El Barrio Edinburgh Review

It is a good place if you like Latin music, although sometimes they play music of the moment.

Very good place to have fun, Spanish style but not only, the music is very good overall, only one thing is the place is quite small, but the most important thing is everyone is enjoying it, probably the best night out in Edinburgh.

The two doormen and the bartender tonight were angels in disguise.. they gave what could have turned into a really horrible night a good ending. Thanks a million :)

Too many people on weekends, no space at all. Nice mojitos and staff though.

I'm Latin.
If you like crappy Latin music go ahead I'm sorry but I haven't heard salsa here not once, at least not at weekends nights so sorry to break your dream, no, not a Latin place, just some music on Spanish (yep we have different kinds of music too..) not a single sight of "Cuban" please, this place has no taste.

Worst place. Smelly people and arrogant staff!!!
Avoid!

Pretty bad treatment on the part of the employees. They don't open at the time

Love the music and the atmosphere. I always have a great time there

Never return to this place, wife had mobile phone stolen unfortunately. Staff have a bad attitude..... avoid .

Great place to dance! Friendly staff, prices not too high.

A friend and I were visiting Edinburgh and were excited to find a Latin club in the city! We had gone on a Saturday night and had such an amazing time, not to mention, everyone was super friendly from the bouncers to the bar staff. Sure, the place was crowded but the music selection was great and we had no problems.
We had even gone back on Monday night for our last night, and there was still a decent crowd! We'll definitely be back here when we visit Edinburgh again.

Standard small night club, with excellent music. It didn't get to hot and stuffy, and still some seating even when it got busier.

great music, great staff, great atmosphere, what more could you want?

Very central and crowdy, not my kind of place though. Either youngsters or elder guys behave like if they have never seen a woman and have spent all of their life closed in a corral. And some of the ladies fit in perfectly. One of them repeatedly provoked my wife until I put myself in between.

Very lively, great atmosphere and good music for a dance but can be overcrowded and hard to move at times, drinks aren't on the cheap side either. Friendly staff but depending on how busy it is you may be waiting at the bar for a while.

Also a great place for latin music. El Barrio nights are always to be remembered.

Exactly what it say. Latino bar with salsa, mojitos and all round party feel. Loved it.

Doorman was biased to age for one of the members within the group and also made false accusations of their state. (Sober) we played along and came back 1 hour later (as recommended by the doorman) to be told the club was now closed. I then politely asked my party to set off back to the hotel and asked the doorman if he has any sort of identification in which I can identify him. He then got aggressive and upfront about not needing any sort of way to identify him.

After trying to calm the situation by saying that I wasn't trying to argue and only wanted to ask for a way to single him out from his work mates. He started to turn around and just speak abuse towards me.
I don't know if this is standard for Edinburgh, but from my local area. Any SIA licensed doorman will have an ID on show (armband) and will go out their way to show the customer it on request.
(I STRONGLY SUGGEST THIS CLUB IS AVOIDED!, Luckily all other clubs and pubs where friendly and welcoming to outsiders who weren't young and vulnerable)

Even though it gets easily crammed you can usually enjoy a good DJ with decent Latino mixes.

wish i could give 0 stars. extremely bad night club. never been to a worse place. the people managing the place are absolutely pathetic.
i got injured; a fellow dancer in heels stepped on the lateral ligament in my ankle, which disabled me from standing. the guard inside told me that he'd like to take me to a better place to recover. he took me outside the club where i sat on the stairs. another guard comes to me and told me to move asap because that's no place to sit. when i told him about how i was surprised that he was asking me to move around instead of offering help, which offended him, and he proceeded to throw me out of the club. i couldn't believe what happened because i'm this petite sized girl who isn't even drunk (some very kind strangers from inside came out to help me and confirmed that what i was stating was absolutely fair <yes good souls exist> ), but maybe the bouncer hadn't felt "powerful" in a while, and needed to feel it. maybe something bad happened in his family and he needed to feel control? i wouldn't know. i'm typing this at 2 am hahah...with a painful ankle; but i'll go rest now. what happened was clearly terrible, but multiple people told me that there's nothing i can do about it. it's their turf, their rules. well, i can do this! tell the world that they aren't decent hosts. i mean, go ahead, try the place; you might have fun! but if some unforeseen accident occurs, help is the last thing you can expect.
bad experience. even this little city has better options :)

Only visited on a weekday so it wasn't busy at all. Great cocktails (try their mojito!) and nice dancing area; you don't really need much more for a good night out, if you enjoy Latin music.

Fun Latin bar. Quite small, but usually packed full. Not a place for a quiet drink and a chat, bit if you fancy a boogie this is a decent option. Open late.

