This place was all right when it came to food I don't remember this liking any of it but I do however remember feeling very uncomfortable because of the lack of space and so many people jammed around me and then the band that was playing kept jumping up in the air as they were playing which is very nerve-racking because they didn't have any room to do it safely none of them knocked anything over but I couldn't relax the whole time while they were all jumping all over all crazy great enthusiasm on behalf of the band members but I feel they should have a bigger space to do so read more

First off, we have been going to the Spar for 30+ years and have always loved the food and service. Unfortunately they have a waitress that get's easily side tracked. The last three visits, all on a Saturday, we've had terrible service with this same waitress. The first two times, we kept noticing other customers that arrived after us, were served and some of them left before we got our meals. We repeatedly asked the waitress to check on our order because we had been waiting a long time. She would disappear and we'd see her serving another table. We'd ask again and eventually she asked us what we ordered. Back she goes to the kitchen and says the order was lost and would have to be placed again. By this time we had been there over an hour. A couple of weeks later, the exact same thing happened!! She never entered our orders into the computer. This time I complained to the manager and he compt us our meals. We hoped that the server would be counseled. We waited for a few weeks before going back and low and behold, the same waitress was working. We had a simple order..bowl of soup, a side salad and an order of fish tacos. Our food is not coming while other customers are getting meals that arrived after us. Not again! She won't make eye contact with us or walk by out table. We think she remembered that we complained to the manager. After 40 minutes, we finally get her attention and asked her to please check on our orders. Several minutes go by and two people from the kitchen bring out our food. The waitress disappeared. The soup was barely warm and the fish in the tacos was room temperature. It was obvious that our orders had been sitting for quite a while waiting for her to pick them up. The tortillas were soggy from having soaked up the liquid off the fish and the sauce. When I tried to pick them up, the bottom opened up and everything fell out. Grrr. I guess we need to find a new favorite, casual place. read more

I love it! A little slow, but the food makes up for it. The server is very friendly, and very attentive. It has very fine detail inside and outside! It is cool how the employee draws things in the window according to what season it is. The only complaint is that when the employees turn on the ice machine you can't here the person across from you. read more

Its ok. Mediocre. Nice view of the sound and some good beer a place to play some pool. The food is just average.

YummyI food. Nice little hang out for a drink and some good eats. I can only speak for the appetizers and late night food. But if that is what you are looking for I highly recommend. read more

A tired old bar redolent of days gone by. It's too "hip" to have ambiance, and too "last year" to have vibe. Coffee is barely adequate; seating and service is not even that. At least the view is good. read more

Not a bad place. I loved the spar chips and that sauce! I ate it with everything! I really liked their clam chowder too. Different than what I'm used to, but very good! The service was a little iffy at times, but the place still had a good vibe. I like that there are a bunch of old timer locals who hang out there...the place has character. read more

Valhalla coffee too oh my For The WIN! Sweet spot to chill and watch folks pass by in old town. Coffee was on point.

My favorite watering hole when I'm home visiting the fam and catching up with friends from home. It's super chill and a good place to go for a burger, spar chips and a beer. Nothing fancy and not trying to be, but a nice place to meet up for a beer, shoot a little pool and hang out. read more

They have an extensive beer selection. The waitress we had for a party of 5 was ok, but didn't see her a whole lot. It took over an hour to get our food which is surprising for bar food. I would go back for beer and appetizers, but that's about all. The beer battered cod was soggy. read more

What happened to The Spar?! This used to be a tried and true, good food and beer happy place for us. We haven't been back in a couple months and suddenly everything's gone to hell in a handbasket. We could only surmise that they got a new, terrible cook. Their classic, always perfect grilled chicken sandwich was AWFUL, this time, and so was the 45 minute wait to get it. During which time, we HAD TO ASK for our salad and appetizer because we were starving. I was so bummed because The Spar has always been good food and excellent service we could count on. This time, it just made me sad. read more

The food is great. I highly recommend the halibut fish and spar chips. The wait time on food can sometimes be pretty long, so I wouldn't suggest eating here if you are pressed for time. read more

