Nice and big interior. An OK song selection. Absolutely horrendous microphone and audio system. You really have to scream your head off to hear yourself...and the audience tells you that they couldn't hear anything after you sing. Takes about an hour and a half or two hours to get your turn to sing since the place is so big. They need computer song request lists. All and all, you'll spend lots of cash with drinks while waiting for your turn to sing and you will sing only one song...maybe two. read more

The cool thing is the karaoke rooms are free if the public stage isn't being used (for example, if there's a sports game on the tele). The private rooms have a control system to queue songs. It is a touch screen computer w/ No keyboard/mouse/remote control that is difficult to use. It's very frustrating and many expletives were thrown around throughout our entire session. The touch screen isn't calibrated very well... Tip: put you finger a little lower than where you want to click...Also, there are no numbers assigned to songs, so you just type in the name of the song/artist. At least there is a wide song selection. However, two problems: 1) You'll type in a song and five choices come up and you have no idea which is a good one to choose. Out of the five choices of Aladdin's A While New World, only one had the actual lyrics on the screen. 2) Some of the songs that are listed are Not what you were expecting! The two choices of Annie's I Don't Need Anything But You ended up being some weird Daddy Warbucks song, and then Hard Knock Life... Free popcorn and the sweet potato fries are really good! I will def go back and use the private rooms when they are free, since I know how to use the system now. read more

I come to common Interest literally three to four times a week i love this place. I always have an amazing time. Cade, Daniel and DJ PJ are amazing KJ's. Never a dull moment at this place.!!!!! read more

Common Interest was my karaoke hangout and what I miss most about Austin. The drinks were reasonably priced and they have the option of private or public karaoke. Personally I prefer to ham it up in front of a large crowd but that's me. They have a large song list and good acoustics. And the KJ's and waitresses are friendly. Also they try to make even the horrible singers feel good about themselves and have a good time Other notes: Lots of parking which is rare in Austin Weekends are packed so you'll only get a song every 60-90 minutes. No smoking, so no smoke clouds read more

Got here late lastnight but it was crowded and full of life. Service was slow but this place was packed, so as soon as we got someone's attention we ordered everything at the same time. We ordered two cocktails and some table snacks, while enjoying the free popcorn. Kareoke was ok Cocktails needed more booze (sorry) but the wings and sweet potato fries were great. All in all it was fun for us. read more

One of the best karaoke bars I have ever been to. The singer's were actually pretty good.

Went in there literally not knowing anyone because I was just here for a couple days and had a blast. Friendly people (customer and employee), lots of beer (although needs more on tap, and the karaoke was a lot of fun to watch and sing along with. Thanks for letting me hang out. read more

I have to give this place some props. It's a pretty fun little scene, and the karaoke host is fun and friendly. The bartenders are cute and fast, and I really don't have much complaint with this place. My friends have made it "their hangout", so by default, I end up here a lot. I usually get to sing one or two songs, and the crowd is always engaged. I was at four stars for the ol' C.I., when after reading the review I'd just written, I though to myself, "Why not a fifth star?" See ya there. Thursdays is usually my night... read more

It's an OK bar. They serve bar food which is usually fair to middling. Why you really come here is for the karaoke. North of the river this is probably the best option for self-embarrassment in public. They have private rooms now but that really kind of defeats the purpose. The crowd is pretty accepting, and usually a mix of younger and older. Try not to come before 9 - before then it's a generic sports bar and who wants that? read more

Best karaoke experience of my life! Went to Ego's first had the worst experience left feeling angry and frustrated. Decided we would give the commune interest a quick try and it blew us away! The staff was so kind, the crowd was so fun! We loved it so much we came back for round two on our last night of our trip. Definitely the highlight of our girls trip! Highly recommend!!!!! read more

Fun place, friendly people, great energy, people really get into the karaoke. Had a lot of fun, there are some great singers out there.

