Club entertainment in Mexico City
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Love
Socialites line up for Love, upstairs from the fusion restaurant Ixchel, in a typically ornate Colonia Roma mansion. You’re unlikely to get in without reservations, and even then it’ll depend on your looks. Once inside the velvet-draped lounge, order an apple martini and party like it’s 1983 – the DJ will help you remember what that was like.
reviewed
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B
Patrick Miller
People-watching doesn’t get any better than at this throbbing disco founded by legendary Mexico City DJ Patrick Miller. With a clientele ranging from black-clad ’80s throwbacks to colorful cross-dressers, the fun begins when dance circles open up on the floor and working-class regulars pull off moves that would have made Tony Manero of Saturday Night Fever proud. You can dance to the ‘Hi-NRG’ and Italo disco mixes if you want, but most outsiders tend to stand back and watch.
reviewed
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California Dancing Club
More popular (low-brow) than the Colonia Roma clubs, this old-fashioned hall has marathon dance sessions, with half a dozen bands on the bill. Hundreds of couples bounce around a vast tiled floor flanked by stout mirrored columns as groups like Los Escorpiones de Durango keep the cumbias (Colombian dance music) coming. Beer and soft drinks are dispensed from two humble bars.
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Rioma
Once a restaurant owned by Mexican screen star Cantínflas (the name is a jumbled version of the actor’s first name), Rioma is now an exclusive lounge attracting a sexy 20-something crowd. The below-street-level space retains the restaurant’s original mahogany paneling, with the red polka dots contributed by Japanese designer Yayoi Kuzama. Star DJs fire up the turntables.
reviewed
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Go Go Lounge
The honeycombed decor in this antro over a sushi bar seems lifted from Kill Bill, and features what is supposedly the largest mirror ball in Latin America. Merengue, reggaeton and pop keep a post-pubescent crowd bouncing in a series of packed salons. When it gets too sweaty, make your way to the terrace bar and order a Takeshi (sake and mango ice cream cocktail).
reviewed
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Patio de Mi Casa
This low-key venue is a new addition to the clandestine club zone on the east edge of Colonia Juárez. Minus the exclusive attitude of some venues, it’s simply a gathering place for fans of electronic music that has managed to attract such globally prominent figures as Alan McGee and Jeremy Scott. After a few Mezcal Sunrises, the warped decor begins to make sense.
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La Bodega
Fans of the Buena Vista Social Club will appreciate the Cuban combos who perform throughout the day in this rambling, tropically decorated Condesa home. Rumbas, boleros and sones accompany Mexican food, cocktails and dominoes in airy, high-ceilinged salons on both floors. Upstairs is the cabaret club El Bataclán.
reviewed
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Living
Housed in a magnificent Italianate mansion near the Torre Mayor, Living is a temple of ecstatic nightlife for the 20-something set, both gay and straight. On the enormous main dance floor, world-class DJs cook up high-volume house sessions as sculpted performance artists/exotic dancers gyrate. Other scenes unfold in other lounges.
reviewed
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El Under
An underground-scene favorite, this old house stages live gigs and DJ sessions in a contrived spooky setting. Black-clad youth (aka darketos) dance to ’80s classics like Morrissey and Bauhaus on the club’s lower level, while upstairs the crowd takes in local bands playing garage punk, rockabilly or death-metal sets.
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Black Out
The new hot spot on the Zona Rosa’s hottest street is mostly male but frequented by buff clubbers of every persuasion. Designed by Frida art director Felipe Fernández del Paso to evoke the cosmopolitan New York theater world, the narrow space is draped in black velvet, with a sky-high bar of status liquors.
reviewed
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Cream
The longstanding El Colmillo club has been spruced up and reborn as one of the city’s premier electronica venues. Beyond the ghoulishly red narrow front room, steps lead down to a hallucinatory party lounge, where internationally renowned DJs work from a catwalk above a laser-lashed dance floor.
reviewed
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Altavista 154
This San Ángel club has three rooms: red, yellow and blue. Superior DJs rule the red room, laying down such dense grooves that even certified nondancers must get up and move their butts. A lounge and bar occupy the other rooms. Admission is free though cocktails are typically pricey for the zone.
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Momma
Currently Polanco’s hottest antro, Momma attracts hordes of party people. Beyond a chic, minimalist restaurant, the brightly lit hall of mirrors resounds with pop en español and hits from past decades. As elsewhere in Polanco, expect a discretionary admission policy.
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El Rincón Cubano
If there is a Little Havana, it’s in Colonia Roma, particularly along Calle Querétaro, where many Cubans reside and the flames are fanned nightly at the various dance clubs clustered along the street. Cuban salseros keep the floors filled at El Rincón Cubano.
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New Orleans
Littered with bric-a-brac, the DF’s longest-running jazz club has a relaxed, homey ambience, and the kitchen prepares homemade pastas and salads. Gregarious owner Ángel keeps things eclectic, staging everything from Dixieland jazz to scat singing to funk and fusion.
reviewed
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Cultural Roots
Portraits of Marcus Garvey, Haile Selassie and Emiliano Zapata glare down over the throngs of skanking youth who fill this warehouse-sized room, where DJs pump out a heady blend of contemporary reggae. Despite the pervasive aroma, signs remind you that ganja use is prohibited.
reviewed
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José Cuervo Salón
A warehouse-sized venue for touring rock, world and salsa stars. With excellent sound, a wall-length bar and a dance floor for thousands, this is one of Mexico’s most cutting-edge clubs. The cover price varies. Since there are no stations nearby it is best reached by taxi.
reviewed
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Boy Bar
Steamiest of the clubs on the Amberes strip, this multi-level disco has won notoriety for its chiseled go-go dancers, not to mention a ‘hot room’ for advanced groping. If it gets too hot, catch a breeze up on the sandy terrace overlooking the street action.
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Pervert Lounge
A pioneering electronica venue in the heart of the Historic Center, the Pervert routinely hosts DJs the stature of Luca Ricci and Satoshi Tomiie. Tribal house, deep house and progressive house are among the featured styles heard within the narrow, stone-walled room.
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Rexo
A minimalist, triple-deck supper club, the perennially popular Rexo really packs them in toward the weekend. There’s dining on the upper levels but the revelry converges on the bar at the bottom, which serves mezcaltinis and other unusual cocktails.
reviewed
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El Balcón Huasteco
This center for the preservation of the Huastec culture of Hidalgo and Veracruz stages performances by fiery trios. There are wooden platforms for traditional zapateando dancing and the kitchen prepares snacks hailing from the Huastec region.
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Mamá Rumba
Managed by a Havana native, Mamá Rumba features contemporary salsa, with music by the house big band. Instructors will get you started Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings. Mamá Rumba has opened a larger branch in San Ángel at Plaza Loreto.
reviewed
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Hookah Lounge
The fun revolves around the water pipes (from M$120). A bewildering array of tobacco flavors is available. Wednesday to Saturday nights, DJs produce an eclectic mix of electronica and Arabic rhythms, with no fewer than four turntables.
reviewed
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Ruta 61
Catering to the denim-clad blues cult, this split-level venue stages electric blues artists in the Buddy Guy/Howlin’ Wolf mold. About once a month there’s a direct-from-Chicago act, though you’re more likely to see a local cover band.
reviewed
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Pata Negra
Nominally a tapas bar, this oblong salon draws a friendly, clean-cut crowd of 20-something Chilangos and expats. There’s live music on both levels, with the upper Salón Pata Negra striking a more bohemian tone.
reviewed
