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Category: Lounges
Neighborhood: Murray Hill34th St-6th Ave (B, D, F, V, N, Q, R, W)
33rd Street (PATH)
33rd St-Park Ave (6)
Mon-Wed. 6:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Thu. 6:00 p.m. - 3:00 a.m.
Fri-Sat. 6:00 p.m. - 4:00 a.m.
Sun. 6:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
925 Cafe & Cocktails is an exclusive private social venue and private party rental space in Midtown Manhattan. Our professional... more »
I've never doe karaoke before: Maru busted my cherry.
and it felt so good!
The atmosphere in this place is unlike any other bar/lounge I've been in. The white booths and electric lights were quirky and set an interesting, not so yuppy mood, which I always envision when my friends ditch me for karaoke. I mean seriously, why do you need to pay money to sing songs when there is the radio? Maru made the the lounge necessary and a fun place for karaoke. The place was also spotless
The staff/bartender here is so accomidating and so friendly. We even got one of them to sing some lame ass song with us (i'm so sorry).
This place caught me by surprise. I came here for a friend's bday and never know this place existed in K-town.
It's a nice lounge with modern decor. drinks are OVER-PRICED for sure. if you charge credit card.. there is a taxes charge additional. It's a nice place to chill with friends but not sure if it's worth the $$
I'm glad I discovered you Maru, but i'm still not sure if you are worth it !
Dear Maru,
Sorry for puking on the floor and couch of one of your karaoke rooms. Please accept these 5 stars as a token of my apology.
Sincerely,
The Drunk Chinaman
Maru, like other lounges in K-town is not that easy to find unless you're looking for it. I don't imagine them getting a lot of customers who are just passer-bys. Its located on the third floor of a small building but once you get up there, its rather big. I like the decor of this place, a lot of white furnishing. White cards, white cars, white everything. There's a DJ there at night and neon lighting all around with see thru glass floors.
Weeknights happy hour is 5-8 with $3 beer specials. After that it gets kinda pricey, $7-$8 beers, $10-$15 cocktails. Sitting by the bar, I realize they tend to run low on glasses as they had to refill my glass rather than give me a new one. One time I even saw them wash my glass in front of my face with their grubby dirty hands.
I only came here afterwork and never for late night. The DJ here is pretty good but noone dances. Maybe in the later hours they do, but I wouldn't know. The place picks up around 8 or so. A lot of cute korean girls show up, probably waiting for Circle nightclub to open.
This is a good pregaming place before 8 but too expensive afterwards. My highlight of Maru was when I saw a guy all bloodied up with his nose busted wide open by one of the bouncers. He stood there dripping and about to cry. They escorted him out and I see him on the streets with this "boys" trying to act hard after the bouncers were out of hearing range. "Yo, eff this, lets go back and eff him up". Asian guys trying to act thug is always amusing to me. Asian guys busted up in the nose is even more so.
Cute girls, good dj, only good for groups. 3 stars. Girls keep on coming, I love all of you. Even the ugly ones.
yeah paying $8 for an OB beer is insane to me. oh yes, a guiness froma can and handed to me with a glass (ahem, not even poured for me) was $10.
i was here for a friend's bday. i was told there was to be karaoke and there was none. maybe it would have been better if i was belting out ballads. they have an all you can sing deal monday-wednesday with a bottle for $100. that sounds mildly enticing. expensive drinks and modern decor aren't my cup of tea. if you like that vibe, knock yourself out.
lots of single college aged guys and girls go here. im 33 and married so going here is like going to a candystore in some ways. that said, in this scenario, i have no teeth and diabetic and if i even look at candy my head explodes and i die.. so obviously not a great use of time for me to go.
that said, kind of fun to go sing or drink. bathrooms are kind of dirty though - unisex so I feel bad for the girls sometimes.
It's a really cute place to just go and hang out with friends.
