Cafe Tu Ah

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  I love this place, I go about once a month, I call it The Random Asian Bar. I met Koreans, Vietnamese, Japanese, Filipinos, and a Singaporean.. Since everyone is from everywhere, mostly English is spoken. If you see a token Gweilo setting at the bar drinking Yuengling say 'Hi".

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  Posted on 06.11.13 Dave F.

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  Stopped by on Saturday night for an impromptu small gathering.  We didn't sing so I can't comment on that.  
  
  The place was completely dead. The bartender was nice and kept the popcorn flowing and drinks are reasonably priced.  The place was meh.
  
  Their fried chicken, though, let me tell you, was ridiculously good.  It was so good I almost died.  GET THE FRIED CHICKEN.

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  Posted on 04.28.13 Sylvie S.

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  I've been a big fan of Korean-style karaoke bars every since I spent a year+ there courtesy of the US Army.  We'd been threatening to go to this place for awhile, and finally organized an outing for my wife's birthday.
  
  If you're there for karaoke, the place is great.  We booked a room about a week in advance because we had a large group (20 people).  I wouldn't go any larger than that unless you plan on reserving more than one room.
  
  The music selection was solid, with plenty of standards (we're all big fans of The Beatles, Queen, and Elvis) as well as plenty of more recent music.  The wait staff was extremely attentive, and catered to our every whim.
  
  Overall, we had a blast, and for a group of 20 people, the bill was extremely reasonable.  The only downside: if you plan on ordering food, it tends to be on the expensive side.  But drinks were definitely reasonable.
  
  We'll definitley be back.

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  Posted on 04.07.13 Dan C.

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  The bartenders here are weird.  Really weird. Like hooking for tips weird.  
  
  A few friends and I decided to get together the day before Christmas Eve to bust out a few Wham tunes and shake off the holiday stressfulness.  We entered the bar and realized that there was going to be wait for a private karaoke room so we decided to just sit at the bar.
  
  The waitresses were outrageously flirty, opting to move behind the bar to sit right next to the obviously taken guys to hold deep conversations with them making all of  us feel deeply uncomfortable.  When one of the bartenders learned of my recent engagement  (BTW IM ENGAGED Y'ALL!!!!!) she grabbed my hands, stared at my ring, and started telling me about her recent divorce and how sad love was. Umm...more soju please?  
  
  Every time I ordered a drink the waitress kept trying to talk to me in Filipino even though I told her that I do not speak Tagalog.
  
  The whole experience was really odd but I rolled with the punches and had a good time (thank goodness for alcohol right?).  When I paid my tab, the head bartender (who seemed really nice and normal) apologized (we didn't complain at all but maybe she saw the bewildered look in our eyes) and promised that they would treat us better next time.  
  
  My boyfriend (fiance!!!) promised me that we will NEVER go to that place again but honestly...curiosity has gotten the best of me and there will probably be a next time.
  
  PS: $20 for soju cocktails ....enough for 12 shots!

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  Posted on 01.06.12 Kimberly V.

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  I'm giving this place one star for the fried chicken and the second start for their jambong soobabi (okay horrible spelling probably but that spicy soup with the thick noodles). These two dishes are really yummy but I'll have to admit $20 for a couple pieces of fried chicken is a bit much for me. I only go here once in awhile if my bf is absolutely craving it. Other than that, the drinks in here are too over priced for me and the servers seems to like to disappear... :T

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  Posted on 08.12.11 Quinn T.

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  Great place for karaoke

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  Posted on 06.20.11 Tuan N.

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  Came here already wasted, drank more beer and makgeolli for effect. Fried chicken and seafood pancake tasted awesome even though I knew it was the alcohol judging. Service was the best - kept asking the server to change the channel to the basketball game and he flipped around looking for it (the TV was already on the right channel, but it was commercial break when I asked both times.) Karaoke rooms were empty, but I probably passed out too early. Buzzer buttons never failed to work.

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  Posted on 04.05.11 Tom N.

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  Well. It's a noraebang. The fact is that it does have an exterior bar area as well as private singing rooms. The rooms are clean and the songs are current.
  
  The service is prompt and you can get backup singers at an additional cost. It is $35 an hour but free if you order over$150 worth of anju(Korean apps) and drinks.
  
  Best noraebng in annandale at the moment.

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  Posted on 02.12.11 Sandra K.

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  their chicken are amazing!.. overall though their bartender service is amazing all the time. seriously some bartenders are hot.

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  Posted on 12.12.10 Kihun C.

