Guanabara

20 pounds the enter, cloaks 1 per clothes. 7 pounds for a orange vodka. Huge place with restaurant and it’s nice place only if you like Latino musics !

My Unilocal review is only for the night club. Not the restaurant. We visited the club on Saturday around 11:30 (club closes at 2:30). The cover is 10 pounds and the coat check is a pound per coat. Initially, there were just drummers and Brazilian dancers performing. However, after their performance, the dj began playing music. The club had outstanding music, enough room to move and a lively group! The music included Spanish songs, top hits, old classics and other hip hop songs. The attire carried amongst people, but it was predominantly casual. Some girls wore dresses and some were dressed more casual. Overall, I usually don’t like paying a cover but this was worth the money. It was a great evening!

Oooh what great music!!! I think clubs in London are overrated and the music is often poor. But this place — really lively, they play pop and Reggaeton and they have live music!!! What more could you ask for?! They have a happy hour here too (but as I got there late I missed it). Great atmosphere with a big dance floor. Just wish there had air conditioning as it gets so hot in there.

A really friendly and lively place, full mainly of Brazilians. We came on a Sunday for a friend’s birthday. Free entrance on Sundays plus happy hour between 5pm and 8pm, also a Sunday extra until 11pm deal where you can get the Brazilian beer, Brahma for £2.50, and a Caipirinha for £3.50
You can also eat quite well for a fiver, if you have the Feijoada, a typical Brazilian Portuguese stew of beans with beef and pork, however, the beef here is replaced by sausages. The dish is accompanied with rice, vegetables, pork crackling, a slice of orange, and farofa, a toasted cassava flour mixture, which looks very much like light bread crumbs. Tastes very good and fresh. Just like home cooking.
Before 9pm there are beginners salsa classes on a Sunday and then the band comes on after, with very lively Brazilian music. Everyone gets on the dance floor and the atmosphere is really great, and the dancing very sensual. The Brazilians are very friendly and the place is very welcoming, even the bouncers are too, and thanking you for coming, when you leave.

Got here for 6.30pm on a Saturday night just in time for happy hour which ends at 7pm. At £7 per cocktail, the 2 for 1 deal meant that each cocktail cost just £3.50. Bargain! However the drinks were crazy weak.
It was a friends birthday so we had a table reserved. I didn’t have to pay a cover charge to get in but I’m not sure if that was part of the birthday package or not.
At around 9pm the performances started! Scantily dressed women surrounded the stage to shake their thang. We all left to see the performances but when we came back they had given away our table! After a bit of complaining we managed to get another table although I felt like that was only because one of the other tables had just decided to leave the club!
Music was also not to my liking. They were blaring out pop hits with a samba twist. Performances were cool though and Guanabara is pretty huge as spaces in London go with a nice layout.

Quite a lively place! I came here with a group of friends on a Thursday night. When we arrived around 7 there weren’t many people there but it soon filled up. The drinks are great with lots of options though the menu is a little dull and the food isn’t a particularly high quality. The entertainment is great though, lots of Brazilian dancing, then everyone is invited up onto the dance floor and a DJ steps up. There’s a mix of Western music and Brazilian music which is quite cool. It’s a fun place to spend an evening.

Guanabara, is very easy to miss and probably not what you expect, it is a Brazilian restaurant, so if you are wanting to try the food this could be a place to go, but there may be others in London that do better food.
But if you are wanting the Brazilian experience, this is definitely the place to go, there are dancers or performers on every night I think and on a Friday at least, turns into a bit of a bar/​club with everyone dancing and getting involved, dancing on the tables.
Well worth a visit!

I came here on a Friday night with two friends a bit past midnight. We entered without a cover and were pleasantly greeted with two full bars on either side of a large dance floor. The DJ played mostly contemporary top 40, but some salsa tunes were mixed in as well. Tequila shots were 4 quid each, which isn’t bad at all for a club. It was well air-​conditioned and there was a good mix of men to women.
Tl;dr — good for dancing late into the night.