Cocktails should be made with sugar and not on glucose syrup, real white rum for mojitos. The music should be real salsa or bachata on which it is possible to dance. Hoping that changes for another time. Security and welcome very well!

Nice place to gather well with friends and dance some latin music, drinks are pricy and even though security the worse I have ever experienced, I went at the door to look for my brother I didn't even step outside and the security guy took my beer from my jacket pocket and poured in on the street (full bottle), I said I bought it from inside and I was coming back to drink it he just ignored VERY RUDE IGNORANT AND UMPROFESSIONAL if this guy gets paid to treat customers that way El Bario should feel ashamed for that guideline, I didn't look for no trouble but had to also get all my other friends (11) out because of the security guy short blond hair working on Sunday at door left side at 01:49AM 15.05.2016 ( who refused to let me identify his ID)

I found this fantastic place, the music is pleasant, the place is nice, and I had so much fun

Wow, what a great bar...
Amazing mojitos, great atmosphere, great service.
Very fun!!
The music (DJ) is also great, very catchy.

Good atmosphere. If you like Latin music and you are in Edinburgh, you are in luck. If you go before 9 or 10 at night you don't have to pay tickets.

booked a table weeks in advance for my boyfriends birthday, was held up as it took ages to pay our bill at restaurant. i had called twice to explain and assure them we would be there soon. we arrived at 10.05pm the doorstaff were going to make us pay as after 10pm. i asked for cameron as we had been emailing back and forth previously regards to arranging etc. cameron came out and said that we had to pay. it 'wasnt his door' or some rubbish like that. some ppl didnt want to pay and so we had to go elsewhere. all i want to say is thanks a lot cameron. i hope someone ruins something that you arrange. a really bad taste left and a bad decision cameron. will not be returning.

A site that seems to sound good, but they do not admit Spaniards, do not waste your time oor you will see English to the nines enter for free, but if you are Spanish and you are wearing normal clothes, you will not pass. . Hahaha an elitist club, classists ... not worth it
Best music in any gambling den in Spain and Edinburgh ... You didn't waste your time here ..

I came here wanting to dance salsa... I bought a voucher for a salsa class and club entry to go with a friend and we went last night. We arrived early for the class, as instructed, at 7:45. The place was deserted besides many staff behind More

first night in the country, attacked by local girls, management got us kicked out, pretended to not have seen anything to resolve the situation, blamed it on us. really a "wow" experience

From the manager to the french guy behind the bar to all the ladies that work there even security, this is my safe go to place to have a good time - been coming here for 2 years and never once had a problem and always felt looked after. Good vibes!! Highly recommended and should be scored higher. Just brilliant!

Great Latino atmosphere with subtle red lighting, tightly packed on popular days, salsa teachers to get you moving Thu-Sat, half-price mojitos Mon-Wed, bouncers who are doing their job properly and friendly barmaids... All this adds up to my favourite club in Edinburgh so far.

Near Princes street in Edinburgh, one of the few bars open till late, 3 am with live DJ and Latin atmosphere as the name suggests.

If you like latin/ salas music you will love El Barrio. You can't not dance here! There is of course plenty of tequila for sale to keep you dancing! The only downside is there are often sleazy guys watching girls from the side of the dance floor (more so than other clubs).

Shame about the meat head and his tubby sidekick on the door. You must remember that first impressions count and to be treated respectfully would be better than the eastern European bruiser attitude. Especially when you are paying a lot of money to enter and for your drinks. There are lots of sleezy men inside also.

A pleasant atmosphere. I recommend the music, people are very treatable. A good place to have fun.

Drinks are good, DJ is not bad, but the later the music, the louder the sound

Love it in here great music great atmosphere and staff there very nice

The black owner of the club who had an affair with a girl kicked a group of 5 students out of the club because one of them was talking to the girl. Some other people started beating the students and got kicked off. Worst place to go if ur students! HIGHLY UNRECOMMENDED!11

Pleasant service fantastic music great atmosphere I recommend!

Good venue with Latin music in Edinburgh. Good atmosphere and pleasant treatment.

The place overall might seem your standard bar if it wasn't for the rude staff and specially rude bouncers.I was dancing with my girlfriend and other friends and a group of guys kept sexualizing and trying to touch me and my girlfriend after being told numerous times to stop it he ended up throwing the drink at my girlfriend and two grown men through themselves at her who got escorted out while thw other guy was laughing around and did not even get looked at twice. Clearly not a good place if your a woman, gay or just in Edinburgh. There are other latin bars to go in Edinburgh that are not sexist and homophobic and don't try to rip you off with drinks.

Not even a single star..

Rude bouncer.. and high prices on drinks.(compare to other night clubs)

I didn t like it at all..