The Spar — Restaurant in Tacoma

I have been coming to the Spar for over 25 years, as well as my extended family and many of my longtime Tacoma friends. I have always raved about the spectacular service, committed and loyal employees, and the amazing food. The one thing that always stood out was the consistency in both food quality and delivery, and friendly customer service. My visit today as well as my past 2-3 visits unfortunately was a disappointment. I was going to take the time and write a review in hopes that the owner would read it and see it as an opportunity to make improvements. However, after reading more than 30 reviews that have previously been written over the last 6 months, the owners response to any negative reviews was either defending poor customer service, or mediocre food quality. It was very apparent that the owners responses was defending anything that was not deemed positive. I realized that I would be wasting my time sharing the details about my below average experience. This is very sad to me because this is exactly how small businesses fail over time and how long time committed customers will slowly find a new favorite restaurant where they can be assured to have both great service and quality food. I am a professional, and I understand the challenges of the restaurant industry today as well as challenges in finding quality employees right now. But, it’s a shame when the owner doesn’t seem to welcome anything but positive commendations from her customers. This will eventually lead to a loss of customers and a dying business. I really miss the previous Spar owner (Kathy). She most definitely knew how to run a successful restaurant business, how to retain long-time quality employees, and how to ensure consistency with both food quality and customer service. She listened to the feedback from her customers and welcomed it, recognizing it as an opportunity to make things better. She was very friendly, engaging, and hands on. She knew what was going on in her restaurant and she insured that both customers and employees were taken care of. I believe this is why she had tenured employees that wanted to work for her and truly cared about her business as if they were the owner. She was one of a kind. This is how the Spar came to be what it was, until she sold it. Folks, there are a lot options in Tacoma to eat - be careful where you spend your hard earned money. Lastly, please put more effort into training your employees, and please think about the potential negative impact to your business by defending what you may deem as negative feedback you receive from your loyal customers. If they didn’t care they would not take the time to share their experience and opinions. Something to ponder .

Today 6/11/2025, I just happened to read the response from the owner of the Spar, to my Review I posted 2-years ago. I was shocked to read her comment about my guests and I yelling at her employees. She obviously made a wrong assumption that I behaved in this manner. I would NEVER treat employees with such disrespect and cannot believe that the owner “just assumed” I did this. The truth of the matter, is I didn’t say anything to anyone about my less than satisfactory experience when I was dining there that day with a friend. She obviously assumed I was someone else that she seems to know. Well, she’s mistaken. I have personally never met the new owner. Her response and assumptions to my Review certainly validates why there are issues. What owner behaves this way? Very...

Slowest and worst service I've ever experienced. My husband and I came to The Spar for brunch on Saturday after being told by our first two choices that it would be a 40 minute wait. We were really hungry, and needed to be somewhere by 1 PM (it was about 10:30 AM when we arrived), so we asked right away about wait times. The hostess said no problem, seat yourself and someone will be right with you. It took a while for a server to acknowledge us, and when she did, she took our drink order and promptly passed it on to someone else. My husband had to ask twice just to get cream with his coffee. Half an hour later, we finally got our order taken. Another hour went by before we got our food (delivered by the cook). It was decent, though they covered my toast in garlic butter and gave me jam to go with it, which is an odd mixture. I mean, I could understand if it was something complicated, but we just ordered scrambles straight off the one-page menu. That shouldn't take an hour. And though it was clearly their peak brunch hour, the place wasn't packed or anything. There were plenty of empty tables. Finally, when we asked for the check, another fifteen minutes went by, with no check. Ugh! We asked again and it finally came at 12:40. Super frustrating. But the worst part was that at no time did anyone apologize for the slow service or check in with us about what was going on. Even a quick "Hey, I know it's been a while, I just asked the cook and he said it'll be another 10 minutes" would have...

Been here numerous times. Always bring family for the fish and spar chips when they visit. Our latest visit was our worst. The food was great as always, but we were overlooked for almost 15 min before someone noticed the table next to us hadn't been served, and they came in several minutes after us. (This is not rush hour mind you, it was before 4pm.. ) I asked about a beer I hadn't heard of and was told it was a "dark lager". My sample was an IPA.. (No big deal, but now your menu..) We ordered 1 order of the Halibut and 1 of Cod with Spar Chips, 2 beers and waters. Our fish came out in a timely manner but with fries, while the chef made us a single small batch of chips to remedy the situation, I still felt annoyed and disappointed.. I had to go to the bar to ask for malt vinegar and napkins. Never saw our server again.. We never got our water we asked for with the beer order. After about 20 min with empty dishes and glasses in front of us, I had to go to the bar to ask for our tab.(A different server actually offered help before I got there. I may have had my angry face on..) Our server was hopefully new. He seemed overwhelmed yet polite. But it wasnt...