Bocanova

Excellent cuisine and location as well. Server Robert was a complete delight and navigated me toward a delectable red wine. He must love his job; his enthusiasm was refreshing and really made my dining experience all the more memorable. I dined on Padron peppers which were outstanding, flavored perfectly with sea salt and grilled to perfection. Then I ate the gem salad which is absolutely delicious. The quail egg is perfection and a nice jewel among the greens. The fish, yes fish, are very tiny and not as salty as anchovies. Just two slivers had me searching for more. Everything in the salad was a little unusual compared to other salads. Boconova is a new destination for me. On the 2^nd Saturdays at Jack London, there is a craft fair with quality items. The vendors are dotted along the pathway next to the boats. And Bocanova’s is situated just perfectly that you can hear the live music from the fair for a perfect afternoon.

This place is horrible. Really bad service and improperly cooked food. What makes it worse is when they make a mistake they don’t own it, they act like that’s the way its supposed to be.
We started off ordering drinks. Two of the drinks were lemonades, when they arrived it was squeezed lemon juice and was terribly sour. Absolutely no sweeter in it at all, literally squeezed sour lemon juice. We asked to have the two drinks replaced with cranberry juice. 30 minutes later after the food arrived we got cranberry juice after asking 2^nd time for it.
The food was really subpar. One diner ordered the french toast and received a pile of mush. It was so soggy that a fork could not pick up the soggy wet mess that was supposed to be french toast. the french toast was sent back and asked to be replaced with a waffle. That took another 30 minutes. Everybody else was done with brunch by the time it arrived. One belgian waffle came out super thin while the other two at the table got nice thick true thick belgian waffles. A cappuccino was ordered and it was asked specifically if it would be slow due to the slow bar. The server said «no, it is not made by the bar». Ok, it was ordered. The cappuccino arrived so late that we were all done with our meal.
During this whole time nobody took any responsibility for the disaster and offered no opportunity to make things right.
What makes this worse is that Bocanova forces a 20% tip on you, no choice to give what you think is appropriate. I’m a big tipper, if service is great I give 25 to 30%. So I’m not complaining about having to give 20% for decent service, but to be forced to give it when the service was on worth 10% at best.
This place has got to get their act together. Everything from service to the kitchen is in bad shape.

The food was good and décor nice. Presentation was okay. Portions are rather small. That’s where my positive and neutral comments stop. Even if service is awesome, I have a big issue with an automatic 20% tip on all orders. Our server was mediocre at best, surely a result of this stupid policy. Drinks are incredibly over priced. For example, a Macallan 18 year is $ 44, while I could buy an entire bottle at the store for $ 80. Low end call is at least $ 10 and they add .50 more to mix it with soda such as Coke. Once we were paged for our table, it took another 20 minutes for someone to be available to seat us. Will not return.

This place is so good. My family and I have been twice now, and we’ve enjoyed both experiences.
I do want to say that it helps that we’ve gone using Groupon, so I do think that if we had to pay full price it would probably deserve half a star less because of the price. But I love the food, the drinks are delicious, and the restaurant itself is beautiful and in a wonderful location. Both times we were also taken care of by really great hosts and servers who always provided great recommendations.

Delicious pan-​america cuisine, reasonably priced, beautiful décor & location, and you’ll likely be licking your plate clean when no one is looking. Or even if someone is looking. You won’t care.
If you only order one thing on the menu, make it the papas fritas. I am going to name my first child «Papas Fritas.» Even if it’s a girl. She’ll just have to deal. Sure she’ll be made fun of relentlessly for having such a stupid name, but it’s a small price to pay for sharing her name with such greatness. I don’t know if it’s the citrus aioli, the seasoning, or the fact that they’re fried potatoes, but whatever it is, next time I go I’m liable to wake up in a ditch with a swollen belly, moaning «papas fritas.»
As for the rest of the stuff on the menu, I went here for the business lunch first, and boy was it a great deal. For 20 bucks, I got a well-​portioned flat iron steak (with a zesty avocado sauce and mango pico de gallo), a fried vegetable dish, and a lemon cake dessert. The regular lunch and dinner menus are generally more expensive, but still very reasonable for what you’re getting. The menu changes regularly, but the pork chop, the ceviches, and the Peruvian lamb are all very good. You’d be hard pressed to get a dish that’s lackluster here.
So do yourself a favor and go to Bocanova, grab some Papas Fritas, and I’ll join you in the ditch.

