Gamba Karaoke
Cupertino, CA 95014 (408) 865-0955
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Best Nights: Fri, Sat
- Happy Hour: No
- Alcohol: None
- Smoking: No
- Coat Check: No
16 reviews
San Jose, CA
"I've never really considered myself to be a neighborhood dive bar kind of girlie girl, but apparently I was wrong. My first date with…" read more »
25 Reviews for Gamba Karaoke
Can't you see you're tearing me apart? Lack of sweetness. And why do they put the bathroom key on the large block of wood?
We found this place on Yelp and I have to say this is the first well reviewed Yelp place that I've thought the Yelp Army totally missed the mark on.
I called and reserved a room for for 16 people and what quoted $70 for 2 hours. Well, the bill came to $110. Shady to say the least.
The woman working the counter was flat out mean. We had some trouble with the key pad and she would become very rude and delete the whole play list we had entered.
The room was clean, but with no A/C it was really hot. They kept saying they put on the AC but it was bullshit.
The selection of songs was good, the sound was OK, but the staff was a joke. Add in they pulled a bait and switch on me and I don't think I'll ever go back.
The only reason they got 2 stars despite all the shit I had to put up with is the party we were with had a good time while I was dealing with all this crap.
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This place is definitely clean and the rooms are pretty spacious. the whole set-up feels really weird, like im in a school or a church that is being used part-time for some wholesome group singing. they are really strict about bringing no alcohol, but whats the fun of singing loudly and making a fool of yourself if its not in a drunken haze?
it was a lot like if i did karaoke at home. the tv's pretty small. there was a huge selection of contemporary and older pop songs, i will definitely give them props on that. probably the best selection of songs of any kareoke place ive been to, whether public spaces or private rooms. the sound system is pretty good. we had about 10 people, there were 2 microphones, so we passed them around a lot.
the counter has just a few things to buy: canned soda, pocky and pretz, for like 2$ each. it was pretty hot, and singing makes you thirsty, but i dont really like soda. the person behind the counter was gone most of the times i dropped by. i liked that they had a basket of kids instruments next to the front desk, but most of em were seriously broken and only partially worked.
as you walk down the halls, you can spy on other groups because each door has a large glass window. people were pretty loud, but relatively sedate. i didnt see much dancing. mostly people chililng on couches, crooning earnestly.
i guess i miss the free buffets (mmm fried taro croquettes) and darkly lit rooms with giant screens that greeted me in asia.
if youre in the mood for some old-fashioned, non-alcoholic fun, feel free to have a get together here. just dont try to start anything crazy.
Wow, how addicted to Yelp am I? It's 2:30 am, just got back from Gamba and here I am.
The biggest plus of this place is that the rooms are large and clean. None of that sardine packing like at Echo and etc. in Sunnyvale. They charge by the person - every extra 2 people, the prices change, until you get over 7 people. For about 2.5 hours, 4 of us paid $62.50. That's a bit expensive, but any group of over 7 should find it cheaper per person.
Song selection is pretty good. English songs from 2007 were there. Most of the songs are just set to lyrics on a colored background, none of that hokey video they have at other Asian karaoke places. I kind of liked the cheesiness of those videos though.
Anyways, had a blast. I think the size of the room and the overall comfort is worth coming here over the Sunnyvale places.
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hearing two guys duet Barbie Girl and finding out that two of my friends are secret rappers at heart was priceless.
The room was super clean and the chairs were comfy. Selection was huge! They were pretty up to date with all the recent hits and such. I was very impressed with the vast selection of English and Chinese songs. Go figure, a lot of the videos was cheesy 80's ish models walking around and staring at their reflections in pianos and looking out windows. Also, what the heck is this one random video focusing on McDonald's?!
Great place to hang out with friends and laugh yourselves silly. Definitely not a BYOB place... but if you have a large enough purse.........
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So I have been here several times over the years, typically with the same group of friends from the office building I used to work at.
There is quite a wide selection of music at this place, but it is unfortunate that the Peacock Lounge that used to be next door moved, so going next door for a quick drink is no longer an option.
So with the group of friends that I normally go with, we end up having to sneak in alcohol, and it is always great to see a bunch of 30-somethings all of a sudden start acting like we're in high school again... he he he
Of course, the place also sells different Japanese snacks and sodas, and since it's mainly a place to rent a room and sing, I shouldn't be too particular on the food and beverage selection... But it would be nice if they were able to get an alcohol license.
The equipment is pretty good, but I noticed that there are different rooms that have different equipment, which means that not all song catalogs are necessarily available in all rooms.
I would give it a 5 star rating, but for me, the idea of singing sober is not so fun, and if alcohol was more easily accessible, I would give it the extra star.
