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Dupont Circle (Red)
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This place has gotten some unfair reviews. The crowd here is really cool and fun-loving. I haven't been here in a while but I've never not had fun at CJ.
Great location, P ST NW off 21st ST, just a couple blocks west of the metro stop, which is really convenient if you plan on getting intoxicato. CJ is intentionally divey, which I really enjoy. I think it was probably designed by drunken trolls with light-sensitivity issues. Some people have just gotten way too "Dupontified" and expect 5-star quality dishes, black tie and french cuff wearing waiters and bathrooms with bidets everywhere they go. Put it this way: If Cafe Japone had bidets, they'd be called "ass-washers."
CJ is a full on Japanese restaurant, but the main draw is the booze and the Karaoke, which they do every night. There's just something about getting sloshed, eating sushi and making fun of your drunken friends singing Pat Benatar. They have tons of songs in Japanese, too, which is always a hoot. Be advised that this place is very informal. If you're a drama queen who demands a huge stage and every eye in the house on you, this is not your place. You will be pretty much ignored by everyone but your friends when you sing here, which is great to me because it takes all the stress out of singing. Cool place, and the ramen is really good as advertised.
Ambiance is bizarre in a Lost In Translation karaoke kind of way. Walls look spray painted black like the inside of a nightclub. Ruffed up purply sofa seats.
We had dinner on a Sat night. Sushi okay. Service slow at times, but friendly. Chilly, drafty windows. Green tea served in tumblers (kinda cool)! Dumplings are good. A charming, half-dive sushi bar...if I had to sum it up. Great location on P, near dupont circle. Check it out if you like funky and informal Japanese.
-David B.
Best ramen outside of japan or NYC...Seriously.
Okay, so my review is based on the downstairs only, never been to upstairs.
Recently I made a visit to Japones after 4~5yrs of absence. I was surprised that the venue was still there, and in fact nothing has changed in basement (!) Crazy decore of fish tank and ice caves where I used to get *hit faced and dance, etc.
Only thing I notice was the lighting is much blighter, almost in extent to kill the ambient.
Place was so frigging cold, we complained but they said it was as warm as it gets!? Food was so great but they turned cold immedeately after it was delivered to the table, kinda sad as no one wants cold Japanese bar food.
Food is still great, loved almost everything from sushi to ramen to agedashi tofu (I'd stay away from eggplant...too boring).
Price is DC price, bottle of shochu is $100, which is out of mind. Pricing for food is not bad, they also have happy hour.
When we went it was weekday and place was almost dead, except a few ex-pats Japaense hanging out. I am not sure this place still gets packed on Tur~Sat (back in da days this place gets packed with friendly crowd of gay couples)
Overall I still like this place, as long as they turn on the heat.
I went there last weekend and had probably the worst service I have ever received.
A lot of it was standard "bad service" stuff. The waitress ignored us, and was rude. She brought the wrong orders, she was slow to refill drinks, she took orders from 3 of the 8 people at the table then walked away, she told me to fetch something from the bar on the other side of the restaurant myself, etc.
But it went further into an outright scams. At one point, she brought a different wine than someone ordered. When we pointed it out, she insisted it was the same wine. Then, when we held our ground, she switched stories and said she knew it was different wine but it was the only one they had in stock. Later, she put a drink nobody had ordered down on the table when we were paying attention to the karaoke. Naturally, the bill was not itemized and she's already added in the gratuity.
The food itself was fine. Not great, but OK for the price. But it was the type of service and treatment that makes you feel outright angry that you have to give the restaurant any of your money at the end of the night.
This was one of the most ridiculous places I've visited in Washington. I went here on a couple of occasions with some friends who heard it was fun. The first time I went there we only went to the lower portion at about 11:00 pm on a Thursday. First of all, they wanted us all to pay a $10 cover. I was already not happy because I could tell that the place was not very big and pretty empty. What greeted us once we got inside was incredibly ridiculous. The first room was what appeared to be a dining room with one long table in the middle, some fish tanks along the walls and a tiny corner bar at one end. The next room was some sort of fake, plastic, backlit ice cave dancing room. Following this was a small bar area with white walls and neon lights and a DJ going absolutely nuts dancing to his shitty music.