Great service, our waitress was awesome in explaining the menu and was there when we needed her. Food was also great, we all got to try a little bit of everything and it was delicious! And don’t even get me started on dessert definitely recommend.

Came here with a few friends when I was in the area. We had reservations for 7:30 for dinner. But didn’t get seated for about 45 mins. Service was slow.
So we decided to have a drink at the bar. The drinks were good, there were unique mixes with unexpected ingredients. It did take some time for our drinks and it wasn’t that busy.
We sat down and ordered our food and wait for a while to get our dishes. My friends enjoyed their dishes. Couple of us had ordered half chicken, which took the longest to come out after every one was almost done with their meal since they forgot about it.
The food portions are small, the menu and our server also let us know of that. The food was alright, the service was slow and subpar. They automatically add 20% gratituity on you bill, no matter how many in a party.

When I first walked in here, I fell in love with the décor and overall atmosphere. However, as much as I wanted to love this place, the food and service were a disappointment.
Food: I tried the steak, pork tacos and crab omelet. While the presentation of the food was impressive, the food tasted bland overall, and the portions were tiny. I left his place an hour ago, and I’m already hungry again! The two small pork tacos came out to $ 15 and did not include any additional sides or condiments – and the pork hardly had any flavor. The crab and cerrano pepper omelet ($ 19) contained maybe 3 bites of crab and a few raw unseasoned jalapeño slices. The steak was cooked medium rare as requested and was tender, but I’m pretty sure the chef forgot to add salt altogether.
The service was disappointing as well. The waiter came out to bring food, but he never once came out to ask how we were doing. I had to flag him down twice to ask for Ketchup and for water (they were really not that busy). The menus state that 20% gratuity is automatically added (with no specificity as to party size). Tips should be earned. Good service should be incentivized. Not the case here.

This place is ok to Good. Malvin Wines are great. Good selección. The menu is not very enticing. But food is good. the hole fish was perfect so was the ribeye and the sprouts.
But nothing spectacular and the menu does not change.

No matter the guest count, they add a 20% service charge… and that’s fine, if they actually served you.
Twenty minutes to be greeted, and we had to ask for a server. Forty minutes waiting for our drinks and nothing. It’s not dinner rush, and it’s not busy. I finally went inside from the patio, clearly thinking something was wrong, and there was our server, swirling, and tasting wines with other staff in a meeting. I could see our drinks in the bar well waiting, ice cubes melting high-​end liquor. I interrupted the meeting to point out guests weren’t being served. I waited tables for years, and this could never happen. Never, ever going back.

3.5 Stars
I can’t speak about the food as we were only there for drinks and sat at the bar
My friend liked a drink called the Inkwell which is an interesting remake of an old fashioned, I personally didn’t care for it because there was too much balsamic
As for the rest of the drinks, most of them were made very stiff and could feel it hit you. Flavors were decent depending on which ones you got. Wish I could recall the drinks name but unfortunately I didn’t snap a picture of the menu and one of the drinks was the barkeepers choice.
Overall Thoughts
I would come back for a drink if I was in the neighborhood

My beau and I had dinner here recently and it was fantastic!
I made reservations online and we checked in a bit early. The hostess pointed us to the bar and let us know we could order a cocktail or two while we waited, which we did! I had the pisco sour to start (watching the bartender make this was so dope) and the cucumber Collins (so delicious and refreshing– I ended up having two more with dinner), while the bf had a la Paloma and a dirty martini (they have the fancy olives!)
We were seated rather quickly and got a nice table for two. Service was on point– our server was knowledgable and friendly, and made fabulous recommendations. I’m famous for ordering waaayyy too much food, so we asked him about portion size and per his recommendation we ended up ordering JUST the right amount of food, with room for dessert.
We had the…
Deviled eggs with Dungeness crab (I literally had to fight my bf for the last one)
Peruvian sea bass ceviche (sooo good)
Lamb shank (since we’ve been in, they’ve changed this menu item a bit– this was served on the bone with a delicious «Peruvian gnocchi”– it was massive and so filling! We ordered this per our servers suggestion and we were not disappointed)
For dessert…
Chocolate croissant bread pudding and the churros with Mexican hot chocolate sauce (upon dropping off our desserts, the manager laughed and adorably said, «So much chocolate!» which is exactly what we wanted! Both desserts were great… And we definitely needed a glass of milk to go along with it!)
I had such a good time here, food and service especially, as well as the location. We walked around Jack London Square and enjoyed the beautiful night after dinner.