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OK. Being the attention whore that I am.. I prefer doing *my* karaoke in public.. before crowds of drunken strangers, but sometimes private room karaoke is good.. like when you've got friends who want to sing but are too shy to make an ass of themselves in public, or when you want to entertain someone who wants to sing a good selection of Korean songs, or like when you have a lot of songs you want to practice on before going public with them, or when you are trying to entertain two under-age youths who wanna do the karaoke thing but are not allowed into bars.
So anyway, for all the above reasons we looked up Gamba Karaoke on Yelp, drove out there and rented a room for an hour-and-a-half. Fred from Korea surprised us all with his tenor singing voice..which was very strong for a 16 year old.. it will only get stronger as he grows. Mohamed from Tunisia did his Eminem *shit* talking.. and suddenly I discovered that one can put a lot of his verse to melody.. and so I picked up an extra mic and jumped in on his song, conducting a melodifying experiment.. on Eminem verse... which I probably would not have been able to do in a public bar... (parts of Eminem's verse sounded so pretty *sung* that it would have Mr. Mathers turning over in his grave.. if he were dead..of course, which, fortunately, he is *not*).. I also discovered a few more *oldies* that I can sing.. so next time.. in public.. I'm going with them.
Downside.. no drunken patrons..or bachelorette party-goers jumping up and dancing for you. If you are picking up the whole rent tab yourself.. It gets pretty expensive.. and an hour flies by pretty fast.
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I love this place! They have tons of current Japanese songs up 2006ish (saw some Aya Hirano songs etc.) and songs that weren't singles (ZONE's Rocking etc.) Only thing to watch out for is the rooms that have a computer in it to do the Karaoke. That system is horrible and occasionally freezes.
Totally shady looking on the outside, but interior is your typical Flushing-esque Asian karaoke venue, with closed rooms, dim lights and a lot of interesting renditions of Asian Pop love songs. Loved it. They had a really great selection of songs in Japanese, Chinese and Korean; and kept up to date with current US singles. They don't allow alcohol, which means... if you need your liquid courage, you need to be doctored at home or maybe at Gochi for a pre-karaoke dinner-slash-hot-sake marathon.
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I just came back from Gamba for my birthday and also my first time karaoking since college... which was MANY years ago. Gamba was recommended to me by a couple co-workers who are die-hard karaokers, and I was impressed by the positive reviews on Yelp so I was excited to go.
After my experience, I will be sure to come back again! I was quite impressed by the vast selection of songs. And by vast, I mean VAST. Not only did they have popular karaoke songs, but they even had more obscure artists in their library such as Indigo Girls and Eva Cassidy (we ended the night with me singing Eva's rendition of "Fields of Gold"). With Norah Jones, they featured more than just "Don't Know Why" or "Come Away With me"; they even had "Nightingale", which is one of her lesser known songs from her first album, and "Sunrise". Whether you were looking to belt out a Beatles song, Madonna, JLo, Peter Cetera, Shedaisy, Sheryl Crow, broadway songs, or 2Pac, I guarantee you this place will have it in their collection. We didn't sing any Chinese songs, but I'm sure they would satisfy even the most demanding Chinese song appetite.
On top of the astounding song collection, their facilities were super clean, didn't reek of cigarette smoke like other karaoke/NRB joints, and the pricing was surprisingly reasonable. ($75 for 3 hours of singing and 3 people... $25 each, not bad at all). The staff was courteous and polite.
Highly recommended!
I'm not a huge fan of private room karaoke. More often than not it's just a loud shouting match amongst 10 people all locked up in a tiny room. I like watching people who can sing, and those that can't, perform uninterrupted. Jumping up and grabbing the mic out of someones hand in the middle of someones rendition of Peter Cetera's Glory of Love is frowned upon at public karaoke places but somehow perfectly acceptable when in a private room.
This past Sunday night though I actually had the best private room karaoke experience ever. Chosen more for it's location close to Royal Teppan, where we had a spicy hot pot eating contest, Gamba turned out to be the perfect spot for the singing competition portion of our night.
They have a completely ridiculous song selection in many different languages. They keep their library very updated as well. I sang some Pretty Ricky - On the Hotline and they had Fergie, Musiq, Ne-Yo, and many other current R&B songs as well as every other genre you could think of.
The group of friends that I was with were great. Although there was much group singing going on, nobody got out of hand or annoying. It was good times amongst good people.
The lady at the front desk was extremely nice and accommodating to our group. She even waited until 1am to cut us off even though the place officially closes at 11pm!
This will be our monthly karaoke club location.
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Great multi-language karaoke place!
I've been here a couple times since it first opened. At first, it was okay - many of the English songs were text only. But on my last visit I was very impressed by their updated English songs list - now many more with videos! They have new r&b/alternative songs (Rihanna) and a even songs Musicals (avenue q)! I came here with a very diverse group, and this place showed that they have a good selection of Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Spanish, and Japanese songs!
