Star Karaoke

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  Too pricy, and the owner doesn't seem to appreciate repeat customer. I might not go back there unless my buddies want to just experience a clean Korean-style Karaoke. I am dissapointed by their lack of customer service.

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  Posted on 02.17.13 Sean P.

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  This place is pretty cute and very reminiscent of a traditional Korean norebang. They don't have liquor and it's a bit pricey, but I'd likely give it another shot. The owner also told me that they are supposed to be getting samgyupsai soon so I'll definitely want to try that.

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  Posted on 12.17.12 Catie F.

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  DON'T GO HERE! Just spend some money on buying a mic and do karaoke at home! hook your laptop to your tv screen and use <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutube.com&s=3326ee23e94bec795f793644acf8579e19dead80f6025dd92e638edbb4b58f4c" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://youtube.com</a> or <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fkaraokeparty.com&s=886192096af58100407490d2cdc5bea3a6e464ff814ca93fff3955ace7b504b9" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://karaokeparty.com</a>. WAY CHEAPER and no need to worry about grumpy old guys ruining your time.
  
  POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE! machine failed, took effort to get them to reboot it and then that rebooting took another five minutes. then they cut off our time in the middle of a song! most places have the decency to let people finish out their song. when we complained that they should at least given us some extra time because of the technical error that was such a mood killer to deal with, they claimed that they did already and that the technical error wasn't that intrusive since it only takes a minute to reboot. BOTH STATEMENTS ARE FALSE! I clearly looked at my watch.

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  Posted on 11.16.12 Ivy P.

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  This place certainly made for a really fun party, but the night wasn't without its snags.
  
  First, I'd really LOVE for them to have not just small and large rooms (at $40 and $80 an hour, respectively), but a happy medium-sized room like they have in Raleigh (at $50/hour). Because three hours of karaoke in a large room can certainly add up.
  
  I made sure that my party overlapped with happy hour, and we took advantage of it by buying bottles of wine (for $10 instead of $20--ouch!), but they only have one variety of red and white each (and the white isn't cold).
  
  Now, I'm going to sound like an old lady, but the volume in our room was up too high! When we asked how to turn it down, the guy working kind of scolded us, saying that people usually want it turned up, not down. He did finally oblige, though.
  
  I'll definitely be back, but I left wishing there were more karaoke options in Durham because my wallet was hurting from the monopoly this place has.

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  Posted on 08.06.12 Nina B.

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  My brother and his housemate, huge karaoke fans, came down to NC from NY to visit, and of course wanted to do some karaoke.  As someone clueless about karaoke options in the triangle, I turned to yelp, which led me to discover this place.  As we exited the car in a dimly lit parking lot at night, and confronted the ominous black opaque "windows" and creepy red neon "open" sign, we stopped short.  We then debated about whether to go inside, and whether we might be killed.  We eventually took a deep breath, reviewed our zombie apocalypse rules ("cardio!"), and entered.  Reassuringly, the interior was much less scary than the exterior.  Some disco lights, some tables, and a bar manned by an older Korean man.  There are a number of private rooms with couches and TV's, and we rented one of them.  The songbook confused us at first, because it seemed to be only Korean, but apparently the pink-colored section has songs that are in English (also with their Korean translated titles).  It was organized by song title, not by artist, so it took me a while to scan through the selection to find songs that I knew and liked.  There were two microphones, and a touch pad to punch in the numbers for songs, and to adjust speed and pitch.  We found plenty of songs to sing, and really got into it.  (My brother did an impressive version of T pain's "I Got a Boat" and Ke$ha's "Tick Tock.")  Inappropriate Korean soap opera videos play while you're singing your songs, which contributes to the absurdity and hilarity.
  
  We were charged $40 per hour, which seemed fair to me.  We also were able to get water to lubricate our well-used vocal cords.  My brother felt that the karaoke places in NYC were superior, but come on.  Pickings are slim in the karaoke arena here, and I was happy to finally experience the wonder of the karaoke room.

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  Posted on 07.08.12 Liz B.

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  Okay, let's be honest - first impression? Muy creepioso.  Yes, Star Karaoke does have black tinted windows.  Yes, it is in a shady strip mall.  Yes, the name is "*STAR* Karaoke"... but!  I would go back, and let me tell you why...
  
  The facility was good: inside are individual karaoke rooms with a semi-tinted windows (so no shady business), with a dynamic sound system, and a disco ball for special effect.  Clean, non-smoking.  Song selection? Not bad, a wide range of Chinese, Korean, and American songs.  My only complaint is that the songs were not that recent, nothing from beyond 2005.  Price range? $40/hour for the room, and the guy was honest with us too (only charged us $35).  
  
  So I don't know if karaoke itself simply inspires a heck of a good time but all in the nature of embarrassing oneself amongst a private audience and dancing under a shiny disco ball I'd say it was worth the trip.  If only Star could get rid of those tinted windows...

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  Posted on 05.18.12 Tara T.

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  Karaoke rooms in Durham? Yes! Now I can subject people to my rendition of No Diggity even closer to home! I'm no stranger to the original Star Karaoke in Raleigh; so I was super-excited to learn about their new spot. The two are very similar... strip mall, ~6 rooms of varying size, BYOF(ood), sake & wine for sale (coming soon to Durham, at least; they're still waiting on their permit as of now). The books look the same too: large selection of Korean & Chinese songs, with some Japanese and English pop tunes as well. A little frustrating when you can't find some of the classic karaoke pieces (Son of a Preacher Man?!?); but forgiven when you realize they have included random hilarity such as Dick in a Box. Tonight, we had rented a room for 6-9, complete with spinning disco ball -- but squeezed around 13 folks in there, with no penalty. Rooms do get stuffy fast. At $40 an hour, splitting so many ways, it comes out pretty cheaply. Great addition to the area!

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  Posted on 02.18.12 Christina G.

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