Came here for a dinner meeting and thought it was just mediocre. We ordered almost everything in the menu and still was not satisfied nor impressed. Not one dish was impressive it would make me come back to this joint. Price was too high also for the portion provided but who cares if it was expensive? I was in a business meeting and I wasn’t paying.
Anywho I would probably skip this place if you’re looking for a place to dine around Jack London square. This place is old and overrated. Service was good though which deserves the two stars and place was clean with some nice décor.

Came here for Happy Hour with my work gals… love the restuarant look and location. It was a cloudy, rainy evening, but I am sure on a pretty day, outside seating is a must, next to the water.
So valet parking was NOT available right outside the restuarant. I don’t understand why it wasn’t or why we couldnt just park there. We parked a block away at a metered area. (6 pm is the cut off time, so no need pay longer than that, and meters do take credt/​debit card).
We were greeted by a friendly host who seated us after helping out a large group wanting the community table. The restuarant is clean and pretty. i love the colors in there! so 5 stars for that.
Food: Empanada, ok, but really tiny. Tacos, (cod was the one we had) — a good thing to order, Ribs– they were good, just not tender enough, Ceviche– ok, and the patatas– best thing we liked! Overall, Ok. I’m willing to come back and try the actual dinner menu. Hoping for a better experience.
Drinks: Daquiri– not blended, was good. It has grapefruit, lime and gin– all things i like. I had 2. My coworker got a Good night, which she did not like and sent back (got a daquiri instead– which took a while to get though they were not busy). My other co worker got a Scotch Blossom, which she said was ok.
Service was very ok. I felt the place was not busy at all, but felt like it took awhile to get our last order of food. Our server was very nice, but not attentive as I would expect from this place. There is an automatic UPLIFT OAKLAND CITY charge 20%. Which I guess is ok, but I expect a better experience/​service if that is being charged.

The food was good but it was par for the course for the price-​point.
What was *not* par for the course was the substandard service. Today was a perfect example of the oft repeated joke-​but-​not-​really-​a-​joke about how automatic gratuity threatens to make slackers out of servers.
After being seated, we had to ask two different servers three times over the course of 15 – 20 minutes for some bread for the table. We did ask for the papas fritas as an appetizer but since that was nowhere to be seen, we would have appreciated the bread instead of just sitting there refilling our glass of water. For a while it was a little strange to see about ten to twelve tables of diners but not a single server to beseech for assistance in the dining area indoors.
Finally the papas fritas made its appearance, but so did the merry band of entrees; thus rendering it a side we didn’t really need.
The papas fritas were well executed with a nice crusty crunchy skin with a moist tender flesh. It was slit on the sides to allow for the oil and the seasoning to reach in deeper; and that it did! The aioli was the perfect side to a simple yet delicious dish.
For the main course, I asked for the grilled trout. It was indeed very well executed with the herb/​spice rub/​sauce on it hitting all the right notes. It was served on a bed of fingerling potatoes, sauteed spinach, and glazed pearl onions (or baby onions … they looked the same to my untrained eyes). The trout was certainly delicious.
I was told the flat iron steak was ok, while the fried chicken sandwich was pretty good.
All in all, the 20% automatic gratuity (a party of three is certainly not a crowd) was a put-​off, aggravated by the woefully inadequate service that wasn’t worthy of a 5%

