Sparks BBQ — Restaurant in Traverse City

We stopped at Sparks BBQ for a late lunch/early dinner; I had the 2 meat dinner, my partner had the 1/2 rack of ribs. Both came with a side of baked beans and slaw (there were other choices like mac and cheese, etc) but we chose to upgrade to the broccoli-blue cheese slaw.

The portions were a good size for us--my meat choices were the 1/4 lb brisket with the original sauce and 1/4 lb. ribs.

The ribs, which had a dry rub, were flavorful, meaty and tender. I wouldn't hesitate to order them again. The brisket? Well, that was a near religious experience. To say the meat was tender would be to vastly understate it. The fats had melted perfectly into the meat, and the crust was exactly what I'd hoped it would be--smokey and crisp. The sauce didn't overwhelm the meat, but to my mind had a spicy sweetness that was well balanced by the tang of the just-right amount of vinegar. I will be judging any other brisket I eat in the future against Sparks, but I don't think I'll ever find better, I thought the smoke/meat/taste/texture was that good.

The beans--whoa. Dean Sparks was kind enough to share that the beans were his grandmothers recipe; they were excellent, and brought to mind my own experience of my grandmother cooking up baked beans in a bean pot with chunk of salt-pork melting on top. Brought me right back home 60 years ago. Needless to say, I thought they were delicious.

It was the first time I've ever had broccoli slaw, and the first time I've ever had blue cheese in a slaw. It was, in my estimation, very good. I love blue cheese, so while I couldn't finish mine at the restaurant, I did take mine home (along with the beans I couldn't finish).

The restaurant has been at its present location for only about a week as of the time we visited (July 2, 2018); it looks as though it had been a bank in a previous life as what seems to be a safe vault was still there. The atmosphere was comfortable, the bathrooms clean and well appointed, the the service friendly.

We dropped by around 3ish and they were doing a brisk business. The pricing was competitive and we certainly feel as though we got our money's worth in both quality and quantity.

I do wish Dean and his staff the best of luck in their...

My wife and I wanted BBQ while in Traverse City, and we had passed this restaurant the night before. We figured we’d give it a try for dinner.

When we walked in, I had expected the place to be busier. Almost no one was there, so we were seated quickly and provided with menus.

Despite what appeared to be a lack of customers, our server told us the meats they were out of already for the day. I guess there must have been a lot of traffic earlier, perhaps over the lunch hour. But running out of certain meats seemed to be a potential indicator of their popularity. And fortunately, they still had brisket, which is what we wanted.

We opted to order a single plate of brisket, and then we each picked one side since it included two. We both wanted the creamy coleslaw, so we had two of those.

Service was quick, and we soon had our order. The brisket was moist and covered in an ample amount of BBQ. I will admit that after we had started eating, I noticed that we were only given one option for the sauce, so not really an option at all. But we liked the sauce, so no issues there.

The coleslaw was creamy as described, and we both ate our respective bowl. I even put a few bites on my brisket.

Service was friendly and quick. The food was tasty. But we did think the price seemed a bit on the high side. Since we shared a meal and were comfortably full afterwards, we managed to keep the cost down.

Parking is along the street, so that can be difficult, although Traverse City does have some parking garages as well. We found a spot less than a block away, and since it was after 6:00 pm, we didn’t have to pay anything.

I’d eat here again, and most likely we’d share another dish. If you come, though, be prepared for a bill that might be higher than...

I reached out via email initially to this restaurant requesting options for a company event. I received a very short email back suggesting their payday platter option. I was serving 20 people, so it was recommended I order 5 (each payday platter is supposed to serve 4 people) and that I call or go in a couple days before the event.

I went in 3 days before the event with my husband, who is my business partner. The bartender was friendly, but she needed help, so she went to get the manager. He was very short with his answers and seemed bothered to have us there. Our order totaled $450. We scheduled a pick up time of noon three days later.

My husband went to pick up the food, which was not ready at the scheduled time. When my husband received the order, he was surprised how little food there was, especially the sides. He asked how there were only 10 pieces of corn bread for 20 people and why there was so little sides for so many people. The manager told him that's what we ordered and walked away. My husband left and called the restaurant to see if there was someone else he could talk to other than the manager. He was told no and that the order was complete.

When I saw the order and how little food there was I called and spoke with the manager. He was rude. I told him we needed more sides. He finally agreed to that. I drove back after being told it would be ready in 5 minutes. I waited for 20 minutes with no one speaking to me. The manager was unapologetic and rude. I will never go back to this restaurant. There are far better choices in...