Sparky's Place Restaurant — Restaurant in DeLand

We visited Sparky’s on a weekend in September 2024. We popped in just before eleven am. This appears to be an important time as Sparky’s switches over from a breakfast menu, to lunch. This also entails giving the grill a good cleaning as well. So there could be a short waiting period if you show up just before eleven and prefer lunch. Anyway, we were still in the breakfast period, but just barely. We decided to go with breakfast, since we could and it would be quicker for us. Although we did feel pressured to make a choice because the clock was running on switch over. But to be fair to the staff, their system requires the time, so folks need to make quick decisions if they arrive just before eleven. Now I will say that our orders came out at different times, including parts or our individual orders. But I’ll again chalk that up to the chaos of switch over. As well as there being more than two people. There were mixed reviews on meals. None were bad. I thought mine breakfast was quite good. But I also heard good, but nothing special. But to be fair to Sparky’s, tastes do differ. What I think is good, may not please others. For example: I had gravy on chicken fired steak with my breakfast. I thought it was quite good. But I overheard another person make the comment on “how he was from New Jersey, and they won’t eat that gravy.” He decided to order additional food because he refused to eat anything with gravy. I’m not judging this person in anyway, but I’m not truly sure what that meant either. The New Jersey part is irrelevant, but made it more memorable for me. And as I said, people have different preferences and tastes. Sparky is a small restaurant with limited tables/booths. The prices are subjective to peoples opinions. To me, they were not cheap. But they were not overly expensive either. So I’m going to go with pretty much average on their pricing. But it should be said that they do give you a good size portion for the money as well. So even if you might feel them expensive, you will not feel that they shorted you on the portion. I found Spark’s unique in their decor. It seemed to be an older and maybe slightly rustic building. They have some flying winged skeletons flying around on the ceiling.(Maybe for Halloween) But they also had some nice pictures of Manatees and such on the walls. So it was a little eclectic to me. But I liked it. Probably more so because it was unique in a country way. But I like more country or down to home eateries. I’m not a fancy type person, so Sparky’s did work for me. The building is yellow, so it’s easy to notice when driving by or looking for. And they are located right near a turn on route 40 in Astor. So they are pretty easy to locate. They do have single, mens and women’s restrooms. Although I will say that the mens room was probably not the cleanest restroom I’ve ever seen. It was not what I would consider filthy, but probably could use a little more effort upon cleaning time. All in all, I found Sparky’s, different. But I liked them. The food was good. The staff seemed nice, even if they had to pressure us to make a quick decision because of our arrival time. The decor was interesting. I thought the food taste, quality and portion size was quite good. So I will say that I found the price quite reasonable. And we would stop in again when in the area. Although next time I would probably come later so I could try out their lunch menu. Or then again, maybe earlier to alleviate the decision to have breakfast or lunch, already knowing that breakfast...

Florida local since 1982. 1st time at Sparky's even though I pass it often. Little wait not terrible, other than there was no place to stand outside due to the rainstorm... roof overhang does not have an awning. Took 17 mins to get 2 tea's and another 10 to put in our order, but rainstorm so not in a hurry. We both got the Sunday special: an 8 oz Ribeye (rare), (4) shrimp, and (4) scallops with 2 sides for approximately $21 each. Since it was our first time, we got 2 appetizers to try. Swamp Fries and fried zucchini. So here we go: Swamp fries weren't bad, basically loaded fries and had better at an Arby's drive thru. The fried zucchini slices were pretty tasty with a nice crunch and was even better once you added salt and pepper. The spicy swamp sauce is anything but, basically ranch dressing with a little paprika added to it, kind of a letdown.

We were going to get the fish, but it's Swai... a Chinese white fish with no flavor.

The "Ribeye" was not a ribeye, was about a 1/4 inch thick and full of fat and gristle. Flavor was ok after adding pepper, definitely cooked on a flat top and was not rare at all. Scallops and shrimp were ordered blackened and were a bit bland lacking seasoning, but the cook was spot on. I got fries and mash potatoes with gravy. Fries were not bad and a bit greasy. The mash potatoes with brown gravy was a hit! Gravy was fantastic and the savior of the whole plate. My lady got onion straws and fries. The red onion straws had decent flavor, HOWEVER, the aftertaste from the grease soak onions and the river of greasy oil left in the plate ruined any potential they had at the time. We wrapped ours in napkins and will try to doctor them later on in the air fryer (we like a challenge). If that doesn't work, the trash they will go.

Brought these issues up to staff; they were not surprised and tried to blame it on a shift change. I said that was a poor excuse and if the foods not good enough to serve to your mama, it should not leave the kitchen. Staff did not offer to remove anything from the bill or acknowledge a request to do so just giving me a look.

ON THE FLIP SIDE: The people next to us got a calzone that looked pretty tasty and did not appear to have as much grease on the plate as our order.

Service was OK, once they took care of an 8-person party that arrived just before us. Noone in the restaurant received any attention until that party was taken care of, so give yourself plenty of time. Avoid the tea, not great.

Staff should reduce the menu size and options while focusing on quality control. My experience was definitely not worth the $73 were charged and we will not be returning.

SO... If you like your cardiologist or gastroenterologist and want to visit them frequently, eat...

We had a terrible experience today for our first visit to Sparky's. We noticed a couple of people sitting outside so we figured we'd have to wait a bit which was only ten minutes. Once seated the waitress took our order and brought us our drinks. 45 minutes later our breakfast arrived. As per the menu I ordered eggs, bacon, a sausage link, ham, shredded potatoes with peppers and onions, and toast. Everything was cold, the ham was ice cold, sausage link (brown and serve sausage) was burnt and rock hard, and the potatoes did not have the peppers and onions. My friend had eggs, bacon, and pancakes. The only thing hot was the pancakes, all else was cold. I called the waitress over and showed her the sausage and potatoes with no peppers and onions and told her the ham was right out of the refrigerator, that's how cold it was. She said OK and turned and went into the kitchen. Came back minutes later with an empty plate and asked me to put the piece of ham on the plate so she could have it warmed up. A few minutes later she returned with the ham, fried on one side, the other never touched, and a brown and serve sausage link. What a shame. They need help in the kitchen to get orders out faster. Waitresses would stand inside the kitchen door waiting for food. A lot of customers were complaining. 45 minutes to cook eggs and serve everything cold is ridiculous. One and...