by Yui K. on I'd like to preface this review with the fact that my boyfriend & I go karaoke A LOT. We've tried a ton of spots around town, especially places w/ private rooms so trust me on this opinion. forreal, seriously, no lie. Literally just left the spot about 20 minutes ago & feel the biggest need to review immediately. So i had high hopes for this place. actually really excited a new karaoke spot opened around my hood & had so many good reviews already. it's thursday night. got there & it was looking good. new(er) interior, themed rooms which was different.. brownie points for that. i wanted the hello kitty room (of course), but it was taken. no biggie, we got the crown royal room instead which had a throne so hell yeah. i guess that's one of the smaller rooms, but it was still huge. and $50/hour. shet.. maaddd $$$$.. usually places will have different price ranges to accommodate different group sizes (playground is $35/hour, yamasho about $40-45/hour). they say groups of mere 2 should "enjoy" ourselves in the "lounge" area... but um, we like to sing in private, thanks. anyway, we went in knowing it was $50, but still wanted to give it a try since it's brand spanking new. and ok, i give them some slack that it's their "soft opening" blah blah, that's nice. but there are a few basic things that you expect from all karaoke places: COMPREHENSIVE song selection, EASE of browsing those songs, CORRECT lyrics to songs, & microphones that don't have crazy feedback even if you're near each other, let alone across the room from one another. no to all of the above. their technology is impressive. big tv's w/ touch screen monitor to browse songs as opposed to the more common remote control and song books. at first it was oooh's and aaah's from us, but then waitaminute... how do you browse songs if you're NOT at the monitor? seeing that there's only ONE monitor, only ONE person at a time can look. and we all know it can take forever to find a song, if you didnt have one in mind already. godforbid there was more than two of us tonight. next, the screen was pretty dirty. my fingers got sticky & gnarly w/ gunk on the tips. they should think about investing in some stylus'. carrying on... so if you're the lucky person at the monitor attempting to locate a song, good luck actually finding it. yes, you're able to search from multiple angles.. yes, there are multiple languages available, BUT song options to choose from are slim & few. then, let's just say you're lucky again and were able to find that special song... 80/20 chance that there's going to be LYRICAL ERROR during that song.. actually, make that 100%. i think EVERY song had spelling mistakes and/or COMPLETELY WRONG LYRICS. i think they typed out the songs themselves because it was seriously off... all they had to do was google the lyrics, no?? cmon.. so lets say you knew alll the words to that special song you're singing by heart. awesome. and you want your friend/boyfriend/anyone to sing with you. duet. they pick up the mic and EEEEEEEEEEK feedback central. solo dolo it is. and cool, they've got some finger foods. great. nice girl takes our order. 15 minutes later comes in to check on us... no food. 10 minutes later, checks again.. we ask where the food is. she says, OH.. obviously forgot to put in the order. the food arrives another 10 minutes later (remember... this place is $50/hour) & it's the wrong order (well, one right, one wrong.. which is still wrong). we tell her. 5 minutes later, she comes back to apologize again, picks up empty beer bottles, ALONG w/ a basket (that contained correct food) that still HAS FOOD in it and takes it out. flustered much? WHAT THE CRAP. another 10 minutes later, other food order arrives. we dont even want it by then. aside from that, girl working there checked on us literally every 10-15 minutes. ok.. she's trying to be helpful & nice, but when you're in the middle of a song & trying to get into it, you really don't need/want interruptions. if we needed something, you would know. we would tell you. chill out, girlfriend. all right, all right.. so even after all that, i walked out of the room thinking i would give it three stars. but then after waiting 5 extra minutes to check out (bc no one was at the counter, and i was probably charged for), girlfriend smiles and tells us, we stayed 3 hours, but she'll charge us for 2.5. uh NO, we stayed for ALMOST 2 hours only. she calls manager, he does something and bill comes out to $173. this includes 18% gratuity ($24). WHAT? we were NOT told gratuity was included. undeserved. damn man.. after all the blunders & you being new.. not a good look, brah. in conclusion, NOT WORTH IT until they up their song options, get remotes, & spellcheck. if you really wanna go, bring a bunch of friends & take over the lounge. or better yet, check out YAMASHO. TONS of songs & less $ (and i used to think it's expensive). or head to japantown & hit up the korean spots. the one on geary rocks.
by Winfred Bulacan on I'll admit the Endup isn't for everyone - but be assured that if you're into house/techno music and dirty gritty afterhours nightlife - then this is a destination you must reach while you're here in SF. The club is legendary, period. The sound system is bangin, and most of the DJs are superb. BTW - the only reason I'm not giving the Endup 5 stars is because the security can be so over-zealous. Endup, I love you, but come on - ease up just a bit please on the anal probe. I play here all the time, I'm not trying to smuggle drugs into your club in my DJ bag, and there is no need to check every single pocket of my bag for 5 minutes while there are 40+ people behind me in line, or for you to even to go as far as to inspect my cartridge cases to look for contraband. Do I really look that amateur? I understand people can be stupid and you're trying to protect yourself from a higher authority coming down on you.. but seriously, it would be worth instructing your security to make an attempt to recognize local DJs who support your club on a regular basis - and to try to not to make them feel like they're criminals just for wanting to come in your doors with 20 of their friends.
by Hayden Vanderlee on The food was great, the drinks were great! I was disappointed with the service though. The waiting staff took forever to show up to take our order. I had the chicken satay which was amazing. I LOVED the cucumber salad they serve with everything. My date had the salmon which he loved and I could tell was great because it just fell apart with a fork poke.
