Terrible place. You pay $60 to play YouTube on a tv screen. With juice that's labeled as soju. Avoid this place at all cost such a waste of money. I would leave them zero stars if I could read more

Fake receipt inflated by fake "courtesy" drinks and fake comp items, DO NOT TRUST AVOID

Maru is a fun spot that turns into a full on club on the weekends. The karaoke is good and the energy is high once the night gets going. There is a twenty dollar cover and it is cash only, but once you are inside the vibes are solid. The music was good, the drinks were reasonably priced, and the crowd brought great energy. My friends and I had a great time and it is a good choice if you want a lively night out. read more

Awful door staff. Rejected due to "short sleeves." Disrespectful. Go anywhere else. Awful awful awful awful.

Came on a Saturday night with a group of girls early around 10:30pm (no cover fee for women at that time) and the place was empty with throwback pop/hiphop songs from the 2000s-2010s. 1.5 hours later - it became packed with now some throwback kpop songs thrown into the mix (2ne1 and then Gangnam style). Great songs to dance, sing, vibe to if you're into throwbacks. The vibes here are overall nice however the dance floor space is unexpectedly very small. People will push and shove for the bar (small area to the left) and the bathroom (from what I saw, there's only 1 bathroom stall for women). Because the establishment is so small and packed, it gets hot fast too so coat checking is a probs a good idea if you're wearing a warm outer layer for these fall/winter months. Also note that tables are only available for seating if you order a bottle. read more

The food is pricey but expected for midtown. It's basic but great in between drinking. They have a decent drink selection. They have decent pricing on kareoke rooms usually but group; 4 guest $58 per hour 4-8 $160+ with special pricing may change. You might have to buy a bottle which usually comes with a choice for platters chips and dip/fruit platter. The service is accounting for kareoke guest. There's a small dance hall middle of the room which can make maneuvering from karaoke rooms to the restrooms behind the dj stage. The music can be loud in the dance hall and usually it's remixes, top 100 current/popular music. I think there's an iTunes playlist mix that dis use in midtown small venues. I'm hearing the same artist. If you have Apollo ID there's special pricing on items and status points for exclusive venue perks. read more

For the club: This establishment is extremely rude and racist. Came with a small group of 6 people. They charge cover for guys and one of the people in our group thought our friend ahead of him had paid. The bouncers were really handsy and grabbed our friend and threw him out without letting him pay or explain himself. They then attempted to charge us mandatory coat check at the club but we saw others wearing their coats. When we asked why they said "this is the price you pay for the company you keep". We believe our friend was targeted since he was a male and not East Asian, as this establishment is known to do. Horrible experience!!! read more

Staff were rude the entire time to my group and I, and were charging us the wrong drinks on the wrong tickets and were getting frustrated with us because of it. We were also kicked out way earlier than the time we paid to be there until, because the staff had "forgotten" about a reservation made in advance, and they made it very apparent they did not give a shit about doing so. Two of us were also significantly up-charged on drinks compared to the rest of the group, when others had paid less for the same drinks. It is absolutely not worth it to revisit, and I would advise anybody coming here to find a different (and better) karaoke spot. read more

Not a fan of this place. If you have friends who live in NYC, they'll probably all tell you the same. This place attracts everyone and anyone.. from a range of underage college students to 40 year old men suited up at a table. They also charge $20 cover for guys all the time (not worth!) I will say though, their music is usually pretty good, with throwback 2000's, top hits, hip hop, etc. read more

MODELS AND BOTTLES! This used to be a great place to go with a packed house and dece vibes without cover (vs. Mission Night Club). Nowadays, there is now cover of $20 per guy. As such if you end up going with a group of guys, it might make sense to just pay for a bottle and get in. We ultimately got a bottle and UNFORTUNATELY once we got in, several WHALES came to our table, self helped themselves to our alcy and drank it all...NOONE WAS EVEN INTERESTED IN THEM YET THEY TOOK ALL OUR ALCY...EVERYONE PLEASE BE SURE TO GUARD YOUR BOTTLES WITH YOUR LIFE. Bottles cost ~$400. read more

No idea how the karaoke is here, but went for a night out and surprisingly had a good time, despite what I've heard about it... LOL. It's mostly people of Asian descent here. Could definitely sense that they were a little picky with who would be able to get in based on appearance from seeing who they let in and out of the line... Couldn't really pinpoint what it was exactly, but I was able to get in fine. Huge line on a Saturday night but was able to skip the entire line after I just asked one of the bouncers a question and was being nice to him. They were also giving out free drink vouchers for the bar at the top of Maru which was so nice! However, my male friend had to pay $20 while the rest of my female party got in for free. One of the bouncers also thought he was someone trying to follow us... Lol. Need to take an elevator to Maru but I guess you can take stairs too once you get in? Only came for the dance floors and whatnot. Music was quite good with some good club songs, rap music, hip hop music. Nice lighting too. It got crowded and people were actually dancing and not standing around which I liked. The bar service were quite attentive too and asked if we needed something which was super nice. It may have been just a lucky day for me that I really enjoyed my night out at Maru, but it was fun! It's definitely more of the younger 20s scene with packed crowds and dancing on the dance floors. Bathrooms are on the floor above the initial floor. Definitely would go again if I was in NYC and craved the nightlife. read more

