Bocca Coal Fired Bistro

Food was amazing!!! Service was super!!! Our table had the fried mac and cheese wedges, hot wings, asparagus, mashed potatoes, salad and the soup of the day (Italian wedding) ravioli florentine, 2 linguine in red sauce and meatballs. For dessert the brownie w/​ice cream and the 2, funnel cake fries… yum yum yum!!!

Enjoyed the outdoor dining and drinks!
Now that the city has chipped in with new pavers lighting and trees this end of town is really starting to flourish! Have been to Bocca several times and have never been disappointed. A place with a neighborhood feel that welcomes and makes newcomers feel like regulars! Extremely family-​friendly !

Great menu and great food. Delicious pizza. Coal oven. Delivered just as ordered.
Homemade veggie burger with fries, Greek tzatziki sauce and nice roll. Also delicious. Highly recommended

The Wednesday bartender is a complete idiot. He shouldn’t be on by himself. Took him 10 min to look over his readers to say hi then another 5 minutes to ask us what we needed. I tried to ask for lemon vodka. He was so rude shook his head said no then walked away!!! Did I say something wrong??? My husband looked at me and said were leaving and never coming back.
I for once couldn’t of agreed more!
Been there before food was good. Service means more to me than good food. I live in Margate and can get great food all over From Long port to Ac. You need a better staff. If your bartender can’t handle a full bar with a little politeness he shouldn’t be there!

Everything is awesome every time I go to Bocca. How com all the reviews I see are from 2014 and 2013 weird huh

Enjoyed a great pizza and mussels in a fra Diablo sauce with great service too. Good place for a cold winter night.

Have been here 2 times now and food was amazing (chicken rabe sandwich, eggplant parmigiana, macaroni & cheese bites). Server was the same both times and beyond professional. Will be back again and again.

Eh. If you can’t get a reservation anywhere good then the food is edible. The service is pretty lame. Hostess barely said hello. Our waitress couldn’t even fake a smile. One of our kid’s meals came ten minutes after everyone else finished. Kid’s pizza sucks! We practically had to beg for the check at the end of dinner. (Don’t they want to get paid?) Not sure how clean the place is… soap dispenser in men’s room broken.

What a wonderful experience! Even though we were gabbing with friends the waitress was willing to wait until we were ready… Never felt rushed! Friendly service and great food. The restaurant was clean and the décor was nice. Everything was fresh, and service was fast!

I loved the food and ambiance! Modern, warm, busy bar area. Entered around 7 on a Thursday and got a booth immediately for four. Service was slow and lacked thought. We would get a new drink and the old empty glass remained on the table. Empty app plates were not cleared, so my boyfriend and I used them to share our entrée. Pizza– stunning. Short rib entrée– delicious! I have never had short rib served as a «steak», but it was amazing.

Had my 2 grandchildren their parents my wife and I for dinner yesterday.
2 Pizzas, 2green salads 1 order long hots 1pasta dish and 1 club soda $ 73.96
Unfortunately this is not eating it is feeding. Pizza dough was tasteless the toppings flavorless as is the rest of the food. Can you ruin a green salad? Yes you can at Boca when you drench it in dressing and cut the green salad in 3″ strips.
This is the second and last time there. The only true redeeming feature is the serving staff. They are excellent.

We stopped by Bocca on Thursday night because we were told that they had a great happy hour. We ordered three items to include the muscles in red sauce after the bartender convinced my sister that they were very good and not too big. We also ordered the grilled Caesar and the Thai shrimp. The Grilled Caesar was not bad and the shrimp were mediocre but the muscles were large chewy and sandy. This happens so we understand and asked that they be returned. There was a shift in bartenders and we had already paid for our food and drinks to include the Muscles.
The owner came out and made some apologize and that was appreciated. Where the experience started to go south was with the new bartender. We had tried to get his attention right before 6:00 for one more round of happy hour wine, and when he finally stopped over at 6:01, he said sorry it wasn’t happy hour anymore. I said really? He said yes isn’t 11:00 to 6:00 long enough? I said, I have only been here for 45 minutes but whatever. He then gave us our bill, after we ordered the Scallops as a replacement meal for the Muscles (which was quite a bit more but pretty tasty), and there was not a reduction for the Muscles we had ordered and sent back. When we asked him about it, he grabbed the bill rudely out of my sister’s hand. Went to the register and came back and threw the bill saying, we didn’t charge you in the first place. We then explained that we had already paid it when the bartender was switching shifts. He finally resigned to removing the cost but had a major attitude. Its so disappointing as we were hoping to enjoy this neighborhood bar and grille, but we were left with a bad taste in our mouth.

