Boca Bar

So my fiancée and I went here for dinner last night because we’ve been meaning to try it out. We had reasonable expectations for it as there are a lot of good places to eat in Waltham and I have not been dissapointed with a single one in the last 3 years that I’ve lived there.
Boca broke that winning streak.
While this looks like a good place to go for drinks on a Friday night, there was nothing good about our food last night. The service was fine only because we were one of 2 tables that the waitress/​bartender had to attend to.
We ordered the jalapeño poppers and fried yucca to start — jalapeño poppers looked like they were made in house instead of out of a frozen bag but sadly they were totally flavorless. The fried yucca seemed fair (I admit I’m not a fried yucca connoisseur). As an entrée she got the breaded tilapia and I got the chicken enchiladas. The tilapia was as dry as sand and my enchilada literally smelled rotten. I’m really hoping they just had a bad night in the kitchen; either way, we’re not going back.
Thank god we had a groupon.

The food went down hill since they opened and the customer service is horrible. The workers were talking very loud and swearing in spanish.

The worst Latin food I have eaten in a loooonnnngggg time! Cold chicken wings, overcooked skewered flesh, tasteless fried yucca, and the rice is gross. Kitchen is clean and the staff is nice, but the floors into the kitchen and other areas are gross. Eve the fried cheese was poor/​dry over done… Service is slow, even when its empty. I really wanted to like it, but as a Latina myself, and home cook… Ewwwww… Some of the flavors and textures would make their grandmas want to slap these boys! Sorry! Cheap though!

Such good food. We had Chile relleno and casado dishes… all I have to say is it was the
. its tasty, prompt and large portion sizes. The drinks are also worth the money!
Also, with each drink you buy you get ½ an app for free!!!

I was pleasantly surprised by Boca this weekend. I found out about the restaurant through Groupon, and I wasn’t expecting much based on the website. However, I found the atmosphere to be extremely pleasant and a little funky. I was starving, so I was relieved when the wait staff promptly brought over a plate of chips and fresh salsa before we even ordered our drinks. Our waitress was very warm and friendly. My date and I both ordered the Casada, which was delicious. It was a plate comprised of fried egg, plaintain, chicken with onion, pork belly, pork rind, rice and what I believed was a black bean sauce. Not a light meal by any stretch of the imagination, but very satisfying. My Dark and Stormy was huge and only $ 7.
Overall the food was hearty and tasty, the staff was friendly, and the price was right at this homey restaurant.

Some places are great if you know what to get and terrible if you don’t. I haven’t eaten the whole menu yet, but it’s possible that this is one of those places.
The stuff that they do well, they do really well:
* Costa Rican ceviche. This is different from other styles in that the citrus isn’t so strong that your face gets sucked in, and it’s also much more wet. If you’re looking for a vaguely citrusy seafood medley, this is not for you. If you like Costa Rican ceviche, this is great.
* Plantains. A staple of Central and South American food, these are available in a few different styles and they’re all great.
* Tacos. They’re not Mexican tacos, they’re better.
* Beers. Plenty of easy to drink beverages available.
* Margaritas.
* Large portions
Things they don’t do so well:
* Plating. Sometimes the portions are too big for the plate.
* Chicharrones aren’t so great.
Things to know:
* It can get busy during soccer games
* They have a dangerously good happy hour that lasts all night and includes free food with every drink.
* If you like to go out in order to be seen, this isn’t the place for you.

Food was pretty good — the portions were decent. Overall, not a place that I would go to again.

I have been to the Embassy across the street for years, but just made it to Boca the other day. Thankfully, I haven’t been missing much. I arrived to meet a friend at about 7:00 and took at seat. The bartender came over to take my order promptly. I decided to go with a large house margarita. At $ 10, the drink was extremely weak; it tasted like a pre-​mix margarita and had hardly any alcohol. When my friend arrived, we ordered some food, which came out quickly. Almost all of items we ordered were just okay, save the chicharron, which was lovely. My friend, who has worked in the restaurant business, complained that the deep fryer needed to be cleaned or the oil changed. Another table nearby requested some hot sauce, but the restaurant was out. All told, this place has expensive weak drinks and totally ordinary food; you can do better in the Moody St. area.