This is a great place if you are looking for not too costly, fun night out with friends and you like dancing. Before 8pm the usually play light latino music so it gives you a chance to relax for a bit before the main show starts. After 8pm a live band & dancers come on stage and it becomes more of a nightclub.
They tend to have a different music theme/​event every night but the most popular events tend to be on Saturdays.
If you want to avoid the £10 entry fee you have to get there before the guest list ends at 8pm. Happy hour is from 5 to 7pm and all drinks are half price so make sure you stock up if you are planning a long night.
The beers are overpriced so stay away from those. Instead go for the cocktails which are very tasty but a bit weak or for spirits.
It is also worth noting that this place must be of the few which actually has civilized and friendly bouncers.
The downside is that the food is not that great and they only have about 2 people behind the bar as a result it takes forever to get a drink.

Reviewing this as a restaurant, not a club.
Went on a Tuesday night for dinner. If you’ve ever been to a fancy club and thought: ‘Wow this place is done up really nicely, if only there wasn’t thumping music and hoards of sweaty drunk people dancing it would be great to sit and eat here’ — then this place is definitely good for you.
It was a bit different as certainly felt like we were having dinner in a club. Seated not too far from the (empty) dancefloor with a DJ playing loud (but certainly not ‘thumping’) Latino music, but it was actually a good experience. We could talk, drink and it was a bit dark but different. Food was good for the price, nothing worth raving about, and service was okay.
Great for groups of mates, because it’s quite loud you wouldn’t be bothering anyone, and cheap drinks at happy hour. Not really good for families (think it’s 18+ anyway) and wouldn’t take a date here.

Went about two weeks ago
1. Very steep cover fee. The guest list ends at 8pm (on a SATURDAY– c’mon guys, get real!) and then it’s £10 per person.
2. My fried and I walked in around 11pm and Enrique Iglesias’ «Bailando» was playing, which was a good sign. Spanish pop music makes me happy so good sign.
3. However, almost right after a samba drum band started. Cool at first but then it went on and on… I mean, it got old quickly. Like when a DJ won’t go to the next song already. We paid to dance, not to stand around bopping our heads. Then the band got off the stage and we thought finally, it’s over. Nope, continued more drums on the dance floor and a singer from the samba band with a pretty terrible voice started. Clue another 15 minutes of torture.
4. FINALLY, the band left and the music restarted. Some Spanish music but then it segued quickly into hip-​hop and house. Ummmm I thought this was supposed to be a Latin music dance club? I danced anyway and had fun but it would have been so much better to hear consistent Spanish/​Portuguese/​Brazilian music!
5. Drinks are delicious but weaksauce so expect to pay a fortune if you want to get crunked. Otherwise it’s about £7.
6. We finally left around 1:15am an that’s when reggaeton and Spanish music finally started again. Not one true salsa song played (for whoever mentioned that in a previous review, that must have been years ago).
So had some fun but won’t be back.

Queue to get in not too bad, but for the cloakroom & bar, it was awful. The bouncer wouldn’t let me keep my coat & bag & insisted it go in the cloakroom. The line went up & around the stairs.
Only 2 staff working behind the bar which was totally inadequate. Cocktails were delicious though once I could get one. The music and entertainment was good with carnival type dancers & capoeira demonstrations. It was absolutely packed inside & very hot.
I wont be rushing back to spend most of my night either queuing for by bag or to get a drink.

When my friends and I went here the place was empty with only one lady dancing to the music. So don’t go here on Tuesday. But they were nice enough to stay open until 12:30 on weekdays so we ended up dancing like the place is ours private. They played some nice music from Latin dance beat to today’s R&B. Tequila only cost you £4.

Totally forgot about this place until I had a text from a friend that I used to go with. If you like a bit of salsa (dancing that is) you will LOVE this place. Hidden off Covent Garden, it’s got such an infectious atmosphere that after a couple of mojitos (SUCH GOOD MOJITOS) even I couldn’t help showing everyone my amazing salsa moves. And they are something to behold… ;)
Also went there once for an office Xmas party — not what I would have picked because I love a good old fashioned Xmas dinner (turkey & trimmings, how British!) but was really happy with their take on it.
Can only imagine how good it would be for carnivale: D

Great place to go Forro dancing on Sundays! :)

Brilliant. They were having a carnivale celebration. We waited an hour in a queue to get in (d’oh). But once at the head of the queue, they had no problem with my a) lack of ID, even after asking for it b) lack of ladies in our crew.
We went up and found a really hopping club, with bright lights and pretty décor. We left our coats on a seat, instead of the coatroom. No one stole them. I had a Mohito Royale (Mohito with champagne) and a Strawberry Lolly. Both were incredibly delicious drinks, priced at about £7 (pretty good for London!). The party lasted until at least 3 am at night, and was barely dying out.
There wasn’t anything Brazilian about this club, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was quite nice for a regular London nightclub.

