BOCA

This restaurant is now closed in downtown Asheville. A new place, the Local Taco, will be opening in its place.

I visited Boca for Sunday brunch when the weather was a bit nicer, and was impressed.
I had the fried chicken waffle sandwich. Yes, you read that right. And yes, it’s as good as it sounds. Fresh waffles sandwiched lightly breaded chicken breast, fresh tomato, and arugula topped with maple aioli. The tomato and arugula gave the sandwich a fresh profile, and the maple aoili gave a hint of the «chicken and waffles» syrupy goodness without overpowering the sandwich or giving it a cloying sweetness that would have been to its detriment. Paired with fries, this was a great and unique brunch.
I also sampled the huevos rancheros. With several spoonfuls of Boca’s spicy ranchero sauce, this one was off the charts.
Boca’s delicious brunch is best enjoyed on their beautiful outdoor patio. I’d recommend arriving close to noon, so as to be able to enjoy a cocktail.
Make sure to give them a try on your next visit to Asheville. You won’t be disappointed.

Loved the simple but extremely tasty meals we shared. Friendly service and a great atmosphere. Definitely recommend this place.

It has a great patio. Food was good, and they accommodated my high demands! I wanted just a chicken with gravy… somewhere in there they whipped it up!

Spectacular Latin Food

Nice patio and most importantly this place has a very dangerous mojito — tasted like candy.
Split the enchiladas and they were excellent. Salad was pretty good as well. Only wish they served appetizers during lunch.

Boca is one of my favorite hang outs, amazing drinks (The ‘Pearfume’ is delicious!) great atmosphere, I will say it’s a little hot inside (Most likely because the kitchen is right there open behind the bar) but if you need to cool off sitting outside on the patio is a great experience! With a very innovative fountain lining the retaining wall of the patio, it makes for a very beautiful and relaxing way to sit right on lexington avenue!
The food of course, is the main attraction! With a modern south american fusion style it’s really something special. Every time my plate was fantastic, and one thing I definitely recommend is the pistachio encrusted goat cheese appetizer, if you’re a cheese person this plate is beautiful! The candied figs really top it off!
Highly recommended, the owners are frequently dining with the rest of the Asheville crowd, because they can’t get enough of their own spot!

We had a mix of pros and cons, so I think it’s best to just create a list:
PROS:
— One of the few restaurants in downtown Asheville without a wait at 7:00pm on a Saturday night.
— The ribeye was good and the chimichurri fries are great!
— Very prompt and efficient service.
CONS:
— The restaurant was SO hot, it was very uncomfortable. The server said they turned down the air, but the kitchen is open to the restaurant, and the whole place is so small, so the A/​C just can’t keep up.
— My friend and I both ordered the duck medium-​rare; it came out overcooked. We sent it back and when the chef redid it, it was better but still not perfectly right. The overall dish was just not very tasty. Actually, it was the worst duck I’d ever had.
— The juevos rancheros were nothing special — simply eggs, rice, and beans in 2 different unexciting sauces. They could have definitely gotten more creative with this.
All in all, it was good, not great. But honestly, the heat inside the restaurant just simply made it an unpleasant dining experience.

This little «south of the border» place… and I say this as it seems to be fusion like to me as no dish is aligned to a particular country south of the border, but I’ve never really talked to the owner so this is my own opinion.
This has by and far one of the BEST patios in the center of town and the wait staff is… well cute as can be… hey…I’m a straight single guy… what did you expect… AND they are great servers too.
The place is very busy on the weekends so expect a wait, but since it sits right on Lexington Ave, you’ll have plenty to do people watching while you wait for your table.
I had the Cazuela de Mariscos along with a Pacifico beer. A good dish and the portions were significant. Pricing was around $ 15 for the meal, which in this town and in these kind of nice places is a deal in my opinion.
If you happen to find yourself in town on a nice night to sit out for dinner, come here as I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Sadly it closed! Replaced by a not so good Local Taco! Bla! — Boca was one of my new favorites in Asheville, NC. Best lunch in town and great time for dinner. Waiting for warm weather to be out on the patio. Love the Tex-​Mex flavors and good vegetarian selections.
I might up my stars next time — I like it a lot.