Every girl in the whole place (not that there were many) looked underage and like they spent a lot of time in places like this. Neither of those were a good thing.
A tiny Jack and Coke in a plastic cup at the bar cost me $8 not including tip. Ugh. High drink prices and crummy atmosphere do not a good spot make.
The second time I went with the same group of friends, we ventured to the upper level on a Friday night to do some karaoke. When we got up there it was so crowded that we could barely get in the door, much less get a table. There didn't appear to be any karaoke going on anyways, so we thought we would go downstairs and just take in the ridiculousness once again. By this point it was about 12:00 am but the downstairs portion was closed. This made no sense to us and so we gave up on Cafe Jap-own-ee for good. I don't remember where we went that night instead, but I do know it was better than this place.
Avoid this place if you have ANYWHERE else you can go. Trust me.
Went here for New Years Eve- packed but not anymore packed than I've seen this place on a normal weekend. Service was pretty poor- we had to bus and get our own drinks/get our own sake cups..Although the bartender did come out and help us a few times. Waitress didnt seem to be happy AT ALL to be there ( she seemed to be the only one doing the tables) so I can understand but lose the attitude.. Food was fine - rice was a little dry.. I will say that the karaoke portion was great- songs that were requested were played and we didnt have to wait long. They have the biggest selection of songs I have ever seen! I would go back just for the karaoke- everyone sang along and made the best of it. I wouldnt go here for the service though.. Seems like they need more waitstaff and a manager to keep things moving...
I had the worst service I have ever encountered in Washington DC. We arrived at the restaurant at 7pm and the waitress did not want to seat us at any of two tables available that were booked for 9pm. She finally said she would seat us there once we are finished before 9pm. Mind you at 9pm, no one was there to take the table when we left. She then dropped the menus on the table and walked away. She never refilled our waters. When it was time to pay the bill, my husband was calling one of 4 individuals who was standing in front of us, obviously employed at the restaurant. They were the worst examples of someone trying to avoid you to your own face. Do not go here, there are better sushi places in DC.
So I was pretty pumped about this place from what I had heard from my friends. We went on a saturday night with about 15 people - we had reservations. We just got drinks, no food and went for the karaoke. The drinks were good and not too expensive, and the karaoke was fun but the selection was sub par. Paying for the meal was a b*tch and incredibly sketchy! They gave us the check for 15 people with only the total and the tax, no other information and half the staff at the restaurant couldn't even tell us the price of anything - it was probably the most ridiculous paying situation I have ever been involved in.
In Conclusion: The drinks were good and reasonable, the karaoke was fun but not a good selection, and paying for everything was MISERABLE! Worth the time, but don't go with too large of a group!
It's not for everyone, which is good, otherwise me and my friends wouldn't fit. But carry on fair reader, and see if this place is for you too.
This is not the place to get delicately prepared sushi with bursting flavors and fresh from the ocean fish. This is the place to get hammered combining family style beers and sake to make sake bombs for you and your friends. This is not the place for an organized karaoke experience with a ready-made stage, talented singers, and a professional DJ. This is the place if you want a free-for-all, silly songs at the top of your lungs karaoke, with a huge songbook.
The atmosphere is unrefined, the clientele is usually sloppily drunk, and the karaoke system is so haphazard, sometimes people just give up and pass the mic around to anyone who looks like they want to sing. If you aren't going to be into that on a particular evening, you probably shouldn't go. But if you are in for a wild night out, you should give it a try. Oh by the way, the food is fine, nothing to write home about, but not terrible either. It just is not the main attraction of this restaurant.
I will point out that if you do go, you should try and keep your table somewhat intact, and not have people coming in and out, or ordering from the table and the bar. The servers don't really like that. If people want to leave early, just make sure they leave cash, it makes the whole process much easier. But despite some cold-shouldered service, I've never had a bad time here, and have had some really great ones.
I think I have an equal amount of pros and cons for this place. I never usually do this, but see the list below:
Pros:
-If you make reservations, you'll get a table. It might not be the one you want, but it's a table, which is good because it gets packed.
-The female servers are polite and perky.
-The sushi is okay. They have happy hour on weekends, which is rare.
-The crowd is AWESOME once they show up. I got so into the karaoke that I sang five songs, and the crowd was not shy about singing along. I felt like a superstar!
