BOCA by Chef Maria Mazon — Restaurant in Tucson

We recently came in for an early dinner celebrating an 80th birthday. When making the online reservation and when I called to confirm patio seating I asked that the birthday “boy” receive a birthday greeting when we arrived. In the 7 stops we made on his day-long celebration BOCA was the only place that did not honor this request.

Overall, the service was slow and not particularly attentive. There weren’t any hard copy menus available so it was back to scanning the QR code to look at the menu which was not a bad thing given how filthy the hard copy drink menus were.

But on to the food…the plan was to order multiple rounds of apps, tacos, and entrees. We started with the chips and salsa sampler which was very good and Boca balls which were cold so no one took more than one bite. At that point we debated leaving, but we still were hungry so we each ordered a taco, thinking we’d do entrees once we tasted a variety of tacos. The tacos ranged from quite tasty to very bland. We were completely underwhelmed by our experience at that point so we just asked for the bill.

On the way out I asked to speak to a manager and Chef Maria came out to talk to me. She is obviously an innovative chef, but she very much lacks customer service skills. When I mentioned the birthday request she first interrupted me to say they don’t give free food and when I clarified we asked for a simple birthday greeting she said she was floored that we expected something like that and they were too busy for anything like that. I pointed out that the restaurant was less than half full indoors and we were one of two tables on the patio. I also mentioned that if something like a birthday greeting was beyond what her staff could handle then they should make it clear when a person requests it ahead of time. Tucson has so many fantastic restaurants with great food and warm hospitality. It would have been easy for us to choose another place for dinner.

Taking out of town guests here was a real disservice to them and to the...

I truly LOVE this super FABULOUS Eatery/Drinkery - & we ALL LOVE YOU Chef Maria! You've given us ALL such an ESSENTIAL sparkling facet of this dazzling diamond we all know as "Historic 4th Avenue." We Tucsonians simply ADORE our incomparable businesses here & we revel in their respective individuality & charm. Truth be told, I personally know that THIS is about as close as I'M ever going to get to Paradise ...

Which brings me to my point. There has been NO PIANO on the sidewalk in front of BOCA Tacos Y Tequila since 2019! I know, it was a "learning curve" of a year in 2020 for each & every one of us, but then came 2021, 2022, & 2023 and please ... THE PIANO MUST COME BACK! It's the ONLY thing that I've asked Santa for in the past FIVE YEARS!

Wasn't Covid-19 ENOUGH of an unwarranted punishment for us all by itself? Do you realize how many Friday & Saturday nights I was RIGHT HERE in 2020 & 2021 and ALL the businesses WERE CLOSED & NOT ONE PERSON was even on the whole street?!? It was Deadsville, daddy-oh, & SO, SO SAD & QUIET & what with NO PIANO MUSIC I swear, on the VERY WORST of those nights, even the SIDEWALKS & STREET SIGNS just flat out GAVE UP & broke down in TEARS! :-(

Speaking of which ...

It would seem as though SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE has an old upright or spinet they could find in themselves to CHARITABLY DONATE if need be that we could place out on the sidewalk there SOMETIME IN 2024 or 2025!?! Maybe come warmer weather?!? The cultural depth of "Historic 4th Avenue" would most definitely benefit from that and we'd all be enriched to our teeny tiny little tootsies!

Otherwise and IF NOT, the only song I'll be expecting to hear coming from the sidewalk outside is gonna end up sounding an awful lot like ...

"Taps."

Now WHO on 4th Avenue would have EVER DARED request THAT SONG after we all somehow just got done surviving Covid-19 TOGETHER?!?

Let's ALL LIVE and SOUND JUST AS ALIVE and as HAPPY to BE ALIVE as we EVER did!

Thanks...

The food was good, our server was great but getting seated was a nightmare! We went on a Tuesday night and when we walked in there were 2 other groups standing at the sign stating 'wait to be seated' and no hostess to be found. We waited 10 mins, and 3 other groups had walked in at this time, before being acknowledged, despite tables both inside and outside sitting empty. When our hostess finally did appear, she took one group outside and then told the next group they had a 5 min wait, then we were up and we got told it was going to be a 30 min wait. Heard really good things about the food so we waited outside in their lounge area. We were called 30 mins later only to be brought to an inside table, despite specifically requesting an outdoor one. When we requested to be seated outside we were met with a scoff and the now inconvenienced hostess telling us we now needed to wait longer. Mind you, the inside table she offered was still open from when first walked in the door 45 mins ago! We specifically waited for an outdoor table, and with their waiting lounge being outside, we could see there were plenty open tables since they have a large outdoor patio. While we are continuing to wait, I noticed that EVERY group that was waiting when we walked in, including those groups that came in after us were already seated and had food and drinks on their tables, meaning we were the only ones that had to wait. After an hour, AN HOUR, we finally got seated at an outdoor table that was also open the whole time we were waiting! Again, it wasn't busy! At least half the tables were open the whole time we were there!

I wish I could have said the food was worth the wait. It was good, don't get me wrong and again, our server was lovely, but there was no redemption from that absolutely unacceptable interaction with...