3 Brasseurs - Sparks — Restaurant in Ottawa

The restaurant did a wonderful job setting up a private area for our group, as we were visiting Ottawa for a grassroot soccer festival. We were seated upstairs in our own "private" area where we could sit comfortably knowing our kids wouldn't be a disturbance to other customers. We even had our own set menu for the kids and adults, though personally I would have preferred to order off the menu - however I assume this was done to ensure the speedy and efficient serving of food.

Full disclosure, I've never worked as a server in a restaurant. So, I'm not sure if our server's attitude was due to the fact that she had been assigned (along with another server) to our group. Her disposition and attitude was pretty flippant, and overall the speed at which requests were fulfilled was poor. For example, when one person in our group asked (for a third time) for a glass of water, she replied that it would take "a couple of minutes". I get it, sometimes work can seem like a really big chore - especially if you have rude and demanding customers, but I don't think that was the case for our group.

Though the food orders for the kids was filled and served in a very quick manner, their meals were served before our server had even taken our drink orders! For those of you who are parents reading this, you're probably thinking the same thing we were: How are our kids (all 16 of them) going to sit quietly at their seats and remain occupied while the adults have their meals. So, by the time the kids had finished their meals, the adults were completing their selection off the limited set menu.

My own son wasn't feeling well, and so I was trying to coax him to wait long enough for my food to arrive so that I could wolf it down and take him back to the hotel. While moving around with him on the upper floor, I saw trays with our orders on the empty tables waiting to be served. I returned to my table sharing this information with some of the other parents, warning them that some of our orders might be cold. And as expected, when my pizza arrived, it was no longer warm.

I understand that large groups can be difficult to serve, but when you know weeks in advance you have a large group coming in, I'd think any business would be better prepared? Still, I've endured long waits for food to be served and not written bad reviews. However, in this case it has to be said that because our server just seemed indifferent at best, and gave off the perception that we were a nuisance to her, I would not recommend customers going to 3 Brewers in Ottawa if they are in a large group with kids as you might be met with a Grinch of a server.

BTW - I managed to steal some fries from my son's dish. They were good. So, in the review that's the only menu item I'd recommend. My wife said the fish and chips she ordered was overcooked (fish was dry on the inside) while another mom said she was forcing herself to finish her fish and chips. So, I guess avoid the...

We had a huge dinner reservation at 3 Brewers Sparks for my birthday celebration and everyone keeps telling me they had a great time. Our servers were Val and Lauren, and they were absolutely amazing and we loved them. The food was delicious, and upstairs was perfect for a large gathering. There was even room for more people than our reservation for a Friday night, which was amazing.

I have come to 3 Brewers Sparks for a Paint Nite in the past, and really enjoyed my time there at that time. I usually go to another restaurant for my birthday, but wanted to do something different this year. And I wanted everyone to be able to come who could. This place is perfect for that as it's close to the LRT Parliament station, and there are lots of good parking options nearby, including at the Sun Life Centre and the World Exchange Plaza.

We were asked to customize our menu due to the group having over 19 people, which is fine with me. The options we had to choose from were amazing, and I got my friends to vote on the menu so they could feel included in the planning and understand they were getting a limited menu. We had a lot of fun with it and even did polls for it. People who never met got to know each other before the party because of it.

As I always like to plan my events far in advance, I planned my birthday for two months. Therefore I made my reservation early, which the staff really appreciated.

I ended up talking to several people at this restaurant during my planning process, who all had amazing customer service skills. It's very clear this restaurant goes above and beyond for their guests.

Thank you so much for hosting me and my friends, and thank you for taking care of our cakes and being prepared to deal with ice cream cakes...letting us bring our own knife and even including spoons for the cakes so they would be easier to eat. We really appreciate your time, and the staff who worked late especially on the night of my party.

You are all amazing, and people already want to come back and are hoping I host a celebration with you again.

I will add that this venue is really well set up for big gatherings on the top floor. Including with a gift table, lots of places to take photos, washrooms so you don't need to go downstairs, a mixture of booths and tables so people can sit where they are most comfortable, etc.

I'm gonna sign this off with thanks again for the amazing night and I hope you always get enough business to stay open...

Incredibly disappointed in our experience. We arrived at 5pm for dinner on a Friday night. Not very busy, lots of empty tables. Upon arrival we were given the "hmm let me check if we have a table" while there were many many empty tables that could fit a family of 4. We ordered our drinks with one server, they arrived and I was not certain I received the correct beer. The server did not come back for awhile so I was not able to ask. Another server came around and asked if we had ordered yet, we said no and she took our order. When I went to order nachos she promptly said "sorry we have run out of nachos". It's 5pm on a Friday at a brew pub and there were no nachos?! That was upsetting as it was part of the reason we wanted to eat here. She left and then came back eventually to take the rest of our orders. We received our food and my husband ordered a second beer to go with his pizza. The server did not come back with his beer or to check on us until all our plates had been cleared. He then told the server he didn't want the beer any longer because he had ordered it to drink with our meal and that time had past. (The food was mediocre at best, nothing impressive). We then asked for the bill and some take home beer, which the server first told us they didn't have any, then told us they just restocked as my husband told them they were in the fridge when we arrived. The server then took another 15-20 minutes to bring our bill and did not have our takehome beer. We didn't want to wait any longer so we left without purchasing take home beer. The server claimed it was too busy for the amount of servers they had, but it really wasn't that busy at all. All in all, for $100 for the 4 of us to eat it was not a good experience and we will...