Jello shots out of a syringe, drinks with old friends, making an ass out of yourself after those drinks, listening to others with mixed vocal ability and the best part - no judgment! This place is great. I recommend it for all things. It might be fun for a reunion of friends, happy hour or even - bare with me - a first date. The reason I say a first date is - after you have had dinner and a few drinks, this would be a good laugh. Not to say you have to get up there and sing, it's just fun for all. Just always cheers me up! read more

Good ole' Common Interest. I went to Common Interest last night for the second time in the last month. We arrived late, after 10, and walked in. Found the only open table, which was allll-the-way to the back of the bar. The place was PACKED. However, it was absolutely no problem getting drinks, which was great and everyone was having a great time. The people who frequent Common Interest are quite the elective group. All shapes, ages, and colors. There was one group of guys who went up to sing who had to be in their 60s, but they were really good. Put everyone else to shame. The bar itself is a bit trashy. They serve jello shots that are actual enormous syringes. Hysterical and deadly @ $2.75 a pop. The only downside was because the place was soooo packed there was a huge list of peeps who were signed up to sing. We got on the list and there must have been at least 25 people ahead of us. Ah well! After waiting for about 30 minutes we decided to try to "bribe" the kareoke DJ. Unfortunately for us, he was not having it (maybe we should have offered him more then $5). The one thing I learned was get here EARLY and plan to stay late. This place was hopping and tons of fun! read more

Karaoke is this bar's thing, which is fine by me. I go here for karaoke more often than any other place, mostly because I have a friend who's a regular (and a big chunk of this bar's clientele is regulars - the caricatures to the right of the entrance are all friends of the owner). The bar is cool on its own merits though. There's plenty of cheap beer, decent bar food (not just their regular burgers and whatnot, they have offbeat stuff like bacon-wrapped quail [!!] too), the infamous jello shot syringes, and of course karaoke. All you really need for karaoke is a decent song selection, working mics/lyric screens, and an appreciative audience, and CI manages all of those pretty well. Some regulars really need to branch out of their grooves and pick new songs, but you'll run into that anywhere. Grab a few $2 Lone Star tallboys and give it a whirl yourself. read more

I really love the free karaoke suites with really up to date song lists and nice screens and easy-to-understand, working equipment. I know you can't BYOB here, but you can find the song you're looking for and you don't feel like you're suffocating and hot, which definitely counts a lot in my book. read more

I don't do karaoke. But its still fun to go and cheer people on. They have a massive selection of music. Their are a lot of regulars, so the atmosphere is very supportive and chill. My coke was flat, but that's how bars do. They have these jello shots in giant syringes which are kind of random, but tasty. They have food, but I didn't eat any of it. Everybody had a good time and didn't have to spend too much money. I'd say that's a win. read more

I would generally say I loathe karaoke but a friend really wanted to go. I remember something being mentioned about paintball and I just put my notions aside. A small bar with a cross section of Austin sat and watched the usual karaoke with a twist. If they were good you got the usual applause and cheer. If they sucked? They got shot with a paintball gun. It made the whole event much more enjoyable. Otherwise the place seemed to be a typical middle of the road bar. I didn't have a chance to try any of the food. read more

Met up with some friends last Saturday night. Great ambience, awesome bartenders, and seriously great food. Ordered wings and a burger. No BS, some of the best wings I've had in Austin. And the burger was the same. Will be back to visit this magician of a cook and awesome staff in the near future :) read more

I do not enjoy karaoke - but this was fucking fun. Gabriel helped us feel at ease and have a good time while getting at the best level of crazy, and I didn't even get anything on my dress. Seri was also a badass bitch who took care of shit and had the club soda on hand if need be ;) read more

Good bartenders, good food, reasonable prices, fun place. It's be nice to have more table servers, however. This place goes from dead to hopping around 830 or so. read more

Best bar EVER!! Great theme, great bartenders, great cocktail waitress, and great manager, Katie!

This place is a gold mine for people watching. There are all different types of people under one roof: frat boys, sorority girls, moms-on-the-town, super old people, tattooed freaks, country bumpkins, emo screamers, and everyone else in between. It's a great mix of regulars, first-timers, awesome singers and horrible, horrible wailers. You do have to put up with the occasional person that picks a 9 minute long song with a 48 measure interlude just so they can get more stage time. But I guess that's true for all karaoke establishments. Get there early (like 7 or 8) if you really want to sing. Be aware that the later it gets--even if you've submitted a song-- you may not get to sing because there are so many requests. Also, be ready to call a cab or designate a driver because with the waitress walking around with $2 jell-o shots in-hand, you will NOT be ok to drive home later! read more

I absolutely LOVE this place! Great drink prices and horrible karaoke, what could be better?! This place is great for anyone who wants to go have a great time and who doesn't mind bad singing! I have yet to try the food here, but I hear it is pretty good for bar food! read more

We haven't been to this place, so we wanted to try it out. I just called to try to confirm my reservation for today and the lady was super rude. Why would you be rude to willingly paying customers? Not a way to start the new year. Never coming here read more

Great karaoke. Downside is staff sings during each round, pushes the waitlist as the night goes on. The best bartenders!