WARNING! Be very very careful if you're punching in song number's on the keypad, we accidentally cleared some song lists - twice. F2 adds but on another screen it can delete. Also you have to enter twice after inputting the song number.
I suggested we come here w/a group of cousins for a cousin's 19th birthday. I had never been here and just based my decision on the yelp reviews. Overall, I thought this was a great karaoke place! I dig the private rooms, colorful furniture and huge selection of songs. Although my brother was frustrated because they did not have Plain White T's "Hey Delilah." But, no big deal. They do have current songs and list them by each month during the year. The computer set-up though for the songs can be a bit tricky so I had to ask the lady at the front desk to come in a couple times, but other than that, it was a great hang-out. They don't allow alcohol, but I believe there is an Asian restaurant next door where you can liquor up before belting out some tunes. I'd come back here.
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Gamba Karaoke is now my favorite place for private room karaoke!!
We were there last night and had a blast!!! They have 9 private rooms and 1 large party room for up to 25 people. There's no alcohol but snacks, teas/water/soda are available and it's right next door to Gochi Japanese Tapas (which has alcohol if you need a starter!) if you're hungry.
The Best Things about Gamba are the amazing LARGE music selection (in 5 languages) and the books/computer combo for song selection!!
Let me explain... a lot of karaoke joints seem to be going to an all computer system for song selection. This is time consuming and makes it hard to casually browse through songs. I hate all computer song selection!! At Gamba, they have several several books in the room so more than 1 person can browse at a time, by title or artist. You can casually put songs in, allowing people breaks between singing, rather than inputting several songs at once. It's much nicer when books are available!
Also, as I mentioned, the song selection is great! They had everything from Aretha Franklin to Whitesnake to Queen to Prince to Country to Oldies to Broadway to Akon, Nelly Furtado, Captain and Tennille, Jodee Messina, etc... and lot's of Japanese stuff I didn't know. LoL Things I've looked up at other places but they didn't have, they had at Gamba.
17,000 English songs
27,000 Chinese songs
45,000 Japanese songs
5,500 Korean songs
3,000 Spanish songs
Prices have changed a lil since RY posted... up and down in some cases.
We split 3 hours of Karaoke with 5 friends and it was less than 20$ a piece!
Here goes... *sigh* LoL
1-2ppl 3-4ppl 5-6ppl 7-12ppl
Mon,Tue,Wed
5pm-9pm $15 $20 $25 $30
9pm-1am $20 $25 $30 $35
Fri,Sat,Sun,
& Holidays
2pm-6pm $15 $20 $25 $30
6pm-2am $20 $25 $30 $35
I'll definitely be back.
I'm actually planning a party around it in a few weeks.
See ya there!
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I had so much fun there. The twice I been has been a blasted. I just went last weekend with me and my girl friend and just the two of us had just as much fun as a group of people. I totally recommend this place. Plus the staff is really nice and the place is really clean. The songs are so easy to find either by artist or song title. Would definitely go back.
This is a pretty good karaoke place. It's got a large selection of English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and even Vietnamese, Thai.
The location used to be a rollerblading store where I got my skating supplies, so that's a bummer. But, the karaoke place makes up for it.
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Gamba Karaoke is definitely the best karaoke place I've been to in this area (way better than all the ones on El Camino). They have a huge song selection with a lot of 90's music (my fav!), and they also have a expansive "menu" of newer songs. I was really surprised that they had such a big variety of neatly organized music in so many languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, Spanish).
This place looks like a dive from the outside, but the inside is clean enough. Also, since the place is alcohol-free, you can rest assured that you won't be sitting on vomit crusted couches. The only downside is that it closes relatively early, but the owner/manager is really nice and won't make you leave if you state late (we stayed till 1am-ish when it closed at 11:30pm). I will definitely be returning!
This is what iam talking about...from my experience-closest thing to being in a music box in Kyoto-in the bay area. Sure, no alcohol is allowed in which is why no 5, BUT- ain't nobody gonna tell if you and ur friends are sipping/chuggin in the car (yeah very adolescent..whatever-be like us and just sneak in the booze =)
You have the most updated Nihon tracks- mflo, chemistry, ua..and yes for very crappy kanji readin' heads(not like me)- furigana!! Yatta! For all of you not interested in singing, of course there are choke musical instruments to choose from in the lobby. Always wonderful, sweet, Japanese woman working..i almost feel bad when we sneak in the juice. Long drive from the city--but worth it if all you do is go to Do-Re-Mi...hell nah.