-You can walk around with the microphone or sing from your table; no stage to get stage fright!
Cons:
-A few male employees were straight up rude and noncommunicative.
-The space is super small. Better make a reservation.
-The sushi is so-so. I've definitely had better in Dupont (ahem, Sushi Taro, Raku).
-It's not the cleanest place on the planet. Take that as you will.
I would absolutely go back for sushi and karaoke, as long as I wasn't starving. I had a blast!
I went to Cafe Japone with my dear friend. We wanted good food at a very affordable (cheap price)
We were very happy to see the place have happy hour on a sunday! Kudos for that. With the pint of Sapporo, we were set.
We began to order our food. I love sushi! I can eat all day! I also order some Miso soup with was quite tasty and their spicy tuna mini-don.
The food was great! My friend enjoyed their salmon napoleon. The sushi was prepared well. Especially the fresh crab california roll.
Now what bothered us was the service. The waitress forgot one of our sushi orders. Not to mention she was a bit rude. It took forever to get her to come to our table. And when it came time to pay, we were splitting the meal according to what we ordered. We specifically instructed her on what amounts went to which cards. She mixed them up. Then got upset because we were over .50 cents. Then the next, I noticed an additional charge on my card for something I did not purchase.
The service is what was not so great. The food is excellent. So if I go it would be because I am desperately hungry.
Last night a buddy and I stopped in at Cafe Japone for dinner- hoping for some good Japanese food. We managed to just catch the tail end of happy hour and scored ourselves some Sapporos in the big bottle, which was an excellent way to start off what was otherwise a rather underwhelming dining experience. My buddy ordered some a-la-carte sushi, and I ordered a shiso maki and a 'tonkotsu ramen'. Even though the restaurant was still empty around 8:30 pm, the food took a long time coming, and when it did I could have cared.
The only thing even decent about the ramen was the noodles, which had a good consistency, but the soup was flavorless and they had dumped a large side of pickled ginger in it, making the entire dish taste a bit fishy, plus they only put in 1 small piece of chashuu, plus there were no condiments. This for $12? Even in Tokyo, a normal bowl of ramen is not going to run you more than $6 and it will be GOOD. To charge me double for something of inferior quality is just ridiculous, I can make it at home and save my money.
Anyways, I said to myself, 'serves me right for ordering ramen in a sushi joint'---but wait! My buddy eyed his sushi warily as he remarked 'the color of the salmon is off', and so it was! Additionally, he ended up leaving his shrimp sushi untouched. Ugh. My shiso maki never made it to the table, but the restaurant still billed us for it.
Cafe Japone reminds me strongly of another Japanese restaurant/karaoke that I frequented on Fridays and Saturdays during undergrad, in the sense that based on my experience I would -never- go there just to eat- drinking and singing must be involved. For now I give Cafe Japone 1 star for food, as in 'Methinks not.', and 1 star based on the possible potential for singing there in the future. Next time I go I will be making the minimum charge solely based on my beer drinking.
The Sapporo and Kirin come in v. large bottles. Hence the clientele tends to be v.drunk. Hence the karaoke tends to sound like roosters getting tortured. I suggest drowning out the racket by singing along. That's exactly what happened Friday night -- a giant all-cafe sing-along to Michael Jackson's greatest hits. I've had worse evenings.
I'm no sushi expert, but I thought the avocado roll tasted fine: the avocado was fresh and smooth. My dining companions found their sushi and sashimi "good and affordable."
Just to be clear, I've never eaten here. But i officially love this place. There's a serious lack of Karaoke bars in the District; well, karaoke bars that don't take themselves too seriously. Cafe Japone does not even pretend to take itself seriously.
I've been here on a Thurs and a Sat night. Karaoke starts around 9pm. The operation is splendidly disorganized. The books are old and dirty. There are little pencils, but usually nothing to write on. When you want to sing a song, you hand a slip of paper to the waitress and she'll put your number on the list to sing. There's no DJ calling out the names of who is singing. In fact, you have to fight for the microphone when it's your turn to sing - particularly if you've chosen a Journey song. It's just so ridiculous.
The beer comes in pints and they're prompt about refills. The prices are reasonable.
It's just impossible to not have fun here.
