Baraza

This place was a staple feature of every visit to NYC. I LOVED this place. Seriously, it had the variety that people like me imagined all of New York to be. Reggae, Brazilian, Latin and much, much more. A cool crowd, stylish, but devoid of excessive ego or pretense. I’m so sorry to hear that it closed. But knowing NYC, Brooklyn probably has a place that picked up Baraza left off.

Why do good places have to close?! Please come back Baraza. I miss & heart you ‚(.
P. S. Sometimes it takes me months to review places, this place got tired of waiting for my review.

It’s definitely closed, replaced by some bar that didn’t look half as good. Too bad.

Was a cool place. but I thinks it’s closed :(

This is a great place for a laid back night in the East Village. Get your dance on with some salsa music and your drink on with some great mojitos. Whenever my friends and I go there is usually a good crowd looking for fun and no one is caring about looking stupid when they really don’t know how to dance.

This place quickly became one of my favorite bars in the city. It’s hard to fina a good bar that spins some of the best classic salsa known to man. From salsa to samba this place will keep you oscillating all night long!
What makes it better? The great mix of people. From Latinos, to europeans, whites, blues, greens and purples, everyone seems to just get along great at Baraza.
As for time, this bar doesn’t kick off till at least after 11pm. (I’d say later even) But have no fear! The place fills up nicely as the nights progress. If you get lonely there are barbie dolls all over the walls who more often than not will listen to everything you have to say.
****4 stars — quirky and unique, this place serves up a great mix of latin/​brazilian tunes in the city. Drinks are pretty wack but the diverse crowd is a huge plus. Great place to go dance.
Sad to add this, I hope this doesn’t become the last Baraza review. Bouncer on saturday said the bar is likely closing in the next weeks. Get it while you still can.

My friend and I were walking along Ave C in search of a bar but the blasting music from this place was too enticing to miss.+0.5 star due to intrigue. We had absolutely no idea what this place was because the name wasn’t on the building or anything. But haaay, no cover! +1 star.
This place was PACKED! Hot *LIVE* Latin music! +1 star!!! I was right behind the trumpet player, readying myself for some crazy arm movements and trumpeting. I was not lookin’ to get elbowed that night. Anyway, there’s def. some interesting décor at Baraza. Plastic dolls on the walls, homie. Kinda freaky but I don’t know, kinda fitting too.
I’m not sure if this place was large or small because everyone was up and jamming. It was definitely a pleasant little surprise to see everyone getting really into the music.
Oh! Drinks are cheap! $ 7 caipirinha that F’D ME UP. +1.5 stars!

Inexpensive. There is no name outside, or I didn’t see one. I came here for someone’s birthday.
The strength of the caipirinha was what made it more enjoyable, but not the taste. I want my damn sugar cane, and it was nowhere to be found. I would try the mojitos next time. The music is lively, but we were there early, so there was ample space to watch awkward ladies dance. I’d rather go to a salsa-​themed nightclub than a bar. Because after midnight, the music changed to hip-​hop, which I actually didn’t mind, but why the false advertisement?
And I didn’t know if the bouncer was kidding when he said that my ID was fake. Smart. Thumbs down on that one.
A bar is for falling on the floor and making a fool out of yourself and/​or socializing with friends you love– i.e., The Dead Poet, Jeremy’s Ale House. I left just as the crowd was getting a little too big. I’m sure it’s pretty pumpin’ in there on Saturday nights. But it’s not the place to have a birthday party to invite friends from different circles to come together because the dancing just would not happen (no matter how much I drink, and I drink much– and dance much, for that matter).
I should have just done Patron shots and called it a night.

Plastic dolls on the wall. Sounds from all over Latin America. Affordable drinks. Good amount of seating. People actually get up and dance! The bartender made me a horrible capirinha. But everything else about the place was fantastic. Will be back.

Since When Did Latin Dancing Become Synonymous With Hating Deoderant?
I’m going to focus on three things in this review, and one of them is probably my own damn fault, but I like to blame things on others so just deal with it.
(1) It is 2009. I do not give a shit that you don’t want to pay the fee associated with running my credit card. Take my credit card, or I will eat your soul.
(2) If you go dancing without first putting on deoderant, I will go on Unilocal and write about how everyone in the club smells like ass, and how fair is that to the club, really? I mean it’s not like Baraza washed the deoderant off all these dudes as they were coming in the front door… at least, I don’t think.
(3) Thanks for all the excess rock-​hard, black wooden blocks placed randomly around the super dark room for seating purposes. It isn’t likely at all that someone will walk into these, badly bruising both of their shins. (Call me a klutz if you want, but I was not even drunk yet. Seriously.)
Okay, the credit card situation. Yes, you’re some trendy, tiny bar, and you don’t want to deal with my credit card, with opening and closing tabs, with paying the teensy little fees, and so when your clientele orders a round and then hands over some plastic you look shocked and say «Oh, Im sorry! It’s cash only. But there’s an ATM outside.» Well, why don’t you slide me a few ones to pay my ATM fee then, because last I checked it was 2009 and everywhere takes credit cards. If my cab takes a credit card, and Starbucks let’s me pay for my overpriced latte with a credit card, and the 102 yr old dude at the used book store lets me buy old crusty $ 2 books with a credit card, then your bar that charges $ 13 for a martini can suck it up and pay the 3 extra cents associated with processing my transaction to save me the hassle. Seriously.
Next: the deoderant issue. Let me explain something. There are a few things that I do without fail when I go out dancing. Actually, scratch that. When I leave the house. I brush my teeth. I put on clothes. I put on deoderant. Why, patrons of Baraza, do you not do the same? I was lucky enough to receive several offers to Latin dance throughout my evening there and it was good to know that I didn’t need the cash-​only bar to end the night passed out, since I was sure to pass out on the stench of body odor alone coming off my potential suitors. If you see someone tackling dudes as they come inside and rubbing them down with speedstick, that might be me. Watch out. Or wear deoderant. Your choice.
Lastly — the seating. Okay, guys, I’m completely behind the extra seating, and I get that it’s super cheap and convenient to place small rectangular blocks around the dance floor so people can move them around to tables as they see fit. Mostly I’m just pissed because I walked into one when I was trying to greet my friend, and I have a couple big bruises. I look like a fool. Fine, it’s my fault. But I’m awesome, so I blame the club.

