Lit Lounge

I went here on a Friday night. I was in the area and looking for a bar with dancing and found this place.
They have a few different areas: main bar, upstairs, and dancing area.
The dancing area was a lot of fun, good music, lots of people dancing, even guy to girl ratio.
It did get kinds hot and a little crowded, but that’s to be expected, along with the loud music.
The great thing though is that if it gets too loud or crowded for you, you can go and chill in another area and have a drink until you are ready to go dance again!

Let me preface this by saying I write this review with a wistful smile and that alone bumps the rating up a star. Not going to lie, not sure I can be objective because this place is extremely nostalgic being the first bar I ever (legally) went to in Manhattan. This was me and my best mate’s haunt back in our 2002 – 2011 heyday and I had the honor of performing in the basement with my band in 2009. It didn’t matter that only 4 of our friends were there. I was rocking out on the same stage in the «Lit Dungeon» where I’d seen so many hot hipster girls dancing for so many years. To me it was better than MSG. My gosh if those dirty ass walls and pews could talk…
The good: The place is a peek at what once was the LES before celebrities and Disneyfication. Strong drinks. Wild décor which is grimy but not GG Allin dirty. They have furniture from a de-​sanctified church all over upstairs. You used to be able to smoke in the basement. The place itself has character and you definitely see some characters in there! This place was like the Studio 54 of our heyday. It was one of the few places where a long haired (straight) guy like me dressed in early 70’s Faces-​era Rod Stewart regalia could go and not get called a fa* by thugs/​d-​bags. Matter of fact, one time a tipsy Englishman came up to me and said «I just have to come over here and shake your hand, mate. Your outfit is CLASSIC!»
One night I could have swore the DJ stole my dad’s record collection. Wish I got this DJ’s info because his name that night may as well have been «The Pope». Dude was literally standing at the pulpit whilst spinning deep cuts of disco/​soul/​funk. He had EVERYBODY dancing. The pews we were sitting on were shaking. Between noise complaints, underage drinking, drugs, unadulterated sex, smoking, etc the place has been in trouble with the law since the day it was born but somehow always seems to emerge unscathed. The owner even tried this crazy (basically larcenous) «scared straight» system where the staff would swipe your stuff when you weren’t looking, wait for you to panic, give it back when you reported it stolen, and then warn you about leaving things unattended. No matter what awful shit happens in or around the place it always seems like the ax just misses their neck.
The bad: Every good night with classic disco, hot skinny hipster women, and interesting LES characters was offset by garbage top 40, khaki pant sausage parties, bridge and tunnel rats, and an increasing amount of obnoxious NYU trash. Regrettably the bad nights have outweighed the good nights for at least 4 – 5 years now. I guess once word got out that Lit girls were easy and the place was basically a hipster meat market, every d-​bag with a trust fund east of Queens county and every NJ bridge/​tunnel rat came running fast as their boat shoes could carry them. Sharks patrol these waters!
The prices have definitely gone up exponentially since I started going all those years ago. My ex-​gf and a few mates went there for my birthday last year and the bouncers hit us up for a cover. I said «nah man forget it» and all of us started walking away except one mate who stood there and outright argued with them. His plea was «I’ve been coming here since 2002 and now all of a sudden there’s a cover? Are you joking? It’s my friend’s birthday! We used to come here all the time!» Well, the bouncers felt bad and said «oh alright, go ahead guys» so in we went. We went inside and there was a tiny handful of weirdos skulking around to some garbage rap music. We ran downstairs seeking solace in the dungeon but got turned away because there was a private party. I think after spending all of 31.2 seconds in there we booked out the side door, said to the bouncers «thanks but sorry guys, it’s just not for us tonight».
The ugly: The place is A#1 on the 9^th precinct s**t list and is always in hot water especially since the gentrification got out of hand and the yuppy community board (s) declared war on meaningful nightlife. In a small way I can’t blame them because look at the amount of obnoxious d-​bags and NYU trash who continue to ruin the LES. Lit has more farewell rumors than Kiss and has been «closing» forever but with the schoolteacher caught banging his Lolita student in the bathroom not long ago it certainly doesn’t do the place any favors. I have a sneaking suspicion this time the ax didn’t miss. That only goes to show how much times have changed. Those of you who went there circa 2002 – 2009 know about the bathroom coke parties and FAR WORSE debauchery that went on in that place!
In conclusion: This is the bar version of seeing an aged Robert Plant singing «Stairway to Heaven». There’s nothing like the real McCoy but much like Zeppelin it’s ruefully tuned down in silent accord with the hands of father time. Lit is a shadow of what it used to be but it will always hold a special place in the grimy corner of my heart and the same holds true for anyone else who went there in the glory days.

