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Amy, Tim, and I had planned a week ahead to go to Miyako Hotel to get our karaoke on because the last time I went there, they had an amazing English-song collection. There were songs from two months ago! :D
Then.... we realized that it was 21 & over. Boo.
I quickly typed in "Max Karaoke" on Yelp to check the reviews before heading over there. Four stars??? I'm there.
We ended up in a room called, "B". It was their first time karaoke-ing, so they were intrigued.
And then.... we opened the song book. O_O There were songs that came out.. YESTERDAY. That was the most incredible karaoke experience I've ever had.
Prices are average, but their Happy Hour (1pm to 8pm) is only $4 a person. Dude -- where else would you find such a deal?
I no longer need to search for a place to karaoke. There is no choice. There is only Max Karaoke.
So, I just recently discovered the private room style karaoke like they have at this place. and let me just say...I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. i can hold a tune, but I'm certainly no pro, and being in these little boxes with my friends just takes away all the fear.
It was my first time to Max Karaoke, and the experience was just as fun as I remember. The song selection was good, the mics were loud, and the walls were not-quite soundproof (sometimes i like other people to hear what i've got). So...kudos. I had a great time.
Now for some of the "could-be-betters": other karaoke places i have been to had disco lights flashin' around--and i like that extra bit of oh-so-cheesy pizazz. And another thing. You have to say how long you're gonna sing before you even start!! And they hold you to the time you choose. When our hour and a half was up, we got a knock on our door saying TIMES UP! GET OUT!! and we were half way through a song! Not the best way to end an otherwise fun filled singing-fest.
But prices good during happy hour. And mostly awesome experience. Just make us feel a little more welcome. I'm thinking i WILL be back.
Grab a large group of friends and karaoke until 3am here! Came around 11:30pm at night and was told to wait an hour for a room big enough to accommodate our party to open up.
The songs are assorted by "New Songs", Artist, and Title in different binders. I enjoyed singing everything from Journey - "Don't Stop Believing" to a guys and girls duet - Summer Night" from Grease and Asher Roth's "I love College" made my night!
11 people for 2 hours came up to be around $142, roughly $13 per person. Doesn't seem too expensive to me but i'm sure there are cheaper places to sing!
I've been a LOYAL Max Karaoke customer since it was called City Cat. In fact, I'm pretty sure my friends and I are the REASON they had to rip out the carpet and install tile floors. We have partied hard in there for YEARS.
I gotta say, we pretty much stopped going because of the pricing system that has COMPLETELY ARBITRARILY changed to totally make us feel ripped off. A Friday night there used to cost maybe 150 ?? And our last visit there, for a room with no air conditioning, was over 300 bucks. This is how they treat their regulars? Sorry, MAX. For that price, we can, and HAVE, purchased our OWN karaoke equipment and we do it ourselves now.
Only the happy hour is worth it. I'm sorry to have to say this after over 5 years of patronage.
Well, Max Karaoke is good at service. When you come there they will smile at you with a friendly face. I like the way they welcome you when you get in. However, if you're going to find a place for 3 people , then don't go there. I went there with my 2 friends, and of course I got a really small room where the karaoke machine was near with my face. I couldn't listen to my voice or my friends' voice when they sang cuz the room was so small. They don't have good machines for singing .
More than that, I know that if we want to drink anything I had to order but WATER is FREE....Right? They did not give for us a cup of water. I had no idea. DOn't go there if you expect a lots for a good karaoke place
Dangerous. We can bring our own booze, as much as we want AND sing "Hot for Teacher" in the comfort of our own private room?
Dangerous.
The brigade of dead soldiers we left was long, but they were as valiant in death as in life.
It's a lot more expensive than places in K-Town, but there's a pretty good selection of English and Japanese music, which is always being updated as shown by the menu board outside the store. As I said, it's kind of expensive, but it's nice and clean. They also recently expanded to add a few more rooms which can handle large groups of people. All in all, you can have a lot of fun here, but it'll cost you.
Cool place to go to for karaoke. The prices are a little bit higher than other karaoke places that I have been to. Especially the ones in K-Town. The one thing that's a plus here is that they have a HUGE selection of songs to choose from. We spent about 3 hours here and we were still wanting to check out songs that we wanted to sing. We will definitely come back to continue our karaoke madness! See you guys there sometime Yelpers!
