Sparrow Fort Lauderdale — Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale

Waste of time and money. It has potential but the owners are clearly not executing it well. I was very excited to try this restaurant located on the top floor of the Dal Mar, Fort Lauderdale. The decor, once you step off the elevator, was amazing. We got excited that this would be a good evening due to the pricey menu, some good reviews, and what social media exhibited. We were greeted by five (5) people behind the host stand. You could not tell if they were employees because they all dressed very casually, which was odd because I thought this was more of an upscale establishment. Once seated, it wasn’t until I flagged down, what I thought was an employee, to ask if we needed to go to the bar to get served (Again after looking into this restaurant prior to arriving, thought this was a higher priced restaurant and expected the service that comes with the price tag.). It was possible the initial delay in no greeting or introduction by our waiter was because our entire party hadn’t arrived yet, but no that was just the beginning of horrible service. Our waiter was Cherry, and she clearly wasn’t interested in providing customer service. The restaurant was empty at the beginning of seating, and there were 5 other tables sat inside. But it was comical how she couldn’t handle a larger party and was more interested in gathering with the other waiters around the bar. The table was not prepped for appetizers, no chop sticks for the sushi appetizers and no soy sauce. Getting drinks was a nuisance, which again at the price level the restaurant is trying to be at is unacceptable. The food was edible, but nothing to speak highly of. Avoid the Bao buns, crispy rice (nothing crispy about), bang bang shrimp. However do get the oysters. Because the music is so loud, the food runners would bring the food and would not be able to communicate what the dish was or who the food was for. The wait staff, food runners, and bussers always used the excuse “sorry it’s to dark” when taking away drinks that weren’t finished, putting food down, knowing what food they were delivering, etc. This “to dark” comment was thrown out way too often, and clearly maybe they should add lights to help their staff. Usually at any restaurant, the seats have position numbers for the computer system, which would avoid this, and would be expected from the restaurant the Sparrow is trying to portray. When it came time to order entrees, I knew to avoid the lobster Mac and cheese from past reviews. However we got the lobster roll (not worth it, flavor off, didn’t taste anything like the ingredients in its description), Korean fried chicken (beyond horrible, tasted burnt, the sauce was not enjoyable). Again for the sushi entree, soy sauce was provided this time but they do not provide a dish to put the soy sauce in. After spending many years in the hospitality field, this place has true potential. The vibe is nice, service should be impeccable, the staff should be the cream of the crop, but if you are coming here to eat or drink, there are many places in the area that will be well worth the $990.00 check we spent at Sparrow. The amount of staff (dressed however they felt like showing up in) and the lackadaisical attitude they all portray truly ruined the experience. I walked out 3 hours after this experience extremely upset I wasted this time on the meal. I read some reviews prior to coming, and every single low rating review given was true, but I still tried it for myself. I believe this restaurant is just trying to be “insta famous” by the number of customers on their phones filming themselves the whole night. Oh and the bathrooms continue with the amazing decor, but there was an employee brushing his teeth next to me while I was washing my hands. It was the icing...

We wanted to check out Sparrow because we live very close to the Dalmar, and the online photos of the views look beautiful. I made a reservation for 3 on a Saturday at 7:15pm, so we could have some dinner, enjoy the sunset and still get some nigh-time at the restaurant. The whole experience was very subpar, and I’m only giving it 2 stars because of the view/ vibe. The employees downstairs are HORRIBLE! We were trying to get some photos with their light wall poster downstairs, when they rudely Screamed at us that we had to go to the elevator. I haven’t been screamed at by a service provider in my life 🤯😤 In hindsight we should have left right there, but there were other people there and we all kind of moved towards the elevator where they were shouting orders at us, and putting us in groups. A security guard came to bring us up to the restaurant, since he’s apparently the only one who can operate the elevator, it was completely filled up to the point where about 14 strangers were all uncomfortably close.