There are many types of people that like to hang out at a karaoke bar like "The Common Interest"... - The "girls from the office". They can be easily identified by the array of empty jello-shot syringes at their table, and the repeated sound of "Wooooo!" . They are all super-skinny, and will all go up and sing "Baby Got Back" together, giggling the entire time. - The uber cute girl that thinks she sings amazing because every guy she's ever met would tell her how amazing her singing is to get, ummmm, on her good side. And she believed it (but sings like a garbled recording of whalesong). - The person I always underestimate, who walks up looking like a reject from MenWhoLookLikeKennyRogers.com, but ends up doing a perfectly-choreographed version of "Billie Jean". - Drunk girl + Bon Jovi/GNR (or even worse... Ke$ha) - The person who didn't realize "Bohemian Rhapsody" is 5 minutes and 57 second long (or worse, knew but doesn't care) - The person doing "One Love" who didn't realize it was more than just the two lines from that Jamaica Tourism commercial. - Someone who still to this day wants to do "Don't Stop Believin'", and not ironically. - The guy that is taking it waaaaay too seriously. Like stands-in-front-of-a-mirror-at-home, late at night, using a broomstick as a microphone, serious. He always wears a "special" outfit. And he came alone. - My friend Coleen, who is always awesome. In life, as well as on-stage. And, I like to hang out with Coleen, and her rotating crew of karaoke-ers (just roll with my made-up word). The popcorn is free, the bar food is above average for what you'd probably expect (to paraphrase Courtney W.'s review: "Cheese fries, FUCK YEAH!"), the beers are cold, and the pours ($4 wells, Mon-Thu 8-11pm) are usually decent. And they'll let you bring in two cakes for the same birthday. Come on a Monday if you want to be on stage more frequently. On a Saturday, you'll have to stay for quite a while to get a second turn on stage. But it's always fun (though I've never been on stage, cause, well, no one wants to see that). The website tells me there are "private rooms", but what's the fun in that? 4.1 stars. read more

I honestly loved this place. My friend and I used to go once a week to sing karaoke. Last night I go outside to smoke a cigarette after a few drinks and I'm told I'm not allowed to re-enter due to being too intoxicated. I figured, well maybe I am? No problem. Luckily, I was allowed to close out my tab at the bar while being escorted by the same person who thinks I'm too drunk to be in the establishment. I find out this morning he did this to 4 people in our party. I feel this place needs to rid itself from the guy with a superiority complex, but just my opinion. read more

Obviously this establishment has no respect for the military or Ex military... Poor service and poor customer service and very biased wait staff... Don't recommend read more

We rented the private room for my sisters bachelorette party and it was a blast! I highly recommend it!

Best karaoke bar Austin has to offer. The bar staff is friendly and knows how to make an awesome drink. The kj has pretty much any song you could think of and everyone is extremely friendly. It feels like you're being served by your friends. The food is better than most chain restaurants and it's cheap! I will definitely be back read more

Okay, if you've never seen your buds consume giant mounds of cheesy fries, shoot syringe shots into each other's mouth, or watch the entire house get blown away by Dej M's magnificently choreographed "Baby Got Back," then you really haven't done Austin karaoke. read more

I've never had a waitstaff person be so rude from the get go. My friend had bought a living social evening of karaoke in a private room. We are all nice people and we were really excited to hang out. We walked in and set our stuff down once the room was ready. I turned to head to the ladies room when the waitress opened the door closed it behind her and stared sternly at us. I have no clue where the hostility came from. She explained the rules but instead of being nice about it it felt like we had already done something wrong. My friends are jovial folks so we tried to joke with her and were super nice to her. It must suck to be a waitress at a karaoke bar I guess. We gave her the benefit of the doubt. Each time she came to get our drinks she seemed more and more pissed at us. She actually called one of my friends a drunk and rolled her eyes at him. He didn't catch it but I did. I let it go because she must hate her job. Whatever. Then the bill comes. We had all been ordering whiskey/diet, whiskey/seven, etc. We were charged for Maker's Mark without being asked. Perhaps this is their well whiskey? I'm not going to go back and find out that's for damn sure. Also, my boyfriend who was not drinking was charged 12 dollars for diet coke. Sure he drank six but they weren't in a can or anything. He is a recovering alcoholic and doesn't drink. It costs two cents to refill a soda. We ended up spending over 300 dollars anyway on drinks for the rest of us. Really? 12 bucks for diet coke for the designated driver? I'll never go back to this place again. The wait people were rude from the very beginning and they make money buy overcharging for drinks. Boo. So disappointed. I was really looking forward to liking this place. Oh well. Lesson learned. read more