I can't believe how many English songs they had! There was a HUGE selection, both old and new, and they seem to update every few months with a big list of popular music.
I didn't have to deal with the pricing... my friend just told me how much I had to pay, which I did. For 7 of us, it came out to about $13 for 2 hours, which is totally reasonable for me. I don't go karaoke-ing very much, so i don't know how that price compares with others, but it was a Thursday night (10PM - midnight)
The room was big, comfortable, with a nice AC unit, and the set-up was super easy to use... separate volume knobs for the music and the mics, and a simple keypad to enter the songs in, so you could queue up a bunch of songs while singing.
But $2 for a bottle of water?? And no drinking fountain... I guess that makes sense at a place where people are going to want drinks for their sore throats xP. Sneak in your own water if you can ;-)
My favorite karaoke place!
I prefer LT over Ktown or SGV for karaoke whenever possible. The Korean places seem to have a pretty up-to-date Korean, Japanese, and English selection, but their Chinese selection is eons old. No Jay Chou, Wang Leehom, etc. The Chinese places in SGV have a bomb Chinese selection, but everything else is only decent.
Max Karaoke has a up-to-date Japanese, Korean, Chinese AND English selection, pretty much as good as it gets. I always go during Happy Hr ($4/person M-T 2-8pm, $5/person F-Sun). It's been my fav karaoke place since my freshman year at USC, three years ago. I keep coming and never had a bad experience. Some of the rooms are kind of beat up but nothing too bad.
OK, I am really torn here. On the one hand, Max Karaoke has an astounding selection of English songs. I have found no other private room karaoke joint that boasts this level of extremely current and eclectic music. HOWEVER, the billing system here is preposterous. To wit: 1) They charge you not by the size of the room, but by the number of heads in the room. 2) If you bring outside drinks/food in they charge you $1 per the maximum number of people in the room. 3) They need to know how long you plan to stay which I don't understand at all. How can you predict what time you'll get tired and want to go home? 4) Beware the hourly rates go up on Fri and Sat nights.
During my last visit here I kept track of how many people were in the room each hour. It ranged from 8 to 14. When the last 6 of us emerged to pay for the bill, they charged us at the rate of 15 people per hour for the entire duration of our stay, which is totally unfair considering there was only 1 hour where we had 14 people in the room. I can't stand nickel and diming so I argued for 10 minutes and recalculated the bill as they looked on helplessly. I may have been drunk, but it only improved my math skills. I wish I could give this place 5 stars but alas I cannot.
I'm not by any means a big karaoke fan, but after visiting this place on Saturday with a few friends, I'm a changed woman.
It's not like karaoke at your local watering hole, this place is serious business. They even have a "Black List" wall of photos of people who are no longer allowed at Max Karaoke. It was like a Seinfeld episode.
Anyway, we got into our private singing room and were greeted with War & Peace sized song books. Almost every song written/performed since the beginning of time could be found in these books. Fantastic!
We had two fun-filled hours full of singing, dancing and doo wop. I cannot wait to go back!
Max Karaoke is the type of karaoke place where you get a private room with your friends, and pick all the songs yourself. Totally cool if that's your thing, it's just not mine. The biggest problem is that they don't have booze. Which is one thing I desperately need if I'm going to sing Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time" seven times in a row to impress my friends. I guess you can say I'm partial to the karaoke bar at the Miyako Inn. It's the best in LA.
I love Max Karaoke because it is convenient for me. I've been to other places with private booths and they are all pretty much the same. What I really like about Max over some of the other places is their happy hour prices. If you go during happy hour if is anywhere between $5-$8/ hour/person depending on what day it is. Their selection is pretty good but then again I am always only singing Carpenters songs. They seem to have many languages though. You can bring your own food and drinks in for a $1 fee per person.
Their song selection is very good and very current. They have a lot of current songs and the karaoke machine is very easy to use, even if it's your first time operating it. I love how you can also make a song queue without disturbing the current song playing. The rooms aren't that soundproof, but I find it kind of funny to hear someone trying to hit a high note drunk. Hehe.
