Sparky’s

Prices are absurd. however, the food is great. I have tried the avocado bacon cheeseburger countless times, and their sourdough grilled cheese sandwich. The burger is always super juicy and cooked to perfection. Their fries are also really great.

The food was cool. I’ll go back again maybe. I’ll got the avocado bacon cheese burger., chocolate milk shake fried zucchini. and my 4yr old got curly fries. my 15.year old got chicken and rice with a salad on the side. we dine in. but I don’t like. the fact.that the waitress felt like I owe her a tip .yes yall food is fresh and ok. but don’t expect me to tip you. I ain’t got it like that. my daughter the (15 year old) never had zucchini so I treated her to a basket of fried zucchini… I’m a single mother with 3 girls that I’m raising on my own. I know don’t nobody care. but have some cocerdration I can’t give big tips all the time. my bill came up to 42 $I gave her 45 $. and she didn’t say thank you

I love going to Sparky’s!
Sparky’s has an unbeatable combination of quality for the price. The burgers are consistently great and the french fries are best I have had in Oakland. I am a big fan of great french fries. Sparky’s fries are cut at just the right thickness with the potato skin still on the ends. And you get a lot of them!
The place has a nice friendly casual vibe for a meal. There is pleasant indoor and outdoor seating.

Be loving the burgers and delicious onion rings, fried zucchini, and mushrooms. The staff is friendly, food comes fast and is always yummy. There is outside seating in the back too. Basically this is a solid place to have a great meal

Good burgers and fries. Good service. Not sure about the other offerings like the BBQ. It wasn’t that good.

This place is great, and the bonus is that you get to avoid the crowds across the street at Barney’s. The Niman Ranch burgers are perfectly done with lots of fresh side elements (lettuce, tomato, etc.). Big! And the onion rings were unusually good. Delicious. The physical menu is very unaffected which might lead you to think it’s just another greasy spoon, but it definitely is not. Enjoy.

curly fries.
veggie burger.
adorable outdoor garden patio.

Loved the burger and the curly fries. We could not get seated at Barney’s across the street so we decided to give this place a try. Glad we did. Will go back.

I love this place and it’s not just the great, fresh food! It’s the staff! They are always so kind and polite. Feels like a family, though I don’t know that they actually are but it doesn’t matter. No pretense here, just yummy eats and great people. Keeping it simple works!

Have to say, not a fan of this place. Not typically very crowded and the restaurant always seems a bit grungy. The kitchen seems to take up the majority of the inside restaurant. Had a Mexican chicken dish which was forgettable and my husband had a burger that he thought was okay. Nothing super bad or wrong about this place, just not fantastic.

Great service… great burgers an great beer. Also, suggest going on outside back patio… great atmosphere.

Not amazing, just ok. My fries were not really crispy and hot. The burger itself was cooked well, but the avocado on top had tones of brown spots all over it that did not look appetizing.
The service was very good. The outside patio was really nice and quiet.

Great quality, gourmet burgers at a great price. I had the ¼ lb. bacon avocado burger which hit the spot. The beef was nice and juicy and there was half an avocado in my burger. The sweet potato fries were cooked to order and were piping hot and crispy when it was served to us.
Servers were attentive and pleasant.

We are vegetarian but have recently been prescribed eating meat for our period. Grass fed is a must. So upon walking in we hesitatingly asked ourselves «is this what we want?» The server sat us so fast the decision was made for us. we opted to order 2 meals for 3 people (which was hard to cut with our butter knife into thirds) The ambiance on the patio was a p green scene with a «behind the home depot garden center where employees eat their hot dogs“vibe. Highlight of the experience was our servers bubbly personality and off beat drink\mayo (on bun) humor, his shirt read «im out of bed and dresses what more do you want for me » but boy was that an understatement, he delivered like there was no tomorrow, or draught, good thing we were hungover and dehydrated ¡ love him. Crates of produce in the dining room, a no touch sign on the fountain, p yuppy but hand cut fries

I’ve eaten here before and don’t remember it.
Tried KronnerBurger and Barneys, but they were both so crowded I couldn’t get in.
There’s a reason I don’t remember, the menu is Boring with a capital B.
To paraphrase another reviewer for KronnerBurger, Piedmont Ave has become really more for the rich snotty hipster, than someone looking to have lunch.
What a shame that techie money is fucking up such a neat place.

