Forbes Entertainment

Concluding the most mediocre bars in the SGV with Forbes, I’ve been here four times in the last five years, usually for a friend or acquaintance’s birthday. Located off the 60 freeway, Forbes is fob central, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Every time I’ve been, I think I’ve left pretty inebriated, so I think I’ve always had a good time. I don’t think I’ve ever paid for any drink here as I’ve come with very large groups of guys and usually they generously foot the bill. Bottles are available, as well as a full bar, but I’ve seen many order beer buckets.
They’ve got karaōke and there’s always this one old Asian dude singing terribly off-​key, but he’s always having a good time, so that’s all that matters, right? The machine has English, Chinese, and Korean songs, so it’s pretty convenient and versatile.
Probably would not come back on my own accord, but not a bad place to low-​key drink and party.

Wonderful place for party. Delicious barbecue. Good atmosphere. We came here for celebrating my friends’ birthday. We got a huge private room. The karaōke system is good. You can find every song which you can name it. They serve all kinds of wine, beer, cocktails. Recommend!!!

I honestly wouldn’t recommend this place unless you’re one of the owner’s underaged son’s friends, hungry for Asian food, or already trashed. There is free karaōke if you’re daring enough to sing on stage in front of the whole place, but it’s fine since rarely anybody ever comes in. If they didn’t have music playing, you’d hear crickets. There is nothing on tap, but they do have a good selection of food for a karaōke place even late at night. Otherwise, the private rooms are set to a ridiculous price. Owners push the bartenders to serve their underaged guests because «they know the owner’s (underaged) son», and smoking is allowed inside. If that’s your cup of tea, by all means.

August 1, 2015
Writing this directly in this place. Totally lame! Unilocal information are totally OuTDATED! You have to call to get info on the prices, accommodations and such. It’s totally unprofessional to not award what you are advertising on Unilocal and online.
Prices are ridiculously high. Makes no sense why it’s so expensive when so much items in the menu aren’t even available! How?
So confused.

My boss picked up lunch for everyone at the office and he decided to go to Forbes since it’s supposedly «pretty good Viet food» in South El Monte.
I ordered the Bo luc lac with tomato rice. Now, I usually squeeze a massive amount of lime juice in the salt/​pepper/​msg concoction that they give, but I had 0 limes in my to-​go box and the guys that ordered phở didn’t have any either. The meat itself was pretty much tasteless and the tomato rice was hard, as if it was sitting out for sometime. I highly doubt I will ever eat here again, I would rather make the drive out to San Gabriel for some quality Vietnamese food.

Friday night, it’s time to go crazy and let off some steam!
We got our own room, so I can’t comment on the common area. To book a room, you need to order a minimum of, I think, it was 200 dollars in food or beverage. With a group of friends, that’s not too difficult to do and just split the bill. I’m a huge fan of private karaōke room, so I’m familiar with a few karaōke joints. In terms of ease of the karaōke machine, this one rank pretty far down. It was impossible to quickly find the name of artists and songs and not at all intuitive. As a result, a lot of time was wasted trying to locate songs, but I don’t believe there was a limit on how long you stay as long as you meet the minimum.
We were later moved to a bigger room since we found some friends there and they joined us. While it didn’t bug me, it did bug other people – that room made loud, funny noises. They really should’ve offered to move us after we mentioned it a few times, but nope, we were there the rest of the night.
We ordered Henny with chasers, so I can’t comment much on the drinks. The food however, was surprisingly good. I wouldn’t order the gyozas again though. The service was good. I happen to hang out with jerks sometimes, and they kept hitting on her and making her uncomfortable. She handled it very well and amazed me with her diplomacy. She did spill here and there in her eagerness and haste to get away from my friends (which I don’t blame her in the slightest), but she apologized for it.
BTW, smoking is allowed inside so be prepared to reek!

Now serving vietnamese cuisine! I would recommend the bun bo hue. The flavor is alright, and the portions are large. But if you have room, try the egg rolls on the side. Vietnamese style egg rolls are my favorite, and Forbes does a pretty good job with them.
The karaōke bar is a cool spot to check out after dinner. The upstairs level is set up with several private rooms, each with a broad selection of music, old and new. The music selection function isn’t the most user friendly, however.
Reasonable prices, plentiful parking, and there is a well-​stocked bar. And while the eclectic interior design isn’t the nicest, it kinda ties up the place to give it an authentic Asian karaōke vibe haha.

I’ve lived really close by for 20+ years and have learned that if you are not Asian they will try to charge you a ridiculous cover price to get in. This place is super sketchy. There are constantly fights outside the bar. If you do make it in and aren’t Asian, expect crappy service. You’re welcome.

