Selena’s is not your average karaoke bar

By Kristine Fields

We heard about this new place down in Shoreline and hadn’t been there in ages so we decided to go check it out. It’s called Selena’s, and is exactly where the old Zaika’s used to be.

We suspected that with a name like Selena’s, it was a family Mexican style restaurant. Selena’s is nice and clean, and smells delicious! Unfortunately, we arrived after they had stopped serving their full menu, but were presented with their “bar food” menu and decided what the heck, what do we have to lose, right? We ordered two tacos, and we have a choice of three meats! My husband loves chorizo, so we ordered that, and waited a very short time before they brought out the most beautiful tacos I think I’ve ever seen! They were authentic, with corn tortillas (two not one), laid open and topped with tons of meat, lettuce, cilantro, onions and tomatoes, and a side of lime. I took one bite and set it down to talk to someone. I looked back, and hubby had devoured his own and the rest of mine too! We ordered four more. Come to find out they were only $2 each – a bargain at twice that price.

I can imagine that if they consider that to be “bar food” that their “real food” is totally out of this world. I questioned several patrons and they all agreed that the food is both very authentic, and delicious. I can’t wait to go back during regular business hours and try more.

Then there was the karaoke. The show was hosted by Chris and most of the seating was filled up in the main part of the bar, so we sauntered over to the corner where there was more seating and grabbed our spot there. It was a good place to sit really, although we couldn’t see what was coming from around the corner, we had a perfect view of the karaoke show, which was why we were here, and we weren’t forgotten by the waitstaff either. That was nice, for a change!

I noticed that it was easier to have a conversation where we were seated too. Chris hosts here every Wednesday and Thursday night, and they also have karaoke on Sundays with Louie.

The system sounds clean, there wasn’t any distortion and the microphones were nice. The sound quality was actually better than most for this type of setting, and the song selection had just about anything you could imagine. There’s a big dance floor and people were actually dancing.

The music people chose to sing was wide and varied, which I love about this show. We have been to several shows recently where it seemed it was all country, or it was a classic or hard rock scene.

The rotation is manageable. Things moved along smoothly throughout the night, another plus. There isn’t a lot of extra stuff to do here, which is kind of nice. These folks are here to sing and get their drink on. Everyone claps and pays attention to the singers. Everybody was friendly. Some even posed for silly photos and danced around without a care.

Selena’s Family Mexican Restaurant is located at 14622 15th NE in Shoreline, WA. The parking lot is not huge, but I’m sure you can find a spot.

We enjoyed many fine singers. There’s no lack of talent if you’re a karaoke “watcher” like me. AuntyPumpkin sang a beautiful God Bless The Child, David wooed us with “Lady”, Lisa amazed with “Baby, Baby, Baby”, and Mo brought down the house with “Bring Me To Life”. Those are just a few of the amazingly talented singers, honestly, Kathleen, Miss Carla and Flip, Sandy, Geoffrey, Brando, Kimmie, the host Chris, Miguel and Laura, Amy, Don, Sam, J.M, T.C… I just know I am forgetting someone… Rocky maybe, and David. Either way, the talent here was unstoppable, and the show was off the chain! Every person who was there had a great time and I bet that in time, Selena’s may have to figure out a way to expand their bar to hold even more people for karaoke.  We will absolutely be back, and hope to see you there too.