La Boca

First time visit. If you're looking for fish or chicken, don't come here, because they dont have it. It's a steakhouse. We ordered the tasting menu with the Bistro steak. Be prepared, show up hungry if you try this option. Everything was delicious and presented well. Afterwards, we had a cocktail at the bar. A perfect evening.

Ate here about two years ago. Still one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. We got right in because we were ok with sitting at the bar. We looked at the reviews on Google the next day and absolutely love the owner’s responses to the bad ones. That solidified this place’s legendary status for us. “Bon àpetit at Turtle Bay” lol

Please forgive my photos as i wasn't planning on writing a review, but I was so satisfied that I decided to do so. The first night was perfect. Appetizer: Empanadas were good, not greasy and crispy shells, but nothing special until you added the red chili sauce, which was the absolute best of the 3 house sauces they bring. Main course: The wagyu flank steak was amazing. It was a bit tough but expected for a flank steak, especially when you are used to filet mignon. It was a perfect cook, medium rare throughout with a nice char, seasoned right without butter or anything else to detract from the steak. I never had a steak served sliced, which was a surprise, but it didn't detract from the food. I'm not sure the reason other than to check the cook. I can't emphasize the last time I had a perfectly cooked steak that wasn't drowning in butter. I was completely satisfied and would usually stop there, but I was so happy I went for desert, and I am glad I did. Dessert: The dessert sampler was phenomenal. My favorite was tied between the ice cream cake and the crepes. The chocolate cake was good, super dense, almost like Fudge due to it being flourless and the crispy almond butter bits on top with the chocolate sauce went perfect with a piece of ice cream cake but I didn't discover that until the second day I had it. The crepes were to die for along with the coconut ice cream cake. Crepes were like eating a perfectly rosted marshmallow filled with smooth chocolate cream and brought me back to a memory around the campfire as a child. The coconut was roasted on the ice cream cake, which really set it off well. I don't care for raw coconut, but I loved this. I suggest allowing the cake time to soften a bit before digging in and mixing some bites with the chocolate cake. I would order the crepes and coconut cake by themselves but would have a hard time not getting both, which when dining alone meant the sampler. The second night was good, but there were small differences that separated the 2 meals. The NY strip was a bit over cooked for medium rare, imo, in comparison to my first steak. My photos don't capture it well, but the wagyu was perfect medium rare throughout the edges, which were charred vs. the strip with no char. I also have to admit the cook on the strip wasn't far off of most medium rare cooks I have experienced at other places and I do wonder if the wagyu cook was different due in part to the amount of fat in a wagyu cut. It just felt like the 2 steaks were cooked by different people in different ways, hense the grill marks on the strip but no char taste and the wagyu without the grill marks but a nice crispy char taste and texture. I tried the "Noqui La Boca," which was ok. The dumplings were super heavy, and the gravy it came with made it really great, but I would have just preferred more gravy given the size and heaviness of the gnocchi. The dessert crepe also needed a bit more torch to caramelize the sugar on top. The first night, it tasted like a toasted marshmallow, which was not as prevalent the second night. I recommend going during the week. The first night was a week night, which I enjoyed more than the busy weekend, and I think the chef had more attention to detail being less busy. Both nights, the bill was under $100 before tip and ranged from 101 to 113 after 25% tip. I didn't try any sides, but if I did, I would have chosen the fries. A different appetizer I wish I would have tried over the gnocchi would be the Provoleta(decadent cheese) or the Chorizo de la casa(house made pork sausage) I highly recommend LaBoca if you are detail oriented and long for a perfect steak that isn't ruined by being served in a bowl of butter or unessessarily topped with some seafood. Their process is to season the steak and cook it. I highly recommend them and will be going back for sure. Just be sure not to skip dessert. You will thank me.