Nuvo Bar

I’ve been here in the past but haven’t been back for years. It’s definitely over rated bar in Birmingham, all about the décor but not much else unfortunately.

Very average cocktails. Poor ambiance. Music getting louder and louder whist the place is empty. I would not advise anyone to go there unless i really dislike them!

This place should be really nice, but it’s designed to make people feel like they are better than each other and gives a bad vibe inside.
Guestlist (only dunno if all the time) most of upstairs are roped off areas for ‘VIP’s’ unfortunately the VIPs are just folks like you and me with an attitude and air of superiority.
This oneupmanship is clearly fostered by the bar I ordered some half decent champagne to have it arrive with some kind of horrificly ostentatious sparkler attached I wanted to celebrate but didn’t expect fireworks! it’s clearly just to say ‘look at me’. The bargirl was very pleasant and attentive.
I took a bunch of my mates there and spent a fair whack and at the end of the night was spoken to rudely and aggressively and herded out without a bye your leave by the doorstaff.
Shame I can’t take back that money; but hey I won’t be making it my regular so that’s their loss.
I suggest you only go if your a wannabe who wants people to look at you when you order your drinks.

Located on the edge of Brindley Place at Brunswick Square, this is a nice bar, but I wasn’t too impressed.
Known as a cocktail bar and lounge, the décor is good, and the drinks are just, well, on average. Having spilt half of mine on some poor tourist who bumped into me, I then decided to stick to the ciders and spirits. They also offer a complimentary tapas, and if your not after a heavy night out, the best bargains on the drinks are between 5−8pm Tues-​friday at just £4.00.
Not a favourite of mine, and although it has a great location near Broad St, Brindley Place and the night life, with hotels right on its doorstep, the service is slow and can be improved. For a Birmingham bar, I’d rather go somewhere else.

I have experienced this bar on a number of occasions and continuously find myself trying to comprehend what kind of bar this is. It appears flash and modern and attempts to attract exactly that. My first time here, I had a great night, there was an up beat spirit to match those of the tunes the DJ was playing.
But since then I haven’t saw a DJ in there, I saw one man with a saxophone roaming around in there and after enjoying it for the first half an hour his playing along with new dance songs started to become tedious and rather annoying. Hours into the night I even started thinking he must be an imposter as he scurried through those enjoying themselves on the dance floor playing into their ears. But no this bar’s sax player played long into the night and was still there on our exit.
The queue at the bar is slow but I can understand as it is a cocktail bar, if you plan on going here I recommend it is a starting bar and also I recommend a full wallet.

Went here on a saturday night and at first the place appeared quite slick with it’s polished interior that oozed cool vibes and nice tunes, everyone was quite relaxed (and beautiful) not too crowded, just perfect. Came back a few hours late after 1 and it was fairly dead, with all the dress-​to-​impress crowd gone and the tunes lacking any orginality of pleasant vibes. The cocktails themselves were good, nothing mind-​blowing but to be fair we didn’t go right through the menu. I would go back to this place again but only early in the evening or maybe a week night when you wanna just have a chilled one or there to impress a date

This bar would have got at least a 4 if it was not for one experience. Which I will say at the end of this review.
As a bar it is pretty new to Birmingham and although it took awhile to pick up, it is now one of the better places with great music and drinks. The let down here is the crowd, for some reason instead of attracting an upmarket crowd like it attempts to, it attracts a bit of a pretentious wanna be crowd who just there to strut rather than enjoy themselves. A lot of posing for cameras and pruning going on here.
Okay the drinks are good, they concentrate on cocktails more than anything and this is where they also fail and I guess lose money because the bar gets soo busy it is normal to wait half an hour for a drink. I always feel in such bars if they concentrated more on quick spirits and bottles they would get many more people served.
When it first opened and I used to like going here, the crowd was neither pretentious or upmarket and the DJ was a pretty good one with some live percussionist some nights
Okay on to the really bad thing, my friend organised a 30^th birthday here, informed by a manager that as long as everyone is dressed that our crowd would have an area reserved and no problem getting in. So get there on a saturday night, as expected the place is busy and there is a Q formed outside. Speak with the security who refused to call the manager, so after a phone call the manager comes and refuses everyone entry saying its too full. All this while the doormen continues to let in people who either he or the manager knew. So a big fingers up to them and we leave and that was the last time I will go there.

Only been here a couple of times, on a Wednesday night and a Thursday night, and on both occasions I was surprised at how quiet it was.
Nicely decorated, very helpful staff, delicious cocktails and friendly service, I was just surprised it wasn’t busier.
I was expecting it to be buzzing past 11pm but it was fairly quiet and lacking in atmosphere, but maybe I was missing something elsewhere! I suspect that on a weekend, it’s very much a hot spot.
That said, a friend and I were impressed enough to host a fashion event at the venue on its first floor — and all of our guests were impressed by the stylish venue and the great cocktails on offer.

Another bar, owned by a chain, masquerading as a beautiful place for the beautiful people. Sadly, be under no illusion — it caters for the Broad St (get ‘em in and get ‘em sloshed) brigade. If you like lots of fake tan, working-​class Brummie accents, and a smuggled-​in kebab, this is the place for you! If, on the other hand, you fancy something more upmarket, venture further within Brindleyplace, or make a worthwhile trip up to the Jewellery Quarter.

Went here recently for birthday cocktails before heading to Bank. Similar vibe between the two places.
Very well done in the interior and exterior, even though it is only small inside on the ground floor. didn’t head upstairs but would be good to go back and see it after 10.30 when the DJ comes on. It’s exactly what I expected from a high end schmoozy cocktail bar. Good décor, drinks and crowd seemed friendly enough as did the staff. Def worth a visit if it’s cocktails it after.

Full review with pictures:

It’s always good to see more bars opening, especially those that are literally moments away from my doorstep and seem to promise a good cocktail.
At first glance it feels like Nuvo might be onto a real winner, it’s early days (open for three days so far) and no doubt will take a while before the place beds in.
Thats the issue though, it may be early days but is it too much to expect that you have you full bar stock in place before you open (not the middle of the following week, which is what I was told)?
Stock wise, a good mix of standard and high end spirits, though some disparity (4 gins, 11 vodkas). That will hopefully be more balanced in the weeks that come.
Now, maybe it’s just be, but when I’m eating or drinking I like good service, but not ‘over attentive’ service. It seemed like there was almost half the number of staff to customers. At least six floor hosts could be spotted, trying not to look idle. Whilst behind the bar there were at times ⁷⁄₈ staff, you certainly won’t be waiting long for your drinks.
So, drinks. Thats what people visit for, currently there is no cocktail list (which isn’t a bad thing), but does leave you wondering exactly how much the drink you ordered is going to set you back (roughly £7.50, whilst is priced equivalent to places like Bank). It leaves you in the hands of the bartender, which dependent who you get could mean that you may have to spec the drink before it gets made.
Sazerac Bartender didn’t know what it was
Negroni Pleasant, unsure by the addition of Lime.
Sazerac Second attempt, had to walk the bartender through the process. Mediocre.
White Lady Bartenders choice, rather good.
Atmosphere: ⁶⁄₁₀
Staff: ⁶⁄₁₀
Price: ⁶⁄₁₀
Drinks: ⁶⁄₁₀ (only saved by the White Lady)
Overall ⁶⁄₁₀
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