When craving Mexican food, La Boca offers the best fix to be found on Main St. The food is not amazing, but it is satisfying and of decent quality. It is a step above taco night at Mocon or burritos at the campus center.
While waiting (and waiting) for the food to arrive, the waitress brought a basket of delicious, slightly warm chips with spicy and watery salsa. I usually prefer to hold out for the entree, but the addictive chips and hunger overtook me, and I could not help but plunge into the crisp, salty chips dipped in red, hot salsa.
The large menu offers many classic Mexican dishes. I recommend the combination platters, which include a few items to try alongside rice and beans with cheese. The combination platters enabled me to sample several of the main dishes, as each small item is also served in larger portions as a main dish. The Señora Combination is a lot of food for $8.95. It comes with a potato empanada, a cheese enchilada with red mole sauce and a vegetable burrito.
This bountiful array of food is then served with rice and beans and cheese. The potato empanada was delicious, with mashed potato and cheese inside a deep-fried, doughy shell. The cheese enchilada was not as good, smothered in too much mole sauce. I substituted a chicken burrito in place of the vegetable burrito. The chicken burrito was pretty good, filled with spiced chicken and topped with sour cream and cheese. Each of these items is also served as main dishes.
The chicken quesadilla was particularly tasty, filled with shredded chicken and gooey cheese. A friend who worked at a good Mexican restaurant and knows a lot about Mexican food commented that “a good tamale is an indicator of a good Mexican restaurant.” The chicken tamale was filled with tender, spiced chicken drenched in an excess of mole sauce, but won the approval of my friend, the tamale connoisseur.
Fajitas come with a choice of different meats or vegetarian. I sampled the chicken and steak fajitias, which were good but too oily. The flour tortillas came in a container to keep them warm alongside a sizzling plate of fried steak, chicken and vegetables with salsa, guacamole, sour cream and rice and beans on the side. As is typical of fajitas, this was a fun dish. I loved the flautas—a deliciously heavy dish, consisting of deep fried tortillas filled with chicken or pork. These oily and rich tortillas are a worth the splurge.
Overall, the offerings at La Boca are decent and the atmosphere is upbeat, although the service can be slow. With moderate prices and large servings, La Boca is the best Mexican establishment that Main Street has to offer.
FAVORITE DISH: Señora Sampler, flautas
LEAST FAVORITE DISH: none
PRICE RANGE OF ENTREES: $7.95 – $14.95 (the priciest is for steak)
RATING: 3 Cardinals
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