Fun drinks here but definitely slow service. My friend and I came here during lunch time and sat at the bar. For whatever reason the bartender took way too long to even acknowledge we were there. Then we ordered and that was about the last time we heard from her other than receiving the bill. read more

Boca - New American Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

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I've been here couple times here for food and drinks but today was such a disappointment. I came here for a birthday brunch which was noted in a reservation. My friend and her kids arrived before me so I was looking for them when I got to the restaurant. There was no host and no one was helping me to find me to get to the table for a while. Also, our server took really long time to get to our table without greetings, he didn't explain any menus or specials. Our food took long time and he said the kitchen messed up my order and had to remake it, which was fine, but when I received the food, it was already cold as if it was sitting on the shelf for a while. He never came back to see if our food was okay or if we need anything. I get it was full busy restaurant but he could've at least checked his own table, because he came back so fast was to get our check, not even 5 min. Don't think I will be back. read more

Had reservations for oct 26. We were told they were running late. When we arrived they were 1/2 empty with servers seemingly struggling to keep up- bar was understaffed for the amount of tables/guests. It took 10 minutes for our server to come over and greet us. We were ready to order she was stressed as could be. Food came out- I was so excited for the poke bowl- well it's poor quality frozen tuna. Terrible texture and lacking sauce and everything was flavorless. Somehow the cucumber had no flavor. Thankfully they doused tomatoes in some soy sauce. Our server was inattentive, though apologetic for the obvious issues in her service, she may have been new or double sat. Either way, brunch here is wonderful dinner is a disaster. read more

Came here with my wife for Sunday Brunch today (mid-April). Let's start with the positiive: Boca has a cool vibe. Tables are placed upstairs and down - and outside along the street. The bar looks comfortable and a great place to spend some quality time while downtown Sarasota walks and drives by. The menu is extensive for both food and drink. My wife ordered the Crab Eggs Benedict and I had the "Knife and fork" breakfast, open faced sandwish. Both were quite good. I tasted a bite of my wife's Benedict (I am her garbage disposal) and it was perfect. I ordered fried green tomatoes as an app, but it never came. Now for bad, dear reader, and I'll get to the point: the service was way sub-par. I will not call out my server by name, but it was clear to us that our high top table next to (but not in) the bar was in a server's no man's land. We started with Bloodys and chased them with coffee. The coffee presses came somewhat timely but the drinks took a while. I guess they prefer that you order their "Bottomless Mimosas" and when you don't....um...oh well! Our server seemed sweet and cheerful enough at first intro. Then after we ordered, she disappeared. I mean.....gonzo. She chatted up her tables that were street- side and only bothered to check on us when our food was almost eaten. Note to management: How you direct or manage the workload of your servers is your problem. Please don't make it mine. My waitress did her best to hide it, but my 18% tip was met with a forced smile and thanks. I forced a smile and thanks in return. Will I come back? Maybe. The food, vibe and menu are really cool. Then again....as each year passes in Sarasota, so too, are a number of other establishments in downtown and surrouding areas competing for my business. To be clear, I am not trying to be snarky with this review, but simply straightforward and honest. read more

Stoped in and Sat at the bar for just a few glasses of wine! Great bartenders and very attentive. Super selection of wine and we found one particular Italian wine that we went back the next night to grab another glass! Next time we visit it will be on our list! read more

Super cool place to have a late dinner. As you probably already know... most restaurants close early around town. So we found this place on Yelp and gave it a try. The restaurant is decorated nicely... modern yet inviting. Nice art work on the walls. Full bar center if the restaurant and the bar wraps around. Once we were seated... our waiter was very diligent and brought waters and menu quickly. He recommended a great local IPA and some wine for the wife. We had the Kale ceasar salad which was very good. The dressing was excellent. Main courses were just as good... I had their OMG burger cooked to a perfect medium and the best dish was the scallops and clams with like a smoked pancetta all on a bed of spaghetti squash. A really good dish. Definitely a place I would recommend trying. read more

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I love Boca. It definitely used to be 5 stars but over the last year or so they have made their portions smaller (especially happy hour) and their prices higher. I know that's how inflation works that why they still get 4 stars. Good place and will continue to go for special occasions! read more

Short staffed. Awful food. I had their meat loaf. It was the size of a slice of white bread topped with some cold gray liquid that was supposed to be gravy. Meat loaf was the consistency of pate. We went there because food was described as locally sourced and fresh. Not so. Awful. read more

The food was amazing. I'm not used to gnats and roaches. It's not a big deal, place right on the street- I get it. Yeah, no for me. Sorry.

