Limelight Stage + Studios

My friends and I experienced the worst customer service at this place! It started when I first called to make the reservation. After several unanswered calls (during their normal business hours) a man answers and says ‘Hello’ as if he was answering his personal cell phone. I’m like ‘Is this LimeLight?’ and then he says ‘Yea’. How unprofessional! My reservation was after a birthday dinner. The dinner was running a little late so I called them 15 minutes before our reservation to let them know. They told me they could only wait 5 minutes and they would charge me from the original start time of my reservation even if I wasn’t there. What?!? So unaccommodating. Then when we arrived, they had let some other patrons use our room so we had to wait! I’m not even sure why the guy made such a stink about us being late when he was renting the room out anyway before we got there so he wasn’t losing any money. Once we got our room, we proceeded to get beers. Due to some miscommunication between the front of the place and the back, the guy SNATCHED the beer out of my friend’s hand because they forgot to check our IDs. We complained about the service and the guy just responded to us by complaining about us being late. I’ve never experienced such TERRIBLE service by such RUDE staff. We were only there 15 minutes and they charged me $ 46…because it was closer to a half hour and there was an additional cleaning fee… seriously?! I probably should have just left and not paid but I just wanted to be done with that place. I was so embarrassed and felt bad for my friends for picking this place even though they said it was not my fault and blamed it all on the staff. My friends and I will never return to this place again.
Besides the terrible experience I had, the main stage area didn’t look appealing at all. They only serve beer and wine and no hard liquor. I don’t know about everyone else but if I’m doing karaōke I want to be drinking something a little stronger than just beer and wine.

REALLY BAD SERVICE. Staff were very rude. They don’t consider you as their customers coz they «own this place.» If I were the owner of this place, I would definitely get some new staff. If you want to have a happy Friday night for some drink/​karaōke/​fun, avoid this place. Will never go again.

Came here last night with my girlfriends and we’re loving it! Servers, bartender, everyone was so nice. I recommend this place! Take some sake shots! Haha that got us! Song selection was good. Service was good. 5 stars for everything hahah.

I had a private room booked for my best friend’s bachelorette, which was booked 2 months in advance. When we got to Limelight, we were told we had to wait an hour to get in our private studio. Then, later when the bill came, they tried to charge us for 3 hours worth of the room plus a $ 20+ service fee. Buyer beware.

Umm, yes please! Another highlight from a fun weekend in Boston. With the Japan Spring Festival on the Boston Common we felt this was a perfectly great way to spend the evening. Limelight is both a Karaōke Bar (where you sing in front of other people in a lounge setting) as well as private rooms. We opted for the latter and truly enjoyed ourselves. Everything from MC hammer to Psy to Backstreet Boys and beyond. I’d highly recommend doing the private room style. The rooms fit up to 8 people and are a flat charge of $ 60 per hour with a minimum of 2 hours. Private rooms also have a personalized service where you hit a button and an employee comes within the minute to take your order. One thing I would have liked to see was a book of songs for people to sort through instead of just the computer. But the computer was great too with being able to search by artist or song.
Pro tip: don’t forget the sanitary covers for the microphones!

Good playlists with pretty recent songs. Even if you’re buying a ton of alcohol, staff is very strict with headcount so careful with big groups. Room prices are fair, but the drink tab adds up quickly.

Extremely rude and unpleasant staff. Did not have our reservation ready despite us showing up on time and confirming multiple times before hand. One or the most unpleasant places i have ever been. Extremely high drink costs, both of our mics did not work. If you want a good time, do not book here. They do not respect their customers, prices are high, and there are many better options. I urge you not to go here.

I visited this venue on a Thursday night at 8:00pm for a friend’s birthday. There was a hand-​drawn sign on the door that indicated the main stage was closed but private rooms were available. When we asked for a private room, despite seeing several available private rooms, we were asked how many people were in our party (only six) and then we were rudely told that every room was reserved. The gentleman with whom I spoke was not welcoming in the slightest. We were a group of young professionals, looking to celebrate a colleague’s birthday, and our interaction felt discriminatory and exclusive. It certainly was not a warm or encouraging way to run a business. I won’t be returning and will not encourage others to visit this venue.

I came here for the first time last night as a part of a group birthday party. The birthday girl made a phone reservation for an 8-​person room on Tuesday (which apparently is the only day the manager is not there). To our dismay, we arrived to find that our reservation did not exist according to multiple employees. The manager later came to the rescue, finding it, and promptly got us in, waiving the $ 10 cover in the process.
While we did have to wait 30 minutes for a room to open up, our first half-​hour was comped, along with a few drinks and a birthday cake. The room set-​up was a bit cozy, but contained comfortable couches, free phone chargers, water, and snacks. The karaōke set-​up was easy-​to-​use and had a fairly good selection. I didn’t spend much time on the main floor, but they had a reasonable cap on the number of people. If you do go there on a whim, you’ll have plenty of breathing room. They only had beer and wine, so pregame wisely if you’re a hard liquor fan like myself.
Overall, I’d recommend this place over most other karaōke options on a Friday or Saturday night. Renting a room if you have 6+ people and don’t feel the need to impress strangers is a great option to have as well!