The place is neat and chic. The seats and walls are white, which gives off a peaceful feel. The upstairs bar is not so wide but it's cute. It gave off a VIP status feel. hahahaha. :))
oh.. but the music they play. o_0 it's like all techno style. they played hip hop only when my friend asked them to. but it's not a club or anything so.. you'd look wierd if you started dancing anyways.... - -;;
HEHEEHHEHEHE.
The price is.. kind of expensive.. but if you go with a lot of people.. it should be fine. And if you know someone who can hook you up, even better. If you wanted to get shwasted from here.. i say think again. it's just a place to chill and relax with good friends.
If you are claustrophobic like me, don't take the elevator. I got stuck in it once. Even though we were trapped for no more than 5 minutes, being crammed in a tiny space full of strangers with alcohol on their breath is frightening. I don't think the elevator was even equipped with an emergency phone.
Once you get passed the dinky stairs/elevator, Maru looks pretty sleek, although in a sleezy Vegas kind of way. Don't expect good music here as it's always the predictable top 40's music on heavy rotation. Unless your idea of intimacy is bass reverberating through each other's bodies, don't bring a date. Service is variable depending on how many native Korean speakers are in your group. One time I came with a Filipino boy and we waited for a total of 7 top 40's songs before our server came back with the bill. Not cool.
I have been an employee at Maru for 8 months up until last winter. It's been a great(?) experience working there for three seasons, and enjoyed sharing some memorables with customers and co-workers. Good to see that the ratings are consistently high :P To tell you, there are, undoubtebly, some tricks to get around good seats and good services..
Some hints for you guys to get ahead of MARU services
-Go Karoke on the weekdays. I know now that they have that special event (bottle service=100$, and unlimited karoke hours) going on, but say you go on Thursday night and get a room- you're most likely to stay there all night. OR what you can do is (laugh)- to reserve karoke room at later hour of 11, say 11:30 pm on Friday/Sat night, and stay for 3 hours (as promised with the bottle service). You get there at 11:10ish , wait to order till 11:30, 40 when your friends get there. Party till 2:40 am and know that the room is guaranteed yours till 4am- they will not kick you out b/c by then, there are no waiting list or customers waiting any rooms.
-Don't overload the elevator.......I have repeatedly witnessed customers get stuck at the elevator- after they insisted they were not so overweight, and that 10 people was ok to fit. Trust me, you don't want to spend your friday night (it happened from 10pm till 6am last I saw), waiting for the fireman to rescue you while you and your friends are suffocating inside a contained cubicle.
-make friends with few workers there. I know most of them were international and were eager to speak/practice English while working. It wouldn't hurt to speak up few sentences to start up a friendly conversation with them. And for best results, keep on making positive impressions (if you're one of those regulars) and service/free things will be on your side. I don't guarantee it, but I have offered generous services in the past to few of my favorites., and have established good friends/aquaintances throughout my shifts.
-The interior designer of Maru is a young professional (Matthew Kelly, http://mkdreamdesign.com) who I have gotten to met. Definitely check his work and renderings of Maru on his page, you'll find some crisp photographs of Maru when it was first renovated. (because by now, you'll see if you come when all the lights are turned on..how brutal the place is beaten up!)
-Yes. more the advantage if you have more GIRLS. It's no joke, and I don't know if it'll go under the account of it being sterotype (sorry guys ;P ) but say you're to have a girl's night out? Dress up and go out to Maru! they'll have occasional service drinks and free-shots for special events.
& Misc-
-Watch out for your heels on 3rd fl's maru(wooden panel) floor- there are hidden gaps that will trap your heel :( happened many many times.
-Do take-outs if you're craving for the food, but not to go out.
-Try all-time favorite drink lists (for girl's taste): Chris's Shot (a friend made up this drink with the bartender..it's pretty good! I recommend it), First Kiss, and variety of soju listed in the menu.
This was definitely a korean hang out place. The young boys take it upon themselves to size each other and the ladies up. It was definitely a social experiment watching everyone. The female waitresses were short and snobby. So good luck getting their attention if you are gal. If you are a guy, a big wad of cash will get definitely quicker table service.
