A new, (somehow) even brighter version of the already neon-heavy, irrepressibly effervescent Gringo reopened last night after a month of renovations. Located in the heart of Gastown at the half-way point of Blood Alley, the 24 seat tacos and good times joint went under the knife on January 22nd to build a proper bar. “This is what we would have done if we had the money in the first place,” co-owners Shoel Davidson and Christina Cottell told me when I looked in before the first service kicked off last night.

I always assumed they had a proper bar, but in actual fact Gringo was woefully under-equipped when it opened in October, 2013. (True story: they used to have to run around the corner in the middle of service to grab ice from their friends at Clough Club.) They got a little carried away, however, as they didn’t just move the bar forward eight inches to make room for new fridges and a well, they also painted the hell out of the place (as if the one thing it was missing was more colour), doubling down on an ’80s pop/arcade aesthetic (Donkey Kong meets Space Invaders meets Miami Vice, with cats), even dousing the already brightly coloured stools in a top coat of splashed paint.

All the prices are the same and the menu hasn’t changed, which is to say it’s still super cheap. “It’s just shinier”, Christina says. It certainly its. Take a look…

EXPLORE THIS NEIGHBOURHOOD