Sambuca Grill

On a Thursday evening, I went to Sambuca Grill (21 Baldwin Village) with a couple of friends from university, Kim and Val. We didn’t have a reservation and just walked in after comparing a few other prix-fixe places in the area.

The restaurant was mostly empty, but very cozy and our server was really friendly and welcoming. Sambuca has a prix-fixe dinner option available everyday after 4pm with a lot of different (mostly Italian) options.

After ordering, we were given some bread and butter. Only a few minutes after, we each got our first course, which was the soup of the day.

01.
MINESTRA DEL GIORNO (SOUP OF THE DAY)
pumpkin soup with pear

SOUP OF THE DAY pumpkin soup with pear

All three of us decided on the soup of the day, which had a nice and subtle sweetness. A good start to whet our appetites!

02.
T-BONE STEAK
12-ounce t-bone steak covered in a red wine peppercorn sauce, served with hint-of-garlic mashed potatoes and steamed seasonal vegetables

T-BONE STEAK 12-ounce t-bone steak covered in a red wine peppercorn sauce, served with hint-of-garlic mashed potatoes and steamed seasonal vegetables

HUGE portion, and I can’t believe this is part of a $25 dinner prix fixe! I ordered the steak medium rare, but it was quite dry and overcooked for my liking. The sauce, mashed potatoes, and vegetables were great though. The slight garlic in the mashed potatoes was delicious. Just wish that I could have enjoyed the steak more!

SALMON
seared fresh atlantic salmon filet, coated in citrus sauce, served with rice pilaf and steamed seasonal vegetables

SALMON seared fresh atlantic salmon filet, coated in citrus sauce, served with rice pilaf and steamed seasonal vegetables

Val ordered the salmon filet, which was cooked to perfection. It had just enough sauce and a good portion size.

APPLE CHICKEN
sauteed chicken, apple, and sun-dried tomatoes in a white wine dijon sauce, served with roasted potato wedges and steamed seasonal vegetables

APPLE CHICKEN sauteed chicken, apple, and sun-dried tomatoes in a white wine dijon sauce, served with roasted potato wedges and steamed seasonal vegetables

Kim got the apple chicken, which was probably the most interesting and definitely my favourite of the three that we ordered! The apple flavour and sauce complemented the chicken really well, and the chicken itself was moist and delicious. I highly recommend this one.

03.
TIRAMISU

TIRAMISU

I ordered the tiramisu, which I thoroughly enjoyed! It was a perfect size and not too sweet or bland.

CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE

CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE

Val’s chocolate lava cake was on the heavier side, so we helped her finish it off. :P The cake was a little dry in parts, but the gooey chocolate centre was incredible.

TARTUFO (HAZELNUT)

TARTUFO (HAZELNUT)

I didn’t get to try any of Kim’s hazelnut tartufo, but she was really happy with it and finished it up pretty quickly, haha.

Overall, we had a really nice experience here! The girls and I ended up being the only customers there for a while, and we stayed for longer than usual to chat animatedly about Val’s future adventures teaching English in South Korea. Our server was very warm and friendly the whole time. Service in general was fantastic, with each course of our meal coming at fast to reasonable times. Generally, the food itself was pretty great quality and value for a $25 prix-fixe. Glad we came here to catch up!