Lit
(212) 777-7987
93 Second Ave.
(at Between 5th and 6th Sts.)
New York,
NY
10003
40.7271
-73.9889
Neighborhoods: Downtown, East Village
Reviews & Ratings for Lit
42 reviews
What users are saying:
Showing 1-10 of 42 reviews
Skip This Place
by nibles
February 26, 2009
Darn shame to see reviews this bad - thought we were moving into a more progressive lifestyle.
NOT AT THIS PLACE! Save your time and money - read more below.
SHAME ON LIT LOUNGE!
A fun spot by becca o. at InsiderPages
Contributor
January 25, 2009
This bar can get overcrowded with sweaty hipsters, but I have many fond memories of coming here with a pack of friends from the dorms. The drinks are small, average priced for the area, but the music is generally good. A festive and fun spot for sure.
Worst Bar In The City
by Drewh07
January 01, 2009
This place is a complete joke and waste of time. The Kevin James look -a-like bouncer is a total douche who mans the door with a holier than though attitude reminiscent of Hitler. He turned me and my friends away from the door because he said we were too Jewish.
- Pros: Location
- Cons: Kevin Jame look a likes
I Really Appreciate This Bar
by ThatDudeYouBanned
November 29, 2008
Really, thank you so much :) I can't thank you enough for showing me your hatred and banning me from your bar. I will make sure I recommend every friend of mine who is new to NYC not to go anywhere near your institution with a 100-foot pole, because of your discrimination policies and cold demeanor towards customers who have done nothing but great and consistent business with you guys over the years. Much appreciated. Have a good day- I'm sure I'll see you around.
Sincerely,
That Dude Who You Banned.
- Cons: This bar is discriminatory towards anyone the bouncer has doubts about
Get your lounge on at Lit by april c. at InsiderPages
Contributor
September 10, 2008
When I first moved to NY, many years ago, I frequented Lit. I recently went after many years, and had a great time. The downstairs is always too crowded and you have to pay a cover for a usually crappy band. My bet is standing (or grabbing a booth) upstairs for the DJ. Many fun folks to dance with or share a quick kiss. Reminds me of how fun NYC use to be.
Max Brennan: written by someone that's not actually him
by Reviews01
August 19, 2008
Worst club owner ever - extremely rude. It's completely ridiculous. The first thing that came out of this guy's mouth to me and my friends was negative. No introduction.. this guy starts off the relationship horribly. And the worst part is... he is oblivious to how ridiculous he looks/acts. Oh well, this guy and his club would be a complete loss if it weren't for the friendly soundguy. The bartenders weren't so bad either. But Max needs to pull his head out of his a*s.
- Pros: sound guy is nice
- Cons: Owner is rude
Lit is the coolest bar easily
by iloveLIT
May 27, 2008
I love Lit and Max Brennan is easily the coolest bar owner around. He's always friendly and totally down to earth. I read the hate mail reviews and i couldn't believe they were talking about Max.
He's always accomodating to all bands, my band included. I found out why these guys were hating.
It turns out Psycho 78 played Lit and drew 100 people but the time was running late and the soundman
cut their set short. the crowd freaked out at the soundman. so Max gets all the hate mail because he's the owner and he booked the band. Hardly fair. Maybe the band should've played longer but to blame all this on Max is not cool. It turns out he wasn't even at the club. Anyway I don't know where he got all his money from
but thank god he opened a cool venue for bands to play at instead of spending his time up in the Hamptons. Lit is the last of the cool venues in the East Village and the sound is awesome.
Also the sound people are cool and Lit always pay bands fairly.
No complaints here from this musician. Thanks a lot Max don't listen to the crazies.
- Pros: great bands cool DJ's
- Cons: bathrooms could use some cleaning
my fire for LIT has been put out by poor treatment and service
by 324raygirl
April 27, 2008
I was extremely disappointed by the way that I was treated by the bar tender at LIT last night after having frequented the joint for about 2 years. rather than leave a wordy synopsis for the reader let's just say I was shocked (to say the least) that any service providers would treat customers in such a way. I did not even get to have one drink (for the evening) when the bar tender told me and my girlfriend that we were losers and that we should go back to queens. not only am I not from queens (not that there's anything wrong with that) but to me, the real loser is a bar tender that talks to a young lady like that and an establishment that employs such workers. he was frustrated because he kept forgetting my order and then didn't understand my response when he asked me the second time. a light beer-is that so difficult? bud, coors, amstel-it didn't matter. I was appaulled to be treated so poorly and immediately left the bar. I will never go back and encourage you to follow suit before finding yourself in such a degrading and similar situation.
- Cons: poor service, poor attitude
Bouncers and Bartenders in Need of Anger Management
by EKS15
March 17, 2008
I had never been to Lit before until this past weekend. It came recommend by a few of my friends, whose opinions I usually trust. However, they never mentioned that the guys at the door are d-bags. You would have thought that they were manning the doors at Marquee. They took themselves way too seriously, considering Lit is a fun, casual bar best known for playing hipster music and having a great vibe. They got an attitude when I tried to bring in 3 guy friends, as if it mattered. The bar wasn't that crowded! In addition to the nasty Kevin James look-alike bouncer, and his skinny, idiotic sidekick, the bartender (the one who wears a fedora) was a complete a-hole. He yelled at my friend because he couldn't hear her order. And kept up this attitude for about 5 minutes, yelling at her and rolling his eyes. Aside from the staff consisting of a bunch of tools, the bar is fun.
- Pros: Great music, cool vibe
- Cons: Awful bouncers and nasty bartenders
How the mighty have fallen!
by mcantoneart
November 24, 2007
Lit was always a favorite stopping-off point for my friends and I. Sadly, those days are long gone. When I was going there regularly (2003-2005), it had a good vibe to it and the DJs would always play good music. Even I, a fellow who prefers to make and listen to music instead of dancing, would be jumping about like a nutball. What I always enjoyed was when the DJ in the downstairs lounge would play classic 60's music (Who, Stones, Kinks,etc.) and early punk and some glam. The staff were great and it was a good place to people watch and even pick up a girl occasionally. However.......
That was then. Now, I have only been there three times in the past year. In those times, I have been severely disappointed with the service (it took me almost 15 minutes to order a stinkin' pint of beer), the DJ's (they never play the classic stuff much anymore and the same new wave-y dance music got on my nerves after five minutes), the clientele (goofy college kids, pseudo-hip idiots and stuck-up, too-cool-for-you girls) and the stupid coke dealers and users (I was approached by these two groups on multiple occasions). One of the last times I went there with my friends (Halloween, 2006), we were pestered by an annoying coke head and one of my friends spewed in the back area. I considered it a compliment to the place.
To add insult to injury, when I went drinking with one of my friends this past Halloween, Lit was turning guys away at the door. In all the time I had been there, I'd never seen anything so ludicrous. Even though my friends and I had been there multiple times and the staff knew us by sight (and to say hello), we would not be let in. That was the deciding factor to wash my hands of Lit.
"A place for painters, musicians, writers and performers whose visions are not accepted by the mainstream to hang out and build a community"? Not anymore. It's just a crappy dive catering to people who think they are hipper-than-thou, and they obviously ain't!
- Pros: Great music, good staff, decent beer, good crowd
- Cons: All the pros were in the past. It stinks now.
