Little Red Hen

I'd avoid frat-karaoke night if you're interested in enjoying one of the best dive bars in the city. Shoot some pool. Drink some beer or sip on some whiskey in a dimly-lit room. Listen to some country ballads. This place is as non-pretentious as it gets and is a healthy antidote to Seattle's overdose of hipster bars.

When my friends said we were going to a country bar for karaoke I thought they were crazy. There was a line when we got there but we got inside pretty quick. Not only was this a real live honky tonk (with pool and pinball) but most of the karaoke songs people were singing were rock. The place was absolutely packed and with the cheap beer and shots it was no wonder. The karaoke host was goofy but fun and he helped me get my song going when I got on stage. I only got to sing once but watching and dancing was pretty wild too. This was like karaoke on steroids!

When walking into the Little Red Hen one wonders how this place possibly exists in Seattle, a city that I feel prides itself on being classy and country-free. However, the Little Red Hen (at Greenlake, a yuppy upper-class neighborhood making this bar even more out of place) seems to fill some sort of niche, as the two times i have been there it has been PACKED. The country-style decor, clientel, and karaoke selections make this place at least an interesting sociological experience.

In a town filled with irony and ersatz, the Little Red Hen is a bite of a real thing, albeit plunked down quizzically in Seattle, right off of Greenlake.

This place has real cowboys, real country folks who wears there pressed Wrangler's, boots and hats. And then they dance! dance! dance! It is so cool to watch people who know how to dance do it, and these guys do. Two-stepping and all sorts of couple dancing, as well as line dancing in the middle of the dance floor. If you are a girl, you'll get asked by some 70 year old guy to dance, and he'll be a gentleman, and show you that he knows better than your 25-year old boyfriend how to dance. Then he'll say thank you and go back to his beer.

They have live music very often. Dance lessons at least one night a week. Beer, full bar and food. A great place for a party. But it's for having fun, not making fun of (ya feel me?).