Boca Chica | Restaurante Mexicano y Cantina — Restaurant in Saint Paul

Boca Chica has been my family’s favorite restaurant since 2003. We visit for lunch/dinner at least once a month and have never once had an issue… until Tuesday. On Tuesday the 27th my family and I (a party of 6) decided to stop in for lunch at around 1:30. The lunch buffet was closing up so we ordered off of the regular lunch menu. We were greeted by Ginia H, (I only know her name because it was on the receipt). As soon as she arrived at the table we all felt that her tone was harsh and she seemed a bit annoyed. We shrugged it off until her second table visit. She arrived with our beverages and started reaching in front of people without warning. Regardless, we all thanked her as she set down each drink, no one received a response. As we continued to receive the cold shoulder a few people had a question about the menu. Her responses were short and immediately met with an annoyed “are you ready to order?” At this point we can all tell that we are in fact an inconvenience to her in some way, and that she did not want to be serving our table. So we all agreed to order. Normally I wouldn’t have let something like this bother me. But the main reason I am writing this is because of her demeanor towards my Cousin. My Cousin has a speech impediment. I will say it can be difficult for one to understand if you are not familiar with how he articulates his words. But as long as you ask him to repeat himself, he will slow down and you will understand him. After he stated his order Ginia responded, in an annoyed and frustrated tone , “I can’t-! I don’t understand….” At that point my Aunt (his mother) repeated the order for him. The exchange between the three of them couldn’t have taken more than 30 seconds. But Ginia stood there with her hip popped out, her glasses at the tip of her nose, and her head tilted down glaring at my Aunt as she tried to calmly help my Cousin through his order. With the look of an irritated first grade teacher, Ginia showed no compassion and flustered my cousin and made us all uncomfortable. We were not once offered refills on water/alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages/bottomless chips. The Wait Assistant was the only person we felt comfortable to ask for carafes of water, a refill of chips, and napkins. After the food was dropped off we received a “is everyone good?” followed by an abrupt departure before we could all confirm. For the duration of the meal she did not check on us once! We assumed that was just what her table service looked like; until we saw her laughing and joking around with the table next to us. It was at this point we fully realized that her attitude was unfortunately only directed towards us. I have been in the industry since i was 16 and my my Aunt (my cousin’s mother) has also been in the industry. We get it, she was probably having a long shift and we were probably her last table. I’ve been there! Regardless it is our job to provide attentive and friendly service to our guests. Unfortunately she did not do either of these things. I am upset that I have to write this review, especially about an establishment that holds a special pace in my heart. But not only did we deserve to be treated with more respect, my cousin did not deserve to feel flustered because our server was...

This place gets a 5 ALL DAY!!😎 Despite the fact that the place was packed, we still got a table upon walking in the door on a Friday evening. We did have a short wait before someone came to our table but it was faster than expected considering it was so crowded. Even then, our waitress apologized for the wait more than once. We started off with chips and salsa and a couple of house margaritas. I had not been here before and was not expecting much from a "house" margarita and was fully expecting to have to order at least a couple of them. I was wrong! The margarita was surprisingly strong and SMOOTH. Not with the bite that comes with most "house" drinks using cheaper alcohol. But the real star of the show was the food! I ordered tacos with rice and beans. One chicken, one beef, one pork. They came bare but came with the toppings on the side which was very nice since I could put on the amount that I wanted. Very nice👍I tried the chicken one first. I was not expecting the taste explosion that came! The chicken was tender and flavorful. No "chew chew" whatsoever. By far the best chicken taco I've ever had and it had a bit of spice to it to boost the flavor factor. The next one I tried was the pork. Once again, my expectations were exceeded as most pork tacos tend to be tender but somewhat flavorless and sometimes dry. This was not the case tonight. Very tender and full of flavor. I could even taste the fat in the meat. It was not drained off but used to help flavor the meat as it cooked. Finally it was time for the beef taco. This one also exceeded expectations as I was expecting ground or shredded beef. Nope! Cubed pieces made up this one and they were tender and juicy. Chipotle could learn a thing or two about tender. Although I was impressed with the tenderness of the steak at Chipotle, it was not in the same league as Boca Chica. I have found my new FAVORITE place for Mexican. My only regret? That I haven't given Boca Chica a...

I hate to write this review about a place with such amazing food, but felt it was necessary. My family and I have dined at this establishment for years celebrating special events, catching up, and just enjoying a great meal. Today was an incredibly “off” day. We entered the restaurant while the owner, or so appeared, opened mail and was talking about things that weren’t necessary for customers to hear. They looked at us, but did not acknowledge. After an awkward 5 minutes, we advised the hostess woman who also appeared to be an owner that we had 6 people. In the time we were waiting, two more parties entered (one with 3 people, the other with 4). She immediately goes “6?! Did you make a reservation?!” And we said “no, we didn’t, my apologies!” She asked the other groups how many people they had and after they commented their answers, she goes “and you all had to come in at once, what a pain in the butt” - she then says to us multiple times she has a reservation in a half hour for the same size party as us. She grabbed menus, told us to follow her, and then started slamming the menus onto the table as we sit. I said “if we’re an inconvenience, we’re happy to find another establishment to have lunch” and she said “no, I just need to make sure I keep everything straight so I don’t screw myself over” - another odd comment. By this time, we should have just left. There were at least 15 tables open, so her concern for the big reservation felt a bit outspoken and invalid. It took about 15 minutes to get waters, which sat empty at the table most of the time we were there. After a solid hour, we had our food and our waters refreshed. The food was wonderful, like it has been since we started dining here. It was likely just a bad day, but it was bad enough to leave a gross taste in all of our mouths, and we’ll likely not inconvenience them with future...