Drinks? We did have yogurt flavor soju which had no liquor and a plate of nuts. The place was definitely a wannabe lounge - so A for effort, but fell short on delivery. The wait staff was just a sad disappointment
Maru looks like the future, but only if the future has large iron bells. What I'm trying to say is, there's a lot of white, glass, and purple lighting. And a large iron bell. (This is why Yelp pays me the big $0.)
Service is good, with regular check-ins, but I suppose a buzzer wouldn't hurt as the place is big. It helps to have at least one Korean around (this is me at my most useful). Seating is comfortable and loungey, and you can get a good degree of private space for a fairly large group. We came as a group of nine and got one big section all to ourself. It felt very VIP, which is great when there's no cover involved.
Food doesn't seem to be the focus at Maru, but what they have is reasonably tasty. I especially like the ddukbokki that comes with delicious kimmari on top! Other highlights are the tonkatsu, the takoyaki (though they need to be a little more generous with the sauce), and the skewer combos. I'd skip the Salisbury steak and the seafood yakiudon thing drowning in oyster sauce.
As for alcohol, they have all kinds, but we went for the delicious soju cocktails. The best is the lychee, but yogurt and mango are also quite good. Sadly, they only sell small bottles, a big minus for a big group. My friends and I mixed one part soju cocktail with one part chamisul to get drunk faster and stretch the yummy flavors.
When the bill came, we were pleasantly surprised. Not that it was cheap, but everyone was expecting to shell out more. This is a rare occurrence in this city, I've found.
If you're looking for a Seoulful night of ddukbokki and soju, you won't go wrong at Maru.
First off, damn that's a huge bell. Second, just no.
We stopped by just to check it out and left pretty quickly as the bore level increases exponentially and by the minute. There is ample seating and bar service is pretty quick but there simply isn't much to do on the 3rd floor bar since you can't hear yourself think, much less what your friends are saying. If you're in a big group, then I'd imagine this place was a lot more palatable but you'd have a hard time enjoying yourself in a small group or by yourself.
Tip: If you do go, pass the line for the tiny elevator and take the stairs around the corner. It's quicker to bang on the 3rd floor door and you also don't have to risk getting stuck on the elevator.
Ridiculous?
One has to take the elevator to the 4th floor to get to karaoke.
I couldn't understand how people just accepted their reality here at Maru. How could you have a casual conversation while club music is pumping through the speakers and bottle service never stops?
Does nobody feel the music (and vodka) like I do? Sure, the nice folks I was with were dancing and singing karaoke in our private room--- but when you walked out into the white futuristic terminal room there'd still be music playing, cute Korean girls in skimpy black jumpers, and copious booze but everyone acted like nothing was happening.
You're not sitting in a cafe drinking coffee people! You're shooting goose while Usher is belting he wants to make love up in this club.
"Well, you see we Koreans have a protocol for a night out. If you're doing karaoke you're not dancing--- if you go to the club then you dance," a very sage Korean gent enlightened me.
The bathrooms are clean and interesting... they're little pods, much akin to the washrooms at SEA in Williamsburg. Sinks are on the outside so you'll mingle in a flirty unisex way.
Their karaoke selection was weaksauce, no proper music videos, terrible backbeat music, and a poor current selection. This place makes up for it with sex appeal, great fruit spreads, and excellent bottle service though.
I was already thinking in rate Maru as a 4-4.5 after first time I went there... with my second visit I completely change my mind, and I'm rating as much as I can.
The ambience is really nice, either for a group of friends or for a date. The deco is also perfect, modern lounge style, with white color as predominant, simple forms, and candle like type lights. The service is excellent, attentive waiters, dress very elegant in black ( such an style...) and very professional attitude.
Music was great both times I was there. There was 2 different DJs this time, one playing hiphop; retro-lounge the other one. Really good. Perfectly matched with the general ambience created at Maru.
And the drinks... of course also excellent. Either the cocktails, (I already tried several ones since I went botht times with a group) or the yogurt soju that my korean friend suggest, Simply delicious.
