Tokyo Beat

I went here on a Friday night with close friends. The place had a very welcoming atmosphere. Karaōke was cool. Amber was really awesome. She took care of us. We were never lacking in drinks. If you like a chill environment in lil Tokyo this is place for you.

This place is a lot of fun. Haven’t found a place that has open karaōke like this one. The ramen tastes amazing too.

Friends & I made a spontaneous visit to this joint on a Friday night @9pm and the place was chill. We called ahead to reserve a private room and was serviced right away as soon as entire party arrived.
It’s a small intimate venue with a large flat screen tv in the main area. There’s a bar and some tables and chairs all around. Dim lighting and laser lights dancing off the floor and walls. People are chill and no cover charge at the door, so long as you order a drink (non-​alcoholic beverages count!).
Our room was big enough to hold 6 people & we had to remove our shoes, just like in a traditional Japanese home, or a Filipino house like mine lol. Table is low to the ground, but There’s a space beneath it where your legs go so they don’t go numb from sitting cross-​legged, «Indian style» all night.
They have a cool little in the center of the table to ring for your server. They’re pretty quick with there service so no complaints there. They’re songlist is extensive and have plenty of new songs from around year 2010 – 2014, more or less. Hip hop, r &b and everything else! However, the control for choosing your music is mostly in Japanese (go figure) so good luck trying to figure out how to skip songs and whatnot lol. (We figured it out though!)
Now I would have given this place ⁴⁄₅ stars, but the servers completely fumbled with our check. I was the person whose card was on the tab and when my friends and I were ready to pay, the guy (who was NOT our original server) charged us for another room’s bill! Not only did he do that, he tried to give me some other person’s ID and card. No sir, this is NOT my card and I am most certainly NOT Jose. He kept insisting, «are you sure this is not yours?» Nooooooo.
Eventually, he decided the best choice was to contact our original server & have her complete our order. Hello! That should’ve been done in the first place. AND THEN the next day, almost all my friends got charged TWICE for Tokyo Beat’s mistake. Not cool! One of us was even charged 5x. Yes, 5 TIMES! For a party of 6, it was $ 38/​hr plus drinks and appetizers. So imagine getting charged ~$ 50 more than once. Oh, and don’t leave tip, it’s already included in the bill…
Because they couldn’t get their ishh together, I am knocking my rating from 4 stars to 2. Their only saving grace was their good song selection and fast service with reserving a room. Would I go back again? Maybe, only because the atmosphere was great and we had a good time, karaōke-​wise, that is.

Friendly staff! Friendly patrons! Great environment in the heart of little Tokyo! Great Karaōke! Just wish there were more options. But other than that, this is one of my new favorite karaōke bars in LA!

This place is shit. Shady people disgusting food and they fuckin’ steal your songs! There’s bullies that steal your songs! I was about to get into a fist fight with some asshole. Skip this place.

Super fun time with my girlfriend. Everyone can enjoy the karaōke going on and its free for those that are daring enough to sing in public. It was a lot of fun and the drink prices are very reasonable. The rare aged japanese whisky is also available here as well!

Really fun environment with great staff and strong drinks, I had a great time and will absolutely be back! Amber was a cutie and so much fun and the food was delicious.

My friends and I frequent karaōke bars often. This place is by far the worst one we have ever been to. It was a horrible experience. I actually felt like they didn’t want our business. But they gladly took our money. Very RUDE staff, horrible service. Prices here are ridiculously expensive compared to all the other karaōke places in LA and OC. I’m not even sure how this place is still in business. Don’t go here.

Pricing system for private rooms is about 4x higher than karaōke places in ktown. My main issue is really with the staff though. While we were talking with the manager about the bill, we could hear the waitress making snide comments in the background. That’s extremely rude and disrespectful. Then, after we paid the full price bill, on the way out some random dude comes up and says «thank you» (verbatim). What??? Later on, my friend who’s outside tells me that was the owner… Hey guy, I don’t know who you are, introduce yourself, why would I want to hear some random person tell me thank you for paying my bill when I’m already annoyed. My experience last night showed me that customer service/​tact/​common sense is not the priority at this place.

I’ve been to many karaōke establishments prior to my visit to Tokyo Beat, for the past 20 years, in America, in Japan, and in Korea. With that said, I have never had a worse experience than at Tokyo Beat. Here’s why —
They charge you exorbitant rates for each person in your party. We had 9 people in our party and had to pay almost $ 300 for just being there for a few hours. That’s not drink costs, that’s just for being there. I actually think their drink prices are reasonable.
For a karaōke experience that makes sense, go elsewhere.

If you’re comfortable with letting money fly out of your pocket, this is the place for you. Extremely overpriced. In terms of the service, it was difficult to get anything in a timely fashion. Had to resort to using bathroom paper towels as napkins. The overall experience ranks as one of the worse I’ve had.
This place finds no problem if you walk out of there upset and dissatisfied. They just tell you to not ever come there again. What place would ever tell their customers that???

This was my first time doing private room karaōke and I don’t think I can ever settle for less. We were en route to a different bar when one in our group noticed a Tokyo Beat sign and insisted we change course. And boy I am glad we did. After about 5 minutes of listening to a horrible rendition of «Barbie Girl,» from a group passing the mic around their half-​interested table, we decided to get a private room. We paid $ 50 each between 6 of us for around 2 hours in the room plus 6 large beers, a bottle of sake and a few mixed drinks. Great value.
Inside we had a blast, plowing through 30 songs and getting great service literally at the push of the button. No waiting, no BS and the only bad singing you have to listen to is from your own group. A private room at Tokyo Beat is the only way to go.

