5 Cantinas with Live Music in Mexico City
We've created a selection of cantinas with good food, good drinks, and good live music.
Music is the art that appeals most deeply to emotions, it generates dopamine and oxytocin, known as the love hormone (wow!). In these places there is not only music, but also an ideal atmosphere to enjoy with friends or as a couple, you know, to relax from stress and for pleasure.
La Única de Guerrero
Located in the Guerrero neighborhood, this cantina became famous for its appearance in the movie Nosotros los Nobles (We Are the Nobles). What was fascinating is that, on November 30th, Elías Ochoa's orchestra was there with songs by Glenn Miller and Ray Conniff: yes, a whole big band jazz band, which emerged in New Orleans, in the 1920s. During the weekends the place offers an excellent musical variety. What more could we ask of life?
- Address: Calle Guerrero 258, Colonia Guerrero, CDMX
La Caminera
We also refer here, in Food Police, to La Caminera. We point out that in that cantina on Avenida Revolución, in addition to the food and beverage service, they offer a series of original shows, such as the lingerie show or the fire-eating woman. Within that catalog of entertainment, there is also live music. The ones I loved are the "batucada nights". Impressive hip movement of the girls to the rhythm of frenetic percussionists who with their skill pay homage to this Afro-Brazilian genre. We recommend keeping an eye on La Caminera's billboard, always attractive; also, of course, you have to enjoy their cuts of meat.
- Address: Avenida Revolución 813, Santa María Nonoalco, CDMX
Cantina Cuchilleros
Cuchilleros is "the senators' cantina". Its slogan is: "with the seasoning of a traditional cantina". As for live music, this place offers shows on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It also has an event called "bohemian nights". There are ballads or vernacular songs (with the singer Pastora Reyes, for example). So it's another mood: quiet pieces, perhaps even romantic, that go well with the house specialty: cabrito (although there is also tongue, arrachera, ribs, rib-eye, oyster shots and much more). If you go with your partner, how about some cheek-to-cheek dances? And if you were born in the 60s, you can also get nostalgic with covers from the 70s and 80s.
- Address: Madrid 17, Tabacalera, CDMX
Restaurante Bar La Perla
Restaurante Bar La Perla is that place full of nostalgia. There are gigs that are put together on Fridays and Saturdays in this place that has existed since the 70s. I recently attended one by the orchestra Los Ruckys Band. It is a band formed with people of a certain age. My friend Francisco, guitarist and leader of Los Ruckys, just celebrated his 70th birthday. The gig at La Perla was sensational! The Doors, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Eagles, all the important bands of the 70s were reborn in La Perla in the voices and instruments of Los Ruckys Band.
- Adress: Av. Hidalgo, corner with Cerrada Matamoros 28, Tlalnepantla Centro, Edo. Méx
El Ebro, restaurant and cantina
Considered by many as "the temple of cantinas", El Ebro stands out for its architecture and unique atmosphere. On Friday and Saturday nights there is live rock, with local bands offering great versions of the classics of the genre. As Germán Dehesa used to say, go there to see Boogie y los Salvajes, enjoy the terrace and its "family atmosphere".
- Address: Alfredo Chavero 29, colonia Obrera, CDMX
