Barrio Central

I have heard a lot about Barrio so came here with a friend. I fell in love with this place. The staff know what they are doing and they are good. The cocktails were amazing and I absolutely loved it, my friend doesn’t know London well as he rarely comes into central. He absolutely loved this place and has been back numerous times. Cocktails were so well made and you could taste the alcohol and the flavours but it wasn’t overpowering or anything like that. Definitely will come back.

Seriously fun looking bar. Difficult to find a seat for walk ins as most tables get reserved and drinks are a bit pricey, considering they’re nothing too special. But it had a good atmosphere and pretty good service! Would definitely give it another try.

Great atmosphere. Go here quite a bit after work for happy hour cocktails! The staff are very attentive and the music is great.

Smells like a pineapple and made me feel old. I’m 30. Many youths were dancing poorly to Santana. The upstairs seemed more chill but the pineapple smell made me feel more strip club than tropical fiesta. Womp womp.

Amazing cocktail bar in Soho, great and simple cocktails and wonderful south American style tapas type food… love their plantain and halloumi skewers :)

Went hear last night for a few work drinks and though I loved the cocktails and the décor etc the customer service REALLY let it down.
The bar staff had some serious attitude. We booked a table in advance and negotiated a half price on certain cocktails for an hour. So after our first round I went up to the bar to order our special deal cocktails. The bar staff then had to drag the manager back to discuss this and kept insisting we were wrong. Then forced me to open another tab even though our table already had a tab open and after about 15mins of discussing whether or not we could have a discount they then reminded me that I only had 20mins before the offer ended.
The table service was not much better with the waitress insisting on a tab being opened because it would make HER life easier.
Yeah, the cocktails are well made but really, for almost £10 a cocktail, they should toss in some good customer service into the mix.

Barrio Central is a classic Soho spot, filled with good drinks and OK food. In fact, skip the food, come for the drinks.
They’ve got an epic happy hour with cheap or two for one drinks. The bartenders know their stuff and if you order the right drink, they’ll even set it on fire for you. Boom. Sometimes, depending on staff, the drinks can be a little slow. But they do have a bar on the first and second floor and both are usually staffed, so if one looks overly done, check the one below.
You can reserve tables and if you know you’re coming, you should. It can get crazy busy in there, even on a weekday night.
The food is only OK, good for nibbles and only at a discount. I’d eat dinner somewhere else, or lightly with you drinks. Do come for the drinks though, they are something.
There’s a club area in the second floor but it is tiny, and again, can be packed. If it is, it is hard to get around, either to the bar or the bathrooms, so that’s a little frustrating. Also, the bathrooms can be a little gross. Bleh.
Overall, a nice spot to sit with some friends. Not a bad place to spend an hour or three.

First time I’ve been here and actually managed to get a seat. Very nice venue, with lots of cool things suspended from the ceiling to keep you entertained (that’s if you’re not already entertained by the barman’s «flaming» skills! — very flamboyant display of cocktail making). This bar unfortunately really does get packed out — but the atmosphere is really good that you don’t notice it.

Popped in for a quick drink, the staff are friendly and it being a Bank Holiday Monday, it wasn’t packed. I’ve been past on a Friday evening before and it can be rammed.
The drinks were good, very tasty and strong enough that you knew you’d had a good slug of alcohol. Next time we’ll grab a bite to eat, but being a couple of doors down from Bodeans, unless it’s absolutely outstanding, it’s going to have some competition for our number one choice.

Gingerbread colada is like Christmas in liquid form and is now one of my favourite cocktails. Bar staff are all friendly. Came here for a friend’s birthday and the table was already booked, which was very lucky as it got busy quickly. Arrived in time for the last minutes of happy hour, really wished we had thought more strategically with the ordering. Would definitely come back again!

I’ve been to this place a few times — the most recent was on a night out with some old friends last Saturday.
It’s okay. Just okay, for me. The drinks are good, although they should be for what you pay for them. They do a happy hour fairly regularly, but unfortunately we had missed it. They also stock a massive variety of alcohol, so if your tipple of choice is a Cuban, 5 year old, oak matured rum, you bet your ass you’ll find it here.
The décor is fun, but what really lets this place down is how it’s set out. Every time I’ve been there, it’s so busy that you literally can’t move. They should either have a lesser limit on the amount of people allowed in, or set up the floor area more effectively — we were stood for about 45 minutes because there was no table or seats available, and we couldn’t move anywhere else for all the people.
Paying over £10 for a single drink and then being forced to have it while face-​to-​face with some sweaty guy’s armpit makes you want to frequent a place less.

I know this might be the kind of atmosphere this place strives for, but please don’t call yourself a cocktail bar when you’re actually a loud, packed club. We came here for a friend’s birthday party on a Sat night and it was so ridiculously rammed-​packed with drunk people that it felt like being at a fraternity house. It’s not a big place so it was stressful to even get to the back where my friend reserved tables that I didn’t move for the entire night.
I got two cocktails but they were so sweet (and with such little alcohol) I could barely finish my second. And for a cocktail bar it was almost impossible to carry a decent conversation, because the music was too loud and not a single Spanish song played that night (and for my tastes, it was awful too as it was mainstream hip-​hop from my high school days).
I really thought this place to be quite classy, but was quickly disappointed. Unless you aim to be completely wasted to tolerate the choking atmosphere, don’t come here without a big wallet because it won’t be a cheap night either!