They don't check bags, so I was able to smuggle in 2 40's in my man bag. Haha.. So good. Made for an interesting afternoon. Prime location for being in that mall with a supermarket on the ground floor.
They have a happy hour special from 2pm-8pm, its $4 per person per hour which is a really good value.
Family fun for everyone.
I love this place - somehow I also manage to meet random people coming in and out of their rooms and having them invite me in for a song!
They also don't mind you bringing in some of your own alcohol - as long as you're not that obvious.What more can you ask for?
Three words... SO MUCH FUN!
Ever since I saw Scarlett Johannson don that pink wig and sing a Pretenders song in "Lost in Translation," I had always wanted to get a private karaoke room with some friends and let loose. Last night, five friends and I had an early birthday celebration for moi at Max Karaoke Studio in the Little Tokyo Shopping Center. (Convenient location if you want to grab dinner and drinks at a restaurant in the same mall)
All inhibitions go away. All embarassment contained in room. It's a great experience!
HUGE song selection. Any song you can think of is there. I've even heard that you can contact them ahead of time with a song request and they'll fulfill it!
I can't wait to go back!
They validate parking. Big +.
I've been here about ten times and it's great! Open nearly 24 hours, this place has a great selection of English songs, Japanese songs, some chinese and korean (I think).
They have soooooo many English songs you could spend hours and hours just looking through the book (Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Strokes, Interpol, Radiohead, Talking Heads, The Violent Femmes, Blur, The Beastie Boys, The Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, Rage Against the Machine, Foo Fighters, Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, etc...)
There's literally a song for everyone, or at least there has been the last ten times I went.
Drunk or sober, it's all good. Like the cave on Dagobah, you'll find only what you take with you. Bring fun people and you'll have a blast.. Bring lame people, and it might be okay, perhaps lousy at worst.
There are large rooms which can accommodate up to ten people but I've found the small rooms to be the best. 4-5 people can occupy a small room comfortably.
You can bring your own alcohol, they really don't mind. They just charge you a small fee ($3) because let's be honest. Drunk people make huge messes and guess who has to clean it all up?
Happy Hour 1pm-8pm
Monday-Thursday
$4/hr per person
Friday-Sunday
$5/hr per person
3 stars for: free parking (validation), open until late (I believe they open until 4am, it's great to sing after you have been drinking else where), lots non-Japanese songs (Chinese/English/Spanish), nice staff, good location, and most songs are the actual music video from the actual artists instead of some cheesy koraoke video of some models walking around doing nothing related to the songs
2 missing stars for: lack of sound proof rooms (when you are not singing, you can hear the other rooms, vice versa), a bit expensive if you have a small group ($28 per hour for two for weekend nights), outdated Koraoke system
Strange moment 1: No Drug Please.
When you sign in, they ask you to sign a paper stating that you would not drink alcohol, do drugs inside the room.
Strange moment 2: Tip
The bill was $64 for two hours (Saturday night) I left a $10 tip, so about 15%. Then when I walked out the place, I saw the recommended tip is 18%-25%. I felt really bad, but at the same time, even though the staff was really nice to us. He only showed us to the room when we got there and swiped my card when we left the place. Do they really expect a 18%-25% tip for taking us to the room?
I walked in thinking, "I'm in a mall at 2am. How did I get to this point in my life?" Post-last call, I went to Max Karaoke, which is located inside of the Little Tokyo Mall. Knowing it is inside the mall is helpful if you happen to be telling a cab driver where to drop you off...
The food - not as cheap as it should be be and not as tasty as it should be. Not worth it.
The hourly rate - good! I stayed for 2 1/2 hours with a group of 6 people and we each paid $20 (included some food).
I was cruising along, like all was good in the 'hood, until I saw the song list. AMAZING! They have the best selection ever. Everything I could think of was there. Right now, I randomly started wondering if they have Tool songs. That would be weird. I'll have to go back to find out.
Bottom Line: Do it. Take the dive and sing your heart out in the privacy of one of their rooms with a ghetto TV.
I love MAX Karaoke! I've been coming here for years and going to their Torrance and West LA branches too.