5 stars purely for character. I’ve found myself at Tokyo Beat many a night at what appears to be the finish line after a marathon of Sapporos and sakes elsewhere. The crew that I roll with here are Japanese, and we are regularly greeted by a blur of friendly familiar faces.
Only after all the other shops in the Japanese Village have closed for the day, does this place come to life. It’s a surreal bar, filed with a lot of magical characters both staff and patrons. It’s open later than other Little Tokyo bars such as Wolf and Crane.
There’s plenty of food options. Edamame is a good snack. You can get ramen here if you ask José and it’s very good! If you have found yourself at Tokyo Beat, you are indeed having a formidable evening. I would there stay forever if they let me.

I’ve been here 3 times and every time has always been a good time. Everyone is always really friendly. I always end up singing or taking shots with random strangers. The owner is really cool and Amber always helps us when the squad comes through.
I’m mainly leaving this review here because I honestly cannot remember last night, but apparently I was singing a lot so I’m here to apologize if my singing was horrible and if I was a little on the loud side… or a lot on the loud side. It was very lit.
Anyway, thanks for putting up with me!

Could be so much more
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I do find this place very charming but it pains me to give it such a low review. I love the interior design of the venue, its reminiscent of a 70s or 80s bar in Asia. Its cheesy but in a good way. The red lighting with plush lounge seats reminds me of a Vietnamese strip bar in the movie «Apocalypse Now.» It has a retro feel.
Drinks and bottles are fairly priced. The main grievance I have is the inconsistency and disorganization of the karaōke requests. On one occasion, our group of 5 had waited patiently for our requests but only 3 out of our 20 requests were actually honored. And it was obvious other groups had «skipped» over us. We had let it go that one time. But when it happened again on our second time, we were actually pretty upset given that we had a large table with multiple bottles.
I do understand that people haphazardly input songs that make it difficult to honor all requests. When I lived in Japan, this was easily remedied with a small fee for each karaōke request. A small fee of 25 cents, 50, or even a dollar per song will eliminate most of the frivolous requests
Since then, we have opted not to come to Tokyo Beat on the weekends as I know that we will most likely not be able to sing our songs.

Love this place. As karaōke places go, it’s low key. There’s no host. You turn your sheets in to the bartender and they put the songs in. You just have to keep an eye out for when your song is up next on the big screen. Two times I’ve been there, I kind of became the defacto MC as people just kept giving me the mic when they were done singing and I’d read whatever song was up next.
The crowd has always been good. People sing along to the popular songs and it lacks any pretentiousness that some LA karaōke spots can have.
I haven’t had the ramen but I’ve heard it was good (and a great late night meal to keep a hangover away.)
There are a couple of private rooms but I haven’t used them. The bartenders are usually swamped but are very nice. Definitely my go to spot in my new neighborhood.

You can monopolize the karaōke if you want to, and everyone will hate you.
Poorly ran, and overpriced.

The vibe there is pretty sad. We went there by chance with no expectations and were disappointed. The drinks were expensive and it was really cramped despite the fact it wasn’t crowded. We were seated at some tables and assured we could sing all we wanted. We were then asked to order. We were undecided about what we wanted to drink, at which point we were informed that we had to order $ 10 of drinks each in order to sit there and if not to sit elsewhere. We were rushed into the table and then rushed to order, then pretty much kicked out of the table. There were not enough people to fill the tables, the minimum seemed excessive.
We sat at the bar where the same 2 people sang over 10 songs as duets at the bar. We put in a song and over an hour and a half and our song did not come up. I asked why and was told they stagger songs so that people at the tables could sing too. I was then informed that someone else would be singing the same song as us so there was «no way of knowing» if we would be singing.
After this, we left. There was no excuse for the bad treatment or disorganization. It was a Sunday night with not that many people.

I came here for my friends birthday on a Saturday night around 10:30pm. When we first got here there was barely any people, but as it started to get closer to 12−1am, there was a gang of people. This place is a public karaōke place. So pretty much you choose a song you like, write it down on the small pieces of paper they give you, give it to a worker, when your song comes on, get the mic from whoever just finished, and you sing in front of the whole place. The place is small anyways so it’s not like you’re singing in front of a big crowd, but I would still be mortified. You can also hear the singing from outside of the bar!!!
Their bottle prices are pretty cheap compared to other places, it’s around $ 100. Or you can buy drinks at the bar, shots are around $ 10-​$ 11 each. Best thing about this place is that they give you free munchie chips so you won’t go hungry! We asked the waitress to refill our plates like 6 times and she didn’t have a problem with it.
The lady that works here is also very nice, she had a bubbly personality, and she came to check up on us a good amount of times. It was easier to order drinks from her than the bar because she brings you drinks and the bill, instead of waiting at the bar to buy a drink. She was also very vocal when she was carrying trays full of glasses– she kept yelling out, «corner, corner!» Or «watch out, glasses!» Haha it was pretty funny but also very smart.
There was a mix crowd when we came, but it was mostly older people. We’re like in our mid 20’s, but the people around us were definitely late 30’s lol

Maybe this based on drunk Eric, but I’ve always had a good time at Tokyo Beat. Whenever I’ve had a heavy round of drinking in Little Tokyo, I always make it a mission to end up here, because it’s a solid way to end the night. They have everything you need: beer, ramen, and public karaōke. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure when my brain switches to autopilot, it’s programmed to take me here anyway.
Normally, I hate those typical Asian KTVs because everyone segregates themselves in their private booths. But in Tokyo Beat, there’s a sense of camaraderie with everyone and rocking out with strangers is totally cool. It’s very Zen. Or maybe that’s just how me and my drunk friends perceive it. For all I know, we could be the assholes in the place. Oh well.
If you’re drinking in Little Tokyo, you have to end the night here.