Sambuca Grille — Restaurant in Scranton

The food was very good, but this place is way overpriced and the overall dining experience was poor...The first point of frustration was the fact that they refused to provide each couple in our group with separate checks. We go out to eat quite frequently and no other restaurants in the area give us a problem. They were offering all kinds of excuses, but none of them made any sense. This is just laziness.

Now, lets talk about price/value. This place charges top dollar for their dishes. For these prices, I would certainly expect to receive a salad or soup with the dinner. But nope...if you want that you have to fork over an extra 7-10 dollars per person, depending on what soup/salad you order. And trust me you definitely to order something besides the dinner because the portions are very small.

I couldn't believe how much it was for just my wife and I. We paid almost $150, including tip and extra charge for using a credit card (we'll talk about this in the next paragraph). This is crazy money for what we ordered. She ordered chicken, not filet mignon or lamb chops. I was drinking beer, not cocktails...get my drift? We don't even pay this much when we go to a really nice restaurant in Atlantic City.

Now, about that extra fee for using a credit card. This is absolutely infuriating, especially since they refuse to provide separate checks. Again, no other restaurants that we dine at have done this. Credit card processing fees are a cost of doing business. If you want to pass this cost on to the customer, raise the menu prices by 3% across the board OR make sure the customer fully understands that there will be an extra charge for this before they dine. It shoild be posted on your website, printed in in your menu, and a notice should be posted on the door of the establishent. This is the restaurant's responsibility according to PA state law!!! A patron should not have to ask about this when they make a reservation or before they order.

Service wasn't really the best, because one of the waiters had a very dry personality. We were trying to be friendly and make small talk, but he was having none of it. We waited way too long for refills on the drinks, extra butter, etc.

Finally, the location & atmosphere is horrible. If you go here on a Saturday night, prepare to drive around the block on busy one way streets multiple times, before you find an open spot or expect to park several blocks away. This is NEPA, not NYC...when paying top dollar at a restaurant, I expect to have a parking lot for my vehicle. All of the other nice Italian restaurants in the area have this (La Cunina, Casa Bella, etc.) The fact that this place is in downtown Scranton is not a legitimate excuse either. Coopers seafood is in downtown and they have a massive parking lot.

This place is extremely tiny inside, so they pack the tables very close together. You have to talk very loudly to have a conversation with people at your own table, which is not enjoyable. When going to the restroom, you have to be squeezing past other tables.

Like I said, the food is very good, so that's what get's this place a single star. Unfortunately, that is all I can give due to all of the...

BEWARE: DO NOT TRUST YOUR SPECIAL OCCASION TO SAMBUCA GRILLE IN SCRANTON PA! Terrible experience due to unprofessionalism of this restaurant! So, what happened? On June 10, I used OpenTable to make a special reservation for my wife’s birthday on Saturday July 10. I reserved a full month ahead as I wanted this to be special and to take no chances. I indicated it was a birthday and added comments that I wanted to make it extra special. On Friday, July 9, I received the usual computer generated email from OpenTable asking me to confirm that I was going to be there for my reservation the following day. I immediately confirmed through OpenTable. Also, that same day I called the restaurant and left a voicemail confirming personally and again indicating that this was a very special occasion. I did not want to leave anything to chance. My wife and I arrived at the restaurant 20 minutes ahead of the reservation time. To my total shock and embarrassment I was met with a closed restaurant and a sign on the door stating they are closed July 3 through July 10 and wishing everyone a nice vacation! So there we were abandoned by Sambuca Grille on my wife’s birthday, a Saturday night, with no dinner reservation or place to go. The restaurant did not have the common decency to adjust its OpenTable settings to indicate they were closed, to reach out and inform me well in advance that they were closed, or to return its voicemails. This is the height of unprofessionalism and a lack of any concern whatsoever for their customers. To add insult to injury, OpenTable sent me my dining confirmation credits as if they were open and the reservation was honored! The restaurant is supposedly open as per its sign - and no one has called me to apologize or explain. I caution anyone who is reading this not to trust Sambuca Grille with your special occasion as they take reservations without honoring them. I have since discovered that there are much, much better restaurant options around the area - which will be the subject of a separate review. Sambuca Grille is dated, tired and worn out as obviously is it ownership and management. Avoid...

My wife and I visited this restaurant with a 6:30 reservation on a Saturday in late August. We’ve never experienced the level of noise we heard in this restaurant. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it took an inordinate amount of time to just have a server take our drink order. We perused the menu, and could not even talk to each other with the crescendo of noise throughout the restaurant. After deciding our dinners, we waited more than a half hour for our server to return to take our orders, but first she told us of the “specials’ available. We really couldn’t make out what she was saying with the cacophony around us. We placed our orders, and waited for our salads to arrive……and waited, and waited, and waited….. Finally, after more than a half hour of waiting for the salads, I caught our servers eye, and told her we would be paying for our drinks and leaving. We were never offered any explanation for the apparent under staffing, possible over booking of patrons, given the amount of staff to handle patrons effectively, or apology for being ignored. In the past, we have eaten here many times, and our only complaint would be that it was a little too dark to read the menu, but the service, and the food were always exceptional, and not loud as it was for this dining experience. I doubt that we will ever return to...