La Nueva Excelencia | Cuba Libre

The area around Allende and Republica de Cuba in the Centro Historico could be called Dive Bar Heaven, if your version of heaven involves lots great places to get cheap beer, meet people, and have fun. Here’s two places I really like when I’m in this neighborhood but not at Rio de la Plata (which has its own review on this site). Both are on Rep. de Cuba between Allende and Callejon 57. Metro Allende is the closest to this general location, Metro Bellas Artes is close too.

La Nueva Excelencia:  Maybe it’s the glass brick bar or pastel colored walls, but this place reminds me of bars you see in Pedro Almodovar films. The “New Excellence” has a legit stage where bands perform on weekends and an open bar with a nice balcony. They also have Karaoke some nights, which can be downright hilarious depending on how many 15 peso beers the people there have consumed.

Cube Libre: Cuba Libre is an awesome little place that tends to have rock and/or metal music most weekends. The clientele is of the young/rocker type and the beers are 12 pesos, the lowest I know of in the neighborhood. I’ve ended up here on numerous nights and really enjoyed myself…plus I can usually get in when some of the other bars are full. I don’t think I’d show up at this place in a golf polo and khakis though.

Dive Bars in La Condesa

La Con-fresa doesn’t really have dive bars but there are three standouts we’d like to recommend where you can get relatively cheap drinks and have a great atmosphere.

La Felina: Baja California and Ometusco (near Metro Patriotismo): La Felina is one of those bars that does just about everything right: beers for 25 pesos, Mezcal shots for 40, an ambiance that is both hip but not too overdone, and fantastic DJs on the weekends (usually hip hop, funk, or new wave). It’s small and if you don’t get a seat there be 9pm you’re probably not getting one, but that’s OK, standing and bumping into people in the crowded venue is more likely to force you into talking to your neighbor and making a new friend…which is one of the main things that should be happening in a “dive bar”—even if this spot is too cool to be one.

El Centenario: Vincente Suarez and Michoacan: This joint is a cantina meaning bright fluorescent lights (even at midnight), restaurant style tables, and botanas (cheap/free food depending on how many drinks you buy). I wouldn’t say it’s one of the top cantinas in town but it’s right in the very center of the Condesa bar scene, making the location extremely convenient. You could even say it’s an oasis of Mexican culture in one of the most un-Mexican places in Mexico, well besides Cancun. Beers: 25 pesos

Bizarro: Yucatan and Alvaro Obregon: One the border of Condesa and Roma Norte, this goth/metal bar is great place to grab a drink when you’re in the mood for thrashing electric guitar music and jet-black hair dye. 25 peso beers and 20 peso glasses of wine keep the place packed even on weekdays.