Boca Loca Fine Mexican Foods

Used to go here about 5 years ago, before the owner sold it to focus on the location on Northmount Dr. Today’s visit was for a take-​out chicken burrito, but almost ended with a broken ankle when I tripped over a medley of children’s toys upon entering.
The schizophrenic nature of this place has me confused. It is a storage room? A daycare? An African restaurant? A shisha place? A Mexican grocery? An abandoned building? A commercial appliance graveyard?
It’s definitely not a Mexican restaurant because today’s lunch of dry beans, overcooked chicken, and «salsa» (I use the term loosely because chopped up tomatoes do not a salsa make) was only masquerading as a burrito.
If you enjoy these type of ‘multi-​purpose’ establishments then you’re sure to love Boca Loca or, as I prefer to call it — Afri Mexi Shisha Bambino Loca!

Boca Loca’s touts itself as a grocer and fine Mexican and African food. One shelving unit of groceries a grocer does not make. As for the restaurant part, well, it’s definitely quick, and my food was good… but I’m a bit on the fence about Boca Loca’s at this point.
The interior feels like it’s about 80% finished. The colours are nice and fresh, but their storage room could use a door on (or some organizing at least), or maybe even a curtain? And the furniture feels a little haphazard. It feels a bit like place exists more as a hangout for the guy that was there (I’m assuming he’s the owner).
That being said, owner guy himself gets 5 stars. He was amazingly friendly and asked me if I lived nearby. He also asked if it was my first time in, which it was. «I thought so, I didn’t recognize you,» was his response. He even invited by back for some sheesha.
I came out of there with a chicken burrito and some black bean soup. I really want to give the burrito 4 stars because it was pretty good. But it came out of a freezer and was warmed up in a microwave. So three stars. The black bean soup, however, was hot and fresh and spicy. There were so many beans in that thing I’m sure I wouldn’t have been pleasant company later that evening. 4 stars. The two of them for 8.50 as a combo that day was a pretty good deal. It was a decent amount of food.
I’m going to half to make a few more visits to Boca’s before I decide what my opinion is on this place. But for now, it sits at 3 three stars.

Something odd must have happened to Boca Loca in the past year. I remember being overjoyed at my discovery of this wonderful little shop about 10 years ago when I was home for a visit. I went there today, after having lived abroad for the past 11 years, and was extremely disappointed.
The shelves were empty, and what little product was there was in complete disarray.
It appears that the store has changed hands. Unfortunately, I have to recommend Superstore over Boca Loca now.

Boca Loca comes as a total surprise to me, I have driven on this street so many times and it was only today that I noticed this Mexican market/​café.
Boca Loca which translates to «crazy mouth» in English has a small take out lunch menu of burritos, empanadas, rice and salads, and maybe a set of 4 tables and chairs if you want to sit and eat inside.
They obviously have many regulars here as people know what they want to order and have some sort of previous relationship with the only person there today who was taking orders, cooking and serving.
The place has authentic products, the Mexican staple of course is chili, and there is a small but good assortment of chilies here to send your mouth reeling into a «Boca Loca»; Chili de Arbol, epazotte, New Mexico, habanera, ancho, and Flor de Jamaica.
There is even a modest selection of salsas here as well, green salsa and my personal favourite Valentina Salsa Picante. There is handmade Mexican salsa which is diced up tomato, onion, cilantro and chili and guacamole which can be bought fresh in plastic containers.
You can buy tortillas in packages here but it was weird because there were only 6 packages left on this huge display shelf to choose from.
In fact the whole place is basically a display of unopened boxes; it is chaotic and sparse in supplies. I will give it 5 stars for authentic ingredients but 1 star for disarray and sparse supply.
The staff guy definitely needed an assistant to serve the customers who were obviously ordering and they definitely need a storage area to hide the unopened and partially opened boxes.
Does this place get a good rating from me, not really, perhaps just an average one as there is tons of room for improvement; but I am happy to be able to get some authentic Mexican products so close to my home.

This is definitely a «hole in the wall» restaurant/​market, but they have some of the most authentic Mexican food you can find in Calgary.