it was a busy night, and I can understand the hectic environment our waiter was dealing with, but it took entirely too long to get some attention. The Manager did help out with getting our drinks but still I wish we didn’t have to wait 20 minutes to place our order.
Pizza: Coal Fired pizza with grilled veggies. Crust was bland, not charred and way too thick. Oily and rubbery. Tasted nothing like a coal oven.
salmon salad: Decent chunk of salmon with salty toppings and wilted lettuce. Edible but not great
Coal fired wings: Good sauce, but again didn’t get that smokey charred taste I love and expect from an establishment with «coal» in its name.
Pizza, salad, wings 3 draft beers with tip and tax was 75 dollars for 2 people. Overpriced and underwhelmed. Won’t return.

Ok so the meals are absolutely phenomenal! My blackened salmon with crab meat over mashed potatoes and asparagus was by far one of the best meals I’ve had in my LIFE! No joke haha. The portion was pretty good.
The atmosphere is dim and there was a live band playing so it was a bit loud near the bar but they have a separate room that was probably more quiet. We only had to wait about 5 minutes which is great considering it’s Friday night on Fourth of July weekend. The people I was with enjoyed their meals as well but i think my salmon was a hit with everyone! The waitress was on top of her game even though the place was packed.

The menu looked amazing! Ordered delivery from here last weekend but I thought it was awful. The pizza had a crust that wasn’t thin, and it wasn’t thick. Just an odd in between. The sauce was super salty. This may have honestly been the first pizza that I couldn’t even finish a single slice. I also ordered the pillow pockets which had that same terrible overly salty sauce. The only item I thought was bearable was the macaroni and cheese bites. Very disappointing.

Stopped in for an early dinner. We were seated promptly, but left for far too long (over 5 minutes, only one other party in the room) before our waitress came to ask for drinks, etc. When she came, she said we’d have 2! When it rains it pours.
I ordered shrimp, broccoli scampi, husband ordered scallop appetizer as a dinner. Both came with a salad, very good. My entrée was done quite well, could have used more than 3 pcs of broccoli, but plenty of shrimp. Husband’s was also very good, done perfectly.
So, the issue became, from not being acknowledged by our waitress on time, then being told we had two (who both provided good service), to we were asked by anyone who passed our table if the entrees were good, everything ok, do we need anything else. Overkill and annoying.
Other than that and a tad too expensive for two dinners, no dessert or drinks $ 50, at a pizza place. Well, at least we have another meal. It was good and enough for a doggy bag.

Love Boca. Always consistent and very friendly staff. I take my mother each week and she loves the bartenders. The pizzas are great and the pasta dishes very generous .
The steaks are ok but I’m not a big steak lover. Happy hour is all day!!!

