Mercado Del Rio La Strada was a popular gastronomic market located in El Poblado in Medellín with a collection of over 20 restaurants and bars. It was located on the third floor in the La Strada building on Avenida Poblado along the “Golden Mile”.
Mercado Del Rio La Strada opened on July 13, 2018. And it had many small format restaurants with a big variety of cuisines available. But this market reportedly closed in October 2019 and I confirmed it is closed in early November 2019.
At this gastronomic market, food was purchased at the small format restaurants. And food is eaten at several bar-height and several lower tables, which are cleaned quickly and efficiently by the staff. Also, there were some TVs for watching sports and free Wi-Fi is available without a password.
This food market was open for lunch and dinner each day. And it had a decent atmosphere and a nice variety of food and drinks as well as desserts. Also, it was a decent place to take out-of-town guests.
Editors note: this article was updated in November 2019 with information that Mercado Del Rio La Strada is closed.
Inside the gastronomic market
My Experience
I heard about Mercado Del Rio La Strada in early August 2018 from two readers of the Medellin Guru site and I first went to this gastronomic market with another Medellin Guru reader in August 2019.
La Serenissima pizzeria
There were many options. And we both decided to have a pizza at La Serenissima. I like thin-crust pizzas and the pizzas at La Serenissima have perfectly cooked thin-crusts and are very tasty.
Meat pizza with mushrooms added at La Serenissima
Mercado Del Rio La Strada was best described as a smaller version of Mercado Del Rio. In fact, the logo was similar to Mercado Del Rio. So, I suspect there is a relationship between the both of these Mercado Del Rio gastronomic markets.
The Food Options
There were a total of over 20 food and drink places at this food market.
Food options included Asian, chicken, Colombian, hamburgers, Italian, Mexican, pizza, sandwiches, steaks, sushi, wings and so much more.
Juan Valdez café
There were also a couple of bars, a Juan Valdez coffee shop, desserts and yogurt. And on the fourth floor was a restaurant.
Chef Burger
Some of the places the were in this food market can be found in other parts of the city. Some familiar names that can be found in other parts of the city include Chef Burger, Juan Valdez, Patatas A Cielo, and San Miguel Paellas.
The Chickery with fried chicken
There were a range of prices for meals at the restaurants in Mercado Del Rio La Strada from about 15,000 pesos to over 40,000 pesos.
Isabel with steaks and wines
Also, in the La Strada building, there are additional restaurants and fast food places on the lower floors.
Gastronomic Market Competition in Medellín and the Aburrá Valley
There are now nine gastronomic markets in Medellín and the Aburrá Valley, each with collections of many restaurants in one location:
- Contenedores Food Place – reportedly opened in January 2014.
- Mercado Del Rio – opened in October 2016 and is the largest gastronomic market in Medellín with about 50 restaurants.
- Mercado Del Tranvía – reportedly opened in October 2017.
- Mercado Del Parque – opened in September 2018.
- Mercado Del Norte in Bello – opened in January 2019.
- Mercadillo de Aranjuez – opened in February 2019.
- Mercade de Sabaneta – opened in July 2019.
- Mercado La Colonia – opened in October 2019.
- Mercado De La Playa – opened in December 2019.
Mercado De La Playa in El Centro is the newest gastronomic market in the Medellín metro area that opened in December 2019. We also have a guide to the gastronomic markets in Medellín with all nine markets.
Some expats I have talked to thought the first gastronomic market in Medellín was Mercado Del Rio. But actually, the first gastronomic market was Contenedores Food Place in Envigado, which opened in 2014.
But Contenedores is a somewhat different format with several sit-down restaurants located in containers and not a big open warehouse space. In addition, Contenedores is smaller, as it has less than 10 restaurants. However, these are larger restaurants with separate sitting areas.
In addition, Medellín used to have another food market that is now closed. Manila Food Market opened in April 2017 in the Manila barrio of El Poblado in the Los Patios Hostel. But Manila Food Market was small with less than 10 restaurants. Also, it reportedly failed due to a lack of customers in this location and closed in less than a year.
