(415) 982-2622
Parking: street parking
Hours: Mon-Wed 7am-10pm, Thurs-Fri 7am-10:30pm, Sat 5pm-10:30pm; No Reservations
http://www.bocasf.com/
Last Visited: June 13, 2009
Food: 3 to 4 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: $ to $$$$
My buddy Chi and I had just wandered around a festival at North Beach and enjoyed a break at the Holiday Inn next to Chinatown. The concierge gave us a list of restaurants nearby that we might try and after finding a few of our first choices booked until 9pm, we opted instead to walk to Bocadillos. We didn't know much about it except that it served tapas and was within walking distance, so off we went.
We were early for dinner this evening, but we were seated at a high table with stools. This was a little uncomfortable because there wasn’t any place to put our stuff - and since the stools didn't have seatbacks, we weren't completely comfortable, but it was okay. It would have been nice to have an extra stool or a hook to hold our purses. I don’t know what they do in winter to manager coats and jackets.
Service this evening was okay. Nothing particularly impressive or memorable. The food was good, but the portions were pretty small, and at that price, we expected to eat a little more. Most of the photos are half eaten, but you'll still get a sense of the dishes that were served. Tonight was spent enjoying the company of a good friend more than enjoying the food, although we were amused by what we got.
- Ahi Tuna with avocado wasabi sauce – Three cubes of tender and fresh cooked ahi were served with a dab of avocado wasabi sauce. If you’ve had ahi poke, you already know what this was like. The center was still a gorgeous red. A touch of chili spice was sprinkled on the plate and a piece of parsley garnished the wasabi sauce. While good, we would have liked another piece. It felt like less than what you get ordering a good nigiri sushi or sashimi. $13 
- Roasted beets, ras al hanout, harissa vinaigrette – When we ordered this, we weren’t thinking about ras al hanout. And quite frankly, when we ate it, we weren’t thinking about it either. Chi loves beets. So a beet salad sounded really yummy. Ras al hanout is a blend of spices used in North Africa. While there isn’t an exact blend, there are three types and the spices usually found are include cumin, nutmeg, cardamom, crushed chili peppers, coriander, clove, peppercorn, cinnamon, and turmeric. What we tasted here was mostly chili pepper. I am not accustomed to this blend, and I would have preferred some comment from the waiter mentioning that it is spiced. It seemed like the spice blend really took away from the sweetness of the beets. Our main disappointment with this dish was the size. Although it’s hard to get a sense of the scale of the photo, the plate was not much larger than the size of a tea saucer, and there really wasn’t that much in the way of beets present. The apple slices below and the few slivers of onion were nice accents, but I’m not one for chive garnishes and frisee pieces if it means that there isn’t much of the main item present. Perhaps cubes rather than slices also make it seem like less. $8 
- Fried green beans in panko bread crumbs – This was a really nice dish – the panko was evenly coated and when deep fried, the coating had turned a beautiful golden brown. Still crunchy, these were good, but with only four green beans, one wonders why they give you so much sauce. Green beans aren’t pricy. We’re not talking about seafood here. Double the amount would have been more appropriate. $8 - Lamb burger, aioli, tomato - Of all the dishes we ordered, this was probably the best bargain. A mini burger made with lamb is served with a small side salad of fresh greens. While the salad is fairly standard, the burger had a nice flavor and the skewer holding it together gave it extra flare. The tomato was fresh and the flavor combinations were good. If we had known the portions of the other dishes, we could have been full just eating a couple of these each. $6
- Niman ranch flatiron steak, chimichurri, black pepper – This sounds so good. The meat was okay – the temperature was not hot enough to soak up the chimichurri flavors although the meat was well rested. The chimicurri itself was just okay – although it had a lot of fresh herbs and onions, it seemed a bit too dry – I expect to see oil in a chimichurri, but the contents should emulsified and well-mixed. This was more of a chunky salsa verde than a chimichurri, at least in my opinion. Good, but maybe better on a sandwich with some aioli or dressing. $13
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