We arrive upstairs, only to have us uncomfortably standing around the hostess for another 20 minutes! Servers walking around us, more people arriving from the elevator, everyone kind of in the middle of the way. What was the need to rush us downstairs… either way, at this point we think that all tables must be full and that must be the reason for the wait, but when they finally start walking us to our table at around 7:45pm, the whole restaurant was about 80% empty. So again, we can’t comprehend the reasoning for first rushing us, and then making us wait.

They were about to give us a great table with a beautiful view out in the patio, when the hostess approached the girl seating us, and she brought us to another table farther from the view, when we asked for a different table (they were literally almost All empty) she said they were all Reserved, funny when I made a reservation they didn’t give me the option to reserve a specific table…

As far as the service goes it was ok, not exceptional, but not terrible. We ordered back to back drinks and small plates to share throughout the night, nothing on the menu was impressive, but the only plate that was truly terribly was the lobster sushi roll, that was disgusting, and it tasted rotten so we asked to send it back. I ordered 3 glasses of champagne which the waitress had said it cost $30 for 2 glasses, and after bringing them over, she then said it was $30 per glass, not a problem, but she didn’t honor her mistake. I will say all the drinks tasted great.

At around 10pm the place got finally very crowded, and a dj started playing really loud music right next to our table. We asked for the bill, where they included the plate that we asked to send back, and we asked for them to fix it. She took almost 30 minutes to bring it back, we enjoyed the music for that little while and left right after paying.

However, same thing to get back on the elevator, there was a long wait for the security guard and a whole bunch of people had to be squeezed together in order to get down 🥴

Once downstairs, we had one more drink at the first floor bar, which was beautiful, quiet and great service. And then headed to the valet parking, for yet another long line.

Overall, a beautiful place, but management still has a long way to go with the arrival and the leaving process. For now we will certainly won’t be...

I had a reservation for a weekend night at the Sparrow and my experience was bizarre to be brutally honest. Once we showed up, we waited for about 20 minutes or so to be seated. We were told to get some drinks if we wanted at the bar area, which, by the way, was super crowded with people either already sitting or waiting to order drinks. This entire experience has left me flabbergasted.

I’ve never been so perplexed to write a review about a place. Sparrow is a rooftop lounge/ restaurant but the vibes here are completely different. They have an indoor and an outdoor area depending on your mood and the availability of tables. At the time we went, the indoor area was super dim with LOUD MUSIC blasting through the speakers. At that point, we decided to request for a table outdoors, not because of the choice, but by necessity since we couldn’t even hear each other talk. We had to lean in and scream into each others ears if we wanted to have a conversation. The outdoors wasn’t different, since they have speakers mounted there as well but it wasn’t deafening. We were seated at a corner spot which was decent.

At my time of visit, I could see no views and couldn’t differentiate this to other sit down restaurants (solely speaking about views). The outdoor area wasn’t as I expected. The seats are pretty low and the walls are high so you don’t see anything. Regardless of whether you’re sitting or standing, there are no views to be seen from the outdoor area. The indoor seating area might be different since I could see floor to sealing windows which would catch a pretty cool view of the city outside.

Talking about the food and drinks, we had a couple of cocktails and they were pretty fantastic. We had truffle fries with the drinks and nothing else. The fries were crispy and tasted really good. The service overall was an A and I have no complaints here. They have valet parking (I guess but I did street parking since I could find a spot close by). The best way to visit this place is by reservation since there is a rep downstairs who would ask for your reservation time before you take the lift, oh and by the way, there would be like an escort to take you up the lift. You can’t just catch the lift and go upstairs on your own.

I had made a reservation for a rooftop restaurant expecting to see breathtaking views of the city but I was left disappointed. The loud music coupled with the music choices (which resembled a club theme where people would have the urge to get up and dance) just felt out of place for a rooftop restaurant. I expected music, not gonna lie, but to be on the mellow side where people could enjoy each others company, appreciate the views and could talk freely without screaming into each others ears. I’d, however, like to give this place a try during daylight and experience how that feels, but during my time, the vibe was just...