But there is more, second time, we were celebrating a girl B-day ... as a plus we get 2 rounds of free shots and a extra bottle of yogurt soju. The waiters come several times asking us if everything was good, very nicely compliments to the b-day girl, ... maybe related we were all girls, or that we share part of oiur cake with them? maybe..... but my feeling is that they are in that way.
Definitely, Maru is my favorite lounge at NY to date.
I love it
I don't know what we did right but we had such a blast at Maru last Saturday night. After a birthday dinner we went to Maru to have some cake ceremony. Five girls walking in, no wait to get a table. We got two plus arounds free shots and on the house yogurt soju, which is my favorite.
Maybe because we had a birthday girl. Maybe b/c we were all girls. I dunno. Maybe because we shared our cake. We gave some to waiters for appreciation for the free shots - korean blueberry cake from Ko-Ryeo-Dang bakery downstairs (so good~~).
The music was great. My friend loves hip-hop (first DJ), I like retro-lounge (2nd DJ), what else to ask? Cute guys and girls packed the place as eye candy is PLUS PLUS. I love the deco, and the traditional korean bell in the main area and the rope that holds it upstairs. how cool is that?
The bill was ridicoulsly smaller than we expected. After leaving 50% tip, we still felt unjust. They have $100 grey goose bottle service, which is unheard-of-bly great.
These girls went nuts saying they are aboslutely, definitely coming back.
When one of my American(?) friends was running from buildings to buidlings to find this place to… Read more »
****1/2
I'm always hesitant about reviewing bars and lounges because a lot of your experience has to do with the people your with and the place, drink, service, and so on, only facilitate the fun and contribute just a smidgen. Both my friends and atmosphere is fantastic pretty much every time I've come.
The décor as everyone has stated is modern trendy and looks like the hallway of the "new" USS Enterprise. Since the whole place is white they set up a lighting system that illuminates different colors every so often. The lounge seats on the second floor are set on the ground and have a "pit" to put your leg in, while the first floor has little rectangle seats. There are also about 7 private rooms to hold little karaoke parties, but don't expect them to have a huge American selection of songs though; it's catered more towards the Korean songs
Most of the staff looks like they came from a K-pop video, beautiful and sexy. Some people have complained about the servers having attitude problems but I have yet to experience it. Every time I have come here the staff was nice and not over bearing, except one night the service was really slow when it looked like the staff was having a difficult time with a bunch of youngsters (maybe just turned 21?) in one of the private rooms. It took pretty much all the staff upstairs minus the bartenders to cater to them; finally the conclusion looked like moving them to another room.
The drinks differ with different bartenders, but are usually pretty damn good. If you feel its weak you can always tell the server a heads up and they will either make you a new one or the next round would be stronger. The prices are a little higher than most K-town joints but nothing extraordinary to other lounges of this ambiance in New York City.
As for the food I have never eaten here since I'm always dousing in alcohol.
If you want to try it out for yourself just come here when you're bar hopping and if this place is not for you just pick up the tab and go to the next bar. Easier than putting up with whatever is pissing you off all night right?
Came to this bar for a BOGO deal on Thursday that ended at 9pm. Basically got in right under the wire and ordered a bunch of drinks. Vodka tonics $10, bottle of OB beer $8, some shots of Johnny Walker Black at $10. It was a little early to go all out, but thats when the deal was. Some K-town hotties for sure, but mostly guys in the joint. Maybe it's because the game was on the big screen in the middle of the bar. The bar is on the 3rd floor, bathrooms in the back, a nice seating area in the side, kareoke is upstairs. There is almost no seating unless you get bottle service which is reasonable here. Purchase is tax exempt at the bar.
I went to this place twice on my New York trip. The first time, I checked it out pretty late, around 2am. It was a bit dead at that point, but there were a few really drunk people around...like sleeping at the tables/bar, which was fun, but the place felt really chill. A good lounge you can sit back and relax in.
