The Top 10 Bars With Live Music In Quito

Eat! Drink! Listen! Quito’s vibrant club scene offers live bands performing in all genres. With such a variety, there is bound to be something for every musical lover out there.

El Pobre Diablo

For 27 years, El Pobre Diablo, located on Católica and Galavis, has been the most popular jazz club in Quito, presenting both local and international musicians. A great venue for night owls, the shows generally start late, around 10 PM, and continue well after midnight.

Cafe Mosaico

Cafe Mosaico has the benefit of being situated on a hill known as Parque Itchimbía, which offers diners a magnificent view of Quito and the surrounding mountains. Their in-house band, The Time Tracers, covers a 50-year span of pop music, from the ‘40s to the ‘90s.

Misquilla

The name “Misquilla” comes from the indigenous language, Quichoa, and serves as an index of what this restaurant-tavern’s focus is—traditional and native Ecuadorian music from all regions in Ecuador, performed by the best local bands and performers, and featuring superior acoustics for maximum musical impact.

Cafe Democratico

Cafe Democratico, as its name indicates, features an alternative and progressive theme for the “alt-culture” crowd. After all, where else can one groove on “ska jazz” performed live. Needless to say, it is also a dance club.

Radar

Just about anything goes at Radar, a gay bar, dance club, and performance showcase, which includes drag shows that are sometimes “partially live,” with the drag queens lip-synching, but always outrageously entertaining.

La Juliana

La Juliana proudly takes its name from an urban Latin legend regarding a magical, captivating lady who could transform lives with her charisma and spirit. This club specializes in Latin music—such as salsa and reggaeton—offered not only as a DJ club mix but also performed live with local and visiting bands, and on different dance floors.

Bandido Brewing

Brewery, Building

Located in Quito’s world famous historical district, Bandido Brewing’s location inside an old Spanish colonial building, which includes a chapel, suits its Tex-Mex ambiance like a glove. This club is perhaps the only one in Quito where you will hear bluegrass performed live. As the name suggests, they also brew beer, and it is quite good.

La Liebre

Quito’s other great jazz showcase, La Liebre, located in the chic, upscale Avenida Gonzalez neighborhood, has been a cultural touchstone in the city for more than 20 years, starting off as a video cassette rental outlet, then a combination VHS-DVD rental, before morphing into a café-tavern-jazz club. A smaller and more intimate venue than Pobre Diablo, this is where you can enjoy the best of local and visiting jazz artists.

Rebel Saloon

With its biker ambiance, Rebel Saloon is where you can dress up like a member of the Hell’s Angels and feel like you are born to be wild without actually being part of a motorcycle gang. Don’t expect “soft rock” from the bands invited to perform.

P.P. Botella

Located in the stylish La Floresta, the very colorful P.P. Botella has become one of the hottest tavern-restaurant-live music venues in Quito, especially popular with young professionals.

About the author

Rick Segreda

Cultural Activist

Rick Segreda is an American-Ecuadorian film critic, filmmaker, and travel writer. In addition to publishing more than 600 articles in both Spanish and English, he has interviewed recognized filmmakers such as Darren Aronofsky and Michael Apted, hosted a graphic design conference with Milton Glaser, and joined Les Stroud in the Ecuadorian rain forest for the shooting of an episode of "Survivorman."