Managed to get invited to a work lunch with visiting peeps from our Calgary office. We all tromped off to Sambuca which is nearby. In past I have had some really good lunches here and some really bad ones. Today was some of both. Still feeling under the weather the soup and sandwich combo sounded good. Ordered the shrimp and crab bisque with Greek chicken pita and a hot tea. Tea: Sambuca only had one kind which was Community brand black tea blend. ok whatever, that is like lowest common denominator tea. Obviously their food service guy is not able to make the upsell on tea. Serviceable at best.
Bisque: THE WORST SOUP I HAVE EVER HAD UP TO THIS POINT of my LIFE. LIFE people. I have eaten some bad food in my time. This was so appalling I had about 4 bites and left it. Even more appalling, the server didn't ask me if it was ok or why I didn't eat it. So while on the one hand I wanted to tell him how bad it was, on the other I didn't want to bring it up and be an ass about. For real though, this soup sucked. Big time. Greasy tasting, very buttery. No flavor whatsoever. Granted I am getting over a cold so maybe, maybe my taste buds are a little on the fritz but when I say this had no flavor I mean none. The little shrimp and crab meat that I did manage to fish out of the cup of soup was also devoid of flavor. I don't know if this was previously frozen and then washed off or what but it didn't even taste fishy. Nothing. Nada. The base didn't even have a hint of sherry. Seriously, Sambuca whoever your sous chef is FIRE HIM IMMEDIATELY because he will take you down if left unattended like this.
On the flip side, the pita was delicious. chicken cooked well with good flavor and a nice pita to boot.
However half of a pita was not much of a lunch so I opted for dessert to make it through the afternoon. Chocolate toffee torte was right out of the fridge, which i guess is fine except it means you cant really cut into it at all to eat it b/c the choc is rock hard. And there was not enough toffee to warrant being in the dessert name. I like toffee so that was a real bummer. Again, standard food service.
And speaking of service. I was super annoyed by our server. Not sure why, just found his manner off putting and he never asked if I wanted more hot water for my tea.
One other note, clearly my photos suck. Not sure why for lunch service the place had the lights so low but it was dark in there if you weren't by a window. Naturally we were seated in the back where there was no light. Used flash on the dessert pic and it just looks gross doesn't it? Also- can we not do a chocolate dessert with raspberry sauce? I'm over it. Move on and garnish with something else please. What would have been good with a toffee dessert: caramel or butterscotch sauce. Another clear sign that whomever is back in the kitchen doesn't know what he is doing.
The pita gets a 3.5, dessert a 3 and the bisque a 0. That bisque is an embarrassment to bisques everywhere and should be ashamed. Overall NOT recommended on Sambuca.
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