Read on for a personal review of my opinions and experiences of Boca Steak and Seafood. If you want the quick summary, don’t go, it is pure garbage.

Boca Steak and Seafood, Novato, CA
340 Ignacio Boulevard
Novato, CA. 94949
Phone: 415.883.0901
Fax: 415.883.2802

If this is the first time reading my restaurant reviews, you can get a little background on how they are structered in the first post.

Prominently displayed on their website is a link to some accolades. The reviewers more or less lead you down the path of believing this is a great steakhouse. I wanted steak, despite the girlfriend telling me it was not that good, we went anyway. I mean, what the hell, “steak” is in the name of the restaurant, how could they screw it up that bad.

Let’s start with the good. I like the building, the interior is pretty cool, lots of wood, a brick room, nice atmosphere. Seating is spacious enough that others do not bother you, close enough you can eavesdrop on what others have ordered and see if you feel like copying them. The wine was good, the water was good. Starters were salads. What much can I say, you can be either exceptional or mediocroe, is it really possible to screw up a salad? In both our cases, not too shabby.

The girlfriend got the short ribs. Since I did not eat it, I can not comment on it much. I can tell you, it was the fattiest set of short ribs I have ever seen. I would say, just under one third of the meat was fat, and not the kinda good crispy bits, but white, slimy, snotty fat.

I ordered the rib eye, no demarkation on the menu as to it being bone-in or not. I usually order bone-in rib eye, small issue at any rate. It came with “duck fat french fries”. These were good, and I thought it was a cute marketing strategy. They tasted no better than fry’s made in any real animal fat, but who wants to see “lard fries” on the menu.

Vegetables, string beans, entirely undercooked, as were my girlfriends. I certainly appreciate a little snap in my veggies, these still tasted raw, and string beans are one thing that I always feel need to be cooked correct.

And on to my steak. Literally, the most improperly cooked steak I have ever received. No lie, Denny’s does it up better, and they do not even try to call themselves a steakhouse. Maybe the four steak sauces they bring to the table should have been a red flag, I always feel steak should stand alone, but hey, you don’t have to use the sauces. This thing was cold dead raw inside, charred outside.

Back it went!

I am going to run off on a tangent here, so let me finish the review. The steak was really thin, maybe a half inch thick, and that is being generous. I don’t know about you, but I have never been able to properly cook a thin steak other than rare or well done. A good steak should be at least an inch thick. It is how any steak cooking competition will do them, it’s how Ruth’s Chris does them, and is how any respectable steakhouse should do them. My steak came back, rather quickly, and they did try to make me happy with some soup in the interim. It was now medium-well, because they re-cooked the same steak. For the record, I always order medium-rare.

Bottom line, this place is horrible, I do not see them being in business very long. Then again, the town is very short on good restaurants, so they may slip under the radar for some time. I can say, the appetizers look pretty good, calamari in particular, as long as you have four people to split them with. Go have a drink there, get the calamari, then drive around the corner to Jack in the Box and get a friggin burger, you will be a lot happier, and about 60.00 better in the wallet.

* Tangent:
When you screw up on an order, you already lost points, so fix it beyond expecation. Not that anyone has ever done this for me, but were I an owner, this is how my employee’s would be trained. If you screw up one order, you screw up your customers friends orders as well. It’s no fun to eat at different times than those you are with. Pull both dishes and remake both dishes. I understand this will take extra time, but at least make the gesture and ask. My girlfriend of course is going to sit there and wait until my replacement arrives, so now she is eating cold food, I feel like an ass. In the case of undercooked meat, you never never never ever re-cook the damn steak. Make me a new one, period.