Five people were stabbed early Saturday inside a popular Northwest Washington restaurant and bar near George Washington University, and a man wearing a tan trench coat was being sought, police said.

At least two of the victims were seriously injured, but all are expected to survive the attack, which took place about 12:30 a.m. inside McFadden’s Restaurant and Saloon at 2401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, said Officer Hugh Carew, a D.C. police spokesman.

Police issued a lookout for a black man of medium height, wearing a trench coat, plaid shirt and black or blue jeans.

The assailant eluded a police search and was last seen heading east on Pennsylvania Avenue, GWU police said in a campus safety alert issued about 2:30 a.m.

McFadden’s, a popular nightspot whose Web site calls it “DC’s Best Party Bar,” was closed during its regular lunch and dinner hours Saturday. As night fell, the only commotion came from a local television news crew.

McFadden’s owner, John Sullivan, did not immediately respond to a message left through an attorney who represented him in a D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration matter last year.

Patrick Kennedy, chairman 0f the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) for the Foggy Bottom/West End area that includes McFadden’s, said he hoped that the stabbings were an isolated incident because the bar caters to college students.

Asher Corson, a 2009 GWU graduate who lives near the restaurant, said it “can be a rowdy place, but it was not a violent place.” Corson is a member of the area’s ANC.

Other violent acts were reported in the city Friday night and Saturday.

They included a shooting about 11:40 p.m. Friday and another Saturday afternoon in the 1500 block of Kenilworth Avenue NE. It appeared that neither caused life-threatening wounds.

“We try to cultivate a safe environment, and generally, it is a safe neighborhood,” said Kennedy, who graduated from GWU in May. “I have never felt threatened walking down the street. We have a lot of seniors in this community.”

Martin Weil contributed to this report.