Reconquista 920 (between Paraguay & Marcelo T de Alvear), Buenos Aires City Center

(Also has a Recoleta location, at Ayacucho 1204)

Pool Near The River

Deep Blue is a fairly expensive pool bar in the ‘bajo’ (’low’) area of Buenos Aires City Center, which basically means the part where the land starts to slope down towards the river. It is an area with a high concentration of bars, and due to this also being the banking/business district, you will generally see a lot of the ‘after office’ crowd about. In any other major city this would probably be a sign of a drunken mess waiting to happen, but in Argentina they are generally not very big drinkers, which is one of the more accurate stereotypes you will hear about the city. Although of course, things can get a bit crazy on Friday and Saturday nights, when these bars become rammed with twenty-something portenos.

Keep Your Balls Under Control

As for the bar, Deep Blue is a nice place to go for a few games of pool, a beer or a cocktail (or three), and an American style burger (if you are missing that kind of thing). Although the games of pool are pricey (AR$4.50 per ‘ficha’ - a ficha is the token you need for each pool game - one of the highest rates in BA), the tables are of a higher quality than the rest in town, so you can get down to some serious pool shootin’ without your balls rolling in unwanted directions (insert schoolboy humor here).

One good thing about Buenos Aires, and Argentina in general, is that people are generally so damn friendly AND not in the slightest bit shy. So if you fancy a game of doubles, just ask around and you can easily set up a heated “Yanquis vs Portenos” game with a little bit of light hearted banter thrown in for good measure. Just don’t mention George W Bush, unless you like the idea of a pool cue wrapped around your neck

Cocktails vs Beer

Deep Blue is also a nice place for a few cocktails. Now, when I came to Buenos Aires many girls here used to tell me that drinking cocktails is not a particularly ‘macho’ thing to do, and they generally advised me against it, and questioned my ‘cojones’, or lack of. I think they were just kidding me, because I see guys drinking all kinds of colorful alcoholic concoctions all the time here, without shame, so I wouldn’t worry to much about it. It’s got to be better than the beer anyway, which unfortunately in Argentina is sub par by world standards.

If you really must go for the cerveza, Deep Blue has a very interesting, if dangerous, twist on draft beer. You can sit at a table WITH YOUR OWN BEER TAP (see right). Here you can keep on refilling yourself to your heart’s content, just don’t get so drunk that you lose track and end up with what will be a very expensive tab! Maybe you are better off sticking with the cocktails, as our man in the sunglasses over there has done, all while hanging on to his air of brooding machismo. Nice work that man!

And if you don’t feel like anything alcoholic at all, Deep Blue also has a range of delicious milkshakes, many featuring, oddly enough, floating Oreo cookies. These also come in alcoholic varieties for the really adventurous, but I must say that these left me feeling a little queasy later that night and into the next day. Here are the culprits…

…on reflection, maybe that drinks order was just a little too much for one person…

Deep Blue Pool Bar Verdict

• Overall Bar rating: (3/5) Some nice touches and good pool tables, but at the end of the day it is just a pool bar with a self serve beer tap and some swanky decor.
• BA Authenticity: (2/5) Nothing all that Argentine about a game of pool.
• Value: (3/5) Expensive pool and drinks, but both are of good quality, so all-in-all, average value.

BA Travel Guide Special Tip

Don’t spend all night in Deep Blue, it doesn’t warrant it - but there are many better bars in this area, so include it, and a couple of games of pool, en route in a pub crawl. Now you’re talking…