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  okay. since my friend has been complaining all night about this place, i must write up a review.
  
  okay... so we went on a Saturday night for a friends birthday.
  this was our 2nd round right after Honey Pig. she was already complaining about dinner so this had to be the icing on the cake.
  well.... first off, it was dead. c'mon it's Saturday night, where all the people at???
  apparently, not here!
  we got a room to do karaoke. we ordered yogurt soju and the dry anju plate (came with peas, dried octopus, and squid)
  yogurt soju was good...
  the karaoke was fun, the birthday girl gave us a free concert.
  they didn't have many of the songs we were looking for though...
  
  we played for a good two hours and i think my friend was drunk because she left her credit card.
  we were outside thinking of where to go for third round when the worker ran out with her card and then gave her the bill saying she didn't leave tip.
  she was flabbergasted because she is a big tipper but she just forgot because she was a little tipsy. but then it was rude that he asked for tip.
  uhhh oh well. koreans are just rude like that. haha.
  
  but ultimately i don't think i'd go back.
  not because of the tip asking worker, but because it was dead and not a very exciting atmosphere.

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  Posted on 09.23.10 Jessica K.

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  Ring my bell! $35/hour for a private karaoke room (or two hours free if you spend $150 in booze and belly-fill). Ring the bell for service. Eat fried chicken (greasy weird "eh, it's too dark and loud in here for me to figure out why this chicken tastes like..."). Drink soju. Grab microphones. Scream songs in Korean. Scream songs in English. Scream loud enough to score high on the K-R-O-K-meter (only 89 points for "With or without you"?!) Most of all, watch a married man, scream EVERY WORD of a Japanese "Butterfly" dancetronic anthem that makes you delight at the joys of a pupa emerging from the closet, for one night only, all bedecked in shiny lights and soju I'm-not-lip-sincing-for-my-life! Now, sashay Tu-AH!

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  Posted on 08.19.10 Mikkela T.

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  This place is a bar/restaurant/karaoke room place.  it's pretty cool.  I wouldn't go here again unless my friends wanted to go there.  The service is good, the singing is good.  it's definitely someplace you'd want to go to play, but as i said in my review for damoim, i'm biased because of my experiences in seoul and LA.  It's got a korean beer house type feel too it.  dark interiors and all, wood paneling, etc.  I guess I was in the mood for something cheerier.
  
  Anywhooo.  The biggest disappointment regarding this place is the chicken.  Everyone raves aboot the chicken which they call "tong dak".  but it's not really tong dak.  it's friend chicken.  tongdak is like a big buffalo wing sans sauce.  fried up with no batter.  you rip it apart and dip the pieces into a mixture of pepper and salt.  Anyway, for fried chicken, it was pretty good.  but it wasn't as good as BBQ.

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  Posted on 08.16.10 paul l.

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  this place is a hip for college students...bars is always full on weekends and best of all their chicken is a must for starters, especially with a beer.
  
  weekdays mostly couples that comes here but this place got the atmosphere for parties and games to watch...came here for winter olympic, NBA playoffs, and world cup...
  
  compare other service this place got better servers...
  
  must try
  - fried chicken
  - tang su yuk
  - donkatsu

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  Posted on 06.21.10 Kyle H.

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  Best fried chicken anywhere... K F C - if you've never had it before ... Korean Fried Chicken... is definitely a sin worth indulging in.
  
  I used to go to Tuah every day practically in 2008... met my current girlfriend there, who bartended til the end of 08. But personal biases put aside, the food alone makes me want to go back.
  
  Louis Kay, the owner of the bar, has been in the restaurant business in Annandale for 25 or 30 years... he owned the old Jin Sung Garden across from K Mart... and sold it and went into the bar grill business. Jin Sung is now a Korean/Chinese gourmet? JangWonBanJum? I believe.
  
  I moved back to LA now and live in the heart of Koreatown, with more bars, cafes, and KFC's than anyone in Annandale could ever dream of... with delivery no less... but I do miss Cafe Tuah chicken.

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  Posted on 11.30.09 David C.

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  Came here for a few beers after Cafe Noir on a Friday night. I thought it was pretty comfortable and wouldn't mind coming back again.

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  Posted on 08.23.09 Donald P.

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  The good old Tu-Ah days.  The food is a-ok and the drinks prices are average.  They were slow to follow the $9.99 soju bottle trend but they eventually caved.  Back when I used to go frequently, the bartenders were horrible bartenders.  Always looking in books to get the drinks right.  And even after looking at the book they mixed drinks there were horrible.  Thankfully I am not a mixed drink person at all.  Except for Gin or Vodka Tonics.
  
