Barcelona's Independent Review Website

Foc
Click here to view map Click here to launch website Foc bar really doesn’t fit well into its Barceloneta location. After all, it’s on the main tourist drag of Borbo yet it isn’t greatly overpriced or tacky. It is also one of the nicest looking bars in town and claims to serve some of the best cocktails. Of course the most obvious reason to end up in Foc is its proximity to the beach. And except for the lines of touristy restaurants offering genuinely mediocre seafood up and down the road, Foc is in a great location. You can sit outside the bar all year round and enjoy a view of the port, Montjuic and the ever observant figure of Columbus looking back at you. This street seating area is great in the warm weather and even has a plasma screen so that you can watch significant sporting events in the joyous sunshine. Hurrah! The main bar is even more luxurious however with TV screens at every table (normally showing innocuous firey images but also used for World cup games and other massively important events). This is not a sports bar however but a cocktail bar and the décor is more in keeping with the latter. The walls are papered in shiny green and gold, the seating plush and comfortable and the lighting appropriately moody. Both bar and table service are really excellent and I’ve never had to wait long to be served. I wouldn’t say that drinks are incredibly cheap – cocktails are €7.50 – but they are good quality and poured by well trained staff. Weeknights at Foc take on certain slightly random themes, Jazz night, yacht night (huh?) a Brazilian night and most significantly Foc Fridays – which offer buy one get one free shots all day. There are cocktails of the day, but I have never been very tempted by the selection and they are smaller than the ordinary cocktails. So yes, as the yacht night suggests, there is an air of exclusivity, even pretentiousness about the bar, but if that doesn’t put you off it’s a really nice place for a drink. It’s comfortable, attractive and well run. A good place to stop off at if you’re down that way, though perhaps not somewhere you’d go on a long trek to seek out.

Address:

Passeig de Joan de Borbó, 66, 08003

Area:

Barceloneta

Nearest Metro:

Barceloneta

Bar type:

Beach
Cocktail
General
Wine

Opening times:

Weekdays: 12pm-2.30am
Weeknds: 12pm-3am

Happy hour:

Fridays: 2-4-1 shots, all night

Drink prices:

Beer: €2
Cocktails: €7.50

Food served:

Yes

Music played:

Electro
Hip-Hop
Pop