So having lived in Austin for 5 years now, I am very spoiled when it comes to private karaoke and this place just doesn't cut it.
While the cost of renting the room out is not so bad, you are not allowed to bring any food or drink (even water!) in without paying a fee or buying food/drink from them. This wouldn't be as outrageous if their prices weren't outrageous. I cannot say the quality of said food and drink since we refused to purchase any.
We've always gotten stuck in the back room which is apparently one of the largest but is still fairly cramped.
The song selection is pretty decent and we were able to find a TON of songs to sing and dance to, even recent hit songs within the last couple months.
Another weird thing. There's a window on the door so the employees can walk by and look in whenever they want. I'm sure this is partly for security or so they can peep on you and make sure you haven't snuck in your own food or drink, but it's a bit unnerving and sort of takes away from the whole privacy feel. Â
I'll still go here if only because this is the only korean karaoke place in the Champaign area that I know of..
My voice never sounded so good on a karaoke sound system - granted that I've gotten better at singing. Â Still, awesome sound that made me forget the price.
Don't forget to order soju and Korean-style chicken wings with your experience.
Apparently it costs money to bring water into the room though.
It's a Korean Karaoke/ Restaurant, probably the only karaoke place in Champaign-Urbana area.
In terms of karaoke, there are good selection of songs ranging from mandarin, cantonese, english and of course korean songs. And the songs are surprisingly up-to-date.
For the food, I like the kimchi pork a lot. And the soup with beef ribs is good too...On a side note, they serve really good fried chicken. Alot of customers only come in and order fried chicken.
Another note is it opens late. It serves food till 4-5am...so it can be an alternative drunk food from pizza/hot dogs...
Allow me to share my Star Karaoke adventure. Â During a trip to the Savoy 16 Theater, I spotted this strange building as I was pulling into the lot. Â From a distance, I could only make out the more prominent part of the building's sign: "BBQ & PIZZA." Â I shrugged it off as a typical family restaurant, but a friend told me later that it was actually a Korean karaoke place. Â This piqued my interest. Â With an upcoming birthday, I thought I would investigate Star Karaoke as a potential venue, especially as I have an appreciation for quirky spots.
After some investigation through the Internet, I was able to confirm that Star Karaoke was a true Asian karaoke place; that is, the setup they offer is not the standard single stage that you see in American bars. Â Instead, the building holds many separate "booths," or small enclosed rooms. Â Each room has the requisite big screen TV and equipment (microphones, song lists, etc.) so you can fulfill your karaoke dreams. Â If you're someone who is easily embarrassed by your singing abilities, this is an ideal setup as you can karaoke with your friends in the comfort of a private booth.
I also found a "food list" while searching the Internet. Â Do not expect to find American-style barbecue and pizza if you come here; all of the food is made with Asian cooking techniques and flavors. Â According to one website, Star Karaoke sold food items like "ricecakes covered in lava." Â Yikes?
I called a week in advance to reserve a booth for my birthday celebration. Â With a party of 10, the employee offered us their largest booth, which cost something like $40 per hour. Â The price seemed pretty expensive, but was not too bad if you consider splitting it between 10 people. Â For whatever room you intend to rent, just anticipate paying around $4 to $6 per person.
When we got there, she led us to our booth, which had a large table, plenty of seating, and a miniature disco ball on the ceiling. Â (Don't forget that these are still fairly small rooms, so prepare to get cozy.) Â For anyone interested in just trying the food (not the karaoke), I also saw a separate, large dining area that I assume is for dinner guests only. Â
We ordered beer and several dishes to share, including bulgolgi (Korean-style barbecue), sweet potato pizza, seafood pancakes, and the previously mentioned "ricecakes covered in lava." Â Most of it was pretty mediocre and did not stand out too much in my mind. Â The sweet potato pizza was interesting, though the cheese and crust were a bit hard and bland, a pretty amateur attempt at pizza. Â I enjoyed the seafood pancake with its crispy edges and flavorful dipping sauce (I think it was everyone's favorite dish). Â Unfortunately, nobody really wanted to touch the ricecakes covered in lava, which was indeed spicy, but also tasted a little weird and came with a single, huge boiled egg (?). Â
Although this karaoke venue is owned by Asians, the provided song lists had both Korean and American tracks. Â I didn't look at the Korean list, but the American song list was pretty extensive (probably 300+ songs) and had all of the favorite karaoke tunes, including (surprisingly) some pretty recent hit songs from the previous months. Â The equipment was easy to use and the staff only interrupted us to deliver food, pick up dirty dishes, and take additional orders.
Overall, the experience was a good one and while I would consider going back for another celebration, I probably wouldn't make this a permanent hangout on Friday nights. Â I docked points mostly because the facilities seemed a little outdated and the food wasn't too exciting. Â For anyone who hasn't had the Asian karaoke experience, though, I would suggest trying Star Karaoke at least once.
This is probably the only karaoke place in central Illinois and it does a pretty good job considering the price tag.
I've only been once, but the private room is a lot nicer than I thought it would be. I went with 4 other people and we each paid around 20 dollars each which is a little pricey, but that's as good as it's going to get considering where we were. Also, keep in mind we also bought some drinks.
There is a devoted English karaoke machine, but we didn't use it so I can't tell you much about it, except that it doesn't have Lady Gaga's newer songs. There's a nice guy who works at the place who'll show you how to use the machine if it's your first time so don't worry about that...
The other machine was what I was used to. It was your standard Korean one. There were some English, Japanese, Chinese and Thai songs on the Korean machine as well. (The Japanese songs have Korean above it for those who can't read Japanese haha!).
There's also a restaurant attached to the place where you can eat before or after you sing, but I can't tell you much about that.
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