  The food is overall very good.  Tong-Dak is good although it's not cooked in the traditional roasted fashion.  There's only a couple other chicken places I prefer over Tu-Ah and that's BonChon and Red Rooster in Damascus, MD.  The Dubu Kimchi is excellent and almost everything I had on the menu was very good.  Although I have NO idea why butter corn for 10 bucks in on the menu.
  
  The atmosphere.  They play a good balance of Kpop and American music.  They have multiple TVs there and they will turn the channel at your request.  We often went to see fights on HBO or Showtime.  And college football matches got a lot of play there.
  
  Now the main reason that kept me going back was...  Angela.  Ha ha ha.. I probably shouldn't be saying this and listing names of bartenders.. But she was incredibly hot and friendly.  She hasn't worked there in a while now.  But drinking there used to be easy on the eyes, ears, and mouth as the food is pretty good.  But if she was still there this place would be a 5/5 but now it's just okay.

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  Posted on 08.14.09 Sang K.

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  To be totally honest I don't know what constitutes "tong dak". It's definitely Korean-prepped chicken. But I've heard people say tong dak when referring to BonChon chicken, roasted chicken, and breaded fried chicken.
  
  I was dragged here by someone craving tong dak. I thought she meant the roast chicken - so I was not very excited. Saw the exterior and was already hating the place. We went inside - I was hoping the horrible interior would persuade us to leave. Music was way too loud and the place was darker than Houston's.
  
  But..
  The tong dak was good. Really good. I stopped whining. It was a simple deep-fried breaded chicken. It was crisp and juicy. Perfectly seasoned - nothing too fancy but mouth-wateringly tasty. Came with two different dipping sauces. Both spicy. One more vinegary and another more sriracha-ish. The chicken was served piping hot.
  
  The wait staff was helpful. They even turned up the lights for us. I should note we were there just after opening (530pm) and were one of only 3 parties being served.

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  Posted on 08.12.09 Arthur K.

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  This place plays its music very noisy but it does have a cozy and packed feel to it.  I've had food here a lot, but nothing that great.  Just a place to stop by and have some drinks.

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  Posted on 08.10.09 Soo Hyun Y.

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  Tacky! The food was alright, the service was pretty good, but everything else about this place was completely tacky.
  
  Let's start with the decor. The dark wood is nice, the ambient lighting - fine. But they've got white AND multi-colored Christmas lights all blinking at random! And they've got these sparkly things hanging from the ceiling probably to give the place some pizazz - which would look fine at a place like Oya - but it just doesn't work here.
  
  Next, the music. Our server had to ask us to repeat things over and over again because they couldn't hear us over the obnoxiously loud music! This is a bar & restaurant! No room for dancing. If there's no dancing, the music should be at a reasonable volume! Why do Annandalians not understand this? (See my Ara review <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/ara-fusion-restaurant-annandale#hrid:4E7E2L_7iHDamKSwZdnpbQ/src:self">http://www.yelp.com/biz/…</a>)
  
  The food was fine, but nothing special. The company was great and I don't want to complain, but let's not come back here, please!

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  Posted on 06.22.09 Ina C.

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  3.5 Stars
  
  After our dinner we were desperately looking for something to do when a friend brilliantly suggested we find a Karaoke bar. I am from the Bay Area, California, so we have plenty of bars around there, but I had never seen, let alone heard of a Karaoke bar in DC.
  
  So I pulled out my iphone, types in Karaoke in google maps, and went to the first one I saw. Cafe Tu Ah. I called and the guy on the phone answered in Korean. Too bad I don't speak Korean. LUCKILY, we had a person in our party who could. We told them to hold a room for us, they said they would but we had to get their ASAP.
  
  Well, we got there, and they had given our room away because we took too long. Oh well, we killed about 30 minutes by drinking and laughing, then a room opened up and we went in.
  
  If you havn't been to a korean karaoke place, they are HILLARIOUS. They have such random backround music videos to the songs, that usually have NOTHING to do with the song you're singing. I think they are snippets from Korean romance/action movies depending on the tempo of the music.
  
  They provide you with tamborines and the microphone has a built in echo to make you feel like a rock star. The room was nice and cozy, and is great for big parties.
  
  For 8 people, Drinks and 2 hours of Karaoke came out to about $150 dollars.  Not bad considering the amount of fun we had.
  
  Cafe Tu Ah was the perfect way to finish off our night of eating, drinking and being merry. But if you do decide to go, for the love of god, have someone with you who is fluent in Korean.

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  Posted on 02.28.09 Arya B.

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