July & September, 2010

Rating : 7 out of 10

Tariff : Dinner for 2

• 2 individual pizzas
• 2 glasses wine
• tip
• $53

Tariff: Dinner for 6

• 2 pizzas

• 1 calzone

• 2 entree salads

• 1 glass wine

• 8 beers*

• tip

• $110

Newly opened, Boca Pizzeria is the casual counterpart to the popular Boca Steak. Practically next door in Ignacio's Pacheco Plaza, Boca Pizzeria's whole front wall is windows topped with boxed red awnings. Outdoor seating is separated from the newly renovated plaza by planters. In the larger plaza beyond Boca are trees and plenty of room for concerts and picnics on summer evenings.

Food

Fans of Boca Steak and hungry for new Italian eatery, we went on the spur of the moment one evening.  Many of the pizza choices have a more exotic array of toppings although these as well as the traditional margherita pizza are cooked in an authentic Neapolitan style wood fired oven. This time we tried the lamb sausage with red onion, grilled eggplant, tomato, sheep's feta, and pine nuts. It was good--certainly lots of flavors!--but the lamb was too strong or gamey for my taste. We shared the calzone, which had grilled chicken, wild mushrooms, leeks, basil, ricotta, and Mozzarella--a nice variation on the traditional calzone.

The next time two other pizzas were given a chance: fennel sausage & pepperoni ($13.75) and roasted wild mushrooms with fontina, thyme, & taleggio cheese ($14.95). The sausage pizza was good, nice thin crust, lots of sausage, good tomato sauce flavor--but not that out of the ordinary. On the other hand, the wild mushroom pizza was extraordinary:  only white cheeses, herbs & roasted mushrooms--a thin crust topped with rich, smoky, earthy flavors--now that's heaven! Several diners preferred dinner salads: gathered greens salad ($ 7.25) with salmon added ($4.95) and rustico: wild greens, cured black olives, cherry tomatoes, feta & lemon-mint dressing with grilled rosemary bread ($8.95). To be honest, I have to say that the prices at Boca Pizzeria seem a bit high. And I wasn't the only one who felt that way.  Appetizers are $8-11. The individual pizzas, that are more than enough for one, but perhaps not enough for two, range from $13-15. None of us even tried an entree--at $14-20 it just felt like too much to spend at a pizza place. I know Boca is not just a local pizza joint, but neither is it a fancy restaurant...just sayin'.

Drinks

On the first visit we tried an inexpensive merlot that wasn't very memorable. Second visit I tried the Masked Rider Cabernet blend ($6/glass) and it was really nice--lighter than some cabs with fruit or berry undertones--it went well with the pizzas. Then we all settled on the beer special. *To our surprise draft beers are $2 on Thursday nights! So we had the mild Pyramid Hefeweizen. This is an unfiltered wheat beer and it has a malty sweetness, which I enjoy much more than a lager, not to mention that it also goes well with pizza! In addition to the Thursday night beer special, Boca Pizzeria is offering half price wine by the bottle on Wednesday nights.  (This idea has been a success at Boca Steak).

Atmosphere & Service

The restaurant is loud and busy. We were seated at an isle where waiters were rushing back and forth. Since the restaurant was still fairly new we kept an open mind, but our server was a bit harried and when we asked him if there was bread while we waited. We were told matter of factly that there was no bread--they don't serve bread. No bread at an Italian restaurant, imagine that!  There wasn't even an appetizer of garlic bread or bread sticks, only bruschetta. That didn't sit too well with us....

Our second visit was much better--it was a lovely summer evening, so we chose to dine al fresco and, once two tables were pushed together for us, we sat down and ordered drinks.  Our waitress checked on our progress without pressuring us.  When dining with a large, chatty group this is especially welcome! Once we got around to ordering she was happy to answer our questions. Food was cooked/prepared to order and served much quicker than I expected, brought to the table by other servers.

Boca Pizzeria
454 Ignacio Blvd
Novato, CA 94949
(415) 883-2302