Absolutely love Guanabara. I went along for a friend’s birthday drinks and dance night. It was just wonderful. The place is such a refreshing change from some of the West end ‘stuck-​up’ clubs and bars. The staff from the guys on the door, cloakroom, bar, etc couldn’t be nicer. The atmosphere is infectious, the music absolutely fantastic and the mix seems to have something for everyone with the obvious Latin American/​Brazilian theme and rhythm of course.
I can’t wait to go back and try the food next time it looked great too, but I’ll pass judgement once I’ve tried it myself.

I remember little detail of Guanabara after the first hour. I do recall the drinks were tasty and the shots came quickly. There was ample space for our group to spread out and relax while knocking down a beverage or two. The bartenders were friendly and fast which is all you really want in a bartender outside of Coyote Ugly.
Then the music started and all hell broke loose. There was dancing in styles I’ve never seen much less had any chance to emulate. Still, I’ll happily throw some silly shapes and watch in awe as girls with long legs and short skirts twirl around me.
Basically, my takeaway is that this is a good place to cut loose and go crazy and experience some Brazilian dancing which you just don’t get in the standard London club. I hear they serve dinner here earlier in the night but alas we were far too late for that. I would say a light meal to absorb some of the alcohol is worthwhile but anything heavy and you risk revisiting it after a turn on the dance floor!
Also, this is part of the London Drink Deck so if you or a mate has the card, be sure to bring it along for a special deal!

I shook my groove thing, shook my groove thing, yeah yeah!
They had a fantastic Brazilian singer who sang a mix of ‘traditional’ Brazilian songs and then some more recent tunes with a Brazilian twist. I loved her. She had a great band behind her too.
Unfortunately she wasn’t there all night and I regretted not arriving earlier to hear more from her. After she left they put on modern, recent music (aka rubbish) and I departed from the dance floor while the 18-​year-​olds bumped and grinded with one another and one girl gave some fella a lap dance. Cringe!
I hit the bar where the staff were friendly and quick! One bottle of vino headed my way (the house wine is a Chardonnay but the Pinot Grigio isn’t much more expensive) and I took it to our reserved area and chatted to friends instead.
What really impressed me was as I headed home the doorman asked how I was feeling. I said fine and he asked if I’d like him to sort me out with a cab home. Which I did! How kind and attentive! I was actually absolutely fine but still, it’s nice to know their staff are keeping an eye out for drunk ladies wandering off into the night.
Thanks Guanabara!

In June/​July, I was lucky enough to make a few 1-​night stops in London. On my last stop, before heading back to the States, I went out on the town in London. While taking the Tube in, I saw that there was a Brazilian band and samba lessons and DJ at a Brazilian club near the Holborn station — Guanabara. So, after checking out the British museum, I grabbed a bite (Subway…“5 euro, 5 euro, 5 euro footlong!!!”), and then went to Guanabara.
What a place. If you like all things Brazil, like me, you’d be in wanderlust here. This place is huge. They have a juice bar downstairs, as well as a listening stations for Brazilian albums, and they also sell Brazilian CDs as well. Up a few flights of stairs you enter the bar/​eating area/​dancefloor/​stage. Man, this place was hoppin’! I got there before 9pm, so there was no cover. A DJ was spinning some chill Brazilian tunes and people were chillin’ to the Brazilian vibe. Shortly afterwards, three women took to the stage and started teaching the crowd some basic samba moves. At one point the DJ played a song w/​straight-​samba-​drums, and one of the instructors totally jammed. She moved her booty and legs so fast and to the beat – it was amazing.
The 8-​piece band, Mandinga then hit the stage. They were pretty cool, and played some cool covers ranging from (The Pink Panther theme song, to Bob Marley’s Could You Be Loved, to Stevie Wonder’s Master Blaster). They got the crowd jammin – no doubt. I admired from afar; at one point with a fruity caiparinha in hand. I had a couple of ‘em in fact. If you go here you have to try their caiparinhas. They have so many flavors, and they were so tasty… a little weak, but tasty.
I can’t wait to finagle another stop here the next time I’m in London!