Service was prompt and attentive, but the menu and food left a little to be desired.
Limited entree selection for dinner, especially for vegetarians (only one option). I had the Eggplant Parmesan--eggplant was excellent, but pasta was watery and the sauce was too sweet, tasted like it was right out of a can.
Dessert, a tiramisu, was enjoyable, but it was difficult to enjoy the atmosphere since there was loud conversation from the bar to our left and from servers and kitchen staff on the right. This is an unfortunate consequence of a small space, but it is something to be aware of for the staff.
Dined here in July 2012 with a friend and we were looking for a local place that was quiet and casual. We had a really great meal and it was a good price. The service was attentive and friendly. I had the special wild mushroom ragu with pappardelle which was rich and earthy in flavor with a great tomato sauce and pasta cooked perfectly al dente. My friend loved their eggplant parmesan. The eggplant was cut "lengthwise" creating a long  fillet and then breaded and served alongside pasta marinara. There was fresh bread was served with the meal. Can't complain and it certainly met the needs of  fun and relax dinner atmosphere. Definitely a great local place to try if you are staying at the Marriott up the street.
Review Source:I would say that Bocca Bella is fine in a pinch. I have no big aversion to the food, and I actually LOVE the Berry Cream Cake. The service is fine and the bar tender is super nice.... he always smiles when you walk in the door and says hello.
That being said, the tables are SUPER close together. It reminded me of those Italian places in the north end where you are essentially dining with the people at the table next to you. They dont serve fries, only SUN CHIPS?!?!?! Weird. The food is ok... but not enough for me to go back all the time.
I think the honest reason I eat here around 1 time every 2 months is that we live down the street.
Food was really bad!
As much as I'd love to support local and small businesses I would never go back to Bocca Bella Cafe and Bistro!
When you enter Bocca Bella, you expect some nice gourmet homemade Italian food! FAR FROM IT! Other than the restaurant's name and the waitress's accent when she was saying "prosciutto" nothing was Italian about this place!
We had two of their day's specials, a tortellini and a cabbage role, plus a fresco pizza and a salad.
Tortellini with chicken alferado: the chicken was from CAN!! I had never seen a restaurant serving CANNED chicken! Everything was store bought from boxes and cans!
Cabbage roll: came with Rice and bread! Not too awful but nothing too special either.
Pizza fresco: the bread was NOT prepared in the restaurant from dough! The pizza bread was store bought of frozen kind perhaps! Inedible! Awful tasting! Stale!
Including tax and gratuity, We paid 40 dollars for 3 meals and 1 salad and a soft drink.
Ambiance was fine, cozy and cute and service was slow but OK (the waitress was trying a bit too hard) which are my reasons for those 2 stars!
I receive burger recommendations from people everywhere I turn, and my parents are no exception. Being  a natural born cynic, if it's a restaurant I've never heard of or there's very little buzz about, I'm hardly in a rush to go there. After being pushed for months to check out Bocca Bella, I finally ventured back to my Newton roots to see what all the fuss was about. Billed as a "Cafe and Bisto," the lunch menu is dominated by sandwiches while the ever-changing dinner menu is predominantly Italian influenced. And there sits the mighty hamburger, once again a mere pawn in the dinner game, overshadowed by heartier fare and almost to the point of being off-menu, aka not the focus. But why should the burger be the focus, aside from being delicious, the burger isn't exactly sophisticated. Sure, upscale options abound on menu's all over, from the fancy to the faux fancy, like a cold sore, the burger is always there and not always so easy to get rid of.
Even though I am largely a food snob, I can generally tell what I'm in for ahead of time. The Bocca Bella burger is pretty indicative of any suburban burger in a non-typical burger environment. Charming in its own way, the under twenty seat establishment boasts an open kitchen, complete with a singing chef/owner who can't help but put a smile on your face. The Angus burger is listed as 10 oz, but feels more like a half pound beast at best. The cheddar cheese is melted and the grilled onions are bitter and sweet, fairly traditional flavors that work in their favor. The meat boasts a couple of paltry grill marks, and the non-crusted exterior is one strike against it. But inside the meat is modestly flavorful, not punching me in the mouth with beefiness, but actually cooked to medium-rare and pleasantly juicy. Something the higher end places only wish they could do. I guess that's the funny thing, this bashful burger is cooked the way it is supposed to be (at least on the inside) and yet the supposed "best" restaurants in the city can't even claim that sentiment. Maybe that's only funny to me, but the irony shouldn't be lost on you either.
A Kaiser Roll is used as the bun, and it works, as the patty is long and tall enough to snugly fit into the bread vessel. Unfortunately no fries come with the burger, instead you'll only receive a bag of Sun Chips (I kid you not) to accompany your burger. There's certainly nothing flashy about this burger and it shows. But for $8.50 it's at least cooked to temperature and is juicier than most I've had. Hard to say it's worth a return visit, but for a little hole in the wall in the Auburndale section of Newton, it gets the job done.
The vodka drink the bartender (& owner) made was really good. The eggplant parm was also good. Â The eggplant was thin & crispy, which was kind of different. It took awhile to make and I'm not sure if I believed the waitress's assertion that they are "known for the eggplant". Â The portabella sandwich & calamari (too rubbery) were not so good. Â Everything took awhile, eventhough the place wasn't that crowded. Â But, we were enjoying our drinks, so that's ok!
Review Source:Excellent, small, neighborhood restaurant.  My  husband had the stuffed eggplant and was not quite sure what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised.  I had the veal.  My husband lived in Rome for many years and veal dishes in this part of the country are always a disappointment due to tough veal.  Bocca Bella's Veal Saltimbocca was superb.  The accompanying dinner salad was imaginative and the homemade blue cheese dressing delicious.
My husband was also pleased to see that the house salad dressing was exactly what you would find in Italy - oil and vinegar. Â The other very Italian item was the cappuccino/espresso machine on the counter. Â This is not your Americanized Italian restaurant. Â You will find a real taste of Italy here.
I have given Bocca Bella four stars only because we later took out some of their desserts and did not care for them. Â The food alone, the presentation and the service (it was crowded when we were there) were easily five star quality.
Horrible wait for food. Â Server unable/unwilling to communicate with kitchen on behalf of diners. Â Kept telling us our food was "on its way" but never actually came with food after that. Â No manager on site to deal with problems. Â Food was nothing special once it FINALLY arrived. Â
Adding insult to injury: Â Waitress called us all "dear" which I hate.
I live down the street from Bocca Bella and was delighted when I saw they finally opened.
Went here for a mini-celebration over a bottle of wine and seafood chowder and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
They do a good job of being clean-cut & classy in atmosphere without over-doing it, which translates into both a nice day and evening feel.
The staff was very nice, if not a bit over-helpful (my boyfriend and I were enjoying a bottle of wine....leisurely....and it wasn't super busy...but the waitress asked us numerous times if we needed anything). I won't hold it against them though, I think they were just anxious to please :)
I will definitely be going back and trying lunch and dinner!
I'm new to the neighborhood, just like this cute bistro. So even though I've never posted on Yelp before, I had to help out a fellow newbie. Bocca Bella is great -- when I went for lunch a couple Saturdays ago, service was attentive, the ingredients were fresh, and the vibe was pitch perfect for this location -- neighborly, with the right mix of hip (exposed brick wall, open floor plan) and subdued. My turkey burger was a delicious interpretation of a classic. My only wishes would be for a longer menu, and a more polished-looking menu as the current one is just on printer paper, but I'm sure those will come with time. For now, this is a great new entrant to the neighborhood and I hope it thrives in Auburndale!
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