Very humid, sticky feeling environment. We ordered a grazing board, this is not a meat and cheese board!! Absolutely the worst selection of cheese, it was a slice of American cheese and Swiss cheese, the strawberry’s were bruised inedible . The meat was a couple of slices of lowest grade sausage and I mean worse than Eckerd’s. The entertainment was unbearable we could only sit thru a few songs and we saw many people leaving at the same time. Terrible experience I would not ever recommend this place to anyone.

Nice band; great happy hour. Good food and ambience!

Food was exceptional. I never write reviews, but food was so surprisingly good, I had to comment on it. This is a live music venue, so it has the lights, stage, and wires to accommodate a band. That's why I didn't rate it higher for ambiance--it's a relatively casual place. Our waiter was very thoughtful. We had the $40 date night prix fixe menus and that was a good value. We were there early and had 1/2 price happy hour drinks.

Great food and atmosphere. Drinks were good and reasonably priced.

Always our spot for a romantic date night. The service is great and the music is e energetic.

This was my first time dining at Sambuca. I really enjoyed the love music and ambiance. Our waiter Tim was very professional and provided service excellence. Our drinks and food arrived within a timely manner. I will definitely recommend this restaurant to family and friends.

I took my boyfriend there for his birthday. Other than the server being a little hard to track down, I think he had a wonderful time.

excelent service ,food was excelent,good music.social distance

This place was just okay. Their happy hour deal is good: 1/2 price apps, wine, cocktails and beer all the way until 7pm. But the appetizers were just alright. My boyfriend and I split their dinner date 3 course meal and again every part of it was just okay. They charged us to split which was annoying. They had live music which was fun, but they also charged us on our bill for the music?

Our waiter Tyler was amazing!! The band Mr Wonderful was awesome! The food was great! My husband and I had a great time.

The food was tasteless! No flavor! The lead singer of the band was horrible! The place was nice and service ok but not enough for me to go back.

I heard great things but I was truly disappointed!

This is a great place for a date

Ordered a martini. No Grey Goose, no Belvidere, no Titos. Ok so I looked at the wine list and order a glass of red Zin from the list. "NO, sorry we're out of that." So I ordered a full bottle of a different wine, "Nope, out of stock".
I understand it is tough to get servers, ours was in training, but the order was wrong and so was the check.
VERY loud music, so loud you couldn't talk over dinner.

The Vince King entertainment was excellent. My $40 7-oz. steak was delicious, but horribly overcooked. I ordered it very rare and it came out medium well. I sent it back and it came back medium. It was delicious and tender, I ate it all, and said nothing more. I don't expect to get a truly rare steak at most restaurants, but I expect a good attempt. Our server, Hector, was attentive and friendly (it wasn't his fault the chef has no clue.) I accidentally spilled a full drink and broke the glass. I have never done that before and don't know the usual protocol, but I was charged full price for the spilled drink and the replacement. My friend and I (separate checks) were each charged for 2 cover charges of $3 each. They took it off of the bill when we asked about it, but it shouldn't have happened. I don't always scour the bill when it comes, so I could have been taken. After spending about $80 each on a meal and drinks, I don't think we should have been charged a cover charge at all. The valet parking cost $10 when we dropped off the car, and then we tipped the valet at the end of the evening, so a bit expensive for Houston.

Seemed a bit crowded; no evidence of distancing among tables at least not on ground floor . Service and live entertainment was good.

We were the only people in the restaurants and they ran out of bottle water and a desert. The fake leather seats were ripped (this is something you see in Houston and only Houston but at a Outback).... We stayed for an appetizer than left for Morton’s (which was fantastic). The waiter here was very good so I gave him a 110% tip. The goat cheese artichoke appetizer was very good. The owner or manager should learn inventory management which is a common failure in Houston!!! How do people of Houston allow restaurants to take the cheap fast food way for nicer places? You want to call yourself a big city, act like it! NYC, Chicago, Vegas or LA would close this place down in two weeks! Step up and demand quality!! 🤦‍♂️

Great social distancing inside of the restaurant. This was important to us since we typically try to sit outside when we eat out these days. The food was good as usual. Awesome band, Flashpoint. They had nice energy and kept the crowd going.

The restaurant is great, however parking is atrocious, very limited street parking. We parked at a parking garage across the street which requires you to either walk up the parking garage or enter the elevator via an office building when leaving. When we went to leave, the office building was locked, security was lazy and would not open the doors, my wife walking up the parking garage in high heels was very upset. She did not feel comfortable waiting downstairs for me to bring the vehicle down and walking 4 floors of the parking garage at night not very good for safety.

Food was amazing but the band was so loud that it was hard to enjoy dinner. Too much for 7:30 - would have expected the noise later in the evening.

There was a funk band & no dance floor. You placed tables on it to prevent dancing. You might as well just hire a piano man to play for your diners

We had such a fantastic time at Sambuca. Probably would not go there as much as we'd like due to the cost, but we did have a great time!

The band was very good but too loud. It was hard to sit there for very long.
Food was fair and pricy.
During COVID you cant expect too much, wish the place had been fuller, it would have been a lot more fun.

Fun live band; that’s why we chose Sambuca

Anniversary

They did have any wines available
And the food was average.

I made reservations for my birthday celebration. I really enjoyed myself, the restaurant is beautiful, the employees were kind and the music was great.

Birthday celebration. Service was excellent! If you have Hector as a waiter you will be taken care of.

Came in for a business dinner. No wait early on a Friday night. Dinner was outstanding, service was attentive, manager spoke to us at the table. Overall wonderful experience

I’m only giving a 4 star because seating in front on the life band was limited and where we were seated we could only see the band by watching them on the screen.

had to send our food back it was cold but the new order was perfect

Food was excellent. Nice ambience and live music. Very polite and courteous staff. Considering the current pandemic challenges, made for a very pleasant Saturday night out.

Date night with the wife

We sat on the patio. Too much noise from traffic etc. The food was wonderful, service was great! Pricey but you pay for quality! We will definitely be back, sitting inside 😀

We are semi regulars. Did not like the way they tried to sneak a cover charge onto the bill. Will be awhile before we go back.

we had a wonderful time... the music was on point, I will be back again when Erica is performing...

It has been a while since I been to Sambuca's. I always remember it being an up scale place to bring a date on a special occasion with table cloths, fine dinning, great dancing, and music. Now there is no table cloth, no dancing, the servings are what a bird would eat. I didn't mind paying high prices for the high class in the past, but now it is not worth it any more. It has gone down hill. Please bring back the fine dinning, and class.

Nice cozy atmosphere

Food was excellent! Staff had everything set-up for social distancing. One of the few places in town with live music.

Happy Hour!

Excellent shrimp and crab dip. Service was fabulous.

The restaurant may be struggling with the current pandemic situation, which should be taken into account. First off, the music was good but too loud for dinner conversation. Second, the filet menu option was not available, even though it early in the evening. Third, there were not enough waitstaff to adequately manage the tables. Our waitress was serving many tables, and did her best to accommodate our needs. Another waitress assisted by clearing the table and providing water. Lastly, the food was slightly above average. One of the featured entrees was not available, even thought it was early in the evening. The ambience was pleasant, with dimmed lighting and tables spaced out appropriately. An employee asked me to put my mask on when I was walking to the bathroom, which was in order. It was nice to be downtown and out to dinner, and the night was positive overall.