Tonight… I had the best burger ‘Ive ever had here. I’ve also had the best onion rings I’ve ever had here!
MMM Beer
Not sure about other people on other nights, this place is incredible.

First off this burger joint is delightful, the only down side is their service is not that great. Besides me at the time, there are only two other tables around. Not busy at all, but they took a good ten minutes to come around and get my order.
Other than that burger is excellent. basket of fries that are freshly cut and very good portioned.

Love this place!!! The staff must have changed since past reviews because we have been going to this place for the last several months and every time we get an extremely pleasant, friendly, and professional waitstaff. The burgers are delicious (though I recommend asking for pickles since they don’t come with them, but they’re happy to bring them). The curly fries are super yummy, also enjoy the onion rings, fries, salad, chili cheese fries… mmmmm mmmmm mmmm!
We have tried many burgers all over Oakland and this is our fav by far. They also have a lovely little garden in the back where you can eat amongst tons of plants. One of the nicest settings to dine in around! Can’t recommend enough! If you’ve never been, don’t listen to the negative reviews, if you have, give em another try!

After walking to Piedmont Ave because it was such a nice day, my boyfriend and I ended up at Sparky’s because we couldn’t make up our minds and we’ve been here before. My boyfriend and I sat in the back patio because we were hot from walking around, so the fresh air was really nice, but there isn’t any sun in the back and it eventually did start to get a bit chilly.
I ordered the pulled pork sandwich with a side of lentil soup. The lentil soup was ok. It tasted like it was missing some flavor to it. I tried adding some salt but it just needed help. As for the pulled pork sandwich, it was really good. I’m more of a chicken sandwich kind of girl and I’m not one to take risks on anything, but I wanted to try something new, so I chose the pulled pork sandwich and I’m glad I did. I was afraid it would be dry because the picture on Unilocal didn’t do it justice, but I was quite surprised. It was juicy and moist. I really liked the cucumber slices that they had underneath the pulled pork. And I didn’t even need to ask for a pickle because they gave it to me anyway.
My boyfriend ordered the avocado bacon burger with grilled onions and the fresh cut french fries. The burger was huge looking and very juicy. The grilled onions were semi-​soft with a crunch to them. I prefer grilled onions without the crunch, but it wasn’t bad in the burger. My boyfriend is a burger fiend and he really liked this burger, so that’s saying a lot. On the other hand, the fresh cut french fries were bomb. Think In-​N-​Out fries but with bigger cuts and more potato inside. I would definitely recommend the fries as a side or appetizer.
From past experiences, I would also recommend the tilapia sandwich. It’s so bomb and I definitely would’ve ordered it if I hadn’t had ordered the pulled pork sandwich.

Sparky’s gets 2 stars for the food, but I bumped it up to 3 stars because our server (Bergen) was great… once he showed up.
You seat yourself, so my friends and I decided to sit outside; however, it took awhile for a server to notice us, let alone get our menus to us. Once we got our menus though, our server was more than attentive. He even took back the check and gave us 3 separate checks at the end of our meal.
Now for the food:
–Pass on the burger. I got the bacon cheddar burger: the bacon was wimpy (very skinny, thin strips) and the patty tasted kind of burnt and unseasoned.
–Curly fries: They were delicious! Probably the best thing about Sparky’s.
–Sweet potato fries: Very sturdy fries. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.
–Rice with cliantro, lime, and corn (tried my friend’s): the rice was a little on the soft side and there was way too much lime.
I heard some patrons a few tables over telling a server that this was the best burger they’d ever had; their server responded with «I know! I tell the owners they should change the name to ‘Awesome Burger.’» I’d say their burgers are mediocre, and after taking a peak at their other dishes (vis a vis plates in front of other patrons), I wouldn’t really come back here of my own volition. Overall, a less than average burger with good curly/​sweet potato fries, and good service once you can flag someone down.