Curtis Audiophile Cafe & Record Store — Restaurant in Barcelona

The inside is not bad, cool vibe and the drinks are simple but do the job. They try to have a great taste in music, pretty good Vinyl record DJ’s obviously influenced by American black culture, hip-hop, and music similar to that genre from LA and New York

The problem is the overcompensating doorman, and other poser doormen in rotations, who obviously have no experience and only “act” what they think a doorman is supposed to “act” like. These guys are ruining the vibe and seem simple minded clueless and very recently possibly stopped regulars from coming back ever again.

Coming there as a native of Los Angeles regular who also lives in BCN and brought people from New York last Thursday with my native girlfriend from BCN - I was embarrassed that I took them to Curtis to be hassled for “reservations” on a Thursday and to be questioned and talked to as if we were kids by doormen who wanted to act like wannabe cool guys.

I have been to Curtis many times and have NEVER had a reservation on a Thursday. These guys were playing “doorman” and very obviously were overcompensating square wannabe posers who had no clue how to read a room and crowd.

We (my girlfriend and I) have frequented the establish many times, spend money on many drinks, and brought the exact crowd and culture, stylistically and musically the bar emulates and curates the scene inside from. We are the EXACT crowd that legitimizes the bar.

Wanting to show authority to a diverse international group consisting of a Spanish native, and performing artists, and Hip hop soul DJ’s from California and New York with class and style - ended up making the doorman look pathetic. Even the people in the surrounding outside areas knew what was up and were literally laughing at their idiocy too.

Instead of playing their inexperienced “game” we walked away laughing with them not realizing they gave problems to one of the top Hip Hop DJ’s from NY, a working actor on one of the top TV shows from LA, and literally one the top Spanish native influencers out Barcelona.

My advice, get rid of the two doormen you had Thursday June 5th, and teach the other kid who is there on other days how to read the crowd and scene because they are all ruining the vibe and causing problems with regulars who ARE the culture and crowd the bar is curated from. In the end word spreads and delegitimizes an otherwise cool and unique bar in Barcelona.

I’m flying to Los Angeles California today, and I will not promote the bar there like I have in the past, and when I return after a week, hopefully there are new doormen/greeters, if not we won’t come back - unless these kids are finally taught how to act with established grown ups - who ARE the culture the bar...

This place was recommended by a friend that has lived in Barca for 15yrs (he wasn’t with us on this night). 

Myself and his brother went on Saturday 16 August 2025 night. 
As a person with an interest in Hifi and trying out these Audiophile bars over the past few years (where I live) in London I was really looking forward to this.

Getting in was no problem at all. We went to the bar and my friend was looking at the selection of bottles behind the bar as he is a brandy drinker.

I asked the barman if he could let me see the bottle I thought was Courvoisier. It was and I said ‘do you have Woodford Reserve’ (for myself). His response was ‘WHAT!’ So I said to him ‘that ain’t how you talk to customers’.

His response again was ‘WHAT!’

At that point I had enough of this attitude, so asked his colleague next to him, wearing a baseball cap ‘¿habla ingles?’. …he just shrugged his shoulders.

I have never in my life been spoken to like that by staff in any establishment, anywhere in the world. We are all of Caribbean decent and our friend that lives there the same, and said it normally has quite a few black decent customers. So maybe the barman isn't racist, maybe he has girlfriend or boyfriend problems. But that is no excuse for his awful attitude...

Let me paint the picture…so we had been in Barcelona for 5/6 nights and had no look with finding a decent bar/club. On our 6th night, we had been for cocktails at a pretty mid bar and decided we would have an early night. On our way back to the hotel, we walked past a bar that seem to be playing semi-decent music. The owner of this bar was stood outside and told us to come in…I kindly declined and said “I have to be up early, but thanks”..but the man persisted and saw the curiosity in our eyes. Eventually, we gave in and decided to go in. Straight away, we were hit with just a cool atmosphere of 70’s and 80’s disco. I kid you not, I did not stop dancing for about 2 and a half hours. The DJ was so cool. The people in there were carefree, nonjudgmental and just seemed like they were having a good time. As we left, we said thank you for providing us with the best night in Barca we had. We asked “are you open tomorrow as it is our final night” and they responded “of course we are. Tomorrow is hip hop night”. Instantly, we knew that all plans would be arranged around tomorrow night and yes we went again. One of the best bars I’ve been too and just one of the coolest vibes. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a...