So...I went back here the next day, for a wedding after party. We had about 12 people and had a table...ordered a few bottles of various stuff. our group had a good time here, got to know each other a bit better, and I would definitely like to check this place out again when it is more happening!
We were SO hungry when we got there that we ordered every item on the menu. We had Calamari, Ddukbokki, and seafood noodles. Plus, Patron. You can't go to a lounge and not have Patron. We got a special where we get a Karaoke room if you just buy a bottle of alcohol (Grey Goose, Patron etc). We literally didn't sing for 30 minutes. We just sat there. Eating with instrumental music in the background for the ambiance. Of course it got annoying putting down the fork just to punch in another song number. After we were done, we started singing.
When my cuz (I'm too cool to spell out the whole word) went to the bathroom, she overheard one of the workers say in a mean tone, "Hey, get rid of room 3 to clean up."
She was wearing a white dress shirt so the workers just thought she was one of them. They realized their mistake and froze up when she asked them, "Excuse me, is that (points to our room) room 3?"
Uh oh. Granted, she was a bit intoxicated but still. You never talk about paying customers like that. Customers who pay over 200 dollars for an hour. They realized their mistake and started apologizing..."He's a guy who used to work here"
I personally didn't care about it...It was fun, the food was good. Will be back.
We seriously do not have Korean bars like this that I know of in the Bay. Looking for things to do at night that didn't involve clubbing, hubby wanted to check out the Korean bar scene. After asking a few friends for recommendations, and rechecking on Yelp, we decided to try Maru.
Coming in, your ID's are checked by some big friendly Samoan doods. You then take an elevator to either the 3rd floor or 4th floor. The 2nd floor is no longer available, and you have to go through a separate entrance for the 2nd floor.
As soon as we got to the top, we were promptly seated by some K-pop eye candy that looked like he waxed his bootyhole or starred in gay porn. So cute still, but really really fobby and gay.
Mixed drinks were about $13, beers about $8, and food was about $25 or so. We got the spicy noodles (donboki). It was really good and different how they made it there. They didn't use ramen at all, only the dok things. The dok was really soft, and tasted home made. It was served with chap jae, inside a seaweed and then rolled with rice on the outside and deep fried. I thought it was a great take on a classic dish, especially since I love anything fried.
The chocolate martinis were good, but the waiter could not understand "please substitute Gray Goose for whatever vodka it is you are using". And kept thinking I wanted either a shot of Gray Goose on the side...or I wanted an extra shot of goose in my martini. Hubby tried to tell them in Korean, but when the waiter responded in Korean, hubby got really lost. :(
The atmosphere here is a bit cold and snobby. You have to bring your own friends, because it's not really a meet and mingle scene. Nobody sat at the bar. Everyone just stayed at their own booths with their friends. There were more guys than girls. We kept seeing girls come in, but they would all go up to the karaoke rooms only.
After about 2 hours here, we got bored, and ventured out to the rest of K-town, and came across Third Floor Cafe... review to come....
My friends took me to this place to show me a good time in NYC, and a good time I had! This was one of the many stops we had that night, but it was definitely my favorite one. It was located in K-Town so I knew I was in for a treat--I'm a fan of Korean bars and lounges because they have pretty good prices, good finger foods, and a house full of tomato heads (people with Asian glow). Looking from the outside, it didn't look like anything..but that's because you have to take the elevator to the 3rd floor. This was when I was greeted with a fancy looking lounge with all white leather furniture, a floor that was made of glass with round stones inside of it, and excellent decor.
We were seated immediately at a good-sized booth which fit about 8-10 people. We ordered had bottle service with 2 bottles of JW, fruit plates, and french fries. Shot after shot after shot after shot, and as the hours passed by, it became slightly more crowded but wasn't uncomfortable in any way. Our cokes and waters were always refilled without asking, and the nice waitress came back frequently to make sure we were satisfied. The DJ here was also spinning a mix of top40 songs along with old-skool hip-hop classics which was a nice way to spend time with old friends.