Called ahead for 2 cod fish & chip combos To Go! We arrived, asked where we should pick up food and were told that the order was not placed. The sweet server immediately had the cooks put our order in the fryer and we decided to just eat in house. As we waited, another server came up and took ownership of the mistake and apologized. No worries...mistakes happen. We were grateful for the apology and enjoyed our fish. The fries were not great but I have high expectations for "chips" ! Thanks for fixing the situation with kindness! read more

An absolute must in the North Tacoma area. Great drinks, deceptively large space, and wonderful food. The people are all super friendly (servers and locals) and willing to pull up a stool and talk to anyone. Come in ready to be social though. If you are looking for a quite night this probably isn't the spot. The crowd is a mixture of everything from 21 year olds back in town from school all the way to grandparents that have gone there for years. One thing you must have are spar chips. These are super thin cut potatoes cooked to a crisp, just add spar sauce (white bottle on the table, sometimes you have to ask for it) and I guarantee you will enjoy. A nice place to stop in and hang for a while, play a little pool, and look out over the Sound. read more

The food here is decent. I ordered the shrimp salad, it was only OK. Really nothing, at all special about it. The chips, however, were excellent. We had to wait quite a while for our food, it was Friday night...not super busy, so we didn't complain or anything, but it was really just an OK place. I'd go again if I was in the area and needed a bite to eat. read more

A great place to come in Old Town for a good cup of coffee or tea. They have a restaurant as well with good food too. The baristas here are pretty cool too. Their fish and chips is some of the best sea food around. Check this place out! read more

The customers consist mainly of locals and people with good taste, so it results in a comfortable setting. The bar is great, though I'm biased by anywhere I can get Mac&Jacks. I always opt for the burger with their homemade chips, but the fish & chips is supposed to be great. Oh yea, and then there's the sweeping view of Puget Sound! read more

I have to say that I'm so glad I finally made it to the Spar! I went for the first time a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed a fabulous lunch overlooking the Ruston waterfront. I ordered the spar chips and the calamari to start and was not disappointed. I would say that this is an excellent choice for casual dining in Tacoma! I went back this morning to try their breakfast (which is very reasonably priced) and again enjoyed eating with a gorgeous view of the water. read more

I love this place. They do fried food great. The happy hour specials are a pretty good deal...and the white sauce they have sitting on the table is delish! However, I find that the food is inconsistent. At times I get delightfully crispy fish, and others it is soggy and gross like the cook was trying to get orders out and didn't finish cooking it and its dripping with grease. I hate lemon in my water so I set them on a napkin. By the time my meal was over I had 5 lemons on the napkin. It all seemed a bit excessive. Also, C'mon and get with the times people, I don't care if you were the first bar in Tacoma, RC cola doesn't cut it anymore... read more

Great food, great beer, what more could one ask for? Be sure to get the Spar chips.

Yumm !! If you've never eaten at the Spar, PLEASE try it and although fries are tempting, order "Spar Chips" instead ... You won't regret it !! -- especially when combined with their "secret sauce" (white container) on tables. Spar chips make ordinary fries just boring. Love their fish and chips, burgers, salads, smoothies, etc. I know they play live music on Sunday nights, and although it is tavern, the other side of the building is more of a cafe and "kid-friendly". I've even seen small kids eating lunch within the very front of the tavern side during busy or non-busy hours, but there a very noticeable line between 21 and older bar section and "kid-friendly" side of the tavern. Extremely popular for sports and group meals on holidays like Saint Patricks Day. Never had to wait very long for a table on either tavern or cafe. They do take out as well. read more

Love the Spar! They have such a great turkey burger and my boyfriend loves the chicken and jojo's. Perfect for casual bar/dinner night and the other side for lunch. read more

5 stars just for the fried chicken. Haven't had anything else here. Ambiance was nice and pretty quick service.