Last month, I visited Lit Lounge with a friend on one of the first hot «summer» days of the year. We dropped by early, around six-​thirty, and so we weren’t surprised to find that there were only a handful of patrons scattered around, chatting, throwing back drinks. Lit Lounge is not the grittiest dive I’ve ever been to, or the trendiest, but it has an atmosphere that felt unique and intimate to us. When we went, the bartender on duty was Ricardo, a charming man with a wistful smile, whose pearls of wisdom were even better than his drinks (tough to beat, I assure you). He was, hands-​down, the kindest and friendliest bartender I’ve ever encountered in the city, despite the fact that, in my experience, bartenders at dives tend to be a bit more approachable. I think I ordered my usual gin and tonic, and my friend had a Guinness; my drink was the perfect ratio of gin to tonic. Ricardo also recommended a few more drinks that my friend and I enjoyed — mixed shots that were heavy on the liquor but deceptively sweet. By the time we decided to leave, we were properly buzzed and riding on the energy of those surrounding as at the bar. We’d mostly kept to ourselves, but we did encounter a couple of other patrons who were friendly enough.
The only reason I am not giving the place the full five stars is because I’ve only been once and can’t speak to the live entertainment or the ambience when the place is crowded, but I had an excellent time at Lit Lounge and hope to return very soon.

You know what. I’m gonna give this place a pass. Never a boring moment here. The staff is actually mellow, laid back, nice. You will come across some, er, «characters» but that was what NYC was all about before the current sterilization/​gentrification of this city. There’s no pretensions, just have fun here. The music varies, but whatever genre, it’s decent. It ranges from Hip-​Hop to Goth to various other underground music. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

Very gritty dive bar status. always somehow satisfies my drunken needs. Lol

This place has a great dive bar vibe. Yes, its super grimy and not the cleanest place in the world, but it is awesome for events– the basement had a photobooth set up to print out a set of pictures with friends and cool props: think boas, wacky hats, and oversized sunglasses. The guy working the camera at the photobooth was hilarious and egging everyone on to do silly things in their pics. The tunes are sweet and bartenders are nice as well, good vibes all around @ Lit Lounge.

I’d have a better time if the bartender would stop talking to the only hot girl in this bar. I mean it’s not like I want to talk with her but be professional. Other than that the music is pretty cool and the vibe is chill. Not what it used to be but it’s still a cool spot to check out.

It’s charm is unmistakable.
Sure, it’s not the most attractive place out there but as far as old-​fashion dives go, this is pretty decent and every time i’ve been there i’ve met some rather interesting people. I saw a friend of mine perform here and the sound was loud and impressive, definitely a decent venue for performers looking for a intimate yet smallish venue. Everything else is about average really, it’s charmingly grimy and tightly-​spaced but there’s a lot to like if you visit often.

I came here to perform with my band. It was your typical lower Eastside dive bar, but I like how well lit the stage was. It made taking photographs and videos possible, so 3 stars :)

Too bad you can’t give this nasty dump a negative star review. It’s serviceable for drinking like any hole in the wall with a bar and there is music that you can dance too but beware the staff are total jerks and treat you like garbage as a matter of policy. The head bouncer is one of the worst buttfaces in the city.
I performed there and they rudely threw me out of the place for touching a woman’s ahoulder to say excuse my to get by her. She was a totally reactionary psycho and yelled «don’t you touch me». I tried to clear up that I was saying excuse me and instantly the bouncer said «let’s go you are harassing women». I told him what happened since he didn’t see it but he didn’t care. I told him I performed there and I am a very respectful person — I just didn’t want to barrel past these folks rudely. The music was loud so I tried to say excuse me. This dude looks just like one of the one of those comically inbred morons in Idocracy, and says «uh. I don’t care you’re harassing women».
Of course for me the place is on my shit list because I was personally treated so poorly even though I actually brought people there and performed. They don’t care. It’s a shit hole. It would be one thing if they were a quality music venue — but it’s so the opposite. Why give them a dime of your money just to be crapped on?
So I urge musicians to never play there. The downstairs stage area is very grimy and cool in that downtown divey way that is mostly gone from NYC. But the sound sucks for the most part (sound man was nice though), they have a barely usable backline («no guitar amp or cabinet so don’t ask» is what they’re website says). They make you charge $ 10 for a $ 5 experience (at best).
Even the basics like having a working bar in the downstairs performance area is not a detail they give a shit about. During the first two opening acts (my friends) we had to go upstairs to get drinks because the downstairs bar opens randomly around 10pm ish. I missed a bunch of my friends tunes and just felt like it was an uncool way to host artists who are literally bringing you $$$ in the form of cover charges and drinks.
When they bouncers railroaded me out I had to grab my equipment from downstairs and hurry out with my stuff. I ended up leaving my pedal rig — which I got back cause I have good friends who went back and retrieved it for me. The head bouncer upstairs is the cap on that shitberg. In all of my years playing by bars this was the most frustratingly hostile cast of assholes to deal with. never again.
Please note: the bartenders upstairs and down stairs and the bar back where all pretty cool. But the big apes that patrol the place are beyond Assholes.
In all fairness — I’m sure there are a lot of aggressive obnoxious dudes that come there. Though none of my friends where anything like that. I’m not. But they treat everyone like the knuckle draggers that they are. I felt slimed and shamed that I even agreed to play my music there.
I say skip this joint and let them fade back into the sludge that spawned those big jerks, go to Kabin across the street. Go anywhere but here.