The place had a lovely ambience in a nice walkable district. Enjoyed the environment & the food was very pretty hence the two stars. However the avocado toast was prepared on inedible stale bread and the avocado was a bland avocado mixture. We both ordered bottomless mimosas but service was slow so we should have gone with singles instead. Ended up grabbing drinks and a bite to eat elsewhere after. Overall, I was looking forward to enjoying this place but it was a let down and not my personal recommendation if you're looking for a reliable mimosa brunch. read more

Boca - Chicken and waffles & an avocado toast with a mimosa - New American Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

We went for my birthday dinner. The food and drinks were delicious and service was great! read more

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You can improve service we have tried to walk in twice and both times greeting was completely rude won't seat us at a table we wanted and gave us a hard time ! we left and went elsewhere will not try again read more

Sat outside and it was perfect. Really liked their weekend brunch. Would definitely go back.

Awful food. The water tasted worse than the public water we had before, which says a lot. All the food was super salty, and waiter was passive aggressive despite our kindness. All in all bad experience, wish we went somewhere different, worst meal of the whole trip read more

We wanted to go to a special place for Valentine's Day and Boca did not disappoint. We had a reservation and were immediately greeted when we walked in by the assistant manager, Bill (who also visited our table while we were dining), and were seated right away by the very nice hostess. We sat outside (the inside is a little cramped and dark). Liked the vibe. Even though it's by the street, there's not too much traffic and it's fun for people-watching and expensive car watching. Our server, Kevin, was good fun and fairly attentive considering how busy the restaurant was. My husband and I both opted for the Yellowfin Tuna Poke Bowl - wow - awesome - so fresh, lots of big chunks of tuna and all the ingredients went perfectly together. Perfect portion, too. Loved the black rice. My only suggestion for the chef would be to add just a little more wasabi to the sauce to give it a bit more zing. Since we were there at Happy Hour, I wish we would have ordered the Ahi Tuna Crisps in Wonton shells, as the table next to us had them and they looked delicious. So did the flatbread. Next time. We shared a cappuccino (yum!) and the most wonderful coconut panna cotta for dessert. It was as tasty as it was pretty. Great presentation. A wonderful experience. We will be back! read more

Boca - Yellowfin Tuna Poke Bowl - New American Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

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We tried Boca twice now and do not recommend it. The drinks are not very good at all.. My chicken Milanese was too heavily breaded and over cooked that I could barely get a knife through it. Very noisy too. The service was good. read more

Update: appreciate the offer to get in touch personally, Melissa, but I emailed you twice and got no response. Consistent with all points originally noted. Dinner for 4 was unfortunately a very disappointing experience. I emailed the restaurant directly to share feedback but never heard back from them so I'll share it online. Boca has a nice vibe and interesting menu, so we looked forward to trying it but food and service were disappointing. It took us 2 hours to get appetizers and entrees - apparently there was a large party that threw the kitchen off. Server was apologetic but couldn't help the situation. The raw tuna crisps had to be sent back because the fish was off. Brussels sprouts were good, flatbread and zucchini fries were ok. Short ribs came on top of polenta that was WAY too salty to eat (clearly no one tasted before sending out) and oil pooled on top. Salmon was good. A waste of $300 for dinner and wine for 4. read more

Boca - Short ribs with an oil float, extremely salty polenta - New American Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

The food is AMAZING. So delicious and flavorful. Also the service is great and dog and kid friendly. 10/10 read more

Boca - Rib eye - New American Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

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Boca was just ok for me. The fries probably stood out the most next to the flavorful lobster bisque. The oysters were just too cheesy in my opinion so the flavor wasn't there. The tots were just weird, not sure if they have vegetables in them or what, my husband ordered them and I didn't read the description on the menu. The service was good. When vacationing here again, not sure if I would dine again. read more

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The look of the restaurant was very nice. We ordered the seafood pasta, the omg burger and a salad. The seafood pasta was very lemony, but the presentation was nice. The lobster and mussel wasn't that great. I don't think the $31 was worth it. The omg burger was pretty good. The salad was okay as well. Service was okay. The waiter was friendly but the food took a while to come. Along with that, we had to wait a bit to give the check. Overall this experience was okay, but not entirely sure if I will be coming back. read more

