The Crescent Lounge

Karaoke every night, good vibes and a friendly crowd.

A good antidote for the Seattle freeze.

Also known as "the vortex."

After I had been a patron of the Crescent Lounge for six years, management allowed bartender Jeff to sexually harass me out of the bar with false accusations of giving my elderly cat a rim job.

There might have been some confusion and miscommunication over the fact that they were actually serious about this allegation. I am given to understand that the Crescent Lounge's management is not renowned for clarity of communication. Regardless, management allowed Jeff to spread this incomprehensible slander to numerous regulars. Upon my bewildered attempts to refute it, Jeff responded by telling me (after I told them I did not wish to speak to them after that accusation) that I was inflicting a "hostile work environment" on them. I sent a detailed email to the owners trying to communicate further on the matter, as well as make conciliatory concessions about entirely unrelated issues that I had never been explicitly told were a problem, and received absolutely no response aside from, over a month later, a brief evasive in-person comment from the one extremely beleaguered (dude lives in Olympia and has grandchildren) owner out of the two tasked with being the bar's public face, indicating that both of them had seen my message.

This bar plays host to some very interesting people and always showcases one variety or another of soul-devouring personal drama as entertainment in addition to the karaoke that goes on every night from 8pm through 1:30am (and on afternoons starting at 5pm Friday through Sunday). Decent vibes on Sunday afternoons with the legendary queen Julia D'Poon and Tuesday nights with the vivacious and inimitable Garlic Man. Remember to tip your karaoke host! The bar is paying them only a meager lump sum per night of stressful high-drama work, which explains how easy it is to scent desperation for tips on some hosts.

As an important practical note, this bar has no in-house food except for chips and such--regulars have observed that the sketchy corner deli down the street, City Market, generously functions as the Crescent's "kitchen." This is actually just as well because maintenance has not yet managed to eradicate the cockroach population occupying the decaying wooden counter.

"You could caulk up that hole they crawl out of at the corner of the bar." "Ew, no, then more of them would come out by the sink." Someone observed that it was a good thing it was just me who sat at the corner of the bar by that hole, and not someone disloyal enough to publicly complain.

The Crescent Lounge is fabled as a local gay institution; it's an excellent resource if one is researching the toxic influence of bar culture over queer communities, or perhaps the typical trajectory of decay for second-generation family-owned businesses.

Not discussed in this review due to limited time and energy: the deeply incompetent nepo hire clinging to this establishment like a smiling slacker barnacle, who spends more time vaping and cracking dirty jokes outside than behind the bar serving drinks. Bonus: he's also a Zionist and has fussed about patrons making pro-Palestine comments.

Some have hypothesized that this is the least transphobic gay bar on the hill, but that is both pure speculation and an extremely low bar to clear even if true. The Crescent does not rise above it gracefully or with a whole lot of clearance, for the record; I say that as one of the earliest trans regulars who was ever vocal about mistreatment.

"This bar is a vortex, Julia--a story vortex. It eats people and spits their bones out as stories."

In conclusion, it's overall a bad experience.

This place is God awful. There were maybe 2 dozen people in the bar on a Saturday. Clarissa runs the karaoke at Crescent Lounge, at least on Saturdays. However even arriving at 11:00 PM on a Saturday with 8 people in the bar the wait to sing a song is 2.5 hours, after waiting an hour from putting a name in, it was another 1.5 hours to sing. Mind you there were 6-7 singers in that time (including Clarissa and her friend who's birthday it was, who conveniently moved ahead of everyone). We gave her a "tip" but unless you are a regular don't plan to actually sing within any reasonable time. Calling out all the singers names who are no longer there is mainly how Clarissa spends her time as a DJ.

Instead of actually finding people to actually sing karaoke (remember there were a couple dozen total people in the bar) she called herself to sing, her girlfriend whose birthday it was, and then the bartender, who proceeded to threaten people to treat their bar staff well, or we'll close down early (it was daylight savings time).
Avoid this place at all costs

Love this bar. Karaoke is always fun and the bartender is always ready to bring me the GOODS! Great dive bar vibe for karaoke lovers!

Cool space and place. Friendly bartenders. Nice mixed crowd with emphasis on karaoke. Haven't tried the food (I'm not sure they have food). This is one of the oldest lgbtq bars in the city (if not the oldest), so I'm a proud supporter of the business and my lgbtq community.

Not a friendly or welcoming place at all. It was my first time there and I was met with condescending answers when I asked how to properly get a drink. Apparently there's a "line" system that isn't obvious considering the random l, incorrect signs that say "order here". I was new and confused and instead of people helping I received snarky comments that made me feel uncomfortable. I've never been to a gay bar that's made me feel so unwelcomed ....

Bartenders are wonderful and drinks are good but if you come for karaoke when it's someone else's birthday who isn't in your group, despite tipping, you won't be singing. Just poor service on that front.

We decided to end out honey moon trip at the islands and head to Seattle a day early. Anyway I wanted to sing karaoke and when I googled it this place came up. I am so glad that we came here. Everyone was so nice and friendly! There was gorgeous divas everywhere!
The bartender Ruvin was dope! He was very nice and accommodating. They definitely made out night so much more fun and interesting. The drinks were great and moderately priced. Despite the amount of people there the restrooms were surprisingly clean. I hope that I can come back here soon and see all these wonderful people again.

We are here on a Tuesday night. Amazing vibe and super nice bartender. We feel welcomed. Lovessss it.

I am new to Seattle and have been looking for a great karaoke spot.

By far my favorite place and I would say better energy than Hula Hula!

Shout out to Colton, Jaron, and Twig!! Great job!