S-hady Decor
U-nkept Carpet
S-ake
H-ybrid Lounge/Resturant
I-dle wait for service
K-araoke!
A-nd
F-unny Drunk Singers
E-qual
Cafe Japone!
What a great find around the Dupont Circle area. We went in for late night dining on a Sunday night. Great food and Karaoke. Dark restaurant if you're looking for a nice place to have a romantic dinner with a special someone.
I was satisfied with everything here. The crispy rolls I ordered with avocado and unagi were good and tasted fresh. I also got the fatty tuna crispy rolls and that satisfied my tuna craving. The rolls were falling apart pretty easy so it wasn't the perfect rolls, but I have no real objection to it. I wanted some hot food and I ordered the yakitori and the yakisoba. The yakitori was white meat and it was a little under seasoned and the teriyaki sauce it was in wasn't very flavorful. The yakisoba weren't the best soba noodles I've had. They tasted like ramen noodles without the soup really. It came with some shrimp and squid and other seafood. I enjoyed my dining experience here. At night they have a karoake crowd and it seems like a fun neighborhood hangout. I'll be coming back again.
Boy, do I love the Japone. Yeah, it's dingy and crummy, but that's just part of its charm. You came to drink and sing along to Journey, not for a fancy outing, right?
First things first: just don't bother going on the weekends. It's $15 cover, totally packed, and the staff is so swamped they're really rude to you. Making a reservation doesn't matter - you're rarely, if ever, given a priority. Plus, if you're going to sing, why wait through 30 songs other people put in before you?
Here's how to do Japone right:
Bring a big group of friends on a Monday-Thursday. You will own the bar. The staff will become your friends. Hell, you'll become friends with everyone in the bar as you all scream along to O-Town's "All or Nothing." Proceed to get wasted on their sake bombs, giant bottles of Sapporo and powerful gin&tonics. That's what you came for, right?
This place is a blast!
Come here if you are looking for a good time out shouting along to the best songs from the 80s and 90s!
Also they have pretty good sushi....yay
The whole time I was there I was thinking "This place is not even serious" which was kind of distracting.
In other sad news, the guy who works the door at the Cafe Japone was there the last time we tried to go to karaoke because it was my friend's extreme wish. He was a jerk then, and he was a jerk now. Like I said before, if you're not in New York, and you work at a not-great sushi place, you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself. Tool. Ugh.
Anyway, after he directed us downstairs in his typically not-charming fashion, we stepped into some under-the-sea, technicolor, 1970s fake Japan meets Studio 54 acid trip. High, it would be amazing. Not high, just weird, and you saw the cracks in the seashell chairs and it was just profoundly depressing.
The food, right. Ok. The tuna tataki was terrible. The sushi was ok, but by that point I'd lost all faith given the state of the tuna. I am weird about sushi places although I'm not a picky eater at all. The surroundings were just so very bizarre, none of us could really handle it. Would not return.
We never made it past the front counter.
What a jerk the overimportant "host" was. We had a…
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NOTE: I'm writing a review strictly on the lower bar/lounge part of Japone, not the restaurant.
I could probably write an epic about this place that could stand up to Homer's Iliad, but we'll try and keep it semi-short for reading purposes.
I spent many weeks here last summer hitting up their happy hours on Friday nights, and boy did we make some ridiculous memories here. I managed to meet the most interesting and random people here. Everyone from college goes here, and even so, don't expect anyone over the age of 21 (most are 18 or 19).
This club defines sketchy. The highlight is an "ice cave." Yeah, it's just a 10 x 10 ft dancing area between bars with plastic "ice" walls. Hmm. Don't expect to ever get a shot in a glass. All shots are served in plastic cups, as well as every mixed drink. Want to be high class? Pay 4 bucks for a Coors Light in a bottle!
Come to think of it, why did we keep going here every week? We should have learned after the free beer "power hour" they had one weekend. This included drinking half a wax Dixie cup of Natural Light every 5 mins or so... Sketch much?
So now you ask. How the hell did this guy give this club 2 stars and not a swift kick to the behind instead? Well, randomly met my current girlfriend there in that ice cave, and it's a very special spot that I will always hold dear in my heart.
