The Spot Sports Bar & Grill

The food is amazing here for me. I have been here on and off. Everything tasted good for me. But my favorite is the pastrami dip. I was expecting it to be whatever, however everytime I had it is amazing and I tell myself I made the right choice. And so far it hasn’t disappointed me. So until then I’ll keep on having the pastrami dip at this spot. Service was great. I couldn’t be any happier than I’m now with the food and service.

Great place… Great bar… Awesome and HOT staff (except the dude bartender of coarse)…love this bar and the bacon wrapped «poppers» rock as do the burgers n fries!

Chill sports bar with cool vibes. Reasonable prices and good drinks! Food is good also. Nacho fries with schwarma is a must!

Lately the food around this area has been very disappointing and a little stale. I decided to fall back to a taste I hoped would kill my previous streak. Came down to The SPOT for dinner. Found myself in the middle of a karaōke showcase, was shocked when I entered but impressed by the talent. Ordered a Shawarma sandwich and a BBQ bacon burger whilst enjoying the hair raising performances. Server was very attentive and interestingly not overwhelming, which was welcome because our group took a LOOOOOONG time to order. Our order came out before I could complain (which has been pretty short fused due to my staled taste buds) and it came out steaming and singing to me. The tangy bbq already making my mouth water, the plate landed on my table without the horrid scrape of plate vs. table. The taste, reviving, as I had hoped. Needed a little salt, but perhaps thats just me, easily remediable. Fries? Gone before I could critique them. I’m so glad I chose the The SPOT to end this night on a high note. In case you’re wondering, no I didn’t sing. I can’t sing to. save my life.

This place seems to have a bit of an identity issue. It looks like a typical sports bar with tons of tvs, college pride, full bar, and about 15+ beers on tap but the food has a Mediterranean twist to it, which I don’t mind. The execution on some of the items was a little off. The burger seemed a little too homemade, but it was good. The buffalo wings were ok.
But…the nachos with chorizo was amazing. Wasn’t really sure what to expect but it was surprisingly really good.
Service and timing was good. The waitress was prompt and attentive.
Considering they’re right next to the college, have many tvs and beer selection, and have reasonable prices, I’m surprised they’re not as busy as they should be.
Suggestions: 1) the UCR theme isn’t working, perhaps have a more general sports bar theme 2) improve plate presentation and food quality for some of the items 3) someone should be greeting customers as they come in 4) improve online presence and overall marketing.

I’ll be fair great atmosphere. It was dark inside so I didn’t feel like I need to be dressed up So that was chill and loved the music. The food wasn’t my fav. Our server was okay :/​didn’t seem to cheerful. If this is a place that I’m going to go to for the atmosphere and music. Customer service needs to be on point.

Sooo came in for happy hour because my bf has been wanting to give this place a try. Great service! We ordered a bunch of appetizers; pita and hummus, pita fries, and calamari. Food came out and was okay… not expecting much from a bar… but the calamari was sooooooo over cooked! Would literally have to yank the calamari put of our mouths. Let the server know and changed to hot wings, that’s when things went down hill.
A managed walks by and asks how we’re doing and how’s the food. Later she and two other men, I’m assuming the mangers/​owners sat at a table across from us and started starting at us, being lighthearted we waved hello but it was obvious they were talking about us. Later a guy, I’m assuming the chef, came over and asked bout the calamari then told us that he cooked it perfect and that the calamari we’ve had before was cooked wrong. Uggg felt line we were on trouble for not liking overcooked rock hard calamari! Over this place, wayyyy better bars like 1 mile away

This is a very fair and mixed review of the Spot. I’ve been visiting this sports bar every week for around 2 months now. Since I live at the UV Towers, it’s just walking distance away from my place.
Pros:
–On Sunday and Monday night, it is happy hour for beer which means $ 3.50 for anything on tap.
–Their beer selection is done right. The owners son hand picks from all the local breweries and has made some really good finds. He is a huge beer advocate and I’m usually happy with his selection.
–The waitresses tend to be very nice.
–There is plenty of seating.
–Pool tables are awesome.
Cons:
–There is never anyone in this location. I would love to be able to visit a sports bar and meet single people, but almost everyone goes in groups and stick to themselves. Whenever I go, I tend to go with a friend since without a companion, this place would just suck.
–The music is a bit too loud.
–The food is subpar, oily, overpriced, and obviously frozen.
–Sometimes their beer supply runs low which leaves you with few options.
Overall, I would say avoid this location during the summer, but during the school year this might be an excellent hang out on happy hour. The most disappointing thing about this bar is just the lack of people which makes it feel drab and unexciting. However, I will continue to come back due to the cheap beer… just hope they can lower this mixed drink fees too.

The food honestly wasn’t *that* bad, even if it is a little greasy and the prices are a little steep for what you get. But the rudeness, filth (there was a piece of chewed gum stuck in the napkin that she handed my husband!) and super awkward vibe definitely make The Spot one to miss.
I had been waiting for The Spot to open for the better part of a year (it is located so close to where we lived and worked)… By the time it opened we had moved, but decided to give it a shot a few weeks back when we were in the area one Saturday night.
When we walked in around 8:45 (again, on a Saturday), I was a little surprised to see that there were only two other tables occupied in the entire restaurant and no one at the bar… In retrospect, this probably should have been a warning sign. Unfortunately, we proceeded and definitely regretted it.
The entire vibe and style is so disjointed, it’s off-​putting. The walls are painted garish bright blue and yellow (in homage to UCR school colors), the music is louder than most bars I’ve been to, and the lighting is like an interrogation room. There are an excessive (and needless) number of televisions lining the walls, even for a «sports bar». It’s not a club, not a bar, and not a restaurant… It just doesn’t feel right. Even though the restaurant has only been open a few months, the menus we were given were greasy, stained and torn… I’m not even sure how that level of mess happens so quickly, and I’m not sure I want to.
Beyond the aesthetics, the service was definitely lacking. There was one girl behind the bar and another «serving» customers, if you can call it that. She seemed bothered by the fact that we had dared inconvenience her by visiting her place of employment. There was lots of attitude and little assistance. The menu itself is not much to write home about, so a little guidance from the service staff would have been appreciated.
I’m giving this place an exceedingly generous 2 stars because our sandwich was palatable and the pita chips were so interesting… That being said, I definitely don’t recommend this place. Duke’s (just down the street) has *much* better food and cheaper drinks; even a chain restaurant like Applebee’s would be a better choice, I think.

This place should be good but it sucks. The bartenders literally have no idea what they were doing, dirty silverware, slow service when they’re not even busy, and the food is bad. The wings are pretty good but everything else I’ve tried comes different from the menu and/​or tastes horrible. The salad dressing tastes like toothpaste. This place should be awesome, but it’s disappointing