So this is a place to go get your grind on if you’re a tweener (fair). I came for my cousin’s bday when he was DJing, and it’s pretty much what you’d expect from your grimy NYC narrow dance bar, from the weird skeleton wearing tinsel to the bitties in the corner making out with guys wearing polos that don’t know how to make eye contact. A pick up line I received: «Where are you from? Long Island? Long Island sucks but I have $ 160K in the bank.» This seems to be the standard bro that lives here.
My real gripe with this place was the bartender, which I noticed that someone else mentioned! He was fine serving drinks until he told me he’d charge me $ 20 because the limit was $ 30 and I’d only had a few drinks. He gives me a bill for $ 30. So I explain what he just said and he’s like ok, I’ll give you a shot or something, but I’m like 25 and that would kill me. So finally he huffs back to charge me $ 20 and gives me huge attitude to the point that I don’t even want to tip anymore– so I didn’t. I was going to let it go and not Unilocal review, but I checked my credit card this morning and he added his own tip in! So rude and illegal, I will never return here. If you must come here, PAY CASH.

Wow. What an asshole. Steer clear of the bartender that looks like a parrot. You’ll know exactly who. Beak nose, big eyes and asshole tendency to repeat you with attitude.

Fun place to grab a drink and dance. Music is usually good, either upstairs or downstairs, and the people are, uh, interesting. This is a four star place — but I took it down three notches because:
There is a bartender that treats customers like shit. I have experienced his bitterness before, but the worst was when I saw him pour out the drink of a paying customer. Yes, that’s right. This was supposedly for not leaving a tip (or being too slow to pay). I don’t know the back story, and the customer may have been the biggest jerk in the bar, but I’ve never seen a bartender take a paying customer’s drink and pour a portion of it out. The customer seemed pretty normal and wasn’t drunk. Watching this go down really killed my buzz.
And it’s a $ 30 credit card minimum (as of this writing).

God damn it.
Took me a while to admit but I hate to see this establishment just go to shits.
All they play is hip-​hop on Saturday nights. I’m not against it, in fact, I love hip-​hop. But I don’t come to Lit to dance to hip-​hop. I come to dance to alternative shit that I haven’t heard of, find out about bands that I’ve never heard of. Nope. Not anymore.
Yeah, I know you play your under-​the radar mix-​tape stuff. I get it. I like it, I listen to it. But you’re Lit. Not bob, or no-​malice. Stick with your roots! Bring back what you made me like your place when I first reviewed you guys.

I went to this place to see my friends band (Phases, which was AWESOME)…and I got there a bit early. I was warned this place was a dive bar, but DAMN.
The upstairs is relatively fine, I like the atmosphere, it’s very dark, but they have a pool table room and the vibe is very dive bar, but in a good way.
The band played downstairs… and I walked down there early, to find nobody was there, and some insanely dressed cross dressing looking ladies were down there alone just standing there. That plus some clockwork orange looking dude setting up the bar in the back.
I felt like I was in the twilight zone. The downstairs is creepy as fuck. The bathrooms looked like you could easily be murdered in them, and hung on the hook the they use to hang toilet paper. Everything was dark and grimy looking, and the place is SMALL.
The stage, also about the size of three people standing shoulder to shoulder. How they have bands perform here is mind blowing… tiny stage, tiny space, low cave like ceiling that makes acoustics a MESS. I expect most people play here because it’s the only place they can book.
The bands surrounding my friends band were, well, bad. So bad that it wasn’t even worth listening. One of those «yeah, I don’t need to hear anymore than the first ten seconds, let’s go upstairs and get a beer.»
The bartender upstairs was friendly enough, and I enjoyed their cheap happy hour, although there was almost nobody in the place.
I certainly won’t be back to this place unless my friends band plays there again. This bar has redefined the lower limits of «Dive bar» for me.

I gave this place another shot and had a pretty bitchin’ time. I came on their anniversary party and it was pretty wild. Drinks were flowin’ strong that night and the music was on point.
I had such a good time the second go around, I’m coming here for my birthday this weekend.

I’ve been to lit both for shows and general revelry and as much as I hate to admit it, I’ve had a great time. The space downstairs which has shows is horrible and small and the sound is godawful. The dancing upstairs is awesome, but the crowd is full of guys constantly trying to hit on you. They’re as unrelenting and obnoxious as mosquitoes but if you bring a good amount of people and some guys of your own, I imagine that they’re less severe. Despite all of the annoyances, it’s a great default if everywhere else is crowded.

Enjoyed coming here ~5 years ago when you could smoke downstairs. The place felt like the last of it’s kind in the city, at least to a naïve transplant.
Since then I’ve realized… there are other bars, and so this fell from the rotation.
Came to Lit last month for a private party. Turned out to be a great evening, except for a few lame bartenders.

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE !!!
They barely deserve this review
Very rude staff and their manager literally «does not give a fu*k»

uuuugh