Outstanding Overall Friday Evening Dining Enjoyment.
Reasonable Menu Pricing.
Excellent Attentive Service.
Superbly Tasty Food.
Great Presentation.
More than Ample Portions.
Tastefully Decorated.
Easily Available On Street Parking.
Moderate Colorful & Attractive Specialty Cocktails.
Interesting and Mouth-​Watering Desserts.
Completely Satisfying Dining Experience.

If 0 was an option, that would be my score. What a TERRIBLE restaurant. While we were sitting there waiting for the waitress to come, my wife and I observed that the restaurant looked like a good candidate for Kitchen Nightmares or similar reality TV fare. We ordered an empanada as an appetizer, and enchiladas and chile relleno as main course. The waitress brought out everything at once. Oops. The empanada was clearly frozen and had been sitting in too much grease. Soggy and disgusting. The main courses were each served with a horrifying cup of black beans, complete with dried beans all around the edge of the cup. When they were served was a mystery, but it was a long time before we ordered. The were disturbingly sweet and generally disgusting. The entrees were okay at best, but way too greasy.
The service was okay and clearly the waitress was trying, but she was the only one on the floor, and doing everything, including mixing drinks at the bar. The owner was hanging around, alternately smoking outside on the street and drinking at the bar. Not exactly the classiest.
There are so many better options on and around Moody Street. Don’t waste your time or money here. If you want something Central/​South American, go across the bridge to Taqueria Mexico. You’ll be glad you did.

My friend and I needed a place for some grub on a Friday night, so we decided on Boca. It was definitely a townie bar, with the after-​work crowd slapping each other on the back as they said their hello’s. This is usually OK, except when it actually affects the service you’re getting. Our waitress was nice, but kept socializaing with «the townies» and not paying much attention to us. We finally got our drinks (skinny girl martini and mojito), but they were really subpar and small– not much alcohol either. We did manage to get another helping of chips and salsa while we waited for our entrees. Friend got chicken and rice, which honestly didn’t look that appetizing; it was a weird orange-​y color but my friend ate it. I got ‘mexican tacoes’, which was basically four tortillas (they doubled up the tortillas– 2 per taco) with beef, about 3 tiny pieces of tomato and day-​old guacamole. The tortillas were corn and tasted like cardboard and the beef was pitch black and not really recognizable as beef. The dish didn’t come with any sides (whereas all the other dishes did), so I ordered french fries which were surprisingly good. The next day, I also had some tummy issues, which seems to be the norm after reading some of the reviews from this place. It wasn’t even that busy, which was surprising because there was a Bruins play-​off game starting at 8pm.
Even though this place flaunts authentic costa rican cuisine, I think they’re really missing the mark with this place… Or maybe I’m just spoiled because I recently got back from South America. :-P

We were out looking for a place to watch the Bruins win the Stanley Cup (YEAH BRUINS!!!). We were planning on going to Margarita’s but the lounge area was all full so we went walking up Moody Street. Boca Bar was the first place with satisfactory TVs (6 of them about 2 feet apart throughout the whole room… it’s a small room).
The vibe was cool, the whole street-​side wall was an open window. The service and food, however, were mediocre. Although the waitress was incredibly sweet, she was overwhelmed as the only bartender and our server and was just unable to provide adequate service. The food isn’t cheap but isn’t expensive either and you get a free mini appetizer (3 jalepeno poppers; 1 taco; etc) with any mixed drink purchase until 10pm. I always like chips or something free to snack on while you wait, especially when we waited for so long for drinks, food, etc, but we were given nothing. It was also unsatisfying to watch a table of 6 patrons be given free shots when they were just drinking beer and we were given nothing on the house when we were eating meals and drinking mixed drinks.
They were out of a lot of things. 3 olives chocolate, baileys, queso frito, etc but they improvised and it was okay. The ceviche wasn’t impressive, too heavy on the cilantro. The guacamole was good. Freshly made, very flavorful and not too complicated. Just my kind of guac.
The nachos were shredded romaine, some tomatoes, a small amount of mashed up black beans, a glob of guac, a glob of very watery sour cream, and a VERY small amount of cheese. I mean like, maybe one or two chips had cheese on them. There’s no excuse for weak nachos.
All in all, I would go back for drinks and apps for a fun night but I wouldn’t go there for dinner again.
They have a live DJ Thu, Fri, Sat from 9pm to 12am.
I feel back knockin them. I enjoyed my time there but the food was no bueno.

