Cafés Debout sur Marseille

16/02/2026: When the beer 🍺 is good, it's hard to make things complicated... The atmosphere suggests a pretty lively evening ahead, even though the bar was rather chill when we were there... And as we say back home... Hoe Hapaina Piti Hapaina Era te Manuia 🇵🇫🇵🇫🇵🇫🇵🇫🇵🇫

07/02/2026: Seeing the round Guinness sign while walking down a street is always a comfort, particularly north of the old port where I’ve only encountered two of them. I would expect the Guinness to be on tap, and lovingly poured into a proper Guinness pint glass. To my disappointment, the Guinness came from cans, the same ones (it seems) that you could buy at a supermarket with the nitro balls inside. The bartender / manager assured me that it was the same thing as Guinness on draft and he proceeded to use this machine that held the glass at an angle and slowly straightened itself. Like a hand-pour it waited a bit before topping off the glass. Unfortunately, the glass that the bar used was not a proper (Imperial) pint glass but a French 50 cL glass. So, oddly, the bartender had to pull the glass out of the machine and put in another glass for the remaining 6.8 cL “excess.” It was the strangest thing. I thought why not just use pint glasses, particularly in an establishment that has the round “Guinness” sign hung prominently outside the bar? And the machine itself looked like it was meant to hold a classic Guinness glass (with the top half tapering out into an almost goblet-like form). Beyond this strange encounter with the pouring of my favorite beer, I felt that the price was a bit steep for “Happy Hour” at 9 EUR (with the excess thrown out, no less). The bar itself was nice. It was a proper bar with hooks underneath for bags, and had a nice vibe. Other “bars” that I’ve seen in Marseille are a bit “fake-ish” and are meant to serve from rather than a place to sit properly next to. It had a bit of that corporate look that the other bars and restaurants along this stretch of the port has and feels like it caters more to tourists and workers in the area vs. a “local” with a bit more personality (for this you would have to go to Cours Ju). The manager and staff were friendly and attentive to everyone that came in. Although I think they probably thought I was odd because I was questioning their little Guinness machine. Music was good (from rock to rockabilly and blues) but veered a bit at one point to country, which the manager, wisely, pulled back from. It was okay and I will come again. It may never happen in La Joliette but I’m still hoping for a perfect pour this side of the port.