Bocca East
“Because they have $4 brunch cocktails from 11am to 4pm and the bartender/waiter that works the shift makes them pretty strong.”
“Their spacious outdoor dining space also makes for great outdoor dining when weather permits.”
“I also highly recommend the Mezzi Rigatoni Alla Norma- pasta with a medley of eggplant, basil, tomato and ricotta.”
Bocca East
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Summary:
This might be my new favorite place in my neighborhood. Quaint, rustic little spot on the upper east offering fantastic Italian fare. If you need a local date spot or a place to kick it with some great pasta, this is the spot.
Food:
My girlfriend and I got the butternut squash ravioli and the mussels and linguini. Both tasted fresh, al dente. As they're supposed to. I wish both dishes packed in a tiny bit more flavor. The butternut squash wasn't as sweet as I expected, a bit blander than most, but mostly good. The linguini with mussels and seafood definitely packed in more flavor; by far the better dish. The couple shrimp were pretty massive, meaty guys. A decent amount of very fresh mussels and clams made this dish very light, yet flavorful.
Drinks:
We both got the Montepulciano Vigna Franca 2012 Abruzzo which was a great Italian red; though I don't recommend it as a pairing for any seafood dish. Standalone, it's great.
Service:
Standard fare. Very friendly. I'd say slightly above average. Definitely no complaints.
Atmosphere:
Very warm and inviting. The décor is very rustic with wood beams and soft lighting. The large windows let in just the right amount of outside in. Very neat little spot.
Recommendation:
Linguini with mussels/seafood. Cannot go wrong.
Interior design at Bocca East, exudes coolness and sophistication. Yusuf, did a great job at accommodating us without a reservation, close to a brick wall that added an element of natural. The music was low-key and ultra funky for this UES restaurant.
We began with a platter that consisted of delightful textures and flavorful cheeses. We had the firmness of the Pecorino and the softness of both, the Taleggio and Burrata and a side of seasoned olives that were very tasty. For my entree, I settled on the Branzino paired with artichoke hearts, and cherry tomatoes in a delicate tomato sauce, but somehow, bland and highly lacked a great deal of "umph" and flavor.
Service was extremely attentive and friendly from our server, who appeared to be moonlighting as the Bartender but whipped up some mean cocktails. Bocca East wasn't completely dreadful, but it also, wasn't the type of of Italian fare I was looking for. I simply can't go past the 3 and 1/2 stars and the fact that Bocca's main attraction, only lies in their decor, since our dinner was deficient in taste.
I came here on Friday night to celebrate my friend's birthday. I tried to make a reservation on Opentable about 5 days in advance but there were no good time slots left. I ended up calling the night before and was able to score a 7:45 reservation. In retrospect, maybe I should have taken the lack of availability on Opentable as a sign to find a new place.
The interior of the restaurant takes you away to a cozy yet chic ski lodge – super cute. When we arrived the place was bustling – each table occupied and extremely close to the others. I checked in with the hostess who was taken aback by my arrival and told me she thought I was not coming since I didn't confirm my reservation. Therefore, she gave my table away. This was odd for a number of reasons: 1. I just made the reservation the night before 2. She called me at 2pm that day and I was in a meeting at work – not a good time to call people. 3. I didn't cancel – no need to give my table away. She turned to us and said, "You can wait at the bar but there is only one chair left." Okay, weird since there were two of us. Happy hour was going on for 15 more minutes and we wanted to get drinks while we waited but were unable to hear what was on special when we asked the bartender. A happy hour menu would have been nice in this situation. We were crammed in the corner of the bar and decided to just wait until dinner and pay full-price for our drinks. While we were still waiting to be seated, the owner of the restaurant scolded the hostess who was on the phone to stop letting people in and that they were at capacity. He gestured to us and she said that we had a reservation and he was surprised to hear that. Clearly, this restaurant has some communications issues. Then the owner went up to our table and asked the women who were sitting there and had already paid to leave. As much as I wanted to sit down, I felt this was rude and poor service.
