Jules and I read about this funky place and it sounded fun and close to our hotel so we went to check it out. It’s in Quito’s Mariscal neighborhood, just off the main intersection. Look for the pink and blue lights.

The interior decor is equally as entertaining with bright colors

A tree growing up through the middle of the restaurant

And the main floor tiled with La Virgin

On every surface

Boca serves food tapas-style, so every dish we tried was small-ish and shareable. We got the platano tortillas, little fried cakes of plantain with a yogurt sauce.

I wanted to like these but they didn’t have a lot of seasoning and the sauce was a bit strange.

The empanadas came next and they were our favorite dish of the night.

We ordered 3 spinach and 3 mushroom and they were all garlicky and incredible.  They’re about 2 bites apiece, which may not be evident in the picture. We loved them so much that we ordered another round.

Next up were roasted mushrooms with a yogurt sauce.

I liked the flavor but the cooking was somewhat uneven so some of the mushrooms were raw.

The feta fritters were also good but a bit bland.

Boca’s prices are touristy – tapas dishes cost between $8-14 apiece – and I found the food quality somewhat uneven. I think that Latin American restaurants have a difficult time replicating the flavor profiles of European food and this restaurant is no exception.

However, I loved the atmosphere and the food presentation and it was a fun experience that I’d recommend to anyone who wants an offbeat place to eat in the Mariscal neighborhood.