Dozens of people gathered in East Vancouver Friday evening to protest a new restaurant named after the notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

About 60 protesters crowded onto Fraser Street for the opening night of Escobar, a Latin-themed restaurant that's attracted controversy ever since its named was unveiled.

The group outnumbered the first diners who turned up by about four-to-one.

Police were called to the restaurant at around 6 p.m., but said as long as protesters weren't harassing customers they were free to continue.

While Pablo Escobar has been a focus of pop culture fascination, most recently in the Netflix series "Narcos," his cartel's brutal reign was devastating to the people who lived through it.

Escobar and his associates are believed to be responsible for thousands of deaths, including those of hundreds of police officers.

The East Vancouver restaurant's owners have defended using the deadly narco-terrorist's name as a play on words – because it has the word "bar" in it – and said they never intended to cause offense.

But that means little to some members of Vancouver's Colombian-Canadian community, who have been pushing for the restaurant to pivot its branding for weeks.

The restaurant has already taken a drink called "The Pablo" off the menu, but it did little to quell the outrage.

Protesters said they will remain outside the restaurant into Friday night, and could return in the future if the owners refuse to budge.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Ben Miljure