Sparrow Pizza Bar — Restaurant in West Hartford

My daughter and I have come in the past to Sparrow and usually have the same order. Today we went for lunch and sat outside. We were quickly served water and asked for our drink order to which we ordered a glass of white wine and a mocktail called The Blade. We proceeded to wait 20 minutes for the drinks and had to ask our server to go get them after 20 minutes. She brought out immediately and the wine came out warm and her mocktail ice was mostly melted (so seems like they were forgotten). We tried to put in our food order when she brought drinks as we had already been there for about 25 minutes at that point but she went away too quickly for us to even say one word. We then waited another ten. We she finally came back we had almost finished our drinks and then we put in our meal orders (one crab bruschetta for an appetizer and two arugula salads, two with seared tuna for our mains). Firstly, we tried to get steak however they told us they couldn’t control the temp of how it was cooked and it would just be medium. In the past we have ordered steak and then we were promptly asked how we would like it cooked. Upon hearing this we switched to tuna. Then she didn’t ask us if we wanted more drinks and we then waited another 40 minutes until having to go inside to ask if our food was coming out considering at this point we may just leave and go somewhere else. They didn’t know and so we went back outside to wait. Our server came out a couple minutes later and said they were comping our drinks for the wait (which we appreciated) and that it was taking so long because she took an extra ten minutes to put our ordering in and that also they had to de thaw the tuna and that only one person was doing it all. We then asked if our app could just be brought out while we waited to which she said no it also had to be de-thawed. This seems surprising considering we ordered an app first and that these are common menu items. We then asked how much longer they would be to which she said she didn’t know and would go ask (this seems like something she should have asked before coming out to us). We then waited another five minutes for her to come back and tell us, to which she just came out with the crab as we were about to leave and dropped it off quickly, ran inside and came back with our main course immediately. Essentially, we had no appetizer as everything was then brought out together despite us asking explicitly for there to be a time between courses. We were really looking forward to trying the crab bruschetta as it is a new menu item. However, the crab still had some ice on it and was very frozen. It was on sourdough toast cut in large triangles (not traditional bruschetta). Unfortunately as it was extremely frozen it tasted super fishy (odd considering crab is usually sweeter) and was hard to eat (we couldn’t eat much of it). Our salads were also disappointing even though we have gotten this salad many times here and is the reason why we come back. Today it was wilted yellow arugula and soggy. The tuna was also not fully unfrozen and not seared at all. In fact it was mushy cold. We also could not finish the salad which has never been the case before. She came out to check on us, I asked for the check and she asked if we wanted boxes to which we said no immediately. She took my card and went inside and when she came out she offered us a voucher for a free dinner for two given we had to wait. Honestly we should have preferred this meal just be offered to be comped as they charged us for all our food. Also after this experience we have no desire to ever come back. It just seems shocking that any of this had occurred given we had quite simple food items ordered. I am so glad this wasn’t my experience last week when I brought my friends visiting last week from England here and I raved about the amazing salads and I couldn’t wait for them to have them. We had great service, fresh salads, and a drinks were promptly served. Given this experience though, with the inconsistency of service and quality of food, I...

Went here to celebrate my adult daughter’s birthday. While she has been several times, it was or first time. There were eight of us total. Had a reservation on a Friday night and we were seating immediately on arrival. We order 5 different appetizers, with the truffle fries coming out as the clear favorite. The other apps were good also. There was one burger, a salad and five pies ordered. Everyone enjoyed their meals. A mixture of drinks were ordered and met everyone’s satisfaction. The meals and all the pies were made perfectly and had very distinct flavors. The food was served as it was prepared, so some items came out before others. This did allow the hot apps to come out right away and not sit and cool down. The pizzas are very thin crust, bar pies. They are about 10-12 inches in size. But they were plenty for one person ( even some to share if you are a light eater). The servers were extremely pleasant and prompt. Now let me say I was a little hesitant to go here because of some of the negative reviews I read. I’m glad I didn’t listen. The complaints of the pizzas being small and thin. Well that’s what they make. The complaints that the food didn’t taste good, we found no merit in those statements (all our food tasted good or delicious and you could tell the ingredients are fresh). Regarding some complaints about noise/ loudness. Yes it is a little loud. However after a few minutes you kind of just adjust and it’s not a huge issue. Besides, if it’s louder, that means there are a lot of customers. And I have found, lots of customers usually means the place is good. The prices are a little high, but in that section of town, all restaurants prices are higher than your local rural joint will be. The only real complaint I had with our whole experience was when the member of our party asked for some bread to go with her meatball appetizer. She was told that there would be a charge for the bread (ended up being $3 for two prices of bread). Not a huge deal. Maybe something for management to consider including a piece or two of bread with that app. But in closing I will say, they brought out a delicious dessert for the birthday girl, on the house at the end of our meal! We will be back to give some...

I saw this new place on Facebook, so I wanted to try it out with my husband. We made a 7:45 reservation, and when we got there,we were told it was still going to be about a 30-minute wait. Luckily, a high top opened in the bar, which we were able to snag quickly. The menus were hard to read with the color of the font and the low light of the restaurant. I went to use the bathroom and almost ended up in the BOH area. I wish there was better sinage for the restrooms. It was hard to figure out who was part of the staff. There was no uniformity to anything. I felt like it was a free for all for attire, especially for the bar tenders. The restaurant was loud and noisy, I pretty much had to yell at my husband just to have a conversation. The food was quick to arrive. We ordered the mozzarella sticks and 2 pizzas. The mozzarella sticks were average. Half of them were overcooked and partially exploded. They were your basic mozzarella stick, nothing fancy about them, besides having a skewer in them, that really didn't serve a purpose. I was looking forward to these pizzas because I typically love a thin crust that is crispy. The pizzas were thin, but the bottom crust was lacking in the crisp department. I honestly feel like these are pre-made crust. The ingredients on the pizzas were nothing that wow us. Yeah great you have dips and drips to accompany the pizzas but the overall pizza wasn't great to begin with. My only favorite part of the pizza was the crispy burn cheese edges. For my first time I wasn't that impressed with the restaurant but I am willing to give it another try once it's the "newness"...