In all seriousness. This club is what you make of it. If you're down for a ridiculous Friday night that involves heavy pre-gaming before going out. This is the spot to be. If you want something even semi-legit for your Friday night... run away. Far away!
P.S. We always liked to pronounce the name "Jap - own - eh" and much like that song that sings "Jump on it"
Good times.
Did you ever want to go to a karaoke place and sing to all the songs without being embarrassed that you are over-powering the person with the mic or that your voice is worse than everyone there, including one of the staff who only sings in Japanese? Well, this is the place for you (and clearly, me)!
I generally shy away from outings that include karaoke because 1.) I can't carry a tune, and 2.) I hate doing anything in front of a group of people, even if they are drunk. Needless to say, I was somehow convinced to make an appearance at Cafe Japone. It didn't help that each person in my group was a talented singer (except for one guy, but he pulled off William Shatner really well).
Once I finally entered the place, many of my fears drifted away. Instead of a stage in the front of the room, there was a small box of empty carpet next to the bar for people to sing. Rather than someone calling your name really loudly when it was your turn, the songs scrolled across the bottom of the screen. Therefore, it was your responsibility to jump up before your song started playing (or pretend you didn't know what was going on, and let someone else take over).
There were also only about seven tables, which made the experience more of a community event, rather than a solo performance. No matter whether you were singing "Santeria" or "Total Eclipse of the Heart," everyone sang (or clapped) along. And after knocking back a delicious bottle of Sapporo, I even got up the courage to enter the karaoke spotlight...not alone, of course, but it was still an accomplishment.
The best part about Cafe Japone was the music videos, which were not actually the music videos that went along with the songs. They reminded me of the customer service videos I had to watch before working at Linens n' Things or, as one friend put it, a really long Mentos commercial.
We stayed until the place closed, and one of the staff even high-fived us on the way out...although it was probably because he was happy we were leaving.
I think a previous review described this place as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The downstairs is for sure a chill, lounge type area. While the upstairs is like stepping into a crazy college karaoke night. I can't comment on the food, but the sake bombs were pretty good. The fact that they serve you saki in a tea kettle was fun, and if you are in the mood for singing karaoke with a bunch of strangers, who doesn't love singing some Counting Crows, it can be a good time.
I wouldn't take people here for saki bombs if I wanted to have anything resembling a conversation, but I think Japone makes it clear that is not why you go to the upstairs. The service is alright, one of the waiters wouldn't serve us until I had to go the sushi bar and ask for help. Not a bad place to go but not one of the top places to go either.
Cafe Japone, I give you 2 stars but I know you have the market cornered on dine-in karaoke in Dupont and that you will always be filled to the rafters with rowdy, drunk, gawd-awful graduate degree holding professionals screaming out gangster rap and 90s "alternative" anthems. So, in other words, I don't feel bad.
This place smells atrocious. The best way to describe it would be "biological". But, if you drink enough sake bombs (which you'll have to in order to meet the $10 minimum), you won't care.
Beat the crowds and go M-W. It starts filling up by Thursday.
I dunno what to make of this place...first of all, i suppose my review is going to get lost in the shuffle, b/c Japone is specificially listed as a sushi and karaoke place, and i believe most of the reviews are referring to the upstairs area, whereas the downstairs 'club/lounge' (accessed by exiting the upstairs joint and descending the stairs to a separate entrance) is where we were setting up lounge operations for the second to last spot in what was destined to become a very late evening/early morning...
we were on the journey to Japone to meet friends, and mistakenly barged into the upstairs karaoke area, which is claustrophobic, kinda ghetto, and was in fully drunken karaoke bellow when we entered.
a quick about face and upon entry to the club/lounge area of Japone, one is greeted with a whole other vibe/ambience, one that is at the same time pseudo-funky and interesting, yet kinda disjointed and lacking any sort of flow.
the front area has a tiny bar and some round tables for holding court, the mid-area has some bizarre long rectangular table/chandelier combo and looks like it should belong on the Disneyland/World's Haunted House set, while the back area has a kinda cozy narrow bar area and an adjoining 'cave' seating area which encourages intimate behaviour and has some kinda concrete relief wall motif right outta the Nemo ride at Disneyland/World. Hmmm.
