes about this place as they assume its a gay version of the Hard Rock Cafe since the word Bear is slang for a gay male with lots of body hair. One of my neighbors who works in a supermarket in the same shopping center as the Bear Rock Cafe was telling me that she and some of her co-workers had the same idea as well. She was saying the bear claw print in their logo looks a lot like the bear claw that is sported on gay-bear pride flags that according to her, she has seen those flags around town for years. Wonder if the folks who run the Bear Rock Cafe know that? Or if many of their employees had many gay men ( or should I say gay bears ) come in thinking this place was made just for them?