This place is terrible! Some friends and I went there a couple weeks ago (because they had a groupon) and there was one guy working the bar and about 4 tables of people (apparently his waitress called in sick). He was frantic and understandably behind on taking orders and delivering drinks etc. I felt bad for him. When he finally did get around to taking our order, they were out of more things on the menu that they had in stock. We couldn’t even spend $ 30 between 4 of us because there wasn’t any food in the place. My friend had an extra groupon which they gave to use because they wouldn’t be able to use it in time before it expired.
My gf and I waited to use it (we were in no rush after the last time) and finally decided to go back and use it last night. When we got there, there was the bartender outside smoking a cigarette. We were nervous to go in. Once again the guy was alone and again they were out of a lot of food. They didn’t even have guacamole. Can you imagine a Mexican style restaurant without guacamole? I mean there is a huge ethnic market right up the street… they could have walked 5 mins and got some. The salsa was way too watery (it wouldn’t even stay on the chip) and the fried plantain patties we got as an appetizer tasted like they were cooked the day before or longer. I never had something so bland and dry. I ordered a chicken quesadilla which actually wasn’t bad but the rice was super sticky and hard (I had one bite) and the beans were in a teeny tiny little bowl (I swear it help no more than 10 beans). The salad consisted of lettuce with the same watery salsa on top.
Eventually a waitress showed up (but by this time we were the only people in the place) and she went right int he bathroom. When she came out she started wrapping silverware in napkins and my gf saw her take her hand and push down all the straws into the holder at the bar with her bare hand. The straws are the open kind not the ones wrapped in paper so I hope she washed her hands when she was in the bathroom.
When we were finished and wanted to pay our tab, we couldn’t find the bartender /​waiter because he was outside smoking. He didn’t take a couple puffs either; he took his time and smoked the whole thing. Oh and his shirt looked like he hadn’t washed it in weeks.
I will never ever ever go back to this dump.

I’d rather rate this place 2.5 stars but I’ll round up for drinks.
Service was not exceptional but I didn’t have the complaints that others did about slow service. Maybe I wasn’t in a hurry? The atmosphere is nice but maybe a bit stark, and the music was up a bit high for having dinner…
The drinks were great. Had a high end margarita which was plenty strong and tasted good… maybe not wildly authentic but not «frozen crap from a bag» either. They have a surprisingly great beer list– presidente on tap and a few other central/​south american beers in bottles. You don’t usually see beers like that on tap nor even available.
I think the big/​only let down was the food. I see others’ reviews of the salsa as being bland and not spicy… but I thought it was great. Very subtle with a hint of sweetness. Not all salsa has to blow your palette out to be good. We each ordered an entrée, arroz con pollo for my friend and chile relleno for me. Both were really disappointing. His was two scoops of rice with tiny chunks of chicken inside. Mine was a pepper «cap» with rice and ground meat inside. It was a bit greasy but otherwise good… the problem was that both were tiny! I wasn’t expecting a ton of food but the menu shows a pretty big, full plate. The small amount of refried beans I did get were not very good, but the rice was fine.
Basically, I’d come here for some presidentes and probably grab an app or two, but I don’t think I’d come for dinner specifically, unless I was having two apps and an entrée myself… tiny!