We finally got seated and our waiter immediately came up to us to ask what we wanted to drink. We had not even had a chance to look at the menu yet. He came back again 1 minute later. Dude – we're not ready yet. This set the mood for the rest of the meal which felt rushed. I understand a restaurant is a business but when I go out to dinner, especially for a friend's birthday, I want to enjoy the experience. We ordered our drinks (we both got margarita de fuegos) and shortly after a different server came by and dropped a plate of meat and bread on the table. I don't eat cold cut meats and looked around and no one else had that on their table. I was confused but didn't say anything or eat off the trey. My friend ate some meat from the trey and shortly after our waiter came by and asked us if we ordered it. We said no and he took it away and gave it to the correct table. That is very unsanitary.
The drinks and food came out and neither was impressive. The drink we got was extremely spicy to the point where we forced ourselves to drink it since it was $15 a drink. The food was not so great either. I just ordered the ricotta crostini and while the cheese was great, I had to pick it off to eat it since the bread was dry and not tasty.
On the upside, our waiter, Victor, was very easy on the eyes and fun to flirt with.
A nice place for the price. They have gluten free penne pasta and will make it with whatever sauce your heart desires (ok not really). Our server couldn't have cares less about us, but overall was a good experience!
Living in the UES, Bocca East is a perfect choice to bring family and friends from out of town for quality italian food.
We made reservations for a 7pm dinner on a Thursday night and the place was very busy. The restaurant is warm and inviting with dark wood accents and exposed brick. Our waiter remained very attentive throughout the meal and even recommended wines for us based on our preferences.
For the food, I opted for one of my favorites – orecchiette with sweet sausage and broccoli rabe pesto. This dish was just amazing and left me with enough for lunch the next day. I can't speak for the dessert, but the pasta and wine selections are fantastic.
If you're looking for a less intimate vibe and more reasonably priced menu than popular neighborhood spot Uva, try Bocca East!
A great restaurant in terms of a warm atmosphere, great for family get togethers, spacious seating and my fave cozy booth in the back, as well as outdoor seating great to meet with friends when it's nice. However, while having a sizable menu with many options, what prevents me going back more and has had us leaving a couple times after appetizers — I personally prefer seafood dishes – and am not thrilled with their entree selection which would benefit from more seafood and seafood pasta dishes. They have a linguine dish with clams I had once – which was good- but seafood pasta dishes I prefer have more seafood and are less heavy on the pasta. Again, I prefer seafood and pasta / seafood dishes so this is my taste preference- those who enjoy pasta dishes with red sauce etc may feel differently . Not being a fan of heavy pasta dishes those my friends ordered which I tried I did not enjoy.
The appetizers I've had and enjoyed are the beef carpaccio, grilled octopus, tuna carpaccio and tomato mozzarella/ caprese. On a couple occasions I ordered a couple of these instead of an entree.
One of my first times here we had a terrible experience with service but when I expressed my dissatisfaction the server and manager were quickly accommodating and more than made up for it on that and future visits.
I visited this restaurant several times last year. Since hearing that the restaurant was under new ownership, I was anxious to visit the restaurant again. The restaurant appearance was the same. A rustic Northern Italian cozy dining room with outdoor dining when weather permits. They have a unique extensive wine list as well and offer attractive price wine flight from their wine by the glass list. The wines they offer are from many regions of Italy such as Piedmont, Montepulciano, and Umbria. For our dinner, we ordered the Ravioli ai Frutti di Mare and the Lasagna di Verdure which were both excellent. I am looking forward to our next visit the next time I am back in town.
I had a reservation for 11AM today. I showed up at 10:55AM and the place is completely empty (they open at 11). I stepped inside and there are two restaurant staffpeople standing by the bar. I asked if they were open, and one of the men responds, "We're having kitchen troubles."
"Sorry?"
"We're having kitchen troubles. Nobody is here yet. Sorry." *walks away*
He offered no additional information or solution. So I turned around and left, annoyed by his dismissive attitude and irritated that no one from the restaurant bothered to call me to cancel my reservation.
I was really looking forward to trying Bocca East, too. What a disappointment.