Wow, 5 stars, five solid, shiny stars. I dine out often, and this was the best meal I have had out in about 3 months or so. First of all, the place is amazing. This was a very, very positive experience driven event. It is clean, hip and exciting. The greeter was very happy to see us and actively engaged us as she showed us to our table. It was legitimate, not forced, she was happy we had arrived, and guess what, I never met her before.
The waiter, and this is my second visit to this place, was awesome. Anthony is his name, ask for him. He is from South Philly originally and is a true team player at the restaurant. I learned this as the last time I was in, last January, I remember him mentioning that he was soon going to the Keys. Turns out he never went because they had some turn over at Bocca and he thought it best to postpone as a favor to the owner. The owner and I don’t know his name or him for that matter, but apparently is a man for all seasons. Anthony told us that the owner and his son have always been good to him and his family, so when he was asked to stay and help out, there was never a question of what he had to do. The ownership apparently helps out the community, buys locally when possible and is genuinely just a nice guy.
So in further conversations with Anthony, our server, he actually remembered some details of my last visit. I was there with 8 guys, in January, almost a year ago. He remembered where we sat once I said what we ordered, which was the flank steak. That is customer service, that is something beyond what a normal, everyday business and its employees would do or remember. So shout outs to Anthony. Ask for this gentleman by name, and tip well. This guy deserves it. He watches his customers; they typically don’t need to get his attention as he just shows up.
So, here is the only thing I could find that needed a little attention. It was a cold and rainy night, and something is wrong with a single light circuit in the bar area. Apparently it sometimes flickers in extreme weather, and their electricians can’t figure it out. So, if it starts to flicker, ask them to turn off those lights, there is still plenty of light in the bar. HERE IS THE FUNNY THING: Anthony brought the flicker and the story to our attention and offered the solution. (I really did not notice the flicker, but he was concerned that it might interfere with our experience.) Wow.
Also, cleanliness, there was an MOD on the floor that noticed some dust, yes this is completely true, there was some dust on the top of one of the booths. It was well above my line of sight. He had the busser clean the tops of the booths as soon as the customers left them. This place is clean. No one stops to clean a booth during diner, on that level, but these guys did, and they did it quick, and apparently very well, because the MOD checked the tops of the booth and gave a thumbs up.
Ok, so, this is cool. The pizza is coal fired, really neat how the process is done. They have Guinness on tap, that is another great reason to go here. It is also the reason why I do not remember all of the details of their coal fired ovens. I digress. Ok, the salmon, amazing. Simply amazing. If it was not freshly caught they have figured out a way to make frozen salmon taste fresh. Definitely worth a try.
Flank Steak-​this is the go to. I had dinner with 8 guys previously, last January. So six of those guys were associated with the cattle industry and the beef buying market. They eat a lot of beef. The entire table ordered the Flank Steak. All 8 said it was a solid meal, and done really well. I sent a friend and her boy toy to Bocca for diner in May; both got the Flank steak and said it was phenomenal. Finally, I ordered the flank steak, again, so 11 times, 11 times this dish was ordered and not one person had anything but solid reviews for the meal. It is safe to say, the Flank Steak is something worth ordering, just do it.
I had nothing left for desert this time, but if they still had Key Lime Pie available, I would have taken it home with me. Last time I was there, it was worthy of similar accolades.
So 5 stars, go here, eat drink and create memories and enjoy life.

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My second visit to Bocca was just as mediocre as the first. It’s good, just not anything to RAVE about in my opinion. The coal fired pizza is probably the best option on the menu here. The menu is huge though, so you can pretty much get anything from Italian to a burger to a big filling salad, which is what I had last night.
Our waitress recommended the Chopped salad so I went for it. It was massive. It was filled with great meats and cheeses and the balsamic on top was excellent.
The bottles of wine are very reasonably priced and they have happy hour 7 days a week which is cool.
Last night was a Friday and there was live music which was nice. It strangely only lasted for an hour or even less. The restaurant is big, and was packed at 9pm on a Friday night, so unless you’re a party of 2 or 3 I’d suggest a reservation!

Went tonight with my family, same people as four months ago, and my experience was a million times better.
Great seat with plenty of room for all. Waiter, Anthony, was maybe the best waiter I have ever had anywhere. He anticipated our needs for our 20 month old, and was obviously always paying attention and attentive but didn’t feel like he was hovering.
I had the margate breeze (I think that’s what it w), delicious! Husband and I shared the special crabby eggplant. It was definitely different… Basically eggplant rollatine with cold crab meat on top… Like I said, interesting. The French onion soup was very good, but surprisingly a bit spicy (though not bad). And, the special, steak Marsala, done with sun dried tomatoes. It was delish.
My husband enjoyed his Mahi Mahi and minestrone, my daughter hobbled up her chicken fingers and French fries. My FIL enjoyed his veal parm as usual and my MIL enjoyed her veggie platter, also as per usual.
Tonight totally changed my opinion on Bocca and we will likely be back… and enthusiastic about the return.