Pepe Bocca

3.4 (22)

$30 and under

Italian

414 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA 02144-2511

About this restaurant

Romantic
Good for special occasions
Innovative

Pepe Bocca opened its doors to rave reviews in December 2014. Located right in the center of Davis Square. Pepe Bocca has been serving up classic Italian dishes with an interpretive personal flare.
We change our menu daily, so what you see may not be exact. Please call us at 617-776-6687 if you would like to know our special dinner menu of the day. Thank You!!

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Additional information

Dining style
Casual Dining
Price
$30 and under
Cuisines
Italian
Hours of operation
Dinner Fri, Sat 5:30 pm–10:00 pm
Website
http://pepebocca.com/
Payment options
AMEX, Diners Club, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
Dress code
Business Casual
Executive chef
Giovanni Maione

Location
414 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA 02144-2511
Neighborhood
Somerville
Cross street
College
Parking details
Street Parking
Public transit
Red line to Davis Square Somerville, across the street
Additional
Beer, Wine

Beet & Arugula Salad$10.00
Beets, arugula, Shaved Parmigiano
Portobello Salad$11.00
Arugula, portobello, poached egg topped w/pancetta balsamic vinaigrette & shaved parmigiano
Chevre' Goat Cheese$11.00
Fresh Chevre' Goat Cheese w/caramelized cumquats & black mission figs, fried shoe string sweet potatoes
Wild Dandelion Greens$14.00
Dandelion, Moliterno Black Truffle Cheese, Culetello
Charcuterie/Il Formaggio Board$24.00
Prosciutto di' Parma, Finocchiona, & Chefs pick of cheese served w/fig jam, olives & toasted crostini

Pasta

Frutti di Mare$23.00
Local littleneck clams, gulf shrimp, calamari, cherry tomatoes, garlic, white wine, x-v oil, fresh linguine
Gnocchi "Al Forno"$17.00
Traditional potato dumplings w/pomodoro sauce, parmigiano, basil & smoked mozzarella
Traditional Neapolitan Veal Genevese$18.00
Slow simmered stewed veal, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, tossed over penne pasta, topped with parmigiano
Lasagna$16.00
Fresh ricotta cheese, parmigiano, basil, Pomodoro sauce served w/meatball
Eggplant Parmigiano$17.00
Lightly fried eggplant, mozzarella, parmigiano, Pomodoro sauce, basil, served w/meatball

Secondi

Swordfish Lion$27.00
Pan seared & wood roasted wild line caught Swordfish Lion, organic brown rice risotto, cherry tomatoes & basil Pomodoro sauce, baby vegetables
Wood Roasted Local "Whole" Black Sea Bass$28.00
Fingerling potatoes & baby vegetables, roasted garlic, lemon, shallot, parsley, x-v oil
Bistecca alla Florentina$24.00
Stuffed Beef Florentine w/provolone & spinach, beef demi glaze reduction, garlicky mashed potatoes & baby root vegetables
Wood Roasted Lamb Chops$32.00
Broccoli rabe, sweet potato mash, lamb demi-glaze reduction

Pizze

Margherita$18.00
San Manzano cherry tomatoes, basil, buffalo mozzarella
Funghi$18.00
Wild mushrooms, asiago cheese, baby arugula, white truffle oil
Prosciutto di Parma, Fig & Gorgonzola$22.00
prosciutto di Parma, fig, gorgonzola, shaved parmigiano, x-v oil

Reviews

OpenTable reviews from verified diners

Reviews from people who have dined at Pepe Bocca.

3.4

(22)