This place has a little of everything--it's a low-key dive bar with older clientele at happy hour, a friendly karaoke bar at night, and a super-fun crowded party atmosphere on weekends. (Oh and fair warning, it's an absolute circus when the Seattle Seahawks are playing.) Plus a super-solid menu and excellent private karaoke rooms for rent. I love this joint. read more

The patrons take the karaoke way too serious and the staff will not support you if you're not a "regular". Don't go here unless you've been going here since 1962. The bouncers at Common Interest have no common sense. If give zero stars if I could. read more

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I were with another couple after dinner on a Friday night. "Where to go... where to go?" was the question on everyone's mind. We're a North Austin crowd, so someplace North of downtown is always a little nice just to get a little closer to home and avoid the 2:00am mob off of Sixth street. Out of nowhere, "Common Interest!" came from my wife in the passenger seat. This was exciting to hear for a couple of reasons: I love the place and had not been in a while; also, I didn't realize my wife had ever been, and she seemed to be as excited as me. Our passengers had not heard of CI and did not understand our joy. We went on to describe why the place was so endeared to us: - Karaoke: Not just singing mind you. I had come to expect more from the CI crowd. It's really more performance art. While it's often a little hard to watch, like the outtakes from American Idol, it always entertains. On a good song, the audience might take part and join the singer on the stage. - Drinks: Beer served in cans, usually slammed onto the table by the overworked waitress. - Nacho cheese from the crock pot. I'm not sure if this was a one time treat or not, but I recall smiling as I saw a home crock pot behind the bar one time. - Clientele: This perhaps was the biggest thing drawing us in that night. The traditional visitors to CI are a good microcosm of Austin life. Equally represented are service workers, tech nerds, real estate agents, accountants, etc. As we walked up to the door, I could barely contain myself. Our guests were really not the type to enjoy what we had described which made it all the more entertaining to attempt. Though upon entering, I was bewildered. As if I was caught in some kind of parallel universe. The other couple was just as confused since it was nothing like we had described. It wasn't my dumpy bar at all. What we saw was more like 'Fox&Hound goes Karaoke'. HD Flat Panels everywhere, full bar, bottled beer. What was all this? CI had gained some space. Bathrooms were clean. The sound was better; waitresses were polite. Overall, there had been remarkable improvement. Well, I do recall hearing something about a fire. I guess insurance paid for some improvements when they rebuilt. So, the new place is plenty nice. Anyone coming in for the first time would probably be pretty impressed. It's definitely the place to bring a crowd and have a good time. However, I carry a little bit of baggage with this review since I was so fond of the old place. There is a little less character in the new place, but it's still worth a visit. Though if you ask me, every bar needs a crock pot... read more

I guess ya'll got my comment deleted, so now I'm just going to give you a one. You're DJ was a joke and wouldn't let anyone sing that wasn't his friend. Some of us got one song, while his buddies were singing the entire Britney Spears catalog. Whatever. read more

Worst customer experience I've ever had. Not only did they try to kick us out an hour early, they lost our drink orders and told us the private rooms did not have A/C (the manager turned it on when we complained). We were told we could not receive a refund. If I could give this a zero rating I would. read more

UPDATE: The newest addition, karaoke rooms that are self-serve, are AWESOME!!! No more waiting around for the KJ to decide you're worthy, listening to other people's attempts at singing...you can rent a room with your friends and tear it up!! That officially brings my star rating up from a two to a four!! WTG, CI!! :) read more

This is z decent place, the bar stafg is great. Some of the DJs are very nice, however some of them make sure they sing some dumbass 8 minute "song" over and over while the custoners sit and beg for their turn. My advice is tell the DJs to sit the fuck down and let the custoners sing for a time ir two... read more

My man thinks common interest is the coolest place in the world...hmm...I would have to beg to differ. However, it is hard not to have a good time in a place where the cheap drinks flow freely and the laughs are aplenty. For all you singers that take yourself really seriously - please come and entertain us all!!! Can you hear me laughing my ass off??? read more