LOS DE ARRIBA — Restaurant in Mexico City

Wow. How do you accurately put into words emotions that you have rarely, if ever felt? I’m an American guy that recently moved to Mexico City in January/2022. I moved here with the goal of reconnecting with a culture that seems distant, and almost forgotten in my family tree. Myself, like probably tens of millions of other American people, feel an attraction to a culture that has been lost through cultural assimilation, intermarriage, and ancestral echoes we hear through family lore, and legend.

So, what does that have to do with this bar? Lots! Through word of mouth, someone learned that I was on a quest of cultural discovery, and recommended me to this bar. So I gave it a shot! My first night was unforgettable. As was my second, third, fourth, and fifth.

My first night, a singer (Andrea Franco) asked if anyone had any music requests. I don’t know any Spanish songs/singers, so I quickly texted my mom to tell me the name of a song that she always sings around our home when I was a kid (my mom was a singer growing up). My mom says to have Andrea sing, “Malagueña”.

I was floored. The singer was amazing, and I was left in tears listening to a song my mom sang to me as a kid, in a city three thousand miles away from where I grew up. I came to Mexico to experience a culture I’m struggling to keep connected to, and now I was in a rooftop bar having a famous singer sing at my mom's request. I’m in love with this bar.

Over the next few weeks, I have been coming here, and night after night, my expectations of this place have been blown away. I’ve met: -Luis, “El Children” Ledezma - drummer for a famous rock group called Cafe Tacuba -Dannah Garay - Famous Jazz Singer -Argelia Fragoso - La Voz de Cuba -Alex Mercado - one of the best jazz pianists in Latin America -Andrea Franco - famous actress and musician -And a bunch of other performers/singers/artists/comedians who unfortunately I don’t remember by name, but who have made every weekend unforgettable.

I wonder if the owner knows the impact he’s made in my life. I cannot believe the people I’ve met here and all I’ve learned. This bar punches WAY above it’s weight class. Which brings me to one more thing!

Los De Arriba Bar should add something to its name. How do you call yourself just “a bar” when you have world-renowned talent singing at your stage weekly? I’m on a mission to befriend the owner one day, and to convince him to add some extra flare to this place to reflect more accurately what this place brings to the city. Perhaps, “Teatro...

I had the absolute pleasure of experiencing Los De Arriba as a Canadian visiting Mexico City for meetings. A friend invited me, knowing the owner Ricky (who is by the way, an excellent human), and I went not knowing whether we were headed for a dance club or some kind of live-music venue...? Turns out it was neither and much, much more!

I was also touched by the genesis story of Los De Arriba.... During the pandemic, many of Ricky's friends (artists), were struggling, without the ability to undertake live performances. They gathered regularly at Ricky's apartment, which was also a nice backdrop for online performances. Out of these gatherings came the collective ask for him to pull together a space on everyone's behalf for common use when the pandemic allowed. And so.... he did it! So this is a space for performance, but it's also a group of friends and community of both performers and regulars.

What you'll find is a highly interactive set of performances that flow from one to another over the course of the evening, all very much embracing everything from modern Mexican city performance to folk music that everyone sings along with. I speak no Spanish, but was fully swept up in the emotion, humour and inter-generational/cultural warmth of the evening. I stayed until 1am when things were still going strong, knowing I had to be up at 6am, so that's saying something!

If you're visiting Mexico City as a foreigner, this is a great place to be part of a warm, varied, friendly, welcoming space where there's nonstop interaction between performers and audience, along with a lot of laughter. Even without Spanish, I'd highly recommend, as it's a highly entertaining and deeply Mexican experience that supports local artists with great cocktails - go!!!!! (There's a very moderate cover that can be paid in...

La experiencia es totalmente diferente pues es uno de los últimos lugares donde se puede disfrutar de una variedad de shows en una misma noche desde un show de magia bastante entretenido, un concierto de trova, o incluso en esa ocasión nos tocó cerrar con la voz espectacular de una cantante de música tradicional mexicana pero con un medley interesante en su repertorio. Sé que además hay noches de stand up y que la variedad en cuanto a shows es rica y cuidando siempre la experiencia.

Pasamos una noche increíble, los tragos son muy buenos (en especial no se pueden perder los cocteles con Gyn, son espectaculares) la comida es muy rica, probamos unos sliders bastante diferentes a lo convencional pero con una propuesta intrépida y original que sin duda supera un simple snack.

Los precios no están nada mal, me parecen muy adecuados considerando que siempre los centros donde hay shows en vivo tienen costos mucho más elevados y en este caso el ticket no es muy distinto al de otros lugares en la zona.

El lugar es pequeño y yo recomendaría hacer reservación, sobretodo para grupos grandes.

Sin duda es un must en la Nápoles y para todos aquellos que disfrutan de un ambiente bohemio y...