Up Stairs Bar

4.5 STARS

Date: Friday, January 12th, 2024
Time: around 10:45pm
Group of: 7
What: Karaoke and After Dinner Drinks

We were celebrating a few birthdays and one of the bday boys wanted to do karaoke! For some reason, I thought we were going to a private room spot, but this ended up being a bar with a microphone. (I believe it was $1 per song.) They just pass the mic around to whoever's turn it is.

We were able to stake out two small tables at the end of the bar. Did a fair amount of singing and drinking while here. Our tab ended up being almost $400. But we were here for almost 5 hours, so not too bad overall.

The staff here is super fun! When drinking, I always want to sing Cantonese songs and luckily they had them in the system. Bring on Jacky Cheung! I actually get very shy if singing by myself. The staff and other patrons were very sweet and sang the songs with me.

Fun place to do karaoke. And it was bustling for a Friday night!

Interesting karaoke bar. Typical drinks and cocktails. Was a bit packed in a Saturday night but fun nonetheless.

I had the most insane experience here. I'm 2 years sober and the bartender wouldn't pour me a glass of water unless I spend $20+ on drinks or food. I asked a buddy who was drinking to just order a glass of water so I could get a sip and the bartender sees this and proceeds to chew me out and berate me over it. Calling me "disrespectful" and saying I'm hurting a small business. Because I took a sip of his fucking water? Psychotic behavior. I used to love this bar but whether it was Covid or a new crowd that's there, the service has completely tanked and it's horrendous vibe now. Never going back.

have to agree with Big D here and say that the moz sticks are off the effing charts. same with the chicken tenders, its a great place to go after dinner and get second dinner. Everyone who works there is kind, i brought my grandparents here once on thanksgiving and although it was a little much for them i had a great time and everyone who worked there was SO kind and accommodating. Truly, kindest people in the world. saw some reviews saying its confusing but like its only confusing if you don't get it, and thats not the fault of the bar if you just don't get it. the charm is in the confusion. truly this place rocks. its hard to find a great bar with great food, GREAT karaoke and great staff.

Came here after a nice dinner at Beauty and Essex. We wanted something low key and fun after such a boujee experience. This was def the spot. Very dive bar in a good way! You can request songs to be played and it reminded me of the late 90s karaoke machines at my house growing up with the giant laser discs but it clearly was more up to date. It was fairly quick to get drinks all night and we had a blast singing at the top of our lungs to every song that was requested or that we requested. The crowd was fun! We ordered late night fries which were really good! If you're looking for a dive bar with karaoke, this is your jam.

What an unassuming spot!?! Great fun to be had here folks with happy hour specials that'll make you wanna buy everyone a drink or 2 or 3!
The ladies running this joint were on it! They were tending to everyone in there promptly again the prices can't be beat!
Aesthetically it's nothing fancy, just a bar with 2 restrooms, on the 2nd floor with some TVs and 2 microphones!
Great for for groups!
Cleanliness is next to Godliness and yup all stars for that because it was white T-shirt and jeans Mister Clean- CLEAN!

The food/ bar snacks - again well priced and nice portions! I had the fries which were seasoned Cajun for $6 bucks that could easily feed 4-5 ppl with leftovers!
The fish balls seemed to catch my attention BUT when I inquired abt the type of fish.... that's when they lost me.

Me: what kind of fish do you use for the fish balls
Employee: ummmm I'm not sure some sort of random white fish...

Yeap... I'll pass in random fish! My friend bravely tried it and she wasn't over the moon nor disappointed. They just weren't crispy according to her!
That's how I ended at a 3 star review because of the uncertainty of the fish used!

All in all folks! Go- sing some tunes drink (beer and a well shot $6 )

Good place, nice crowd, friendly owners. great place to be a regular.

It's impossible to not have a good time here. I love karaoke, I go to karaoke all the time, and this is my favorite karaoke bar in New York City. It's all about the vibe, and everybody is here to sing their hearts out. The staff is awesome as well - super friendly and very quick service!

One of the best hidden gems in NYC. Honestly surprised this place has a yelp page. Last time I checked, it wasn't even on Google maps.

No idea why this is 3 stars -- other than the fact the people who are rating this are transplants, jerks, or openly rude people. The bartenders have always been fantastic here and Reina the owner is hilarious and sweet.

It's a dollar per song which is NOT a big deal. The drinks are wickedly strong. (One time, they had finished mixing my drink and then just added extra vodka on top for the heck of it.) Yeah the renovation did make it lose some charm, but if you can get past that. It's the best karaoke bar in NYC. The food is great and cheap, the drinks are strong and most of the time you can avoid the rift-raff.

If I could give 0 stars, I would. We came here with a big group with mostly people of color and a good majority people ordered drinks. An older woman (the bartender??) came over screaming that there was a $20 per person min at the table (which ive never even heard of). We were then told to get up and give the seat to other people who bought more drinks than us when our tabs were still open. TERRIBLE customer service! Very very rude. We will not be coming here again and we used to like this place smh.