Bonga

I’ve tried 2 other Karaōke places before this, one was Ukiyo and that was a lot of fun although there wasn’t many up-​to-​date songs to choose from. The other was a private room at a Chinese place on Capel Street, not great there, lots of feedback.
Bonga’s private room was great, it even has its own lighting club lights and everything. There’s a choice of choosing from the book which is alphabetised by song, which is hard to choose songs from. So we got the staff to change it to touchscreen. The system is very complicated and not very intuitive. It has many of the latest songs though, and even with the music videos, which was great.
If I was to come back, I would pick to have dinner in the private room while singing Karaōke.
Had lots of fun once we figured out how to pick our songs. There’s two mics.
The music choice also varies from Korean (go figure), Thai, Vietnamese and even Japanese as well as English.
If you don’t want to sing in front of everyone, get a private room here with a few close friends/​family, you can fit around 10 people in the room we were in.

I was mightily impressed with Bonga Korean BBQ.
The place is immense inside too, a lot bigger than the façade would make you think. And the décor is funky, I love the colourful lampshade and they way they are hung.
The buffet was smaller that I have been used to (I’d only ever to a few all-​you-​can-​eats in the UK). But that had no bearing on my experience. If anything it made it better. A lot less for me to pick from and less dishes for Bonga to make would mean better quality.
All the food I tried impressed me. The rice was tasty. The duck dish was very tasty. As was the beef in black bean sauce. The three different types of chicken dishes were all yummy too.
I can’t wait to go back. And maybe next time I will try a bit of karaōke too :)

This place is deceptively big inside, I mean really big! I love the lanterns that hang and the general hustle of the restaurant.
There is a buffet option as you enter or you can sit and order from the menu which I did. I got the chicken and vegetables and the portion was huge! Way too much for me, they really don’t scrimp on the portions that’s for sure.
There was just a smattering of English speaking people and for the most part the clientele are in their twenties to thirties.
Excellent value for what you get. Wonderful service. If you are in the mood for something different then I would encourage to wander down here.

So hungry and tired on a Friday night, me and my friend are looking for somewhere that we haven’t been before on the (gasp) north side of the Liffey and Bongo catches her attention. Capel Street is like a step back into old-​school Dublin, blissfully free of posers, overpriced wine bars and restaurants.
We walk in to this foriegn funky vibe with cool colourful lights hanging down from the ceiling, giving it that laid back kinda feel. The tables are nicely decorated, chopsticks if you ask for them (they obviously looked at me and thought I couldn’t handle them), little tea light candles etc, kitchen that was big enough to actually keep the animals in alive if they wanted to, quite a homely feel to it really.
There is a buffet to the right which looked delicious but I decided to be lazy and opt for the dinner menu (otherwise I would still be at the buffet trying to decide what to have). Once we were given our menus it took a little while to actually have our order taken but the food is so delicious it made up for the delay, you know it’s authentic when all the other customers in the place are Chinese, in fact English is the practically the second language on this menu!
I’ve noticed that they also do Karaōke, which wouldn’t particularly interest me (I’m not going to lie, my singing voice sounds like a cat being murdered with a Philip’s drill, kinda like Celine Dion…) but looks like good fun (pointing and laughing always is) but hey they serve alcohol so I’m sure it’s like American Idol in there on a Saturday night.
Very surprised that the bill came under € 40 as the portions were huge (the meal on one plate and the rice came on another plate the same size) and my friend was goaded into having a tiger beer (which they then didn’t have in stock in the end, she «settled» for a Heineken instead)
Will definitely be coming back here again in the near future.

Went along for some Karaōke on my friends birthday and had a great time. You can book a room for just yourself and your mates so the soul crushing embarrassment is shared exclusively by people you have dirt on. This, as I’m sure you already know, is deeply comforting and takes away any excuses for inhibitions-​so everyone has to get stuck in!
Another thing which kills inhibition is alcohol. You can buy wine at the bar, which is the right and proper thing I’d do. But the fact that you’re closed off and left unsupervised in your own private room would allow certain unscrupulous individuals, with whom I’d never associate, to buy a cheaper alternative in Centra across the way. I didn’t do this, no sirree bob, thought never crossed my mind. I consider it underhanded and sneaky. Besides, I had my hip flask…
Moving on; there’s a decent selection of cheesey pop and rock from the last four decades or so, though an associate and I were disgusted to find absolutely no Run DMC listed. Disgruntled, we did our own Old School rendition of New Skool classic «It’s Tricky» outside. Ye, showed you Bonga. And a passing squad car.
The tracks are listed by song, not band. You’d expect this to be annoying but in reality it’s perfect for Karaōke. For a start, it puts a stop to one band marathons which sound like a badly bootlegged cassette tape (in keeping with the correctly spelt Old School theme). And it’s also handy when you’re looking for one hit wonders because, and let’s be honest here, Karaōke is all about one hit wonders.
There’s multi-​purpose generic music videos playing on a big tv in the background for the entire duration of every song. They’re great, completely random silent movies from the high brow Korean equivalent of Fair City. They’re absolutely hilariously out of context, and the high production values only make it better.
The TV also gives a score, though it was clearly programmed by Simon Cowell (wait for the punchline, it’s gonna be great!) because none of us scored any points (har har, told ye!). This did allow, however, for repeated use of the famous ‘Irlande nil points’ joke. And that never gets old. Ever.
All in all, a great little place to start a big night out.

The Korean buffet was a bit of a bummer when I was here the last time — I was at least expecting some Kimchi or other Korean specialities, but instead was presented with mostly Chinese dishes. And warmed up chips. I should have followed the example of the Chinese/​Korean customers present and ordered something a la carte…
The karaōke-​booths upstairs did however make up for the food, especially with the nice murals («naïve», you could call it — loads of Teletubbies) and the original Korean karaōke-​machines that run a cheesy Asian video illustrating the lyrics in the background of any played song.

I am completely tone deaf and an absolutely terrible singer, but I really, really love karoake! And some how I am allowed to sing along to nearly ever song! My friends say that they love my passion when I sing, I think they ask me to sing along with them because it makes them sound so much better!
I was very excited to find another karaōke place in Dublin as admittedly there seemed to be very few! The rates are quite good at only something like € 35 for 2 hours in your own private room. You can’t complain about that! Also private rooms are good for parites and it gets everybody in the mood to sing because really you’re just there in front of your best pals!
If you need some nourishment before you begin they’ve also got a buffet on offer. I’d go for the lunch one just because it’s about half the price as the dinner one. Don’t expect too many culinary delights as it is a buffet after all, but alas it gets the job done and fills the tummy with Asian delights.

Bonga is a great place for the adventurous. I wasnt expecting such choice. The place is a funky and vibrant place which is brilliant considering the cheapness of the food. It is great value for money.
All you can eat buffet for 21 euro, and 15 euro for the early bird. They have a very large selection to choose from buffet stlye but all added to regularly. Always busy so the food dosen’t stay long on the buffet.
The staff were really friendly and helpful, the food was amazing. Well worth the visit again.

Bonga is a Korean BBQ Restaurant and Karaōke Bar. The food is served buffet style and is absolutely delicious. There is a wide range of meats, noodles and vegetable dishes plus a fantastic dessert selection. Bonga is a little bit on the expensive side but is ideal for a group meal and there is always the opportunity to partake in some karaōke after dinner!