I came to this karaōke bar when it was my brother’s birthday. Although I had read about the negative experiences from Unilocal,I decided to try this place myself. It was actually quite lovely, the admission was reasonable and the drinks were fairly overpriced, (but what can you expect from a karaōke bar?). My only criticism is that the public stage was a tad bit too small. If it were larger, then I might have enjoyed it a tad bit more. Overall, though, my experience was pleasant and I certainly had fun with my family. I would recommend this place to anyone who is looking for a fun time.

Friends and I booked a room for a birthday party and had a GREAT time. We will definitely come back.
— We called the day of to make a reservation. Then we called back later on to see if we could change our time and they were really helpful in trying to accommodate everything we were asking for even though we kept changing things
— Room was clean, comfy, and unlimited free bottled water /​snacks were provided the whole night! We had a medium room with ~11 people (maybe we could’ve fit 1 – 2 more small people but we were pretty cozy)
— Song selection is on a nice touch-​screen and easy to use.
— All staff was super helpful and friendly, especially the bartender who made sure we were set the whole night
— They gave us a warning of when our time was going to end and let us extend since nobody had booked the room after us
— I only wish they had more new songs such as Top 40s from this year
I would definitely recommend this place for a karaōke party

The main-​stage bar is sad, looking and sounding like something out of a bad movie. The private rooms are nice, but the song selection is limited, you can’t adjust the key, the video graphics are bizarre, and the drinks are pricey. The service, however, was good.

My friends and I are HUGE fans of limelight. We stumbled upon it one night while downtown, and have returned often. We’ve always just been in the «main stage» area and it’s always a blast. So much of the karaōke experience is the crowd, and the crowd in the main stage area varies. But the DJ is great and keeps it moving, and there’s always ample opportunities to sing (even when it’s packed). My friends and I have hosted several birthday parties here, and when we call ahead they’ve always reserved a table for us and treated us great!

Great place. Went there for a belated birthday celebration (reserved a room earlier in the week) and my friends and I had a great time. I had originally planned for 2 hours, but we ended up going over 3. The karaōke system in the room is pretty sweet (touch screen with another mini screen with basic controls). The staff is very friendly as well.
The medium room probably fits around 6 – 8 people, although you can squeeze in about 10. I had booked a large room, but switched with another group that had closer to 15 people.

This place was very interesting. Everyone was super nice and friendly. And they were all very supportive, helping each other out with the words when you forgot them and encouraging you to rock the mic. Only beer and wine at the bar but still got me drunk just fine. I would definitely go back. Maybe rent a studio if I had enough people with me.

I booked a room for a birthday party this past weekend. Service was lacking. The person I made the reservation with was really nice and promised two things: that they would send in a birthday cake and that they would check with us before they made a reservation for the room after ours (in case we wanted to extend it, I made sure to ask since a few people in my party said they may not be able to make it until later).
Neither of these things happened. No cake was sent in, which was unfortunate because if we had known, we would have brought our own cupcakes to celebrate with.
I brought some people to the bar about halfway through our reservation, bartender asked how we were doing and I said «Great, we want to stay another hour I think.» He said «Sounds good.» I thought this would signal him to book it for another hour — or that he would have at least told me where I should go to do that.
Twenty minutes before our original reservation was up, someone comes in and says «Are you going to be done soon?» I was confused, after a bit of back and forth I realized that they had sold the room to another party and weren’t going to change it. Really messed up that you wouldn’t check with the guests who were IN THE ROOM first.
The rooms are nice — but have no instruments like other private room karaōke places I’ve been to usually do. Their karaōke «system» is pretty good and well set up.
At the end of it, they brought me a bill and tried to charge us over $ 200/​hr for the room. I had to point out the mistake, they somehow doubled the rate. Maybe we went on a very off night, but my experience and the experience my 20+ guests had was rather poor and the staff we encountered were not professionals.

My fiancé and I got a small private room here so we could have a karaōke jam session. Despite our reservation, we still had to wait an extra 20 minutes because the party in front of us didn’t leave on time. However, the workers here were very friendly and apologetic about the situation, so that left a good impression.
The room itself is pretty cozy, and (at least for us) came with complimentary waters and a sizeable fresh fruit cup. We also got free shots of soju for checking in on Unilocal,so don’t forget to do that!
This place prices you by the hour, based on your room size, so it’s definitely more economically efficient to come with 4 – 5 people rather than just 2. They have an extensive selection of songs in a bunch of languages, so I got my fill of Mandopop.
The workers also check in on you when you have 15 or 5 minutes left on your reservation, but they do let you extend your hours as long as the room isn’t booked. In our case, they forgot to let us know that our session was ending, and we ended up going over by about 20 – 30 minutes, but they didn’t actually charge us for that, citing that it was their error.
Overall, had a great time here, although I’d probably want to bring more people just so I feel like I’m getting more of my money’s worth. Plus, karaōke’s more fun when you have a larger group!