Sweaty samba dancing, fresh caipirinhas and no cover charge! What more do you need in life?
I really can’t out-​yelp any of the other reviews on this place, except to say that if you have ever wondered what type of baby a Brazilian and Colombian would have… it would be a Baraza!
I went here on Saturday for a Bday celebration, and between the scrumptious $ 4 passion shots and $ 7 caipirinhas, we ALL ended up thinking we were the bday girl!
The music was cumbia, salsa, merengue, reggaeton and samba; all perfect for getting all sweaty with a cute stranger on the dance floor.
The décor was a little creepy, but gave it a cool spunk. It was very hot inside, but after a drink and a song– it didn’t matter… you knew your hair was going to be a ball of sweaty pulp by the end of the night either ways.
In conclusion get to Baraza, you’ll love Latin people so much you might change your dating/​mating preferences after this place!

i felt up a stranger’s ass here on Friday night.
i guess you could say the drinks were cheap.

This was the last stop on Halloween night and I really liked this place. At the door, the bouncer was really nice and gave us free drink coupons! I guess he was pleased we were in costume. Anyhow… the make tres bien mojitos. Very fresh! They also played good salsa music and the vibe in the place was very warm and inviting. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and it wasnt a place to just gawk at one another. There were some serious salsa dancers (very good) and I was pleased that the night ended with Latin flavour in the air. Que romantico!

I love the funky décor (Barbie parts suspended in shellac!) and the interesting beverage options (guava margarita!). Plus the salsa (plus other miscellaneous) music was great and some people were actually dancing to it.
The bathroom is the worst-​smelling bar bathroom I’ve ever experienced (that is, until I went next door to the Sunburnt Cow…), but all in all this was a positive bar experience!

I Looove when I find places that aren’t afraid to bring a little Latin to the east village.
SO fun, so many good things about Baraza:
–They have Presidente. I was happily brought back to my lazy times in the DR.
–Gypsy Kings were played not once, but twice while I was there.
–Salsa dancing happens without any sort of instructor.
–The bartenders know how to make a caipirinha (although its not that great)
Why only 4 stars?
–The beers seem overpriced in comparison to the mixed drinks
–Its VERY small and there are not many places to stand without getting pushed over by dancers.
–There are random plastic naked babies and limbless dolls stuck in the walls. I’m not joking.

When: Sat night, before midnight (kinda early I suppose in NYC — around 11 even).
Why the poor rating? Well, for a Brasilian place, there was no Brasilian music, and I was thoroughly disappointed about that. Instead, there was Mexican stuff for merengue and salsa. What?
The caipirinha was also quite disgusting. But if you want a strong one to take you through the night, you have your drink.
Unfortunately, those two disappointments did it for me. On the other hand, it was nice seeing pairs dancing and to be asked so politely to dance.

For about 2 years I could never remember the name of this place — but oh how I loved it. Good drinks and GREAT music. I love coming here late night for some good dancing. One of my favorite aspects is that the people are friendly! From doorman to bartenders to the clientele.
I have managed to finally keep the name in my memory and always recommend this place to friends.
= FUN

Planned a surprise party here for a Saturday night. If you get there around 10pm, there’s no line and barely a soul in the place which makes it PERFECT to grab 1 – 9 of their handmade capriahnas, mojitos, guava margs or passion punch shots and catch up with your buds and get to know the friendly bartenders. At $ 6 a drink you obviously can’t go wrong, especially on a hot summer night when they’re blasting brazilian pop and couples are salsa-​ing on the dance floor. But be aware, at about 11pm, there’s a line out the door for folks to get in so it really (really!) picks up! Getting there a little bit early is definitely worth not having to wait outside — or at the bar.
Dinging them a star because they never answered the phone or called me back when I was trying to let them know we had a big group coming (though on reflection, they probably knew it wouldn’t be a problem because we were coming at 10pm, but still). Also, they have an outdoor space but slammed the door shut right at 10:15pm. Nice they’re looking out for the neighbors, but a little patio would have made this puppy a guaranteed 5 star!

Tight spaced Brazilian bar w/​outstanding drinks and good music to move to. We got here around 10 on a Sat night and was able to grab a booth. Place gets packed by 11. Cocktail waitress was quick .
Guys are on the prowl to dance here. Make sure you have backup to save you. I’ll be back!

It’s a Brazilian Bar!
Love the dolls everywhere. It’s freaky, but it’s hella cool. the people here are friendly. Yummy $ 5 mojitos. Hella nice tenders. Good Latin/​Caribbean music. Way crowded that night but it’s all good because someone set off a stink bomb and the place cleared up a bit, heehee. Next time I’m back in NYC, will definitely be paying this place a visit.