Casa Blue

Bar in Shadwell

6 / 10 from 3 reviews

Address
228 Brick Lane
Shadwell
London
E1 6SA

Map

Telephone
020 7729 6444

Region
Shadwell

Nearest Station
Shoreditch High Street
0.20 miles

Category
Bars

Opening Times

Monday	Open 12:00 - Closes 01:00
Tuesday	Open 12:00 - Closes 01:00
Wednesday	Open 12:00 - Closes 01:00
Thursday	Open 12:00 - Closes 01:00
Friday	Open 12:00 - Closes 01:00
Saturday	Open 12:00 - Closes 01:00
Sunday	Open 12:00 - Closes 23:00

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All In London Review

Casa Blue has at last outgrown its fish bowls

Casa Blue has gone from fish bowls, cocktails and tat to a more demure mix of lagers, wooden paneling and pretty tiles. It is as if it swapped its Hawaiian shirt for a sports jacket and joined in with the increasingly ‘mature’ end of Brick Lane. It is almost a given that this former cocktail dive bar took its lead from the attractive Well and Bucket not fifty yards away and depending on your history with Casa Blue, that can only be a good thing.

It was high time for a change here. Just thinking about the old toilets was enough to make you pause for thought before entering the bar. And the sight of long straws sticking out of fish bowls was always a peculiar one. With a refurb completed, Casa Blue has dragged itself into Neu-Shoreditch. With a freshly painted golden ceiling, polished tiles and inviting booths sat below rich wooden paneled walls, nobody could say they haven’t done a sterling job of refitting the place.

There are still cocktails but there is a little more thought to what runs from the beer taps nowadays. However, the atmosphere on this occasion was subdued. The eclectic nature of the music put Ginuwine alongside Bob Marley and nobody knew what to do with that. Has it lost its loyalists? The ones who sucked from bowls of sweet, juicy liquor in groups of four? If it has then it is because it needed to. With a sweet spot looking out onto Brick Lane, over to Redchurch Street and down Bethnal Green Road, Casa Blue is a place you can sit and stare from. And with swanky unisex toilet in place, the fear is laid to rest.

Reviewed by T.A.O
Published on Feb 21, 2014

its facade doesn’t really do it justice

I could come over all sentimental and a little prissy about Casa Blue and hark on about when Redchurch Street, opposite, was just a thoroughfare to get to somewhere better. But, I won’t, I’ll just remind everyone that cocktails and er, Moroccan-ness have been attracting people to this grimy boudoir for years. It’s loud and brash with little time for clean walls, matching colour palettes or pretty much anything ‘new’ but its windows display the brightest lights. Prices for cocktails remain fairly cheap considering its prime location on the cusp of Brick Lane and the selection errs between classics and then mashups of said classics. Strawberry mojito? The food is messy and to be shared, platters representing the best value and easiest thing to pick at in a bar that pushes everyone in together and while there’s beer as well, it only comes by the bottle.

Expect to find large groups, students and graduates in particular. Last time I visited I felt quite old and I’m not even that old. Still, as the saying goes, you’re only as old as the people you’re in a bar with and once Friday or Saturday night’s electro/trance influenced DJs begin, who knows who was born before or after 1990? Whether that electro/trance business is actually what you want depends on your mood and the music can at times just pass you by, just so you know. For the walk-ins, its facade doesn’t really do it justice so take a gamble and next time you spot those bright bright lights and if you think you can handle a questionable toilet, then give it a shot.

Reviewed by T.A.O
Published on Jul 26, 2011

User Reviews

T.A.O

Feb 4, 2014

This place has been completely gutted. The mix and match tattiness is gone and a fresh, tiled, wood-heavy bar has replaced it. Good. The new gold ceiling might take some getting used to but the new style Casa Blue was a long time coming. Welcome. I'll be back for a Franziskaner!

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Anonymous

Jan 27, 2010

such a shame to ruin a really cool atmosphere with filthy cups and plates (not washed properly) and the chef smoking in the kitchen.

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