--warning-- don't get too drunk and lock your keys in the car like i did the last time =(
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Not Bad. I was only disappointed by the fact they did not have Thriller. Otherwise this was the easiest Karaoke experience. All you have to do is scan a bar code to play your song. Oh and I love the fact that they provided tamborines!
this is it! went here for my birthday and had a blast. song selections are way current, no more driving in your car singing along to your favorite tune on the radio (if you like the radio), here you can do that with a wireless mic, great sound system, computerized database of songs, and a relaxed, lougey atmosphere. not into the current stuff? you're still covered, their song selections are huge, they fill the binders up the brim - they got your favorite songs in english, tagalog, chinese, japanese, korean, spanish, etc .covered. if you're lucky, the song you sing may have a music video with it - for example, take Radiohead's "Creep," you'll laugh your ass off while you sing when you see Quasimodo throwing a fit throughout the music video. On our second visit, we got upgraded to their largest room because they had run out of rooms to accommodate my friends and i and that was the only one left. they also have fans inside the rooms, various noisemakers and tamborines available at the counter for your enjoyment, and refreshments available for purchase. the japanese lady who runs this joint is super sweet and helpful whenever you have any questions or help with the equipment. no alcohol allowed.....so i suggest pre partying if you're into that. i'll be back.
Gamba is a cool place to karaoke, especially if you have a large group. It's geared more towards the Japanese, but they also have large selections of English and Chinese songs too. I was actually impressed with how big and diverse their English catalog is.
The two times I've been there, we've always ended up in the back room with the pink chairs and tables, which makes everything more fun/ridiculous. No alcohol is allowed, but they do have snacks, sodas and water, but I'm really partial to the Japanese chocolate-covered mushroom cookies. Plus the lady who runs the place will bring it to your room, so you just tell her what you want and go back to singing your ass off!
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Forget Bamboo7, Gamba hands down is a great place and has a great selection of songs. Plus you do not need to wait for a long time to do the karaoke, you get your own room to sing. I thought they would not have that many english songs, but I was wrong they had soo many that it was hard to choose which ones I wanted to do. Overall had a blast here. For people who do not want to sing english songs they also had a wide variety of filipino,japanese,chinese songs.
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Thanks to Yelp for the recommendation. Gamba is a very nice karaoke place. Our group liked the clean private rooms with comfortable chairs, excellent sound system, and great selection of songs in different languages. The song catalogs were sorted by song title and by artist - which made it much easier to people to find songs. We had a few minor electrical issues that were quickly resolved by the management, and they were very nice to give us a slight discount on the pricing because of the little glitch. The staff members were extremely helpful and friendly. We would definitely go back again.
Last Saturday was the first time I tried karaoke. I'm glad that Gamba Karaoke was the one who popped that cherry.
The place is very clean and spacious. We fit about 13 people in a private room and still had some space to wander around. The songs were pretty recent and my only complaint is that they should give out more wireless microphones so that more than 2 people can sing at the same time. Although maybe having too many microphones could cause unholy ruckus...
The lady who helped us was super nice. She made sure that we knew how to work the machine and left us alone for...however long we stayed..and popped in to politely remind us that we had 5 more minutes.
I'm not so sure about their claim about their sound proof walls. Apparently a friend of mine went out of the room to go to the bathroom and he said that he could still hear us all screaming our lungs out in off-key harmony.
Anyways, I will definitely go back here. Maybe I'll even try to Gochi Tapas place next door too. I peeked in and it looked really cute.
Gamba (as listed on their website), or Ganba Karaoke is located at the corner of N Blaney and Homestead, inside of Oakmond Square, you will find the BEST place for Japanese karaoke in the bay area. They're also open late night which is awesome.
Wireless microphones, and the most updated (in the bay area) karaoke system, AND PRIVACY. They have "boxes" or rooms for each group or customer that comes in. I don't know much about their English, Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, and Indonesian song selections but they appear to update their Japanese music every 2-3 months (their English version of the site, is not as updated as the Japanese version if you look at the dates of when the music is updated). They also sell food and snacks. You cannot drink alcohol in side, nor do they serve alcoholic beverages due to Cupertino law, but there is a bar next door so you can get your buzz on, before heading inside. Although nothing beats going karaoke in Japan, this is definitely a good temporary replacement.
We talked to the owner for a little bit and she said she's lacking on business. So please do her a favor and give this place a try! Also be sure to tell others about it. It would be a shame for this place to go!!
Buisiness Hours (as of the date that I posted this):
Closed on Tuesdays.
Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
5pm - 1am
(1-2 people $15, 3-4 $20, 5-6 $25, 7+ $30)
Fridays, 4pm - 2am
(1-2 people $20, 3-4 $25, 5-6 $30, 7+ $35)
Saturdays, 2pm - 2am
(1-2 people $15, 3-4 $20, 5-6 $25, 7+ $30)
Sundays, 2pm - 11pm
(1-2 people $20, 3-4 $25, 5-6 $30, 7+ $35)
They also rent rooms hourly for parties and etc.. I'm too lazy to post that info after writing the above, but I'm sure it's on their website.
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