Café U & I

it's not bad for a karaoke place. This used to be "the spot" where everyone goes to, but after they'd closed once due to who knows what, I guess everyone goes to Champion now. Maybe it's just me, but every time I go, there's no one there.. ?? I guess business is going bad. It's in a really great spot, so it's a shame. The service isn't bad, but it's not good either. they remodeled so the place is clean, but there needs to be more people in there...

For the price, I would recommend trying Cafe U & I for karaoke (not for food or drink).

Selection: The Korean selection is great. The Japanese song selection is decent. It's much better than Karaoke Express. I don't remember the last time the overall English catalog was updated, but it has a good and fun selection. It's not exactly in step with the Billboard/Oricon charts, but there are a few English and Japanese songs added on each update. (If what you're looking for is more recent, a good tip is to look in the very back of the book, where the monthly catalog update pages are located.)

Hours of Operation: One of the greatest advantages of this place is that it is open until 4 AM pretty much everyday, where most karaoke places close at 2AM. If you're planning to go late at night (after midnight) it might be good to make a reservation, as we have shown up at 2:00 AM after bars close to find that there is no availability for the rest of the night.

Drink: Speaking of bars, if you want to drink, don't expect to have much of a selection here. Drink first, Cafe U & I after. Sometimes the staff will bring in free snacks, which is awesome.

Room: Average. The sound isn't as well insulated as other places and the decor could use some help. The machine isn't brand new, but it works well and there's good speakers and lights. Some mics aren't that great, though, so test them out when you get into the room. The light up tamborines don't really work, but that doesn't really mean much to me.

I like to come here when I'm already in the complex because of Shilla, and when other places are too busy.  The nice part about this place is that it is almost NEVER busy, so even on Friday nights, it is a good default place.  Unlike some people, I've never had my car towed, so can't speak to that, and I guess it's all relative whether you think $30/hour for a 6-person room is expensive.  Compared to NYC, that's a steal, but yes, you can find cheaper places in Annandale.  Even so, if you stay a good long while (3 hours or so), the owner will usually also give you some free time or toss in some free food or a discount.  And...I've definitely had beer served here before, so I don't know about people being told the establishment doesn't serve alcohol.

Sound quality is a bit lacking here (mics don't pick up your voice so well -- they seem old), and the walls aren't as well sound-proofed as I'd like, but they do the job.

As far as song selection goes, I don't understand when people complain about there not being a good English selection.  If you're in Annandale, you have to expect the establishments to cater to Korean patrons.  That being said, the songbooks are not updated as frequently as the machines are, so if you search for songs/artists, you will frequently find them when you can't find them in the books.

And, I've never done this before, but I'm cutting and pasting my how-to guide for working the remote controls from Dain Cafe to here, b/c they (as in nearly all karaoke places) use the same controls.

To input songs:

Type in the number and press the big rectangular yellow button ("reserve") underneath the blue button.  The yellow button has the notepad looking icon on it.  If you are successful, the song's number should appear at the top of the screen, indicating it is on deck.  To cancel a song, when it comes on the screen, hit the red button underneath the numbers.  If for some reason the music stops, hit the blue button ("start") above the reserve button to move on to the next song.

For other commands, starting from the upper left corner of the control box:

1. To raise or lower the pitch of the song, hit the two square yellow buttons (with the up and down arrows) on the top two rows, far left.

2. To speed up or slow down the tempo of the song, move one button over to the right from the pitch buttons.

3. To adjust the melody (not sure how this differs from pitch), move one button over to the right.

4. To adjust the echo from the mic, hit the two round yellow buttons, one over to the right of the melody buttons.

5. To adjust the volume of the mics, move one button over to the right of the echo buttons.

6. To adjust the volume of the music, move one button over to the right of the mic volume button.

7. To skip the bridge of each song and shave off a few minutes (b/c remember, you're paying by the hour!), hit the white rectangular button to the immediate right of the music volume button (right underneath that black line on the top row).

8. For applause, hit the rectangular gray button immediately below the music volume buttons (4th column from the left).

9. To turn off the scoring system (in case you're getting terrible scores or you just want to save time), hit the 2nd rectangular gray button in the third column from the left.

Eventually, I will translate the search buttons, but I'm tired right now.