The Best Karaoke Bars in Los Angeles

The most design-forward karaoke venue in Koreatown, with rooms that could pass for a boutique hotel in Seoul. The audio setup is the best of any LA karaoke operation. The song library covers 80,000 tracks in Korean, English, Spanish, and Japanese. Bottle service is efficient and the cocktail quality is noticeably higher than the neighbourhood standard. Book a week ahead for weekends. The private room pricing is justified by what you get.

Order: Champagne bottle service to start, soju bottles through the night

The dependable mid-range choice in K-Town — ten rooms that book consistently well on weekends without the premium pricing of the neighbourhood's flagship venues. The English song library is strong. The rooms are clean and maintained properly. The all-you-can-drink package for weeknights is the best deal in the neighbourhood. The staff speak English fluently and the booking system is online. Walk-ins accepted until 9pm on weeknights.

Order: All-you-can-drink weeknight package — best value in K-Town karaoke

The most walk-in-friendly private room karaoke in Koreatown, with rooms that open at 6pm and fill up after midnight on weekends. Nori is less polished than Meridiem but runs more efficiently for large groups arriving without a reservation. The K-Pop and hip-hop catalogues are particularly strong. The bar snacks — fried chicken and tteokbokki — are ordered to the room and arrive quickly. One of the few K-Town venues open until 6am on weekends.

Order: Soju cocktail pitcher plus fried chicken to the room

The largest open-stage karaoke venue in Los Angeles, with a dedicated stage, professional sound system, and a crowd that takes the performances more seriously than most bar-format karaoke. The song library is enormous and the host manages the queue with genuine skill. The bar section away from the stage is the right place for people who want to watch without committing. Open until 2am on weekends. Our pick for groups that include both karaoke enthusiasts and reluctant participants.

Order: Monkey Brew on draft or whatever cocktail the host is drinking

Silver Lake's most reliable karaoke night runs on Tuesdays at this neighbourhood bar that operates like a dive but sounds like a proper karaoke venue. The host has been running the Tuesday night for several years and the regulars return every week. The song selection leans toward rock and pop from the 90s and 2000s, which suits the crowd. Cheap drinks, no cover, and the kind of atmosphere where first-timers are welcomed rather than judged.

Order: Well drink — keeps the night affordable enough to stay late

A downtown dive bar with a devoted Mexican-American clientele that runs karaoke on Thursdays with a song selection that is bilingual in the truest sense — equal coverage of English and Spanish, with the Spanish selection noticeably deeper than any other karaoke bar in the city. The crowd brings energy that most karaoke nights never achieve. The drinks are cheap and strong. One of the few karaoke nights in LA where you might hear Selena sung with genuine feeling.

Order: Modelo and a shot of tequila

A Taiwanese-owned karaoke operation in Alhambra with a song library that covers Mandopop, Cantopop, and Hokkien music at a depth unmatched anywhere in Los Angeles. The English library is standard chain quality. The private rooms are well-maintained and priced below the Koreatown equivalents. The snack menu ordered to the room is better than most — the scallion pancakes are particularly good. The clientele is almost entirely from the local Taiwanese and Chinese communities on weeknights.

Order: Taiwan Beer and the scallion pancakes to the room

The best Vietnamese-influenced karaoke in the San Gabriel Valley operates in a strip mall in Rowland Heights and is known primarily within the local Vietnamese-American community. The Vietnamese pop catalogue is extraordinary. The English library is comprehensive. The rooms are private and the food — ordered from a Vietnamese kitchen attached to the venue — is excellent at 1am when everything else has closed. The per-hour rate on weeknights is the lowest of any comparable venue.

Order: Saigon beer and whatever the kitchen special is

For visitors staying in Hollywood who do not want to drive to Koreatown, Serenade is the right choice. Twelve private rooms, a multilingual catalogue, and a staff that handles non-Korean speakers efficiently. The sound quality is above average for a Hollywood venue. The pricing is higher than Koreatown but the location premium is worth it for groups that are already in the neighbourhood. Open until 3am on weekdays and 5am on weekends.

Order: Cocktail bucket package — more efficient than ordering by the drink