I had only ever been to Boca Bar for the weekly kickball post-​game celebrations until this week when my wife and I decided to have dinner there. The staff was very accomodating, from the waitress to the owner, personally checking on every table and seeming to know everyone by name. It was must more laid back than during the summer kickball season (Thursday nights) when it can be quite busy with drinks flowing and music from their DJ.
We were also very, very pleased with our meals. Usually after a game I’m fine with some chips and beer, but this time we ordered two very tasty entrée’s. I had the grilled tilapia which came with yucca, rice and of course — plantains. The plantains are done to perfection and fortunately come as a side on nearly every plate, or just as an appetizer.
Another good thing was the new specials they had. You can’t go wrong with a free appetizer with the purchase of a drink (before 10 pm). There was also a new late night menu (after 10 pm) which featured usual bar grub like burgers, fries, wings — but brilliantly also included an egg and cheese sandwich, also available to go. The late night menu prices were a really good deal and I know I’ll be driving home with a few egg and cheeses this summer during kickball.

I’ve had some great food from other Costa Rican places and high hopes for Boca. Was mostly average. The chips and salsa were different. The salsa was very watery and quite sweet but I appreciate the effort in trying something new. The bisteak encebollado didn’t have too much flavor aside from the caramelized onions. The rice and beans that came with it was pretty good and the yucca was completely flavorless. The fried plantains was great though. For $ 13, it was a good value but average meal. I also got a delicious mango shake. She got pretty defensive when I mentioned to the waitress it was listed at $ 3 on the menu but was charged $ 4. I didn’t care about the dollar just thought it would be worthy to correct.

I’m giving Boca 2 stars for food but 2.5 stars overall.
The atmosphere is lively, with mexican music playing loudly (kinda fun), and the waitress (a new employee) was very nice. She also mixed a very good margarita, although it was somewhat pricey compared to everything else. She was the only staff serving, so she was busy.
The food was marginal, and they seemed to be out of a number of things. I had some chicken and beef grilled (sort of) on skewers. The chicken was overdone, but the beef was done to death. My wife had some kind of cheese stuffed thing, which was OK, as were the fries (!) that came with it. Prices were reasonable. Some the items others people ordered looked better — perhaps we made poor choices.
Parking is available across the street behind the theatre. Not a bad place if you want to sit with friends, have a drink and nibble.

It was getting late on a Sunday night and we were in the mood for something different than our normal stops so we headed into Boca Bar. We stood around for a few minutes until the bartender finally yelled that we could take a seat. Thats when we realized that basically there was just one girl working the floor… server, bartender, hostess, everything. She wasn’t necessarily speedy the rest of the night but she did the best she could for just one person working.
I spent most of the night making fun of the décor (the volcano and weird awnings were a bit much), but the food was good and the price was right.
If they could speed up the service I would definitely add a star!

Friendly service.. .check.
Good beer.. . check.
Reasonable prices.. .check.
I will come back to Boca Bar in Waltham. If you go please get the Boca Beer, their own brew. It’s wonderful!

Me and the boys in the band come here for stomach-​grinding eats before we play at the Skellig across the street.
They serve a killer huge beef empanada, (actually 2 on the plate) with a crispy shell, a spicy remoulade sauce, and tons of fresh shredded beef.
The sampler platter for two contains all manner of fried deliciousness: plantains, fish, chicken, all crisped up and served with their signature black bean sauce.
For a true kick in the teeth, ask for the special cup of spicy mix — it’s a little ramikin of cauliflower, onion and pickle, and it will clear your sinuses in 4.2 seconds.
Prices are VERY reasonable. The whole place is done up in a kitschy bamboo theme, and despite being small, the seating is nice — a few regular tables, a few low coffee table type lounge setups, and plenty of flat screens for seeing any game you want to watch.
Good homestyle central/​south american cuisine in Waltham.