The Sparrow Bakery Northwest — Restaurant in Bend

It could not have been any worse.

I hardly ever write negative reviews about local businesses, but this one really annoyed me. We were brought to Sparrow Bakery by people who had spoken highly of it. There was even a line out the door and lots of people seeming to enjoy their food. I walk in with my family to look at the menu and am taken back by the prices. I wanted to wait until I had had a chance to dine here to see if they were justified, sometimes portions can be large. We order our meal which was a bagel w/ lox, seasonal fruit cup, and poblano breakfast muffin and wait.

15 minutes go by and still no food, although others in our group had gotten theirs. We ask a girl behind the counter who says it is being made right now. According to her, "The fruit bowl is being prepared fresh for us." Another 15 minutes go by and still no food. I go to ask her again and now with an attitude she says they lost our ticket. She offers to make our food now and to refund it but says it will take 5-10 minutes. Within 2 minutes this pathetic little cup of fruit is brought out in a coffee cup. I attached the photo in case you wonder what $8 will get you here. I have seen better presentation on an airplane.

Then the food finally comes out, pretty sure my sandwiched was microwaved 30 seconds before as it had the chewiness of a leather glove. The bagel and lox had pickled onions on it, as if we were having tacos or something.

The same girl brought our food and could not have been ruder. Not a single ounce of remorse. I don't know if she was having a bad day, but it was some of the worst customer service I have seen.

Even if it had come on time, the value is just not there. I am sure people will keep buying it though. ...

First off, nothing was BAD at sparrow, but if you know genuine pastries and espresso drinks, then you will be a little disappointed. Sparrow was Good, but no better than that. The almond croissant (my go-to at any bakery) was a big disappointment. The croissant was dry and hard, and the almond filling lacked the lovely marzipan flavor. I could taste fresh flour throughout each bite which wasn’t appealing. The Monte Cristo was pretty good. I ordered a Croque monsieur with fried egg on top, and the fried egg that came on it was rubbery and beyond over cooked. Maybe opt for the poached egg if you want a Croque Madam. Without the egg, the sandwich itself was good but nothing more. The Canelé had a good flavor and nice moist center, but very thick and very hard exterior. The only pastry we loved was their popular Ocean Roll full of fresh ground cardamom and vanilla sugar giving it a little bit of a chewy, not too sweet middle.

As for coffees, we got oat milk flat whites which came out looking like a cup of coffee with warm oat milk poured in, not well steamed at all. Thankfully they use Oatly milk so the coffee was at least a little creamy in texture.

The young lady at the counter was very friendly and patient with all of our questions and the time we took deciding!

Sparrow is a good bakery and cafe, but don’t get your hopes up to have an outstanding pastry, coffee,...

I order from Sparrow Bakery NWX using Bend Take Out and lately they have declined from a 4 star to a 2 star in my opinion. Today I ordered 2 half sweet iced oat milk vanilla bean latte's and ended up with 2 super sweet chai lattes made with milk or soy(possibly?) that I threw out, because with one taste it was obvious it wasn't my latte and was super sweet and tasted gross. Also, I am lactose intolerant and allergic to soy, so it certainly wasn't worth suffering the consequences if it was made with either one of those. Anyway, that was the straw that broke this camel's back. In previous orders, they forgot drinks, gave me hot drinks instead of cold, gave me smaller size drinks than I ordered, gave me fries that were soaked in grease and almost raw which I had to use paper towels to soak up before and after I baked them in the oven for over 30 minutes, and every time I asked for ONLY ranch dressing, they gave me all 3, 2 of which ended up in the garbage. And did I complain? No. This time I was not going to have wasted my money on 2 drinks that were not even close to what I ordered. Bend Take Out was awesome and reimbursed me because Sparrow was closed and my drinks couldn't be replaced. I am bummed out that the service and quality as suffered because I did place a lot of orders here, but sadly, no more. Another customer...