Worst dining experience in Sarasota. First of all we were presented the wrong bottle of wine not once but twice. I understand a rookie server but would like one that is not illiterate.The scallop entree was drowning in hot sauce which made it impossible to eat. ( are they trying to hide bad seafood?) After commenting to a manager he acted like it would be corrected but he never returned. We will never return either. Would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. read more

Had a nice afternoon brunch here. The eggs Benedict was very good but I didn't like the cooked spinach on the English muffin below the egg. It was extremely mushy and looked way over cooked and slimy. My friend enjoyed her salad with steak. The drinks were tasty and the bartender was very nice and helpful he got our orders right and was efficient. The one thing that bothered me was when you walk to the rest room there's only 2 of them so you're standing their waiting up against the plates and silverware. Someone can easily sneeze all over them, touch them, lean on them when their elbows against where they are. This is not a good spot for silverware and plates kinda gross it's right next to the bathroom . read more

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March 2 - not as busy as I expected. Sat upstairs. View is great. Jeff was wonderful - attentive and professional. Tuna Poke Bowl was delicious. Fig In Good Time was tasty drink. Would recommend. Ask for Jeff. read more

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Our second visit to Boca, our first since the pandemic, was mildly disappointing. The choices on the menu and the quality of the food was fine, but service lagged markedly despite a reservation and the restaurant being not very full. Our cheerful waitress apologized profusely on each of her infrequent visits to our table; she knew. The takeaway? Inadequate staffing. And since our drinks came really late too and or orders were taken really late, inadequate wait-staff. Maybe Boca should not accept reservations that exceed its staffing capacity. Its a shame, because otherwise its a fine restaurant. read more

Even though Boca has a very eclectic menu, everything was just amazing! We tried the zucchini fries, smoked fish dip, and another item I can't remember. They were all very tasty. The zucchini fries were crispy and hot, and the smoked fish came with some pickled vegetables that added an extra level of flavor to the experience. I ordered the "staff meal," which is different every day and basically chef's choice. They asked if I wanted to know what it would be, but I opted to be surprised. I was definitely surprised when a plateful of creamy, white grits topped with the biggest shrimp I'd ever seen was set down in front of me. Technically, I was told they were prawns, but whatever they were, they were delicious. The brown sauce in the dish was just rich enough to add depth and broccolini was hiding in the grits to add some crunch. My table mates had the pork belly tacos and the shrimp and grits. Both were very good. Everyone was happy with the complexity of flavors and the quality of the food. For dessert, we ordered the apple cobbler. It came in its own mini cast iron pan and was topped with ice cream. It was (almost) burned on the bottom, which left us all fighting for the crispy crust. Our server was perfectly attentive and made sure that we were well taken care of. The ambiance was very interesting, with multiple levels and a bar in the middle of the restaurant. The drinks we ordered, especially the smoked old fashion, were well made and delicious. The bartender was fun to watch, as she skillfully made drink after drink. The restaurant is a little loud, but it kind of added to the experience. We will definitely go back if we are in town. read more

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Was there a week ago and disappointed with all the food, it was bland and tasteless the Brussel sprouts appetizer was disappointing...the maple sauce it came with was basically maple syrup mixed in with a lot of olive oil .... Customer service was not great either, never asked how our meal was ....wont return better choices in Sarasota read more

We scored a nice table outdoors. The people watching opportunities were excellent. We arrived in time for the tail end of happy hour. We scored a couple of inexpensive drinks. The happy hour appetizers are $5 and half portions. The smoked fish dip was excellent and the grandma flatbread was very good. We shared a really good chopped salad to start. We shared an excellent order of bucatini with shrimp and lobster. The service was a bit off. It seemed like there was one waitress taking care of the outside seating area, but our waitress came from indoors to take care of us. As a result, it took 15 minutes after being seated for our waitress to swing by. The pace of the meal was slow, which mostly didn't matter. Our pasta entree was lukewarm when it arrived. We asked our waitress for grated cheese. She didn't come back with it until we were done with our entree. We tipped a bit less than usual to reflect these lapses in service. This is a very nice restaurant with a good menu and a fun happy hour. I'm assuming that our service experience was an anomaly. read more

