I don't believe the problem here is with Dr. Spar (who seems by all accounts, including mine - somewhat - a very competent physician), but the clinic there as a whole.
As such, unfortunately, problems with a clinic can, in turn, affect one's experience of the clinician directly - unfairly or not.
Beginning with no parking (I prefer to park on Doheny and walk it; if not be prepared to pay premium Sunset rate parking fees running into $8 and $10 and above) and then, most importantly, dealing with reaching the office itself (post appointment).
Primarily, the issue in post appointment follow-up is office reach-ability, which becomes a quagmire and phalanx of voice mails (once was unable to even reach that) and an inability to reach anybody who (outside of one super awesome lady who, although rushed, has this magic ability to crash through all dreck and really get follow-up) and ends in a dispiriting nightmare of unreturned calls (if you can get through and don't get this lady) and unreturned messages.
There is an online portal encouraged as a means of reaching the doctor, but alas, as a communication vehicle, it does not improve on these results. The phone msgs and email return rate there is roughly 30%, indeed, if at all. On two occasions to date, refill requests required a full five days of daily requests and rejections and confusions and one vital med in particular was virtually out before response (I keep 5 days ER back-up) for two days.
This lack of follow-up through staff ("I will follow up with this personally and call you back directly" - which then never happens) and the frustration of going to the pharmacy to be told it was "rejected" and then unable to determine why and then being unable to reach the office on a repeated basis has the effect of coloring the perception of the physician experience directly.
This may be because Dr. Spar does not work through that office full time but helps run (or runs) a clinic in Venice; I don't know. He is not in the office M-F. Appointments there, in turn, are never as immediate as one would need or hope, as, indeed, if one cannot get a response, one has to make an appointment to get the med which keeps being rejected, and sometimes 5 to 7 business days out is too long.
So, if you are shopping for a good clinic, if you have relocated or your regular doctor is no longer in practice, etc, and these peripheral needs are important to you, then I am not sure that this is the clinic for you, whether you choose to go with this physician, or (via proxy I assume) any of the other doctors in the clinic, though their availability may be better.
More specifically, this review is not meant to disparage or impugn the skills or character of Dr. Spar in any way, as he is a good listener with a quick, agile (if not somewhat rushed) examiner who listens to a patient's needs and dialogues well (although some of the questions asked have been answered on previous visits) and who moves quickly (so much so that you may be left in the exam room wondering what to do and where to go next!)
As an aside, Tyler at the front is a super sweet dude who deserves kudo's for having to wrestle with such an overload of work (and retains his good humor while being so shorthanded) at this very bustling, very busy urban clinic. read more