My friends and I had an amazing time at Forbes. If you are the type of person that doesn’t mind spending a lot of money and just want to have fun, i recommend this place. We reserved a private Karaōke room at the cost of $ 50.00 an hr. We stayed for 4 hrs and had a wonderful time. The cocktail drinks are $ 8.00ea. The Karaōke system had latest hit songs which was a big plus for me. The only downside was learning how to use the karaōke remote/​system. We spent most of the time trying to figure out how to use it. The services wasn’t too great, we called for service a few times but didn’t get any help. Overall, i did have an amazing time.

If you’re looking to learn Cantonese, you need to get yourself here on a Friday night. If you’ve been to a Busby’s before in West LA, then imagine Forbes as the Hong Kong version — but way smaller and instead of pool tables, you’ll get Karaōke.
If you arrive by 10pm, parking shouldn’t be a problem — opt for street parking if you find one as parking in the lot will risk having a stranger park behind you when the night owls start arriving.
You’ll find majority of the draft beers heres and a ton of mixed drinks — the lychee vodka is my favorite. The simply prepared edamame here is also great with the beers and drinks — we ordered almost 5 rounds of it.
Karaōke here is quite expensive if you don’t sign up for their VIP membership — the membership fee is $ 100/​year and it gives you membership discounts (at least 20% off) on almost all of their drinks — very worth it in my opinion if you plan to frequent this area. With the membership, the karaōke room charge is roughly $ 20/​hour versus $ 50/​hour.
Thank you, Carol for getting us to sign up — everything only sounded financially logical (lol) — she’s an amazing saleswoman I tell ya. Even got me promoting the membership plan for free for Forbes! Can I get some commission in the form of beers for my friends next time?
Forbes is so lucky to have Carol working for them — we almost thought Carol was the manager/​boss here — it’s very easy to spot Carol, too. She’s the super hard working one who’s always hustling around and making sure all the tables are clean and no empty bottles or unfilled platters of food is in your way. Carol deserves a nice share from Forbes for all the income they make from us!

Stay Away… This place should shut down as they don’t check ID

Was here with a group of friends for some after dinner karaōke. The night was a little fuzzy because I remember the bartender explaining to me the «daily special», buy one bottle get one free of Johnnie Walker black. Naturally we accepted the offer… naturally the night became fuzzy.
I do remember this place being a little sketch due to the thick layer of cigarette smoke in the main bar area. However, this wasn’t that big of a deal as my lungs have become accustomed to it hanging out with other friends in Vietnamese restaurants throughout Westminster or Korean soju bars in K-​town. No big deal, our group pretty much spent the whole night in our private Karaōke room. The private room was actually pretty nice and chill.
I don’t remember a minimum charge of $ 25 per person as other reviews have pointed out. Needless to say, when you are buying alcohol by the bottle and you are renting a private room till the wee-​hours of night, $ 25 per person is a pretty easy feat to overcome.

10 tips for new people:
1. go friday if you want a big crowd or wednesday if you want a dj and don’t want to spend a lot of money. (50% off drinks)
2. go around 10pm.
3. sit at the bar. (usually full by 1030)
4. ask ivan (male bartender) for a «fucking running.» (drink only 1, 2 max, and chill with beers or cocktails)
5. down your fucking running. (i like mine with 2 ice cubes)
6. make new friends.
7. don’t be creepy and bug the waitresses.
8. don’t go if you’re cheap, place can be pricey.
9. tip is included on your bill, but doesn’t hurt to tip a little extra on top and don’t forget to tip the girl in the karaōke control room if you request any songs to sing.
10. ask for adison so you can buy him a drink.

Interesting Asian bar in El Monte. Comparable to Area DNA in San Gabriel.
Great atmosphere with really good music. (Wednesday night is Hip-​Hop night.) Dancing, lasers, and fog everywhere! $ 25 minimum charge.
PARKING:
Plenty of parking spaces on their private lot.
ENVIRONMENT:
Relaxing and casual hang out spot. There are tables around the dance floor and a small stage for those who are courageous enough to sing publicly in front of strangers in the main room. There are also individual karaōke rooms that is spacious for large groups if you want to be more private.
SERVICE:
Fast and awesome service. My friends and I sat at the bar and Ivan, our bartender is friendly and entertaining. The girls that worked there also brought me a binder full of songs and asked me if I wanted to sing.
FOOD/​DRINKS:
The drinks are pricey here, but the bartender makes them just how I like it so I can’t complain. The complementary tortilla chips are ADDICTING! I couldn’t stop eating them. I would just go back for the chips. (Seriously.)

Sketchy looking outside, Chinese karaōke, popular fob joint, definitely reminds you of karaōke bars in Asia, lots of rooms & a main area. Check-​in with Unilocal & get a free cocktail.
You’re in the 626, and you’re looking for an Asia time. This place is definitely it. Chinese speaking crowd, waitress understand a little English. Crowd is 20s-​35s? Great for groups.
If your friend has asthma, breathing problems or can’t stand smokey areas, don’t bring them. If you stay in an area like starbucks you end up smelling like coffee beans — If you chill at Forbes, you end up smelling like it… get my drift? I don’t want to apparently rat this place out on it but its the culture so make sure you’re okay with it.
Reminds me of San Gabriel DNA, but with lots more karaōke rooms, alot more people but purely just a drink and singing joint. They’ll have plenty of dice cups if interested in playing with friends.
4 stars because there aren’t too many «Asia» places. And apparently a popular place in the community.