Boca - Happy hour appetizers. - New American Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

The only good thing about our experience was the food, which is always good. My husband and I are local and live down the street, so we often come for HH or Brunch, but never dinner, so we passed up a few other restaurants and chose Boca. We sat at the bar, which was some of the worst service I have ever received in town, and the reason I am writing this. I hesitated to write this review, as I have been in the service industry my whole life, but I really do like this restaurant and would like to see better service. We would've had 3 or more drinks each, but only got one because our bartender never came back to ask if we wanted another. I counted 9 people at the bar total, including 2 next to us that were waiting to close out while I looked at everyone else's empty drinks, including ours. We ate an entire steak dinner and our drinks were empty for a full 15 minutes, while the bartender never made eye contact or checked on us. Yes, it was a busy night. The bartender on the service well was killing it but I have no idea what our guy was doing. While eating our meal with no cocktails and also no water, we decided it wasn't even worth it to spend another dollar in there. We closed out and went to have cocktails around the corner, where the service was way better. We may be back but probably won't come in, if this bartender is working. read more

We booked a reservation for 15 people, which many places could not accommodate. They have an amazing space upstairs which ended up being really just us. The decor was perfect, the drinks were amazing, the food was good and Ryan, our waiter was excellent. There are daily specials, which is what I chose and there are also vegetarian choices. When we finished our waiter offered to take group photos for us on the stairwell. Everything worked out perfectly. We had an amazing Galentines eve. I would highly recommend! read more

Loved this place......we only had drinks and apps, but we'd go back! The Lobster Wontons we great - fresh! The fries were okay, and the drinks we got were great! More so we liked the waiter - Kevin was awesome, gave us tips on the food, drinks and other places to visit in the area! read more

Food was wonderful. Was surprised when walked in hostess did not even acknowledge us but our waiter was kind.

I got the OMG burger and the parmesan truffle fries...If it makes any sense I'd say this burger was really "average" for a "decent" burger...They really bill it on the menu but it was quite underwhelming, imo...I thought the fries were very average as well. read more

Boca - New American Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

Incredible menu!! Great BAR!! We love sitting at the bar. Best burgers!!! I love the Poke bowl too!!

Excellent food. Friendly service. Comfy atmosphere. Reasonable prices for downtown Sarasota.

Great fresh food and service. Great for healthy eaters. Good drinks too! Different specials fit lunch

Fancy, upscale, modern decor with the pricing and tiny drinks to match. My girlfriends and I met at the bar for some apps and cocktails. I ordered the garlic shrimp first. Wow was I disappointed. I sent it back and got the egg skillet. And oof. No. Why? Absolutely crap ingredients. Using canola to hypersaturate the most garlicky shrimp I've ever put in my mouth which was hardly edible bc there is no balance in flavor, or an egg dish dripping in inflammatory seed/"vegetable" oil is just not it anymore. At the local diner maybe but a "nice place,"? No. Why wasn't this made with uncut butter or olive oil? It felt and tasted so greasy. When the guy across from me saw my face expressed to my friends after one bite of the shrimp he said "I ordered that last time too and whoa, yeah, it was intense" - who is eating this? Inedible. Nevermind the mini glasses of Prosecco or cava whatever I ordered, and my friends wine NOT in wine glasses. If you're going to charge those prices, make the food quality and don't use factory machine lubricant to cook it. I said what I said. Everyone is waking up. "Upscale" restaurants need to use quality ingredients. Period. read more

4.5 stars Interesting menu with great salads. Very good burger Service is always friendly and courteous. Nice vibe inside as well with great interior design read more

Went here Saturday AM before it got busy. The Ambiance is fantastic but the food was subpar (mid). Got the berry waffles and biscuits and gravy. Both were very cold when we got them and not very flavorful. We did like the passion fruit mimosas though! Overall, probably wouldn't go back. read more

I was here once before years ago, and don't remember it at all. The Ambiance is nice, wait service, excellent food was great, as well as their cocktails. I would skip the main entry next time and just have the tuna wonton appetizer. Great spot downtown. read more

My husband and I travel all the way from Naples to eat here. We came for my husbands birthday and had a lovely diner. My husband got a complimentary desert. The only thing we weren't happy with is that they didn't have the ox tail available. My husband settled for the burger. Over all everything was amazing from the food to the service. read more

Boca - Husbands birthday dinner - New American Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

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