The Crown

Nice spot on a Wednesday night 2 for 1 drinks good fried dumplings… music in the blue room have you in your feet and! Red room real chills! Like the crowd

This is probably one of the weirdest places I’ve ever been to. Then again, a lot of Baltimore is a weird in general lol. My brother loves this spot and this past Saturday I decided to kick it with him for the night. As we walked in, he knows most of the people hanging around the door, which lead me to believe that most of the people who go here are regulars. There is a guy checking IDs inside and I look behind him to see a Korean BBQ spot. Yes… Korean BBQ at a bar/​club/​concert venue-​type place. It was great! I immediately knew that after a night of drinking and dancing I would find my way to a bowl of bibimbap.
Once we got to the top of the stairs, to the left was the «red room» and to the right was the «blue room.» In the red room there are couches and people standing around listening to live music. The vibes were pretty cool and the music was good but it was a little too mellow for what I was looking for that night. I walked across the hall to the blue room and the DJ was amazing! Playing all the hits from the 99 and the 2000s **birdman voice** I loved her mixing style!
The crowd was very diverse! More diverse than any other bar I’ve been to. There were hood guys, gays, Indians, Asians, white people with crazy hair and piercings… just all dancing together! I absolutely loved it, couldn’t help but smile. It’s amazing how music brings people together. If you want to use your credit/​debit card at the bar, be prepared to spend $ 15 as that’s the minimum.
The food was okay. I’ve had better bibimbap but the food that my brother and his friends had was pretty good. I wanted to get the bulgogi platter but it was friggin $ 32! Ridiculous.
It was a good time and I would be willing to check it out again.

This review is in regards to the food downstairs… do not order chinese from downstairs. I just ordered shrimp dumplings (shumai) and got 5 of the smallest (literally penny sized) bites of food i’ve ever had anywhere in my life. Absolute rip off… walk down a block to the new joe squared and order the BBQ chicken/​avacado potato skins (@$ 5)… you won’t be sorry

A great divey and eclectic atmosphere. The bar is located on the second floor above a Korean BBQ restaurant — they have blue and red rooms, each of which seems to have different music each night. One star off for the drinks — we all got tequila shots as the special for a friend’s birthday, but they may have been a little watered down. Loved that the bathrooms were labeled «masculine/​feminine spectrum»!

Tequila shots are really weak, but cheap. Honestly, would go more for atmosphere than the drinks, but I like that they have lots of open space for dancing and shows. The bathrooms are kind of run down, but hey you’re at a bar.

I’ve been to Crown a few times and I still don’t quite know how I feel about it. I’ve seen the same people there each time I go which leads me to believe that it’s a clique spot. I’m taking off one star for the horrendous bathrooms that are most likely never cleaned and one more star for a $ 15 credit card minimum. I do like their $ 3 Natty Boh draft and how it’s almost always free to go in either room. This place is clearly a local only hang out spot with usually pretty rough music unless their is a DJ playing songs we all know.
Summary:
Come for the experience, don’t pull out your credit card for less than 3 beers (or 5 Boh’s), and leave when you have to pee!

Clean divey space located across two rooms on the second floor. Both are great for booking shows, and the booking manager of this place is fairly awesome. Had a great small meal of fries and other munchies while a nice bartender got me drunk for my birthday. Great experience. Just a heads up though… The Crown likes to start their shows and parties late. Dont expect your headliner to go on anywhere before 11pm. For the earlybirds.

Cool bar and music venue in Baltimore. Pretty weird place but once the entertainment gets going you forget the rest. The bar is fabulous and offers fine crafted cheap cocktails. They also have a kitchen but haven’t had the food. Came on a night where you can go to both «rooms» for one price and bounced from music to music!

Starting off, the bartender in The Blue Lounge thankfully dissuaded me from the savory pancakes and dumplings on the plates side, instead guiding me to the Nobo of salty/​spicy brown broth with noodles and kimchi. Delish. My companion’s Regular Burger with fries was tops (he says). The Cabernet Sauvignon afterward was also good.
But that’s not why you brought this review up.
The gay bars, in particular, could take a lesson from how The Crown pumps fresh musical and socializing vibes into its aura – even going old school – with solid DJing and great bands performing here regularly. This is a hip, young, thinking person’s bar, of which I am many years removed and not typical for this sort of thing – nevertheless, I’ve been pleasingly bopped on the head with pop and blues 45 rpms spun one night and a live band playing atonal jazz to scenes from the 90s animated sci-​fi Aeon Flux on a screen behind them, on another.
This night, the young crowd socialized and danced to Dirty Soul Night in The Blue Lounge («Signed, Sealed, Delivered»!) while The Red Lounge had modern fare – but wait, was that some 80s beats and echo in there too? Delight!
Young people may come anytime – older folks bring a friend to smooth over any social or psychological (real or imagined) awkwardness.