We had our after party for the wedding here. We were able to get a room for a party of 10 an hour before on a Saturday night.
The selection was a great mixture of Chinese songs and English. The room was 155 per hour and included bottles of water and snacks. It was a great fun time!

Be careful when you make a reservation to ask who you’re talking to and confirm before you get there… we made a reservation for a room for 10 people and showed up only to find out that the guy forgot to put us down. It boggles my mind that that can even happen in a professional business but apparently it’s pretty common here. Luckily, we made a bit of a fuss and another guy named John helped us out, offered us two bottles of sake on the house along with snacks. We expected to wait an hour for the next available room, so we settled into the main stage area, took some shots and had a bunch of candy. A room became free sooner than expected so we only ended up waiting half an hour but still got the free drinks! There was a big song selection, nice rooms with good couches and lighting. Turned out to be a good night after all.

This could have turned out to be a very sour night, but limelight came through in the end and delivered a great time.
Here’s what happened: As soon as they opened, I called to make a reservation for the 10 person studio at 8pm. The person took my details and confirmed that he had put me down for the requested reservation. He literally said, «Alright Justin, I’ve got you in there for 10 people at 8!» I don’t know how there could be any miscommunication there.
I had read a previous review about someone whose reservation was never recorded, but I just figured that was a fluke and thought nothing of it. Well what do you know, we get there and they don’t have my reservation. The dude’s name that we talked to when we arrived was John, and he was not the person on the phone (whose name I did not get). John had an idea of who the other guy was, but there was nothing he could do since the room was already occupied.
John does his best to handle the situation and offers us a free bottle of sake and a larger room that would be available at 10 for no extra charge. While waiting an hour and a half isn’t ideal, we decide to accept and just chill in the main stage area. However, after a few minutes John comes over with the free bottle and informs us that the room just opened up and we can get in by 9! Score! And on top of that, once we get in the room John brings us a second bottle of sake on the house, saying «Let bygones be bygones.» What an awesome guy.
So basically, limelight forgetting our reservation turned out way better in the end. We arrived a bit late too, around 8:20, and ended up getting a bigger room plus two bottles of sake after waiting just 20 mins, all for no extra charge! AND we got an extra 15 mins of karaōke time because we got in at 8:45 but they only charged us from 9 – 11.
Obviously, I wouldn’t count on them forgetting your reservation and expect it to turn out as well as it did for us, so make sure to get the name of the person who is taking your reservation (although I’m not sure how much good that will do). But limelight certainly delivered, and they get 4 stars!

I had my birthday party here last night and had a fantastic time. The staff is incredibly friendly and helpful, especially the manager. The setup in the main room is great with a stage, lighting and really good quality audio. There were tons of great song selections and a decent beer selection. Thumbs up!

I booked a private room here for a bachelorette party. Or at least I thought I did. We showed up on Saturday night at the appointed time and they didn’t have my reservation on file. They then tried to tell me I would have to pay more than I had agreed to for the room I thought I booked. When I refused, they ended up giving us the more expensive room for the original price, so it all worked out. That being said, it’s pretty unacceptable to lose a reservation when I made it TWO DAYS BEFORE.
Anyway, after that bump, this experience was pretty good. Their song catalog is kind of weak, but you get complimentary chips, fruit and water with the room and there’s a bar directly outside for drinks. They also gave us some free sake shots which was kind of cool.
I’m also mystified by the fact that this place is still open since we went to the public portion of the bar once we left our private room and it was completely empty. The couple other times I’ve been here have been dead too. I guess they just do enough private room business to keep it going? Anyway, I probably will not be back anytime soon.

Ok, finally I made it here with some students of mine. First off, they don’t have hard alcohol, only sake, wine and beer. Its karaōke, you gotta be wasted to sing, right? Well, not so much at limelight, either you come already obliterated or you just don’t really care.
The night I went was a little shit showy which was fun, but it made searching for songs a pain in the A. I guess they normally have books.
There is a $ 10 cover after 8pm which I think is a little much for what it is. They also have rooms you can rent I guess, but what fun is that? So much more fun to sing like a fool to an audience who will love it.

This was my first time trying karaōke and it was a great time. The place had the weirdest mix of people I’ve ever seen. It was bizarre. People sleeping on the couch to like people 70 yrs. old or more. Two dudes wrestling on the floor. Lol… wtf? Everyone was cool and getting into it though. They had private rooms, but we just stayed out on the main floor. It was cheesy as hell, but after a few drinks, and being with a group of drunks you’ll be into it.