Well, i only came for drinks and lounging, so i can't really speak for food and drunken karaoke, let's just say i'm really glad i was not hangin' at the slurry blurry atonal mess that is the upstairs karaoke joint.
The music was decent, but the place seems almost too big/cavernous and inconsistent in layout/design to attract and nurture a more communal vibe, which woulda been nice.
anywhoozers, perhaps this place requires more regular visits to fully grasp the vibe/community, but alas i've already jetted back to L.A. so that will not be in the cards...
Ew. We were the only party in on a weeknight and the service was terrible. They brought shots unsolicited for the birthday celebration, tried to charge us for them, and then made a stink when we asked for it to be taken off the bill. While we were waiting for the check, two other parties came in and left when they were seated but ignored. The sushi was ok, eel was a little dry. There are other options in the neighborhood and certainly other options in the city, don't waste your evening here.
Cafe Japone should just call itself "Cafe Karaoke" because that's really the only reason people go here. I can't imagine anyone rolls up to the place because they want to taste the greatness of the sushi or japanese cooking. I mean, the place is an absolute dump - carpeted floors? Really? Bleh. That said, I could care less about carpeted flooring when I'm belting out some Guns N' Roses or Journey anthem at the top of my drunken lungs - it does make the knee slides somewhat difficult though.
This place seems to attract the underage college crowd, but that can be a nice little throwback too. I do share the complaints held by others regarding Japone not turning the music up too loud, toting the "residential neighborhood" as a reason for it - not my fault you guys chose a townhouse to open a Karaoke bar...c'mon now. But in the end, the louder the music is, the louder you have to sing to hear yourself, which probably pisses other patrons off too, so maybe it's for the best.
All in all, I give Japone a 3 because it's always a good time, so long as you're only going for the Karaoke and beer purposes - the sushi is a nice compliment to those, but it's not something worth going there fore in itself. I'd love to open another Karaoke place to compete with Japone, but they seem to have that arena on lockdown.
As far as Karaoke places go this place sucks a big one!!! If you can get past the putrid smell of stale vomit and screaming students. A good karaoke place has to begin with a sound system to get people going. Lets just say you would be better off ignoring the 14" TV with built in DVD and just belting our any crap you like from memory. The sound system in a McDonald's trumps this one any day!
But people do love it there! But when you have grown up in DC your whole life your idea of social and fun are extremely out-of -touch with other major cities!
Save your money and sing in your shower (better acoustics!)
I had very little to no expectations as I had read reviews online and most of them were about how awful the service is there. There were praises about their food and huge Sapporos, though. We found an awesome parking space right outside the restaurant and went inside, thirsty for a beer. The girl that greeted us was very nice and sat us right away, however we sat there for a long time and finally had to flag down a server to take our drink orders. She didn't give us attitude though, there were only 2 servers for the whole place, and I guess they were busy. We received our $3, 22oz bottles of Sapporo right away, which made us happy during the million hours we had to wait for our sushi while drunk Facebooking and Twittering. Finally our yellowtail with scallions, spicy tuna, california, and crispy salmon skin rolls arrived. I don't know why we keep getting yellowtail rolls, because everytime we get it, we're like meh, it's not that great, YET we ALWAYS get them. The spicy tuna were very spicy and very tasty - I prefer the ones I had at Saki to these, but these were pretty awesome. The california roll was what I expected, tasty in the fake, american kind of way. The crispy salmon skin roll was intense - the salmon skin was super crispy, super salty and very pungent. I liked it alot, but it was just a bit much on the saltiness. After 3 of the 22oz Sapporo, not to mention what we had prior to coming to Japone, we were drunk. And we thought we could eat more, so we ordered their ramen with pork bone broth. As we waited another million hours for the ramen, the table across the restaurant started off Karaoke night. They were a fun group and sang and danced together and it was all good fun. In the midst of all this fun, we got our ramen, and I must recommend this highly. Oh my gosh, it was nothing like the ramen in packages that you get for 55cents at the grocery store. The noodles were chewy and yummy, and the broth was rich and flavorful with a hint of sesame oil. Sooooo good. And soooo big. We ate, sang, danced, and drank. Before we knew it, it was 11:00pm. Another happy hour success!! Tasty tasty!!!
Clear throat.