We’ve only been for lunch, and only once, but I go big or go home, so I’m giving it 5 anyway. The jerk mahi that I had was cooked to absolute perfection, and came with some expertly prepared beans. My wife got an ample portion of fish tacos and tells me that they, too, were delicious. I wish I could be funnier or more clever about it, but it was a simple experience that I hope to repeat a few times. Delicious food, and very affordable, especially compared to a lot of things downtown.

My wife and I were celebrating our 6^th year wedding anniversary and were looking for a great dessert to cap the night off with. BOCA was our serendipitous choice and we found both the food and the atmosphere to be just what we were looking for. We split their house made Tres Leches cake, which was our first time having the cake, and were incredibly happy with the decision. The cake was light and moist, topped with fresh whipped cream, pomegranate seeds, and pistachios — simply delicious! In my opinion you can tell a lot about an establishment by the quality of their desserts, and we’ll definitely be back to BOCA!

I was going to Bouchon, but not willing to wait 45 minutes on a Tuesday evening. Found this place just down the street — they had tables, menu looked interesting, decided to give it a try.
Good choice indeed!!! Atmosphere was fine, not too crowded, not too empty (for a Tuesday). Wait staff was very good. Wine list was short but good. We started with the calamari — very nicely done, crispy and tasty — the sauce was great. For entrees I had the Blueberry pork, she had the chiles en nogata. Both dished were excellent — tasty, nice portions, nice presentation. We will be back.

I came here for breakfast on our last day in Asheville. I had Eggs Barbacoa — delicious! The meal wasn’t too heavy, and it came with the spicy salsa ranchera, which I could have licked clean. I definitely recommend this dish if you’re here for breakfast.

Our first time eating at Boca. The service was excellent, the drinks were excellent, the food was excellent. The Duck was very tasty. we will be back.

So far, so great! We have been there twice and both times were very pleased. The arugula salad is superbly fresh and tasty and will easily feed 3 people. We had a special shrimp appetizer that was grilled to perfection, as well as a very tasty ceviche.
The Black Oaxacan Mole Enchiladas were awesome and the grilled ribeye was perfectly done to a medium rare.
Like its sister Mela, this restaurant has a really nice atmosphere — low light ambiance makes it very warm and cozy.
Don’t be surprised if you show up and they are out something — that has happened both times to us. There is plenty more to choose from though.

Holy smokes. I know the menu changes all of the time, but I had a goat cheese risotto dish that made me want to be best friends with it. I also had a salad with fried garbanzo beans and a pomegranate dressing that sounded better on the menu than it actually tasted, but it was possibly my expectation differing from the actual. Still, I’d love to go back to try other dishes.
As other reviewers have said, the table spacing is very tight, but it didn’t bother us. It was cold the night we went, but the patio looked so inviting with the waterfall running along the perimeter, I almost considered dining there.
The service was good enough-​it definitely could have been a little better regarding beverage refreshment, but overall the girls dressed like less made up women in Robert Palmer’s «Addicted to Love» video were attentive.
The lack of dessert choices was a little disappointing. Apparently they get a few things from a local bakery each day, and they only had two things from which to choose, neither of which appealed to us.

The arugula salad appetizer with blue cheese and sugared walnuts was delicious. A free appetizer of small puffed pastries were provided with my salad. They were unremarkable despite the good quality of the pastry. I had the pompano pepper stuffed with wild mushrooms for the entrée. It was good, but somewhat bland. My server was excellent.

They have fantastic food. The dinner burger was a hit with my finicky roommate. He gave me a bite and it was the best burger I’ve had thus far.
I had the Korean BBQ tacos which weren’t bad. Even the salads are great. The jalapeño cornbread French toast was good but I was hoping to blown out of the water.
The menu is a little strange as there are so many different things going on. You have Mexi-​Cali most of the time and then add-​ons like their pomegranate green tea pancake and raw smoothies. Only the smoothies need some assistance.
I love the service. The manager comes around to chat. I can’t wait for warm weather and the patio to be used!

Try the Italian omelette or the tamales. The pancakes were good too.
I also have to add that I appreciate the owner purchasing some of the restaurant’s décor from other downtown stores (Terra Nostra, Shady Grove), as he does with Mela.