Barrio has great happy hour deals, affordable with great tasting cocktails!
The music was great and there is a very cool atmosphere. To top it all off staff are friendly and go out of their way to be helpful!

I went to Barrio Central for my friend’s hen party on Saturday and I have to say that this bar is the best service I have ever expereinced. I called in mid May to make a reservation and the people I spoke with on the phone were really helpful. A week before the event I got an email asking if I wanted to prebook any drinks, which I duly did. Once we all got to the bar we were looked after for the duration of our stay.
Our waitress went above and beyond to assist us and we were surpirised about how reasonably priced all the drinks were. When we were struggling to find a drink that we could all share, our waitress suggested to buy a bottle of rum. As there were 10 of us, this made sense and made our night so much better.
The music is also extremely good and we were all dancing around our tables whilst hitting our bottle of rum.
I will most certainly be going back as Barrio Central is a wicked venue and bundles of fun. :)

I popped in here on a Tuesday night with a few friends for what was to be one or two drinks during the happy hour.
Oopsies, look at the time. And… er…the number of drinks we’ve already consumed.
We had delicious mojitos and a plate of kickass nachos. Oh damn, that’s my idea of a fine Tuesday evening.
Fun atmosphere, tasty food, nice service. And, definitely a London crowd. Easy-going,.good spot!

I was taken here on my birthday and had never heard of the place before so was pleasantly surprised when i’d made this discovery! The place has a fun, cool tiki-​style interior which gives you all the more reason to forget you’re in central London and imagine you’re livin’ it up in a bar in latin america.
Whilst I’ve never eaten there, the cocktails are what keep me coming back– whether you’re looking for something sweet and fruity, or a tipple that will blow your head off, they’ve got it covered. Or… just ask one of the lively bar staff to make something special and they’ll rustle you up something exciting. Barrio is famous for it’s ‘No-​brainer’ cocktail which is served in a Lucha Libre wrestling mask with a burning flame. It looks impressive and tastes wicked– I’d recommend sharing one between two if you’re planning on taking it steady! Also look out for their happy hours between 3 – 8 during the week and 3 – 7 at the weekend offering cocktails for £4.50. BARGAIN!
The perfect place to dance, relax and enjoy some fiiine alcohol in a cool surrounding!

Came for a friends birthday. Arrived at the door at 9pm to be greeted by… dum dum daaaaaa A QUEUE!
I understand now why it was one in one out, the place was absolutely packed and there isn’t really any space to move. We managed to snag the gazebo at the back of the ground floor which made the night a lot better. The cocktails are nice and the servers are nice. They played late 90’s early 2000 club hits. It was ok overall…

Una palabra para Barrio Central: Att-​it-​ude!
Honey you’ve got attitude. From the colorful walls, festive lights, to your catty drunk women that stumble through on a weeknight after work. I felt like I was at an office party… where you see all of your co-​workers’ true sides on the dance floor after a few cocktails. An older crowd but not necessarily a mature one at that – men that don’t behave their age and women that would rather talk out of their asses than mouths.
The downstairs’ bar and dance floor were at max capacity and that max would accomodate about 20 people or less, comfortably. There were at least 45 – 50 in there. Hot, sweaty, cramp, and unbreathable. I witnessed three different shattering drinks-​to-​floor incidents.
It’s a shame because this place could potentially have more personality and entertainment but its quite too small for the amount of people they are hoarding down there. Three stars because I like the idea of this place… but it could improve on different levels!

In a country where people ask «so when is cinco de Mayo, anyway?» a place like Barrio Central is a rare gem.
They don’t have margaritas on the menu, but let’s just assume it’s because they figure everyone already knows that margaritas are a given in an establishment such as this. Cause mine was savage… meaning muy muy bueno. Or perhaps they just want to highlight their other fabulous, meticulously made cocktails, some of which come in barrels.
Sure they were short staffed and sure they were literally only offering three dishes off their menu, but even with those factors accounted for, I had an amazing mouth watering salad that involved mango, pomegranate, plantains, and jerk chicken. A little bit Latin, a little bit rock ‘n roll.
With a soundtrack that mixed 90s rap with soul favourites, this place is all win en mi libra.

I came here for a preview of this restaurant/​lounge. The décor is very South American colorful and creative. I would even venture to say too creative for Soho. It really has an East End/​Shoreditch feel to the place as you have old retro looks merged with the new. See pics for more details.
The drinks are S.T.R.O.N.G. Their Mai Tai was 95% booze 5% ice and a splash of fruit juice. We seriously had to ask for some extra juice to mix in the drink and it was still too strong. Their margaritas are very good. But every other drink that I had was too strong. Well at least too strong for me.
The food here is AMAZING. They have a nice mixture of Caribbean and Central/​South American food. Their jerk chicken skewers and curry goat with rice and peas was delicious. Watch out for their prawn skewers as they’re really spicy and succulent. I was also impressed with their veggie tacos. The tacos were made from corn tortillas which is a rarity here in London. They were also perfectly spiced and really filling.
I am counting down the days until this place officially opens as I plan to be a fixture. (I think it’s in two weeks) And if I was a community manager who was thinking about having a Cinco de Mayo event, I would def consider hosting an event here. *hint* *hint*