Another Baldwin staple which I always tend to not venture in to because the menu never stood out to me and they tend not to do great (or any) lunch specials which is the main meal I frequent here on Baldwin Village.
The restaurant is sadly mostly empty most times I walk past it (but it's survived for a while now) and their patio is nothing to write home about except for the fact it's a good people watching spot like any patio on Baldwin is. Much like "Valens" next to it, Sambuca has a large menu main but concentrates on the Italian side of things and in my experience, large menus tend not to bring out the best in the food. I was right on my assumption with my sweet potato purée appetizer being tasty but nothing special. My "Atlantico" pasta entrée was delicious, but the portion was too large (maybe not as a stand alone meal) and they could have done with just a little less sauce. But the salmon was cooked generally well.
Service was quick and it should have been as we were the only patrons for most of our meal and our server was friendly, no complaints there.
A very mediocre restaurant when you consider it's food, but not a bad experience and prices are while it's not cheap it's in a reasonable range. If you want a relatively quick meal get your Italian fix here, but if you're willing to put up with the slow pace of John's Italian Cafe give it a shot, it's got more of an atmosphere usually.