Love this place and can’t believe it took me this long to try it. It is very Californian but with a strong Latin American flair. You will see lots of flavors from Brazil, Peru and Argentina. I’m usually skeptical with this broad style but they pull it off here. Props to the staff.
Love the space. It has the makings of a cold interior… high industrial ceilings, lots of concrete and windows. But through some clever design tricks, they managed to soften the look. I felt so comfortable here. I like the interior here better than Jack’s next door.
Had appetizers and cocktails in the bar once and another outing for the pre-​fixe restaurant week. Both were positive experiences all around.
The Food:
Deviled Eggs w/​Dungeness $ 15 Solid rendition with chipotle mayo being the wow factor. The crab was actually quite minimal but added a nice briny-​ness to this revamped appetizer.
Feijoada $ 13 was just ok. It was solid but just missed out on the smoke flavor from the ham hocks. I suppose this fell victim to trying to make this dish fancier than what I know and love. But this is a filling dish, they don’t skimp on the meat. So to that, I give them props.
The tuna ceviche nikei style from the $ 30 prefix was just ok. Very small portioning but still pretty fresh. A leche de tigre made tart with tamarind was assertive. More assertive were the chiles used, very fiery. I’m ok with it, but felt it could of been too strong for the general public.
Shrimp/​Sweetbread taco was really good. It was a lone taco but the fresh handmade tortilla was really thick and stacked to the gills. The shrimp was nice and noticeable while the fried sweetbreads remained more in the background. Great appetizer.
Lamb braised in banana leaf resembled a rich birria. Tender shredded meat was totally infused with the guajillo sauce. Very rich and good. Came with blue potato gratin which may have been a little rich with the meat. When the meat is that rich, I prefer a counter starch or vegetable. This was rich on rich. But just a casual opinion.
Tried a piece of the seafood stew and that was fantastic. It basically tasted like a rich lobster bisque as the base, but loaded with chowder– like chunks. Fish, scallop and potatoes all played nicely in this dish. Total winner.
Meyer Lemon Cheesecake was a simple and a nice ending. The cheesecake part was real basic but the preserved meyer rind on top was literally the topper.
Different glasses of wine for around $ 5 are suggested for each course. I tried 2 of them and proved wonderful. Love when a place suggest pairings.
Service very competent and very timely. Instead of conventional tipping, a 20% charge is automatically added to the bill. I don’t mind this at all, and actually find it a bit more civilized. This is going to be on my rotation for the more-​of-​a-​special occasion type of outing.

Found out this place was participating in ORW and loved their pre-​fixed menu — so decided to check them out.
They’re located in the heart of Jack London Square and offer amazing views of the harbor. The interior of the restaurant is mostly open with lots of modern light fixtures and Spanish themed colors and art throughout the restaurant.
We came in a little late past our reservation time because of the crazy rain but the host was accommodating.
Once we were seated the server brought us a big decanter filled with water and took our order — which was the pre — fixed dinner they offered for restaurant week but we also opted for the wine pairing for an additional 5 $ per plate. You can’t beat that.
We started off with the tuna ceviche paired with the Louriero & Alvarinho — excellent pairing and very refreshing!!! But I will warn you, the ceviche has a spicy kick to it. Not for the faint of taste buds.
Next we had the shrimp and sweet bread taco with black bean taco — literally the best tasting tortilla I’ve ever had. This dish was paired with the Grenache Blanc/​Rousane — didn’t really care for it much because how sweet it tastes. I’d pass if given this choice again. A Sauvignon Blanc would’ve been better.
For the main entrée — braised lamb in banana leaf and blue potato au gratin. WOW this was good. Have you ever missed a meal right after eating it because it was so good? The crispy yet creamy potato au gratin and braised lamb combo worked perfectly together and the pairing with the glass of Crianza Tempranillo took this experience to a whole new level!
And finally, for dessert, we had the Meyer lemon cheesecake paired with a nice glass of Malbec instead of the Moscato de Asti which was the original pre fixed option. The server was kind enough to substitute for us and we were not disappointed in the slightest.
The service was great and the server and food runners were very attentive through the whole experience.
I would definitely come back here! Their regular pre fixed non restaurant week menu looks delectable.

