Spark Kitchen and Bar — Restaurant in Richmond

The worst service I have ever experienced in my life.

Servers could not get our orders right and the bartender was horrendously slow. We only ordered 1 round of drinks and for the 40~mins we sat at our table and 2/5 people never got a single drink except water.

The servers clearly had no idea what they were doing, they continuously gave us misinformation on the availability of drinks. Because of that, they kept going back and forth to our table to say they don’t have this drink but then later come back and say actually we do have this drink. We gave A TON of patience but after 30mins without a drink and watching them serve every other table with drinks, cocktails, and shots, we had enough and couldn’t take it anymore.

I was so disappointed that they knowing messed up our order multiple times but had no urgency to make it right. They repeated showed us that other tables had priority even though we sat WAYYY before them and have been waiting for a long period time.

And to put the icing on top, after changing our order multiple times to try and make it easier for them, they still failed to even pour a shot and bring it to our table so I tried to cancel it and close the tab of whatever drinks were brought out. I was VERY CLEAR “delete this shot and I’ll pay for the rest”. We almost left and they finally brought out the shot, my friends drank it thinking it was an apology for the terrible service all night but they chased us down pay for it too. You’re telling me after everything that happened tonight, you still will make us pay for that? A single shot that took all night to get to our table? Unbelievable.

We were clearly upset but never yelled at the servers of staff but please NEVER come here. You’ll be...

Went on a Wednesday night with my friends and we got food and drinks :)!

Food: We had the skewered squid, beef, and lamb, and I really liked the seasoning on it (a little spicy for those with a lower spice tolerance); the squid was my group's favourite so we ordered another few rounds of those hehe. We also had the smoked bacon burger (friend said he really liked it and it made him really full), mushroom burger (friends said the same about this burger), the deep fried platter (everything was fresh/hot, crispy and yummy) and the honey garlic wings (sauce was rly yummy, once again fresh/hot). Everything was made to order and tasted really good, the food left us all very satiated.

Drinks: We had the rainbow flight (tasted like juice, this could be good or bad depending on the type of person you are) and we went on $5.99/tall boy Wednesdays, which was a good deal considering the selection of beer to choose from were local craft beers. I had a peach wheat ale, one friend had a jasmine lager and another had a caramel lager. All beers were nice to drink with the food, and I liked that they had such a huge selection (20+!!!) of different beers (ales, IPAs, stouts, lagers; different flavours too like fruity, smoky, etc).

The server was attentive and kind, he did a good job handling the floor as the only server and it was relatively busy. I definitely will be returning this summer to try out the cocktails. I heard there are also live performances on weekends, so I'd also like to watch those! They have different deals for each day of the week (half off wine/Tues, AYCE wings/Thurs, etc) so I will definitely be checking those...

I found not so many ppl reviewing the alcohol in this bar, so let me review this bar directly from the alcohol aspect.

I don't think the owner of this bar is very knowledgeable about alcohol. Putting aside the quality of the food, the drink selection is quite underwhelming. The bar only carries one or two options in each category, which might satisfy a basic drinking need but definitely not those looking for quality beverages.

We tried the only two IPAs available, along with some other craft beers. While the bar does serve beers in chilled glasses, unfortunately, there just aren’t any beers good enough to deserve them. The beer menu barely changes — it seems to be the same now as when the bar first opened.

The worst part, however, is the poor storage and handling of both beers and whiskies. After drinking here, everyone at our table experienced symptoms the next day — fatigue and headaches, likely due to higher levels of fusel alcohols and acetaldehyde in the drinks. These same beers, when enjoyed directly at breweries like Superflux or 33 Acres, never caused such effects.

Fusel alcohols and acetaldehyde are often the result of improper storage and a lack of proper cleaning of the beer taps. This is why I feel the owner may not truly understand alcohol — especially the importance of proper storage and regular maintenance of the tap lines.

As a result, I think this place could be better, not worth to drink here. Many better choice on...