Bar Astor Vila Madalena

This is one of the newer promises when it comes to cocktail bars. It's the Speakeasy counterpart to the famous Astor bar, although the beverages here are much more sophisticated and daring. I visited this bar early on a weekend night and service was outstanding, I appreciate Julia's recommendations and will surely be back during my next trip to São Paulo.

Great cocktail menu, wish we had a chance to check out the downstairs

A literal hidden gem. Go down the stairs at Astor Bar and you will be transported to probably the best cocktail bar in all of São Paulo. They are doing great stuff here by using uniquely Brazilian ingredients as the starting point for their signature cocktails. This place could hold its own against cocktail giants like Please Don’t Tell or Death and Co. I was introduced to ingredients that I’ve never heard of before and will be replicating versions of these on my own at home.

Great place to go for lunch, dinner or just drinks. Nice location and decoration kind of retro. Wonderful seafood dishes and amazing classical drinks

I’ve been to SubAstor before and had a great time, but my last visit was not the same experience. It was around 22h on a Saturday, pretty full when we got there but not too bad. One of the first two drinks we ordered (the açaí cocktail) just wasn’t good. We had to take turns drinking it like a shot. I’m pretty sure I’ve had that drink before and not had the same reaction, so I’m not sure what the problem was. The next order we placed was for two more drinks and a sparkling water with ice and lime. We waited patiently for probably about 30 minutes, understanding it was a full bar on a Saturday night and it might be a few minutes. But it became clear that our order had been dropped when the waiter was surprised we hadn’t gotten it yet, asked us what it was (two drinks and a water), and after going to “check” on it, a normal water (no ice or lime) appeared within minutes. Our drinks followed about 15 minutes later. After asking for our check we waited another 25 minutes for someone to come over with the credit card machine before leaving cash on the table and leaving. Overall, it was a pretty frustrating experience, and not what you’re hoping for when you’re paying higher prices for craft cocktails. Last note, they include 13% service in the bill (the standard everywhere is 10% with very few exceptions) for the overwhelmed, slow quality I described.

Awesome bar! Had a good time. Drinks and food are TOP

Friendly staff, great cocktails, lovely ambience. I ordered the picadinho which was very traditional though I wish it came with beans not just caldo. Others ordered the steak, burger and chicken and all were very happy. Will definitely be back!