*Eyes closed*
Blasting back in time, belting it out WITH FEELING:
Lately I have had the strangest feeling,
With no vivid reason here to find.
Yet the thought of losing you's been hanging,
Round my mi---nd...
Far more frequently you're wearing perfume,
With you say, "No special place to go"
But when I ask will you be coming back soon,
You don't know, never kno--oow.
Well, I'm a man of many wishes,
I hope my premonition misses,
But what I really feel, my eyes won't let me hide,
Cause they al---ways sta---rt to cr---y.
Cause it's ti---ime cou---ld me---ean good----bye.
"HEY, WHO SINGS THAT?!?? IS THAT BOYZ II MEN?????"
*Eyes open* as I'm interrupted by a drunk gaggle of college kids.
"Uh, ye-ah. Su-ure... I see you're having a birthday party. How old are you?"
"19!"
Let's see... So when Jodeci covered Lately, she was probably in first grade. When Stevie Wonder sang it, she wasn't even born yet. Does she even know who Stevie Wonder is? Hmph. I was singing a VERY OLD SONG, apparently. Ancient. It was a popular pick for the mixed tapes of the time. Did we actually maybe even play it on eight track? (We had a player in our Lincoln Continental when I was a kid - no joke.)
I returned to my sushi - not bad for late night eats - and sake. I felt a decade too old to be there at that moment, but I was having a good time nonetheless. And I'm pretty sure I'll go back yet again, young'uns at the mic and all.
Inside is dim, dirty, and dorky.
The drinks are ok. The food is not.
Only enter if you plan on getting wasted. Really wasted. So wasted that you can't remember being there.
For most people, that dont know. Cafe Japone is actually a 2 part restaurant / lounge / bar / karaoke place.
While I've never been upstairs to the karaoke place, I'm assuming they share the same kitchen, and have the same great food.
The lower level, (the white section), greets you with a long dinner table that seats roughly 20 people. Around the giant dinner table around statues and in-wall fireplaces, as well as a 1200 gallon fish tank that houses a couple colorful fish and a lot of coral.
There's bar in the same room, although a little small, is also where you'll be likely to find a cute, smiling bartendar/server.
If the formal dining isn't your thing, you can be taken into the back of Japone ... to an underwater coral reef wonderland. the atmosphere nightly is usually laid back, and there are live dj's spinning anything from progressive house to 2-step garage to hardhouse drum n bass.
There's never any cover charge to get in, and japanese beers seem to be the beers of choice. It actually makes sense, since japone is a japonese restaurant.
The sushi menu and regular dinner menu quite thorough, and the food is excellent.
Price-wise, while some people may bicker, for authentic japanese sushi that doesn't give off the vibe of being americanized, its well worth the price. (e.g. $6.50 for fresh crab cali rolls - 6pc)
If you've never been to japone, or have never walked downstairs from the karaoke bar, or just need a break from some tone-deaf college kids singing "Leaving On A Jetplane", then a trip downstairs into the underwater wonderland is a great place to visit.
This place is much smaller than I thought it would be. We got there around 8 or so on a Friday, right before it started getting really crowded. We had a couple of drinks and then more of our friends joined us for karaoke and seemingly never-ending sake bombs.
The sake bombs come in a huge carafe of sorts and caused my brain to become fuzzy moosh. So fuzzy that I went up to the microphone and sang "Lucky" by Britney Spears -- with mixed reviews. There was one party of folks who were stoked about my act, cheering me on even during the interlude... but then some other people (haters) were rolling their eyes. Maybe they were jealous because I was so awesome?
I would come back here, but only if I had a seat. The staff is really nice, but I could tell they were getting a bit impatient with some of the customers' drunken antics.
A group of us came here last night (a Thursday) and it was pretty quiet. They did check our IDs, so if you're planning on drinking underage I don't think it would happen. We pretty much took over the karaoke and were really obnoxious, but the other patrons didn't seem to mind. We even had some people from another group join in on the fun!
The main reason this place loses stars is the price. I'm pretty sure they ripped us off, as it was almost $200 for one round for 10 people. They didn't have pre-set sake bombs, so we had to buy a pot of hot sake and a round of beers. The sake was $50 for a teapot. We didn't eat any of the food, but saw others enjoying it.