Went in for dinner on a rainy Monday night. Service was great, food was tasty, everything pretty much met expectations. I liked the map tabletops and the vibe, but it is a bar so don't be expecting fancy food. Just regular burgers and sandwiches, mediocre salads and good beer. The waitress put a clover leaf design in the foam on my husband's guiness...pretty cool! It was a little noisy, but then again...it's a bar! read more

Service was ok, but after being served burnt Spar Chips and brought a pint not a taste when I asked to try a beer on tap I cannot say our $35 bill was worth it. We had onion rings, an okay beer, a too sweet cider that we didn't drink, a crummy wine and burnt chips:-( read more

We were in town for a few days visiting from the Midwest. We had dinner and beers one night, breakfast another day. Dinner was slightly disappointing-our server kept disappearing and by the time our meal was over, thankfully another server took over. We had the halibut which was pretty delicious. I'm not sure why everyone finds it necessary to bread and fry this delicious fish, but as far as fish and chips goes, it was really good. The side salad was pretty traditional, nothing special, but fine for a side salad. The atmosphere on a Friday night was exactly what we were looking for-upbeat and fun. Breakfast on Sunday morning was decent-again very simple but good. I had the eggs/hashbrown/toast and it was perfect. Our service was excellent (coincidentally the server was the one who took over on Fri night) and the coffee was good. Outdoor seating was excellent on a beautiful sunny morning. read more

Great food and service! It has a coffee bar/restaurant/bar atmosphere. Although, the coffee bar is separate from the restaurant/bar. Which makes it nice if you want some quiet. read more

I eat here all the time and it's OK food. Good for a quick beer after work. Mostly we like it because of it's location near our house.

Great Turkey Burgers! Also, don't miss the Spar Chips!

Cool place for bar food. Avoid the world's most unfortunate French dip. I want to like this place more, but school cafeterias crank out an equal French dip. read more

Ok place for a burger and beer. Established piece of Tacoma history. Had a burger special that was alright, good fries and I love the spar sauce, which I guessed the recipe in a second. It's good though. Split on the service. Sat in the bar so we could have the view, which is awesome. There were two waitresses serving in the bar area. The one that was 'helping' us was middle-aged, unhappy and pissed off for some reason. The other waitress was happy and very friendly and she checked on us a couple times and was what a good waitress should be. I'll try it again at the spar, hopefully I get a happy waitress next time. read more

Love it! Veggie pita is great, spar chips and joes, fried clams highly recommended. Good service, generous portions. Good breakfast too!

New to the old town area so we wanted to check this place out. I had a burger and chips that were pretty good. My wife ordered the fish tacos and they were pretty blah (do not order them!). We will come back and try the fish and chips. Service was fast and friendly and the restaurant appeared pretty clean. read more

We will not be back again! We went for dinner to celebrate and left feeling beyond upset. We sat ourselves and after the 2 gals waiting tables passed us by multiple times we decided to go to the bar to order a beer. After another long wait, (and multiple empty tables in the bar) we had to stop the waitress to ask for a menu. We were being treated as if we were invisible! The food had changed too! We will not be recommending this place to anyone. Horrible service and horrible food. read more

Barely a wait time, low price, good service, and the best fish I had in Tacoma. And I ate at a few fish places here in this town "T-Town". But this place beat them all. Good beer and fish and chips 4 lunch. Can't beat that. If you have not been here, it's worth a try. And my wife says the hot chocolate was good too. read more

Hot turkey sandwich, fish tacos, and hummus plate. Those three things are always delicious. Great beer selection, and good strong coffee in the am. Live music and pool tables read more

The coffee here was decent, and the food was delicious. I stopped by for lunch, and was very pleased with the menu. I think the best part about this place, though, is that view! Beautiful! read more

An old, unpretentious tavern. Visited by a nice mix of locals and the service is friendly. Go for a beer and the fish and chips. Cafe seating on the side can be quieter (depending on what's going on) and you can still order food. read more

Food is good, service is spotty, depending on which one of the wait staff you get. I would receommend the beef dip sandwich. Can get loud when the crowd is large. Always seem to run into someone I know when we go... read more

One of my favorite places to have a beer and lunch in downtown. Always a good selection of micro brews, and I've never had any food I did not like, from their salads to the chicken and jo's. Highly recommend and I will be back. read more