The bathroom (I know, who cares right?) was cool. At least the sink was. It was a waterfall type of faucet...hard to explain, but I was amused by it the entire night on my frequent trips to the urinal.
The prices were extremely fair for the amount that we had, and I was impressed with Maru because my friends told me NYC was expensive, but Maru broke that stereotype for me (and they were the only ones that did). Overall, I'd love to come back here because it's definitely a happening spot, but not too loud to the point where you can't joke around and socialize with your friends. Great prices, great service, and pretty damn fancy!
The smart speakeasy iterations on 32nd Street are exclusive in as such that if you're white, you might feel deterred, or frightened. But Maru, two, sprawling floors of immaculate space capsule is worth the discomfort of getting a little bit dressed up, or feeling a little bit segregated (racial identity breaks down about three drinks in, anyway), or going incognito in Slanties (http://www.yelp.com/to...).
The $11 cocktails are heavenly. Having just had a taste of the stuff stirred by the platinum-plated Milk & Honey mixologists, I didn't expect to be so hooked by the Jun Bug (like a pina colada candy cane) or First Kiss (about a thousand times sweeter and more addicting than mine). Cleanse the palate with salty pretzel compliments; rinse and repeat - until you teeter off those slippery, S-shaped bar stools, anyway.
I'm back for round 2 last time I came was on a thursday night I wasn't feeling the vibe because of the music selection. Tonight on a saturday night perfect hiphop 80s and 90s. I'm a big fan of soju. Try the yogurt and mango soju they are the best. This lounge has a chill lay the upstairs has a karoke bar another open bar and rest room. We were here to prefade than off to the club but if Maru had a dance floor we would definitely stay longer. But thank you Maru for making Maru one of the spots in NY I enjoyed your soju is very good!
In town for the weekend. I reviewed Maru so I figured to check it out. This place is really chill… Read more »
5 Stars for their Buffalo WINGS!
Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo freaking good!
Way better than BON CHON!
Even though it says it comes with Mustard, you can request to get Bleu Cheese!
Yes, the Buffalo Wings deserves it's own update and review!
The bathroom at this place can be ICKY WICKY...
but the decor makes up for the lack of a bathroom…
Read more »
Maru is as if
You live on a space station
With pricey drinks
Sool jip would be an understatement for this gem. The waiters were such an eyeful, you don't even need beer goggles.
The bathroom is a fun place to hang out in. Very different, probably because it's so small there isn't enough room for barely dressed drunk girls to congregate and smoke in it.
We didn't stay long because we had a certain "ID" issue with the "ID checking man" outside. But very posh, this place.
Does anyone else feel that the they're going to fall through the glass bottom floor?
I still can't get over this. The feeling is intensified after consuming half a bottle of Johnny Black and or multiple pitches of flavored Soju.
Maru is one of my default slash go-to bars in K-Town because of the swank and chichi ambience and the fact that I approve of any venue that lights scallops on fire. Those mothereffers are good.
Mostly Korean crowd but that's expected right? Waiters, waitresses, and hostesses are polished, professional, and appropriately attentive. The flavored soju selection is comparable to any of its W32 counterparts but the food is notably better and their bottle specials are a fasttrack way to end the night worshipping the porcelain gods or winding up dancing on a banquette at Circle. Not like I've done any of these things in my life.
One day I'm going to swing from the giant anchor in the back of the main floor.
A great place to just hang out and drink. Drinks are reasonably priced and crowd is pretty reasonable. The floor scared me a bit at first and I almost ate crap a few times...but I blame the heels...not dear Maru.
I witnessed a couple fighting while waiting for the restroom.
It was so interesting I almost forgot I had to use the restroom.
Public Displays of Anger....YAY! :)
Maru is a nice place to meet up with girl friends, take an out of town guest, or just get hammered while surrounded by a bunch of Asian people.