I'd definitely go back, but just get a beer.
I love sushi and I love karaoke bars!!! I don't want to misled you into thinking that I actually get up to the mic and sing (only under influence) but I love to watch all my friends make a fool of themselves as I sip my cocktails and eat sushi rolls!!!
Bonus its decently price!!!
If Karoke is your thing this place is for you.
I love sushi and its a nice spot to hang out and have…
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I came here for a friends birthday and we had a reservation for 20- which is impressive that they took on a saturday night. Less impressive is that they somehow fit 20 chairs around 3 tables- so maybe *maybe* 20 runway models could have dined...which might have made more sense since getting food proved difficult. I agree with the rest of the reviews that it was par/sub par sushi but by the time it came I was so hungry I didn't care.
I'm actually surprised that the other reviews mention big crowds because the way the servers handled things on the very crowded saturday night made me think they had never been busy before. Ordering anything took a long time and you had to ask to order, the karaoke was oddly managed in some way that meant you either got all your songs really quick or you never heard them, and the waitress spilled water on me, twice, albeit she seemed genuinely sorry about it.
Also they lose 1 star for allowing the weird couple to sing song after weird slow love song to eachother duet style in japanese. They were a white couple singing to eachother in japanese. come on, who you trying to impress?
Friday and Monday: these are the days I've been to Japone. Since it was empty on the Monday, I will write about the Friday.
The Karaoke started at 9:30. We got there around 8:30 and there were still a few tables left. By 9:00 the crowd was all liquored up and the tables were full. The waitress was very friendly. "Is she cute? or is it just me?" my friend kept asking. She was definitely cute.
A guy behind the bar was wearing goggles and making Sushi. Style points all around. The staff here has a good flow to them, which made me feel at-ease. My friends ordered the large Sake, to get warmed up. I went with the $7.50 22oz bottle of Kirin. We combined our brews to make Sake Bombs all around.
The first guy up to sing did an astonishingly good rendition of "No Woman No Cry." Just to loosen up the crowd a bit, I went up next and butchered the song "Fat-Bottom Girls".
The worst part of Cafe Japone, is the smell. It is carpeted all around, with upholstered couches, too, and smells like someone's basement, even though it's upstairs. My guess is that it is years and years of vomit, seeped into the fabric of the place, left there by underage girls who couldn't get their courage up without a dangerous amount of Sake. In fact, our night ended when at the table next to us, the "No Woman No Cry" guy's friend vomited all over the song index, all over his table, all over the window, etc. I'm sorry to mention this, but it made the difference in our decision to leave or to stay...best to wear old clothes if you're gonna get that shitty.
This would be 5-stars if not for the smell.
I think the requirement for this place is a junior high school ID and a clothes from Hollister. I'm very perplexed how they "manage" their karaoke list. There seems to be no rhyme or reason. Also, they stuff way too many chairs in there; you can't move. In the winter there needs to be a better door system so people don't freeze every time it's open.
The sushi is fine but the karaoke is soooo fun. I came here with a crowd and we drank sake bombs, ate sushi, and sang really badly. It was fun because it wasn't that crowded so it was just mostly us singing. It is annoying to go to a karaoke that is so crowded your friends only sing one or two songs. Actually come to think of it the place was REALLY empty. I wonder if people just don't know about karaoke on Fridays?
Good food, fun karyoke, quick drinks. Upstairs the space is small. Usually big groups like bridal parties come eat, drink and make fools out of themselves on the mic. I went there for a birthday party. I was more interested in the drinks than the food. Vodka tonics, sake bombs and soco limes. Mmm. Whatever food I did manage to eat taste pretty good, although my taste and judgement were both questionable.
The downstairs area is alot larger. To get from one to another you'll have to go outside. No karyoke down here. Just bars and fish. It's not as rowdy down here or as crowded down here, but still fun.
It was a fun time here, but expensive time. Dinner for two here, I'd pass. Dinner for ten, game on.
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Bethesda, MD
Marvelous Monday
Neighborhood: Dupont Circle
Washington, DC
Category: Restaurants
Neighborhood: Dupont Circle
Category: Japanese
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Category: Karaoke
Neighborhood: Adams Morgan
Category: Bars
Washington, DC
Category: Dive Bars
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