Continuing with my happy hour hopping, I headed over next door to Jack’s sister restaurant, Bocanova to try a few more bites. Their bocaditos menu here was a little more substantial than Jack’s in terms of food-​food so I kind of had a hard time picking but finally decided on the deviled eggs and empanadas. Here’s my breakdown:
Seasonal sangria– White blend, with a medium punch. The bartender’s seasonal fruity flare of choice this time was pear and golden raisins… something I was very happy about indeed, lol. Not sure if I’m the only one who does this, but I particularly enjoyed eating the boozed up cubes of pear at the end of my dinner.
Dungeness crab deviled eggs– Holy. Crap. Lol… the crab meat perched on top of each egg half was fluffed and EVER so juicy and sweet. The deviled yolks were indeed devilishly rich and piped ridiculously high without any kind of reverence for gravity. Garnished with a couple of microgreens on top, and you got yerself one photogenic plate. xD
Short rib empanadas– A bit on the small side for $ 7, but you do get two and boy are these guys DELISH! Suuuuuper crispy edges with mildy flavorful, tender meat on the inside so you can still get a sense of the charred tomato salsa drizzle on top… I think these are my favorites by far (and that’s saying something because I love me some deviled eggs lol). The speed at which these guys came to me straight from the fryer made for a wonderful break from the cool/​cold egg and sangria. Mmmmmhhhmmm!!!
All in all a wonderful happy hour that I would not hesitate to come back for again. I’m not sure why others seem to have had a bad experience with the customer service here as I was very happy with mine. It true that the trek to the bathroom does feel *infernally* long when you have alcohol-​induced bladder hyperactivity, but hey no one’s perfect, LOL. (It’s also probably because they share the bathrooms with Jack’s next door). Heads up, the crowd definitely starts picking up at 7 (at least on this Monday) so it might be a good idea to make reservations if you’re dining around then.

Customer Service: 0 stars (keep in mind they add a 20% tip to your bill no matter how bad or good the customer service is)
I really want to give this restaurant 2 stars because of the awful customer service however the actual food was good and the restaurant itself is nice so I want to focus on the food we ate. They also have an amazing balcony that overlooks the water. Clearly the kitchen staff and chef does a great job. They take pride in the food they cook and the presentation of the food (5 stars to them !)
I went here once however won’t go back again despite how good the food was because of the lack of customer service.
***I loved how their menu had different types of ceviches since I love ceviche. (Scallop, Octopus, Sea Bass just to name a few)
Drinks
*Bottle of the Spanish cava
Food
* White Shrimp & Octopus Ceviche — delicious! We ended up ordering another plate because it was so good. I don’t like peanuts however it gives it this amazing crunch and flavor.
* Crab Deviled Eggs — creamy and delicious. The chipotle aioli was so flavorful .
* Scallop Ceviche — Yum!
* Blood Sausages — spicy and extremely flavorful
* Quinoa Salad — duck, squash and pumpkin seeds. Delicious. I’m not a big fan of duck however all the flavors complimented each other.
* Red Pozole — the pulled chicken is so tender (we ordered another)
* Roasted Scallop — with the butternut squash is delicious.
* Sea Bass in banana leaf — cooked to perfection .
The two of us were completely full after our meal but I still wanted to try the bread pudding. One of my fellow Unilocal elite’s said the bread pudding with the Mexican ice cream is a must and he was absolutely right. Extremely flavorful and baked to perfection.
I really have zero tolerance for bad customer service especially at restaurants at this price point. The food was fresh and the quality of ingredients was really good so it was worth it however customer service is awful .
My four stars is strictly for the food .
*also the bathroom is really far away from the actual restaurant area.

Its been a long time since we last dined at Baconova. When they first opened the food was good but the service was spotty. Last night we were in Jack London Square and decided to have dinner there. It was early 6:30 pm and got a table right by the window. Our server Rachel S provided excellent professional service and made our dinner a 5 star evening. At the end of the evening we were commenting that our server Rachel S gave just the amount of service at the perfect time through out the night. We ordered the following items:
Pork Ribs 5 stars falling off the bone tender
Roasted Chicken half 5 stars served with a chimichurri sauce tender and juicy
Black Rice risotto with Shrimp 5 stars so good we could should have had two orders.
Drinks:
Scrimshaw pilsner
Bailey’s Irish Cream
Validated Parking and Valet parking available at Jack London Square. Tip and service charge is included on the $ 103.