Review: Pulse Lounge

New York holds a lot of secrets, and I'm not just talking about the hidden ones like Milk & Honey or the other "knock three times and hit the buzzer twice" places.  I'm talking about places that are generally in plain view, but maybe not located on street level.

Take Pulse Lounge, which is located just below street level in the heart of Times Square.  It's pretty swanky for a karaoke bar with it's own dress code: no tims, no plastic sandals, no busted sneakers, no dew rags.  Yes, like many genuine karaoke lounges, it does have private rooms and offer food and drink packages and the bar area does charge $1 per song.  Yes, you can charge the songs to your tab (score!).

You have to be 21 to enter.  No ID, no luck (sorry).  The prices are actually reasonable for the area and there are occasional specials, so check their website, facebook, and twitter. It's a good after work party spot (if you have a bunch of karaoke singers in your crew, or exhibitionists - close enough).

Now for my aficionado, here's the breakdown...

• The speaker monitors on stage generally don't work, so sometimes you get better audio quality off stage than on.
• You cannot adjust the pitch in the bar area.  I have not tried in the private rooms.
• On Friday nights, the cue can get really long, but the bartenders are good at trying to keep things moving.
• On the rare occasion the speakers will go out, but it will be momentary.

No go out and party like a rock star.  Whatever you sing on stage will be heard upstairs.  They pipe everything going on from the stage to street level passersby above anyway.  Enjoy!