Fun spot on a Friday night. There was a lively crowd, but not a huge wait for drinks, and the drinks were definitely strong. I really liked how there was a room for concerts/​dancing and another room for people who wanted to chat or eat. We heard great things about the food but unfortunately the kitchen closed at midnight so we weren’t able to try anything – maybe next time! In any case, I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who’s in the area. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Baltimore’s dive bar culture and this seems like an important stop if you’re taking a tour.

I love this place. I come here as a destination from DC every chance I get. Great food, fun events, and nice looking beers. Amen.

Great staff of really nice people, very convenient in terms of parking/​location, lots of great shows.
Their food is super fantastic; you really wouldn’t think they’d have a bangin’ kitchen in that place but they do!
I typically get the noodle bowl; beautiful thicker peanut-​y broth that’s just spicy enough to notice but doesn’t stay on your tongue. Nice mix of veggies and if you get an egg with it it’s very very good. The noodles are usually good, but are sometimes just a tad overcooked and get mushy quick. But not all the time! Plus it’s pretty inexpensive for what you get (in general, not just the noodle bowl).
This place is one of my go-​to joints for dinner in the area.

I love this dive bar /​restaurant /​concert venue. It’s located on the 2^nd floor of an abandoned building consisting of former Korean business offices (downstairs I think was a travel agency, with a note on the door dated 2007, stating that they moved their office in Ellicott City. Not sure why the note is still there). When I went here last year, the men’s room had a big roll of moldy toilet paper. It probably sat there for many, many years…
The sound is great. I like the vibe of the place… so divey and a great place to hang with friends. Beware though: Concerts tend to start late, but this is Baltimore, where the art types apparently don’t sleep.

I might be biased because the two times I’ve been to the Crown have been 1) to hear a song that I’d submitted to a compilation album whose release party was being held there, and 2) to play my first show ever with my band. The narcissistic high of being given a stage and platform would probably soften me to just about any venue but personal reasons aside, I really really like this place. It’s small and intimate and littered with comfortable couches and is the perfect just-​amount-​of-​weird to merit taking your friends to when they say they want a change of pace from your usual dive bar. Drinks are reasonable and they’ve got Mortal Kombat for when you’d rather deck your friends than talk to them (though I’m not sure whether it’s meant to stay permanently or is just part of their latest art installation).
The only downside is that when it’s crowded it’s nearly impossible to get a drink. Even with 3 bartenders, during peak time at Folk Fest I waited about 10 minutes before I was able to order. On the plus side it was made promptly, but I definitely prefer the Crown on quieter nights. They’re still new, though, and likely working out some kinks so I’ll certainly keep checking back to see how they progress.

The Crown is the bomb. Amazing and every changing menu of good food (taco Tuesday!) and drink specials, private karaōke room and amazing programming from improv jazz to super casual movie nights and now draft beer!
Best bar in Baltimore, hands down.

The Crown rocks! The latest art installation has the walls, lights, and stand up Mortal Kombat arcade wrapped in aluminum foil. The Crown serves as a great space for experimental music and performance. The beers are cheap. I have not had the food, but it always smells good. Highly recommended.

New dive bar in the Charles North neighborhood. It feels a little sketchy walking it (i liken it to a back alley abortion clinic) but the ambience inside is cool. The bar runs alongside the right, with a stage in the back and a bunch of couches on the left. It’s got a younger crowd, but worth checking out. If you are looking for a classy joint this is not it– they get their ice out of coolers and the sodas for mixed drinks come out of cans, but that adds to the dive-​yness of the place
They offer food but I have yet to partake. The drink specials are fantastic-​BOGO on cheap beers, so you spend less than $ 6 on 4 beers. On Wednesdays they have karaōke, and other nights bring live music and/​or DJs.