Forbes, Forbes, Forbes.
What to say about this place? My first impression of this place was a literal «What The Duck» is this. Am I at a strip bar? Why does it say «No one under 21 is allowed» on the door? This place looks shitty. Omg. What have I gotten myself into?
This place is a hole in the wall. Outside, you don’t see much but when you reach the inside, there’s a huge dance floor and there are private karaōke rooms. The outside area is free except for the drinks, so you guys can just chill in there for free. AND you don’t have to be 21 to enter. So the karaōke rooms are charged differently. I forgot the rates, but it wasn’t THAT expensive. The drinks all cost $ 8.00 and about $ 45 for a pitcher.
I love their Midori Sour, Sex on the Beach, and their chips and pretzels hehe. We got a pitcher of AMF once. I don’t know if it’s just me, or if I’m too weak, or maybe I’m just a pansy, but that drink was wayyy too strong for me. It was hard to finish that AMF, sigh. This place is very very very chill with drinks. You can even smoke in the restroom and in the place. Unfortunately, this place took away my first cigarette-​ginity, sigh pie.
I think the workers can even drink with you! The workers are younger girls (kinda fobby) but very sweet. My cousin knows one of the workers, so we were treated very well. This entire place is all Cantonese-​run so you should speak Cantonese (if you know any) to get better service. Karaōke is good too, they have English, Chinese, Korean, blahblah songs.
Be careful of fights. Do not get nasty with anyone because you will get punched. And you will get a bottle smashed on your face. And you will bleed. And then cops will come and investigate on the quickness. No lies. Witnessed.
I believe this place closes at 2am. So come early & get yo drankkk on.

I used to think that this place was an utter shithole and I could never understand why my friends would like to come here… but after intermittently frequenting Forbes over the past five years, I’ve come to realize that much like the homeless guy that always be trying to wash your windows on the Western Ave. offramp of the 10 freeway, there’s a strange familiarity to its shittiness. (I’m trying to incorporate more similes into my reviews, don’t hate).
It also probably helps that my friend is the veritable King of Forbes. This motherfucker rolls in and starts bellowing incoherently and the staff immediately begins preparing bottles of Johnny Walker, cans of Bud Light (yuck!) and assorted drinking games and shuttles them quickly over to our table. Said friend also has an interesting tactic of demanding that the female servers drink with him which — against all odds — they invariably do. Apparently, many Chinese women find him quite charming… which totally makes me reconsider my own thoughts in ascertaining what these girls really want.
I also find it oddly comforting that in all the years I’ve been to Forbes, I have never seen a halfway decent singer get up on stage to belt out Karaōke, with one exception… Incidentally, that exception is the burly Messican security guard that somehow taught himself how to sing Chinese songs phonetically and can actually carry a tune pretty well. I do admit however, that I think it’s highly entertaining watching the Chinese Canto-​boys trying to rap to Kanye, Jay-​Z and all the other hip hop artists… I suppose in their element, they have no qualms about throwing out the «n word» left and right.
Kind of reminiscent of that scene in the first Rush Hour movie where Snacky Chan inadvertently lets out an «N-​bomb» in the African-​American bar after direction from Chris Tucker’s character.
*backing away* «I… I don’t want chlubble! No chlubble!» *pool stick to the head*

Kind of like De Club, but this place usually has more people than that place and plays better music. The décor is pretty alright, but the drinks are a bit more pricey. Still not a place I’d get all dolled up for just because it’s mainly a spot where fobs, Chinese/​Taiwanese fobs go to and I’m not trying to pick up any fobs. vice versa.

If you are 21+, Chinese, loves to smoke, drink & karaōke, then you would love this place.
This is one of the rare karaōke bars/​joints left in San Gabriel Valley that allows you to karaōke in public (on stage) or in private (in rooms).
If you are on a budget, the best deals are during their Happy Hours. You can sing your heart out for approximately $ 15/​person. I believe they also have free karaōke rooms from Monday to Thursday from 6p-​10p too.
They are usually busy starting on Wednesday (Hip Hop Night) till Saturday. Make sure you get there a little early on Friday and Saturday night, because this place gets crowded by 1030ish.
Not a great selection on beers… Think they only have Bud Light, Budweiser, Corona and Heineken, but they also serve hard liquor :)

Looking for somewhere romantic to take the special lil lady? Look no further. This place has everything!
–loud HK kids rocking out to Andy Lau
–Second hand smoke to your hearts content
–pricey soju and lychie concoctions by the pitcher
Be sure to call ahead, because this place seriously gets packed by 11pm.
+1 bagged ramen is ont he menu, I believe it is number 1 and quite delicious.