While this is a place we like to go, the service is always «meh.» We were there for about 3 hours and only got up to do one song until we complained about it. While it got us another song, I was basically talked down to for asking for a more than going up once. While I understand people who start to come in getting a turn, making sure you pepper in those who have been there for a long period of time is important too.
The guy in the hat who works there and plays Sinatra without lyrics is one of the redeeming qualities of the place. He calls out those who sing well and really was the only part of the experience that made me feel welcome in an unwelcoming experience.

I came to Karaōke here last night and had one of the funnest karaōke experiences I’ve ever had… if not THE best! The DJ was taking requests all night, the crowd was super cool and fun, they had awesome props on stage like an inflatable guitar, hats, wigs, you name it! The ONLY downside is they don’t have hard alcohol, only wines and beers, but you’ll have so much fun here the atmosphere will carry your pre party buzz well into the night! :)

Unilocal keeps trying to make me review this. Clearly, it’s not taking into account that I checked in at 1 in the morning, after an evening that involved a displeased doorman and a hole in my apartment wall…
But I digress.
From what I recall, our visit started with an argument over the cover fee. We wanted a private room, so we expected to pay for it, but I think they wanted something like $ 30pp for 6 of us for barely an hour. Not happening. We talked them down to ~$ 20pp and a drink each… at least we thought we did…
The karaōke itself was awesome. The private rooms are fun, you have to do it. Drink selection was TINY but they came reasonably fast. However, they refused to fulfill my promised Unilocal check-​in gift — not cool!
The other problem was when we got the bill and they’d charged us for all the drinks. We complained, they insisted they’d never included a drink in the charge, we lost. I’ll never know who was right, but I will know that I’ll be clearer about that if and when I return.

I wish I could give this place 3.5 stars — it’s one of those weird, quirky locales that’s worth a visit as long as your expectations are relatively low.
The good:
— friendly bartender who did sake shots with us
— free sake shots for checking in on the Unilocal!app
— private rooms with nice couches
— good music selections
— awesome music videos to go with the songs
— fun interactive screens
— lots of room for dancing
The bad:
— surly door attendant who was not at all helpful when our group was trying to meet up
— limited drink selection and no good option for tap water
— rather expensive if you don’t have a deal like we did ($ 15/​hr/​person, I think?)
The weird:
— strange vibe in the main stage room. Who wants to wear a costume everyone else has already put on?
— metal floors in the private rooms?
— door numbers inside the rooms… but not outside?
— navigating song choices that are weirdly translated from other languages, and just having to guess at some points about if it’s really the artist you were looking for
I still prefer Do Re Mi (in Brighton) but this is a good downtown alternative as long as you’re not looking for too much!

You can’t live in Boston and not hear/​know about Limelight. Somehow, though, I’ve managed to live here for over a decade and never GO.
Until last month. While walking to dinner at Rock Bottom to meet some friends visiting from out-​of-​town, we walked past Limelight and my husband, a karaōke fiend, immediately go a bug in his ear to go. He somehow convinced everyone that we should go, so we did.
Apparently it’s usually a $ 15 cover (I think that’s what the «bouncer» told us?), but since we were a large group, we only had to pay $ 10/​person.
Our friends immediately went to the bar, where they came back with a multitude of beers — some of which were skunky. Maybe they assume people are already so drunk by the time they get here that they won’t notice?
I immediately went to look at songs. They have 2 electronic «jukeboxes» on the wall, where you can look up songs — by artists or title, except it is SOOO slow and the typing in name function didn’t seem to be working. Once you find your selection, you then have to right it down on a piece of paper, copying the song ID from the «jukebox.» If they’re going to have an electronic system, rather than old school binders, then have it ALL electronic: find your song, select and it sends to the DJ’s laptop. Easy, no unreadable handwriting, songs stay in order of time chosen and no paper waste.
Once you’re on stage (we stayed in the main room, but will be going back for a private room, as we bought the Groupon deal), there are only 2 microphones. So, if you’re a group, you’re forced to all huddle together.
You also can’t really hear the singer over the music. Look, I know it’s karaōke and people are usually bad. But that’s sort of the point, no?
The song selections weren’t the best — they didn’t have a lot of songs my husband likes — but there were some decent ones.
The DJ was definitely having fun, making comments after each song.
I think this was the first time I’ve actually been to a dedicated karaōke place, rather than on a cruise, at someone’s house or a bar just hosting karaōke (other than The Abbey, which was technically a karaōke bar, but stopped karaōke at 10pm)… So, I don’t know if all karaōke places are like this.
Overall, it seemed like it WANTED to be hip, but was somewhat dingy and needed cleaning and updating.