3.6Food
2.9Service
3.9Ambience
3.3Value

Noise • Moderate

22 Reviews

CK
ColleenK
Greater Boston16 reviews
1.0
Dined on April 24, 2018
1. Overall 1
2. Food 1
3. Service 2
4. Ambience 4
The chef walked out and after 30 minutes of waiting for our food, our server informed us so luckily so we left. I was bummed b/c I bet the food is amazing, just no one to cook it!
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OT
OpenTable Diner
Greater Boston2 reviews
3.0
Dined on April 21, 2018
1. Overall 3
2. Food 5
3. Service 1
4. Ambience 4
It's unfortunate that while the food is fantastic, it took almost 2 hours to get it. I do not think I will be returning any time soon
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b
bk11 Gold
Greater Boston15 reviews
1.0
Dined on April 21, 2018
1. Overall 1
2. Food 2
3. Service 1
4. Ambience 2
When seated, we were told the kitchen was swamped and there would be a little delay in the food. That was fine with us, as we were enjoying good conversation. We bought a $70 bottle of wine, but it was just poured with no opportunity to taste it. Over 90 minutes later, none of the diners in the restaurant had any food. Some just left. We actually got some of our order first. The quality ranged from fair to good. When we finished (about 4 hours after arriving) we thought we should be comp'd a dessert. But we were told dessert would take a long time. Given our experience and the hour, we gave up. I don't know if it was totally the sole waitress's fault, but we wondered if she was also the cook when she would disappear for a while. There was no explanation or apology for the long wait beyond the "swamped" remark.
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OT
OpenTable Diner Gold
Greater Boston1 review
2.0
Dined on April 18, 2018
1. Overall 2
2. Food 4
3. Service 1
4. Ambience 2
Food quality was excellent. It took 2 hrs to get our food which seems like the norm. Place was much better before it became a full service restaurant.
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DS
DavidS
Greater Boston3 reviews
1.0
Dined on April 14, 2018
1. Overall 1
2. Food 1
3. Service 1
4. Ambience 3
I had high hopes for Pepe Boca. I was certainly disappointed. When we first arrived everything seemed nice. We were seated right away. I now know why the restaurant was half empty. They brought some bread which was the only edible thing in the whole place. The waitress seemed extremely incompetent and incapable if answering basic questions about the very limited menu. She said she would ask the chef but apparently he was not in the kitchen. I ordered the charcuterie board for a starter and then ordered our entrees. It took over 1 hour for a board of sliced salami and cheese to come out of the kitchen, during which time we were not even offered a refill on our drinks. We had to request refills of our water 3 times before it was brought. The main entrees then took an hour longer to arrive. We were just about to leave before our food came. I wish we had. Three of us had ordered the gnocci which was burnt and inedible, I had the Osso bucco which was tough and grisely. The risotto had no flavor at all. The other two people had the pizza which was less than average. By the time we had finished I was very angry. The waitress blamed the kitchen, a new menu, and staff change for the problems, failing to give an excuse for her ineptitude(usually if a kitchen is that far behind a good waitress can ease the stress by being more attentive or at least making sure the drinks stay filled). I felt like I was just cheated out of my hard earned money. The restaurant should have adjusted the bill for such a poor experience, but that would have taken a single competent person to realize what was happening and there were none to be found. As we were leaving, never to come back, two or three other tables around us were experiencing the same misery. I always hope for local restaurants to succeed, and maybe Pepe Bocca can turn itself around, but I will not be going back there ever again.
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OT
OpenTable Diner
New Orleans1 review
1.0
Dined on April 13, 2018
1. Overall 1
2. Food 1
3. Service 1
4. Ambience 3
The place looks so cute and we were excited when we sat down. We ended up waiting over an hour and a half for our food. No one checked on us that while time (we did get bread and I had a salad when we first sat down but nothing after that). I finally got up and walked over to ask about our food after an hour. Finally at an hour and a half two of our four meals were brought out; another 10 minutes before the other arrived. The food was subpar- mostly marinara sauce, and my friend’s lasagna had some of my gnocchi in it. We asked to speak to the owner who refused to come to our table but instead told us to come to him. No. He yelled at us across the restaurant to come talk to him. Horrible service and I will not be back.
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OT
OpenTable Diner
Greater Boston1 review
1.0
Dined on April 11, 2018
1. Overall 1
2. Food 3
3. Service 1
4. Ambience 5
Great place but really bad day. Waited over an hour for food.
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K
Kathryn
Greater Boston46 reviews
2.0
Dined on April 11, 2018
1. Overall 2
2. Food 3
3. Service 1
4. Ambience 4
Date night with my husband. We had to wait over a hour to get our food. We saw other people walking out before it was taking to long to be served.
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JC
JuanC
Greater Boston2 reviews
1.0
Dined on April 6, 2018
1. Overall 1
2. Food 1
3. Service 1
4. Ambience 2
I went to this restaurant a few days ago. I made a reservation on a Friday at 6:30 p.m. When I showed up, multiple tables were available.. Bad Sign. Everyone was complaining about the waiting times, some people had been waiting for more than one hour! I ordered the Gnoqui and the Lasagna... I waited for 45 minites and the plates never came... I told them I was leaving since I had movie tickets, they did not care, they did not apologize, they just cancel the orders and that was it! Since you can see the kitchen area from your table, I was able to hear all the employees screaming at each other, it was a complete mess! What a stressful place to have dinner. This was extremely disappointing and I am not coming for obvious reasons. Do you want affordable italian food in this area? Please drive 2 miles and go to Twirl in Arlington
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D
Disappointed
Greater Boston1 review
1.0
Dined on April 6, 2018
1. Overall 1
2. Food 3
3. Service 1
4. Ambience 3
Service was terrible slow. Kids' simple pasta took 50 minutes to arrive. My husband's pizza took an entire hour on top of that - for a simple pizza. I will never be able to convince my family to come back. Very unfortunate.
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Additional information

Dining style
Casual Dining
Price
$30 and under
Cuisines
Italian
Hours of operation
Dinner Fri, Sat 5:30 pm–10:00 pm
Website
http://pepebocca.com/
Payment options
AMEX, Diners Club, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
Dress code
Business Casual
Executive chef
Giovanni Maione

Location
414 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA 02144-2511
Neighborhood
Somerville
Cross street
College
Parking details
Street Parking
Public transit
Red line to Davis Square Somerville, across the street
Additional
Beer, Wine

Not available on OpenTable

Unfortunately, this restaurant is not on the OpenTable booking network. To check availability, please contact them directly.

Is this your restaurant?

Claim this listing

Pepe Bocca

About this restaurant

Not available on OpenTable

There’s more to explore

Additional information

Menu

Antipasti

Beet & Arugula Salad$10.00

Portobello Salad$11.00

Chevre' Goat Cheese$11.00

Wild Dandelion Greens$14.00

Charcuterie/Il Formaggio Board$24.00

Pasta

Frutti di Mare$23.00

Gnocchi "Al Forno"$17.00

Traditional Neapolitan Veal Genevese$18.00

Lasagna$16.00

Eggplant Parmigiano$17.00

Secondi

Swordfish Lion$27.00

Wood Roasted Local "Whole" Black Sea Bass$28.00

Bistecca alla Florentina$24.00

Wood Roasted Lamb Chops$32.00

Pizze

Margherita$18.00

Funghi$18.00

Prosciutto di Parma, Fig & Gorgonzola$22.00

Reviews

Additional information

Not available on OpenTable