Bar Arriba Review: Up, Up, and the Spanish Cry of Celebration

‘Arriba’ means ‘up’ in Spanish – a word of celebration, encouragement and raising your glass to the sky

Bar Arriba holds a 4.6 from three hundred and eighteen people – a strong score on a good sample – and its name is a single, exuberant Spanish word: “arriba,” meaning “up” – a word of celebration, encouragement, and the raising of glasses to the sky.

Up!

“Arriba” means “up” or “upwards” in Spanish, but it is far more than a simple direction – it is a cry of celebration, encouragement and joy. “Arriba!” is shouted in celebration, in encouragement, in exuberance – lift up, raise up, hooray, let’s go. It is the word you shout to raise the energy, to celebrate, to urge everyone upward and onward. It carries a burst of positive, celebratory energy that few single words can match.

Most famously, “arriba” features in the traditional toast and celebration cry: “Arriba, abajo, al centro, y adentro” – “up, down, to the centre, and within” – a playful toasting ritual accompanying the raising, lowering, and drinking of the glass. “Arriba” is the first movement: up, raise the glass high, lift it to the sky before you drink. For a bar, there could hardly be a more fitting or energetic word – the cry that raises the glass and the spirits together.

Andale, arriba

For many English speakers, “arriba” will forever be associated with the cartoon cry “Andale, andale, arriba, arriba!” – the catchphrase of Speedy Gonzales, the fast-running cartoon mouse, urging ever greater speed and energy. While that is a piece of American cartoon culture rather than authentic Spanish usage, it has lodged the word “arriba” in the English-speaking ear as a cry of energy, speed and exuberance – “up, up, let’s go, faster!” The association only reinforces the word’s sense of upbeat, celebratory energy.

The Spanish drinking culture

A Spanish-named bar draws on one of the great and most sociable drinking cultures in the world. Spanish drinking is inseparable from eating and socialising – the culture of tapas, of small plates shared among friends, of moving from bar to bar, of drinking as an accompaniment to food and conversation rather than an end in itself. The Spanish bar is a place of light, warmth, noise, sociability and small delicious things to eat, where wine, sherry, vermouth and beer flow alongside endless plates of tapas.

It is a wonderfully civilised and joyful approach to drinking – moderate, social, woven into daily life, focused on pleasure and company rather than intoxication. A bar called “Arriba” promises exactly this spirit: up, celebratory, warm, sociable, energetic – the raised glass, the shared table, the joyful noise of Spanish conviviality.

The bar

A well-regarded Spanish-flavoured bar doing a strong 4.6 across a good sample, named with one of the most exuberant and celebratory words in the Spanish language – the cry that raises the glass to the sky.

Verdict

Strongly rated and joyfully named after “arriba” – the Spanish cry of “up!” that celebrates, encourages, and raises the glass to the sky.

Order some tapas, raise your glass high, and cry “arriba!” – up, to celebration and good company, at the bar that took its name from the happiest word in the toast.

Alan Nafzger

Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]