Mac Karaoke

Sounds was atrocious. And not from our singing. Horrible acoustics. But when everyone is closed on Monday, I guess it’ll do.

It’s been almost 2 decades that I have been to a private room karaōke bar. What I know is that it is the perfect place to sing your heart out and no one else will have to know you were singing badly, lol.
I was impressed with the many selections of western (especially American hit top 40 songs) songs to choose from.

I love this place. Great service! Clean rooms. Equipment works. I always go here because I know what to expect. Food menu is limited but delicious pan fried dumplings. We usually eat before going so it’s a good snack if we get hungry. I love their soju with cranberry juice.

This past weekend we were looking for a karaōke bar that could accommodate a party of up to 20 for Josh W.‘s birthday. We called around to all the usual places, but they were all booked until the wee hours in the morning. Just when we thought the night was ruined, our Korean buddy told us about this place. To be honest, I had passed by this place all the time when I’m in K-​Town and have always dismissed it as inferior. Just one look at the exterior gives me shivers. Broken glass in the parking lot and a warehouse looking entrance? I’d say it’s pretty ghetto. OK, maybe it’s not that bad, but it’s still pretty bad compared to the other places I usually frequent. But who am I to question my friend who makes this neighborhood his second home?
We got there and the first thing I notice is the bar. It’s decent in size with a lot of tables and chairs. Good for when you’re waiting on your friends that believe in «Asian time.» We only saw one lady there working that night, but she was nice. Like SUPER nice. We didn’t get attitude for not speaking her native tongue and she even made small conversation with us. She’s the most friendly ajumma I’ve ever met. But I digress.
The rooms are laid out like any other Korean karaōke bar you go to. Nice, comfortable couches against the walls with coffee tables in the middle of the room. The couches are a bit newer, maybe because this place doesn’t get as much patrons as the others. They also have metal frame chairs if you need additional seating. The screens are old CRT rear projection TVs, but it’s not like we were watching a movie so it didn’t really make much of a difference.
The only knock for this place (other than the situation outside) is the song selection is a bit limited compared to the more popular ones especially if you’re looking for English songs. This place is definitely catered towards the Korean community as about 75% of the songs in the catalog were Korean songs. Still, there was a decent amount of songs and everyone in our group found most of the tunes they were looking for. If you’re expecting an array of current top 40 hits, you may be disappointed.
After a few hours of singing (and drinking) the birthday boy started getting silly and accidentally flipped the table (how???) knocking over drinks and a number of shot glasses. The ajumma that I aforementioned quickly came to the rescue by mopping the floor and picking up the broken glass. She even told US that she was sorry about something that was clearly our fault. She didn’t even charge us for the broken shot glasses. Like I said, THE nicest!
Everyone had a blast and this experience has made me a fan of Mac karaōke. We’ll definitely be coming back!

no new songs … good service … small menu … a bit on the pricey side …

Ok, as a request from fellow Unilocaler, let me write details on my experience.
First of all, for whoever think I have to consider what I write, do not complain. This is Unilocal.Real People. Real Reviews. I am no racist — This is what I experienced and this is what I will write.
This was happened at the previous Mac location. There were 3 of us, we are not Korean. The girl said it will be 15 – 20 minutes wait. We agreed to wait and started ordering some foods so it will ready by the time our room is ready. 15 minutes passed by… nothing. 20 minutes passed by… nothing. 30 minutes passed by… still nothing. I saw they were cleaning one of small room and assuming that’s for us because we were the only one waiting at the moment. But there’s no explanation, no sorry, nothing! 40 minutes passed by, and there something: group of Korean teenager stepped in, chit-​chat a bit with Mac staff and went INTO the room they were cleaning. We were like «what the hell is going on here?». We decided to left, our foods weren’t ready either. By the time we were out, the lady chased us and asked if we still want the room or not. We said NO and we were ready to leave. She was asking about the food we were order. We told her that it was too long to wait and it was unfair for us because we’ve been waiting over 40 minutes with nothing. And bunch of Korean stepped in and got the room as easy as flipping your hands. She got pissed. So did we.
Ok tell me if I am racist or not?

So this is pretty much like the other Karaōke joints in K-​town, except they have a really spacious open bar area. Some of the other joints have a smaller bar area so congregating while the rest of the group shows up isn’t so much a hassle.
That’s about all I can really add to the other reviews. They all pretty much hit it on the spot. I do have to add that the bar keeps there aren’t to keen on making fancy shmancy drinks, plus they don’t have a FULL bar. Most Koreans will drink anything with alcohol and we don’t complain, so that’s why they don’t have such a wide selection of beers and liqours in most Korean joints. Calling a Korean an ‘Alcoholic’ is just being redundant, just call us Korean.

I’m a big fan of karaōke. What I’m not a fan of is singing karaōke in a bar and being heckled by drunks that I don’t know. I much prefer my heckling to come from my friends! Which is why Mac Karaōke rocked my karaōke world.
I have to say I was a little dubious going into the evening, since Mac is located in a less than stellar part of town and outside of the building leaves a little to be desired visually. But once I walked through the front door — which greeted me in a lovely female voice, btw — I knew that outer appearances can be deceiving. The inside was bright and clean and we were immediately greeted by a friendly employee. I’m not sure he knew what to think of all the white folks storming the door, but he was friendly just the same.
We started out with a smaller room but soon realized that we needed to upgrade to a bigger room, which was handled lickety split. The couches were super comfortable and the mood lighting set just the right tone for the night. We sang — or shrieked, depending on which side of the door you were on — the evening away and had a blast revising 80s and 90s cheesy hits. Thank goodness Katie C. got her hands on a song list by artist, as it was a little hard searching for songs by song title.
The only minor kink in my evening was paying $ 3 for a can of Coors Light. Meh. But I’ve paid more for beer and had less fun in the past, so it doesn’t shade my opinion of Mac Karaōke enough to keep me from coming back.

I, the norebang (karaōke) queen had actually never been here before until now. It seems very clean and has nice tvs and you can actually kinda feel the bass when you’re sitting on the couches. Also awesome is that they have a book which lists songs by artist! So useful since many times you cannot remember the name of the song. ANNNND they actually have an ENGLISH REMOTE. Amazing. I have pretty much memorized how to use the Korean remote by color, but having it in English is so much more convienent.
The things I didn’t like about the place is that they have no waiters. I did notice a sign in the restroom saying help wanted, but there is a bell in the rooms for a reason. and then I had to keep getting up to find the ajusshi and he wouldn’t even be there. Also they didn’t have my favorite yogurt soju, but the grape kind isgood though, so I wasn’t too upset. Also they only give you popcorn :(I love how at zeller zone and even at star they give you peanuts, shrimp chips, and pretzels. This isn’t a make or break thing though, just something I noticed.
Anyway, I overall had a good time and I’d probably be more likely to go here with my non-​Korean friends.