I have to admit I enjoy their Thursday night special where ladies drink free 8-9PM and there's a 2-for-1 special from 10-11. The decor is clean and trendy and the music is good. It doesn't get crazy loud so it's a fun spot to hang out and enjoy the drinks and people watch. I have to say I'm not sure how comfortable I would be here if I wasn't Asian but the staff is entirely accommodating and speak fluent English, if that's a concern of yours. Waiters and bartenders are attentive and pretty cute, although most of the time I'm buzzed so it might be the beer goggles speaking...
Maru was ....interesting...
Stopped by after dinner for a few drinks-
ended up watching a reality-korean drama right in the middle of the lounge.. (a gf/bf was obviously having some drama- hugging-tugging crying..blah balh...mm maybe the girl was juss mad drunk :x )
I felt like I was sitting in a spaceshuttle.. Everything is completely white, and the seats are super low. ( see the photos ). There is a chain coming down from the ceiling in one of the sections of the lounge. I seriously thought it was a little "pole" thingie for drunk girls to show off their stripper moves?- but apparently it holds up a bell from the lower floor? oops hah mmm
The service was decent- one of the waiters were prettty cute~ I'll probably go again nex time im in town..
I planned a surprise party for my roommate here. I met with JD (the owner) and his assistant and they were incredibly helpful, nice, and welcoming (though I think a little confused how a white girl from Texas wound up picking a karaoke bar with mostly Asian clientele in the middle of Koreatown).
But really, they couldn't have been more accomodating. They let me reserve a room free of charge, and put down a prepay for the tab so the guests wouldn't have to pay for anything. They even let me bring a cake in earlier in the day, and then brought it out with candles later in the night (with plates, napkins, and...chopsticks. No knife, no forks). The karaeoke room was awesome, and it was great to sing a lot of random songs with no interruptions from other bar patrons. It let everyone feel free to let loose.
What most impressed me- we ordered one of their predesigned combos- a bottle of champagne, a plate of fruit, and a round of beers. We ordered a few more things, and then they kept bringing even more food! To the point where I said we didn't need any more. They also brought us a round of drinks on the house. And lo and behold, when we got the bill, they didn't charge us for any of the things they brought us that we didn't ask for! I'm so used to being brought "complimentary" food/drinks, only to be charged for it at the end of the night.
Overall, this was an excellent place for a birthday party. I couldn't recommend them enough. Our friends still talk about how much fun they had.
Super Cute, Trendy, Hip spot in K-Town! Consists of two floors, elevator will take you to either-downstairs always seems like more of an older crowd and upstairs is a mix of everyone.
Note*I will always trek it downstairs for use of the bathroom--upstairs unisex is no bueno!
I know they have private norebang rooms for you singers, but I have yet to check it though!
They have great Anju and Soju cocktails--which they never make of fuss of putting a little extra soju when its too sweet!
The staff is super friendly and the doorguys are awesome!~ Great place to hang out with your buddies!!
They lost our reservation. We had eight people coming for a Valentines Day celebration to Korea town and they LOST our reservation. Ugh. We only chose this place because we could eat there. Somehow, we got a room. I think we snagged another Jennifer's room, but whatever. We did get a room and we were happy. But, then came more problems. They have this "bottle rule" for the rooms. The problem with that is you can only choose between vodka, scotch or malt liquor. Our group wanted wine, beer and sake. They finally agreed to let us pay for the room by the hour and order whatever we wanted. It took about an hour and 1/2 to get everything straight.
That aside, the food was really good and we had a great time. The song books are organized by song only. Unlike Toto, where you can search by artist or song it was hard to find anything to sing. The room was super small as well. I'm sure they have bigger ones, but ours was tiny.
All in all, I would go back. I love the space and design. I'll just be sure to call and confirm my resy next time.
this place is super cute! I probably even loved it more since I went here with 4 Cali girlfriends that were in town for the weekend. Compared to LA clubs, NY lounges are great-- they're clean, simple, sophisticated, and the restroom lines aren't a mile long!
I'd go here for just a casual night to rest, chill, and talk.
Downstairs, it's more loud with the music playing and a plasma flat screen TV showing the latest music videos. Upstairs, it's just people lounging around. The seating is very close to the floor with square white Ikea like furniture. I'd bring friends here!