Also, Mercado Del Tranvía Envigado opened in November 2018 in Envigado but reported closed in September 2019. So, it was open less than a year. And Mercado Del Rio La Strada opened in July 2018 but reportedly closed in October 2019.
Mercado Del Rio La Strada
How to Get to Mercado Del Rio La Strada
One way to get to Mercado Del Rio La Strada was using the Medellín Metro. To get there you would take the Line A metro to the Aguacatala station. And the La Strada building where the gastronomic market was located is about a 20-minute walk from the metro station.
In addition, there are several bus lines that run along Avenida Poblado that pass by the La Strada building. For example, there is a bus from Sabaneta that runs down Avenida Poblado on its way to El Centro.
The front of the La Strada building
This gastronomic market was on the third floor of the La Strada building. And there is a Burger King and Papa John’s on the first floor. Also, there is a Holiday Inn Express in the same building.
Papa John’s on the first floor of the La Strada building
Also, many taxi drivers in the city will know where the La Strada building is located. If not, give the driver the below address.
Address: Carrera 43A #1Sur-150, El Pobaldo, Medellín
Website: https://www.facebook.com/mercadodelriolastrada/
Hours: No longer open, CLOSED.
Inside Mercado Del Rio La Strada
The Bottom Line – Mercado Del Rio La Strada
Mercado Del Rio La Strada opened on July 13, 2018. It was popular when it first opened but apparently business slowly died off and this gastronomic market reported closed in October 2019. So, it was only open for about 15 months.
The La Strada building were this food market was located used to be a popular nightlife location with many discos. But these discos closed and Mercado Del Rio La Strada opened in 2018. But evidently this location wasn’t a successful place for a gastronomic market.
So now instead, you will have to go to the much larger Mercado Del Rio.
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Editors note: updated on March 8, 2019 to add Mercado Del Tranvía Envigado.
Editors note: updated on March 14, 2019 to add Mercado Del Norte in Bello, which is the newest gastronomic market in the Aburrá Valley.
Editors note: updated on April 20, 2019 to add Mercado Del Parque in Laureles.
Editors note: updated on July 6, 2019 to add Mercado de Sabaneta in Sabaneta.
Editors note: updated on October 8, 2019 with information that Mercado Del Tranvía Envigado in Envigado is closed.
Editors note: updated on November 14, 2019 with information that Mercado Del Rio La Strada is closed.
Editors note: updated on December 5, 2019 to add Mercado La Colonia in El Centro, which opened in October 2019.
Editors note: updated on January 3, 2019 to add Mercado De La Playa in El Centro, which opened in December 2019.
5 thoughts on “Mercado Del Rio La Strada: A Medellín Gastronomic Market is Closed”
Why do you think such a nice place couldn’t succeed?
Clearly, the owners of the space were mere landlords, providing tables, chairs, services, etc. But the food and drink were provided by the tenant restaurants.
Was the food not good?
Were there not enough different cuisines represented?
Were the landlord’s lease terms (that may have included a gross receipts rent or a monopoly on the provision of the drinks) too onerous to allow the tenants to turn a profit?
Or was the advertising and marketing inadequate?
Because the same fate befell the Mercado Tramvia in Envigado when as soon as their leases ended, the tenants promptly closed their booth and exited the business. I was in there in early September and 3/4 of the booths were closed. I knew then it was not going to survive.
Obviously not enough customers was the main reason is closed. During the week it was normally pretty empty. Also, that was a HIGH cost location on Avenida Poblado. Was closing due to poor marketing, location, high cost — probably a combination.
Estuve en la Strada el fin de semana y estuve en isabel parrilla y vinos, excelente atencion y la comida deliciosa, recomiendo el morrillo, exquisito. (in English: I was on La Strada on the weekend and I was in Isabel parrilla y Vinos, excellent attention and delicious food, I recommend the Morrillo, exquisite)
Fantastic! I was at La Strada back in May and saw a large portion of it under construction. Who knew it would be this? More options get your grub on. Love it.
Thanks, looks like a nice place worth checking out.