The Spar Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Cathlamet

It was Memorial Day & every other restaurant, pub, brewery, taphouse, etc. in the area was oddly closed save The Spar, (& maybe Maria's across the street but we couldn't really tell) though it may have been better had they closed, too. This was our first experience here & had no idea what to expect. First impression: based on location & signage it's going to have a river theme. Wrong! The atmosphere looks as though someone with undiagnosed multiple personality syndrome was on a manic run & a limited budget. The floors are unusually sticky and the bar feels like it's going to give up its pretense & let it all go at any moment. I can relate but opted not to belly up. That doesn't stop the rowdy regulars from leaning heavily on it, tho! It's always a joy to be verbally manspreaded into a conversation regardless of how far away you are from the source! I digress, it is a pub after all. It's cluttered & disorganized & is matched only by the chaotic tone of its motif and... The service: the only bartender/waitress/bussboy/...available is clearly & audibly overwhelmed & good for her for loudly listing all of her many & legitimate complaints about management's staffing habits, food ordering skills, & general lack of common sense, maybe we weren't the target audience for that well earned diatribe but by the time she delivers it to management it will be well rehearsed so watch out for that! She took the time to explain to each new group why they were about to receive poor service & whom to take it up with. I appreciated her honesty! She wasn't lying. I do blame management! The food: in addition to understaffing, our food was delivered by a regular who understandably forgot the condiments! Management also apparently failed to prepare for the menu over the busy holiday weekend, there wasn't enough food to cover several items on the menu. We ended up ordering a crispy chicken sandwich: tbf she did warn me by saying it was a chicken finger on a bun but is super tasty, so I trusted her & tried it; it's not. The chicken was edible enough, tho boring flavor wise, but the sandwich was a bad idea at conception. Far too much bun, it overwhelms the crunchy but tasteless chicken finger. A nice ciabatta bread with a savory sauce would have been a better choice, also try some spices. Any, some, one! The fries were limp & greasy but tasty enough. As someone who's grown up in & around bars & has eaten many a plate of pub fries, I've had far better & far worse: 4/10. My partner ordered the chicken strips: crunchy and tasteless save the dipping sauce that arrived as the final finger was being eaten. Thanks to that regular! The beer: nice selection, good variety, clean taps, and a perfect degree of coldness - worth the wait, and the entertainment was free. Overall: a series of missed...

First off, I had high hopes for this place, since the town needs more restaurants and local jobs. I was greatly disappointed.

The food is barely edible and over priced. And the atmosphere/staff are sketchy.

The food :

I’ve eaten there twice, hoping the first time was a fluke, but the second time was just as bad.

First time I had the fish (halibut) and chips. The fish is served as two pieces, so I figured they’d be two big fillets, but they were two small balls of frozen fish covered in about an inch of breading. The fries were old and soggy. I ordered a margarita and it was watered down. Just disappointing.

The second time I visited, I ordered a patty melt. The patty was not cooked fresh. Right off the bat, I could taste it was frozen and was completely dry. I agreed to pay to upgrade to Parmesan fries, and regret it. The fries were so soggy... again. I literally sifted through them all to find a crunchy one, but there was none. They were covered with a layer of Parmesan dust that just made them even more so inedible. But my dinner was not as nearly as sad as my companions’. My partner ordered a chicken sandwich, but instead of a breaded chicken breast that you’d expect, they served her frozen chicken patty, that of the consistency of McDonald’s chicken sandwich. Her mom got the soup of the day which was some sort of beef and vegetable soup that was disguised behind some fancy name. But it too, was inedible and it tasted straight out of a Campbell’s can.

I have also heard a couple of friends mention they got food poisoning from this place.

The atmosphere:

Now for the vibe of the place I can attest that it’s very weird. The servers are rude, untrained and unprofessional. The bartender/owner seems to be the only employee of age. She is rude and has a weird attitude. She hangs and flirts around with the male clientele and neglects proper service to the female clientele.

There’s no bar menu, and most of booze she recommended was cheap stuff.

The place is not hygienic. It smells like a sewer in there. I thought it was a one time thing but the second time I went it smelled the same. I have seen kitchen door open with fans facing in. Not sure if it’s a lack of ventilation or plumbing backing up. Either way it smells awful.

I definitely don’t recommend it. Save your money and buy yourself your preferred bottle of liquor, because that’ll be worth 10 times more than enduring the smell, poisoning, overpriced water down drinks, subpar food,...

This place COULD very easily be something special. The old brick facade and outdoor dining in this quaint little riverfront town is literally what brought us in. Once inside, however, you can see the place is very thin on vibe. Concrete floors walls and ceiling, pretty boring... ...and the dining tables are very dated. Im guessing this is a new joint and they haven't the funds yet to jazz the place up. But one could have fun doing so to this rather blank slate. We were served by under- experienced young people. I don't know why this is. But they really need experienced well-trained servers with good personalities and people skills. They weren't horrible, mind you. Just need to polish up the brass a little. My wife had the fish n chips. The fish was very good but the fries were not hot, yet somehow overcooked with an inordinate amount of oil left in the basket. Yuk! I had the alfredo fettuccini with shrimp. The prawns were great and the alfredo sauce was good, but not great. The fettuccini on the other hand was terribly undercooked. Hard pasta. Their menu on their website is NOT up to date. Their website claims you get 2 sides with your entre... Nope! Just a simple house salad. A basket of warm bread with butter on the table would've been nice. No water. Again, this place has potential... but if you're going to charge these kind of prices, folks -- you...