I have been stopping by Maru lately, and I had the chance to experience their happy hour on Thursday nights and open bar for ladies, which I really like! I also had the opportunity to try some happy hour food -- fried sea bass. For $12, they fry fish and present it as 5-6 fish balls. It is quite tasty and supposedly, it is one of the more popular dishes. Service is still good but can be slow sometimes. Surprisingly, it is not as crowded at Maru as I'd expect on a Thursday night. Its sexiness and allure hasn't changed so much, but would probably be more irresistible if there were a larger, more dynamic crowd. Competition must be fierce in this recession, but still, their happy hour deals are hard to pass up!
Maru is definitely trendy and bouncy and represents a microcosm of Seoul nightlife right here in… Read more »
Maru was a nice place to have drinks and snacks with a group of girl friends. We had their yogurt soju which was surprisingly really good and cheap! Their snack menu wasn't too special, just the standard french fries or chips. Typical fried food junk.
The ambiance is trendy, but you don't have to dress up. Most people came in here in with whatever clothes. It definitely looked like people came here right after a long day or just a place to hang out for a bit.
Service here is also prompt and attentive. Free peanuts and cocktail mix!
Would love to come back again! =)
I can't really say that I have a particular problem with Maru as Maru stands. I like the weird club/ lounge decor of the place and you are seated and served quite expediently. They do serve over priced drinks/ food but they are a lounge and they are located in New York City.
The thing about Maru that you will see if you go there is that it is quite frankly geared toward a certain clientele. Medium sized groups (6-8) of asian people. Myself being a large black man traveling with an assortment of people found the situation welcoming yet at the same time I felt out of place. My comfort within a crowd however is not a proper litmus test for a destination's coolness so I would recommend that one try Maru for themselves. At least they have karaoke.
Went to Maru last night for a friend's birthday and on a Thursday evening (8-10pm), it was pretty empty. And even though there weren't many tables, somehow service still managed to disappoint. At one point, I asked the staff if they could bring out my friend's birthday cake and tipped them for the inconvenience. In the past, Maru has always been big on presentation and most Ktown bars will add in sparkler candles for your cake. The bartender brought out the cake on top of the box and more or less just plopped it onto the table. He then left and, after a few minutes, I actually had to flag down a waitress to bring a knife, utensils, and plates. Ultimately, I was very disappointed by the lack of coordination and obvious decline in service. I prefer Third Floor Cafe for their genuinely warm and detail-oriented service (bartenders and waitresses alike) over the now-slightly stuffy vibe of Maru.
I caution that I can't really review any Ktown bar or lounge unbiasedly. Nearly all have been used… Read more »
Ok anyone who thinks Maru is overpriced obviously doesn't go out in NY a lot.... $11 for a drink?? I thought that was pretty cheap!
Anyway, Maru was, well, interesting. The place was pretty full and nice looking, but do be advised that the crowd is 99% Korean.
Good area but kind of intimidating if you aren't asian. If you want to bar-hop, i'd go to a diff part of the city.
Wayyyyy overpriced place for drinks and finger foods. If you go clubbing or karaoke, that it's a different story but for us Maru is not the same as it used to be. Looks like they've done some renovations to the place towards the end of last year and now its more like a club with a mini dance floor more so then a lounge. They got rid of the Happy Hour specials they used to have. Now there are no specials until at least 8pm or later so everything was full price. The place was pretty dead around the time we went compared to Third Floor Café, or Bonchon down the block. When we left around 7:30, 3 or 4 people came in but before that we were the ONLY ones there. If you're looking for a place to chill afterwork, try next door or around the corner.
The best thing about this place? They still have the cool, chic decor
Drink Specials:
Neighborhood: Park Slope
$3 glass of sangria
Neighborhood: Upper West Side
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Category: Karaoke
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Category: Karaoke
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Category: Karaoke
Neighborhood: Flatiron
Category: Karaoke
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Category: Karaoke
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