We go there at least once a week on average, especially for happy hour. The only thing that takes a star away is the audio quality in some of the rooms - there are a few where the audio is really busted! =( Fix that and it's a five-star joint for sure.
Don't go here. They hate you.
Best karaoke song selection I've ever seen... and I love karaoke. LOVE IT.
This place is awesome... the workers are also really friendly and helpful.
Getting into this place is a little tricky at night after the shopping center is closed but I would suggest parking either in the lot or near the lot and walking in by the 2nd floor walk-bridge-thing.
Oh, they also don't check your purse for random bottles of smuggled alcohol.
Who knew I sang so well? Not! Anyway, with the private rooms at Max Karaoke, you and your pals can sing to your hearts content and nobody has to know that William Hung could teach you a lesson or two. They have various size rooms, accommodating up to 20 people I believe for the largest rooms.
The parking situation has been great each time I've been, due primarily to the shopping center not having much activity during the evenings. They validate your parking, which is even better. No alcohol to "enhance" your singing abilities, but I hear from a friend of a friend of a friend that you can smuggle it in. They charge something like a $1 more per person to allow you to bring in your own food and non-alcoholic beverages. They have a website with happy-hour specials, so check it out before going. I've been on Saturday evenings and Sunday evenings. On Sunday evenings, there is a special two-person special for only $18/hour.
100% super fun
I can now say I have Karaoked. It was really a spur of the moment trip. Something like meeting doesn't start until 4, it is one already ate and walking around not knowing what to do. I felt it was a good bargain since I made the Happy Hour time
Happy Hour Special is 1 pm - 8pm $4 per person M-Thu and $5/hr per person Fri-Sun & Holidays. So we went in a bit nervous to waste an hour and ended up enjoying 2 because we liked it.
They have food you can buy there and you can also bring food in (I believe it is for a charge of $1 per person). Next time I go I may order something there just to see how it is. They had corndogs $1.50, Shrimp Pilaf $4, Meat Bun $2.50, 10 pc Chicken Nuggets $5
Also $2 for Hot Coffee, Hot Tea, Hot Green Tea, Hot Oolong Tea (Yeah I wrote it all down because I'm a budgeting type of girl)
They also have a duo special for 2 person (duh - duo) M-Thursday, 8 pm-2am $18 hour
Please note if you see - rather hear me there and it doesn't sound good, lets blame it on the sound equipment.
If Yelpers could rate our performance at Max Karaoke, I'm sure we'd get a -5 for sounding like a pack of dying cats... Nevertheless, Max Karaoke is the best place to bring a group of people who sing like felines in heat!
Seriously though, the song selection is amazing, they had everything from Disney songs to the Boomtown Rats.
I'd suggest making a reservation just in case if you come in a big group (there were 17 of us). The total came out to about $20/person including tips for 3 hours. We also brought gallons and gallons of booze; they pretty much don't care as long as people don't get too crazy.
You can also hear the people in the other rooms singing, but only if you walk outside into the hall. Once you're in the room, you can't hear a thing (lucky for you, not so lucky for the people outside).
The food is OK too; their fried chicken is more like fried chicken nuggets (don't be expecting a bucket of greasy KFC) but whatever, you'll most likely be drunk and happy when you order them so it won't matter much.
The dudes at the front desk were awesome, I hope we gave them enough tips!!
My only major complaint is that there is no air conditioning! 17 people + a moderately sized room + booze + non-stop singing = HOT HOT HOT.
This is the separated-at-birth twin of Yuu Yuu on Sawtelle. They have the same management and the prices are identical. I'm so diggin' that there's a budget karaoke place close to downtown.
The "happy hour" pricing is $5/person on weekends from 1-8pm. You can come with your buddies and sing for 4 hours during that time and only pay twenty bucks a head.
The song lists are extensive and new tunes are added to the system on a monthly basis (new tracks are listed in their own special binder). Can't sing? Don't worry, neither can most of the folks who come here. The booths aren't soundproof, so you WILL hear cat-like wails permeating through the corridors. If you tackle a song (say, "I Drove All Night" by Cyndi Lauper) and didn't expect the range to go skyrocketing into the stratosphere, you can drop the key to get back within range.
