Karaoke in NYC

September 16, 2009 8:54 PM

NYC KaraokeFilter: Looking for a great karaoke place in Manhattan to hold a birthday party for about 20 or so people. We'd like to rent a private room. A big English songlist is a must, and the place should serve alcohol. Cool & loungey is a major plus. Thanks!

Ideally, we'd like a somewhat "nicer" place which is conducive to lounging around, mingling, and drinking as well as singing. Some places we've done some research on which look like possibilities: Karaoke One 7, Karaoke Top Tunes and Sing Sing. Red Bar has a very cool front room, but they couldn't promise that the karaoke machine would be working. (Zuh?) We've been to spots like Duet 35, but I feel that the rooms there are heavily geared toward singing and not so much for just mingling.

Anyhow, if you have any comments on any of these places, or can suggest some other locations, that would be terrific. Thanks so much.

P.S. I found one helpful previous question on this subject, but it's three years old, and our needs are a bit different.

posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell to sports, hobbies, & recreation (6 comments total)

2nd on 2nd. Everything you're looking for, plus it's cheap AND they have a search engine for their songlist. How cool is that?

You could also come to the meetup on the 7th and see for yourself.
posted by Afroblanco at 11:52 PM on September 16

2nd on 2nd is great for karaoke, and I go there all the time...but I'm not sure I'd call the decor "cool" or "loungey". The private rooms are pretty bare-bones, with four walls, a low center table, and couches that make you appreciate the dim lighting. However, the song selection is great, and the equipment usually works well.

With 20 people you might be a little too crowded to do much mingling, but then again, I've never successfully mingled at a karaoke party anyway--it's always loud, and everyone is either singing or pouring over the song books to decide what they want to sing next. Great fun, but not so much for chatting.
posted by Jemstar at 8:02 AM on September 17

Karaoke One 7 has somewhat nicer rooms than Second on Second, but fewer of them. I went there for a work event once and we had a nice big room right inside of the bar. However, I don't know how much mingling you would necessarily be able to do there if you put 20 people in it (we had... maybe 12 or 13), and I think it is also a bit more expensive than 2on2.
OTOH, I think 2nd on 2nd has really started to suck more lately. They have decent prices and a good song list but I feel like every time I go there the equipment works less and less well, and it is definitely not set up at all for mingling. Still, if you have a big group that really wants to sing, it is not a bad choice.
posted by ch1x0r at 4:01 PM on September 17

Definitely 2nd on 2nd. The front isn't quite what you're looking for, but the back rooms should do nicely.
posted by soonertbone at 1:23 PM on September 19

Thanks for all the advice. We decided to go with Karaoke One 7, which has a nice-sized (and decent-looking) party room with what looks like its own bar (sounds like the room that ch1 mentioned). We'll let you know how it goes!
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 6:23 PM on September 22

As a follow-up Karoke One-7s party room really did fit the bill. We had plenty of people come who didn't want to sing at all, and who hung out and had some beers and told us they had a great time; there was singing going on in part of the room, and the people who sang had fun, but overall, the two halves of the party meshed much better than I had feared they would. There were also spontaneous dancing outbreaks. If you're looking for a karaoke spot for a party that's not all hard-core about the music, I can't recommend this place more highly.

The only cautionary note I'd have is that, because we were in a private room, we had to grab drinks from the bartender when he came in to check on us, so sometimes you'd be waiting a little while.
posted by mccn at 11:17 AM on November 1