The prices for food and all that stuff are a little jacked up. Try to sneak in some drinks or snackies from Mitsuwa downstairs, if you can. One of the truly nice things about Max Karaoke is its proximity to tons of restaurants in Little Tokyo. Sing for a few hours and it only takes a few steps to find plenty of dinner options (in the little shopping center itself or down the street a few blocks).
I had the time of my life. It was my birthday, and we smuggled in lots and lots of liquor and friends. I was BLOWN away by this song book. They had everything and anything (From Stoned Roses "I want to be adored" to Nenah Cherry "Buffallo Stance"- Joy Division- Violent Femmes- even Echo and the Bunnymen.!) They said that you can also request new songs on their website before you come. The rooms are cozy and the lights can be dimmed to darkness if desired. Our room turned into a makeout dance party, straight out of the 80's. We arrived at 10:00 and were told the doors were shutting at 3:15 a.m.! The night was a blur, but a blast. You can bring your own birthday cake too. When we left everything in the mall was shut down, sort of like Dawn of the Dead. Recommend this place for the karaoke private party!
I've only been to one other Karaoke place in Los Angeles so I can't really compare it to other places, but this place is great. The thing I really appreciate the most about this place is that it has one of the best song selections ever. I can only think of one occasion where I couldn't find a song I wanted to sing. I just went today and the lady also told me that you can go on their website and request songs that they don't currently have. That's awesome. As far as the pricing goes, I can't really comment on what it is at night because usually my friends and I smuggle alcohol and I'm usually smashed by the time we pay, but during the day, the price is only 5 dollars/per person per hour. Not bad!
This place is off the hook. My friends and I always come here, smuggle in some whiskey into the karaoke booth, and let it rip. The song selection is HUGE and there is rarely a song that I want to sing that they don't have. Furthermore, from 1-8 every day of the week they have happy hour: $4 per per per hour M-F and $5 per person per hour Sat/Sun. Seriously, singing karaoke can be therapeutic!
I went yesterday and it was my first time singing karaoke. I think I finally understand people in shows who seem to love karaoke! This place has music in several (I think 5) languages but I was mostly interested in English and Japanese so am not sure about the others. Based in memory I think the others may have included Chinese,Spanish and Korean.Having never done it before I was uneasy at first so planned to just go for an hour but once you get a book of songs and start seeing old and new songs you like then start looking for some of your favorites you can get really caught up. Then as the hour starts to end you say "How about a second hour?"
The price was $5 per person per hour for Friday through Sunday. On weekdays they have a Happy Hour of 4 dollars per person. One thing though was that since they charge by hour it seems they should have a clock in the room so you don't have to keep looking at your watch. They had food there however since I wasn't hungry so I don't know how much. There was a corn-dog for $1.50, 10 chicken nuggets for $5 and teas for $2. You could also bring in outside food for a charge(I think $1 per person). Altogether an enjoyable experience.
Just something I noticed I think this place was called something else before but I'm not sure what that was.
one of the best karaoke places ever in the los angeles area because they have an extensive song list and love that they also have a lot of new songs. happy hour is the best time to go. when you try to only go for an hour, you're just cheating yourself out of fun!!!
the staffs are really nice and polite. they have pretty up-to-date song lists and also if you love old school, they have it too. they do have food and none alcohol beverage but you are more than welcome to bring your own alcohol and food. (they only charge you $1 extra per person) rooms are a little bit too small. i wish they were bigger so we could have more leg room and because the ac is controlled by the mall, it got very hot in the room after a while. other than that, it's a nice place to hang out.
this place was really fun. i found out about it from YELP of course. its definitely fun to go to with a big group of people, and its not super expensive either. i went with 9 people, we only played about 6 bucks each for an hour. I SUGGEST STAYING FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR, at first we thought it'd be too long but it seriously went by like 10 or 15 minutes. they have a pretty good song selection too, they just need some AC up in that peezy!
Neighborhood: Downtown
Category: Karaoke
Neighborhood: West Los Angeles
Category: Karaoke
Los Angeles, CA
Category: Karaoke
Neighborhood: Downtown
Category: Restaurants
Neighborhood: Downtown
Category: Karaoke
All these places are within walking distance of…
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