Came here for the Karaoke and left unable to recommend the place to anyone in the future. I really felt like a fish out of water here - meaning that as a white middle aged guy this obviously wasn't the place for me. I think you have to be a twenty or thirty something Korean to fit within Maru's operational demographic. First of all - the karaoke rooms are all set up in Korean and unless you can read Korean you will need to ask for assistance on how to operate the controller. Second, the song selection is severely lacking for someone of my age group. You want to rock out to Billy Idol's White Wedding which is a perfect karaoke song? Well you are completely out of luck because it isn't in their catalog. There are still plenty of songs to choose from, but most are more recent artists. I imagine if you are into K-pop (which I'm not) you'll be perfectly happy. Next, the price for the Karaoke room is ridiculous. It was $ 60 bucks an hour + mandatory bottle service of $ 225.00 or additional $ 30 if you want champagne. That's per hour!!! So it's really insane. Did I have a good time? Yeah - but that's because I was determined not to let the inflated price and complete lack of musical selection to destroy my time. But can I recommend this place? Definitely not. I've been to other karaoke houses that don't cost anywhere near as much and have far superior song selections and operate in English. With all of the above said - there was a club section to this place where it looked like people (all looked to be Korean) were having a great time. But I was there for the Karaoke so that's what this review is about. So, no I don't recommend Maru - and no, I won't be back. read more

Gorgeous setting with trippy lights and a robust song selection with videos that actually SHOW the original music video instead of those weird '80s karaoke videos where women with big hair and shoulder pads run through fields toward men who look like Fabio. That said, the service is VERY hit or miss. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's full of 'tude. The place gets packed to the gills on weekends (COVID who?), so if you're claustrophobic and hate loud noises, don't come here. Clientele skews young, but most Asians look 20-40 anyway, so you can't really tell. read more

The venue is nice and well decorated. It's modern and pretty clean. There's leaves/foliage decorations on the ceiling and a large bar/seating area. I used to frequent this place when I was much younger. It's a good place to go if you want to dance and it gets packed around midnight. Personally, this isn't my scene anymore. The music is way too loud and everyone is super young/early 20s. I stopped by yesterday to meet a friend and I wanted to choke the bartender. The service was terrible. I ordered my first drink for $16, I gave her a $50 bill and she shorted my change. I didn't want to make a big deal over a few dollars but it's super unprofessional and cringeworthy! I also think $16 for a vodka soda in a plastic cup is expensive. I understand the easy clean up concept but I can't recall the last time I was served a cocktail in a plastic cup. Again, not my scene anymore. I'd prefer to go to a restaurant for better quality. read more

Overall, a 3.5/5, but will bump to a 4/5 because of the pretty good service (staff came to make sure we had enough water and etc.) The vibe is good but the lounge/club is extremely expensive. Definitely look up the prices before ordering anything here! The "Fried Sampler Platter" was pretty big and came with a lot of food - onion rings, fries, chicken wings, etc. and three dipping sauces. I went with a few friends on a Saturday night and it was extremely packed (and really not COVID friendly). The DJ was a bit of a hit-or-miss. There were some songs/remixes that really hyped everyone up, but there were periods of times where it was just OK. Lots of trippy lights and overall a fun place for a night out in KTown. Everyone here seemed to be having a good time. read more

They blatantly said that they don't like Black people in their establishment, but not surprised considering how they treat any non-Korean in the establishment. Overhyped, boring anything but classy. Fruit is old, overcharged for bottles in such a small place read more

Came here on a Friday night with a reservation for a private room at 11am. We arrived at the door, they checked our IDs and vaccination card and one of their staff member escorted us to the floor were the rooms are. From there another girl took us to our assigned room, explained the bottle costs - we needed to buy a bottle to be there - and quickly explained the remote control to pick songs. She came in with a bottle that usually costs $25 and charged $270, that was on top of the $30/ person for the hour we were there. Mixers are bottomless and "free" but when I asked for limes, she asked that I go back to the room and wait for them. Those never came. The songs list is lacking some very popular songs, but we still found some good ones to sing along to. And they add disco lights and let you play the music as loud as you want, to make you get in the party mood. After our hour was over, we still had more than half our bottle left, and not being able to take it with us, so we asked if we could keep the room for another hour, obviously paying for it, and they did not have an issue with this. As most of these things, the fun is really about the people you go with, and we really had a blast. But could have honestly had the same fun at a cheaper place. read more

In addition to a club that apparently is only on Friday and Saturday nights, they have a pretty cool karaoke lounge in the 4th floor. I clubbed here 3 times and had an above average decent experience for a free cover club that is 21+. As mentioned in the earlier review, the only issue is that the music is super unpredictable and loud but vibes super well with most of my friends and my taste and that it's super dark there with hints of light. Karaoke is above average as well, but paying full price for 50 an hour excluding tax and tip is a bit steep. The audio and surround sound is definitely high quality. Not only do they have English pop songs, but they have much more Korean songs as well! Service is excellent as they always make sure that we have enough water throughout the constant intense singing sessions! read more

Maru Karaoke Lounge - Lounges Near Me - New York, New York

I've stopped coming here for awhile. They oversell this place on the weekends. You'll be nut-to-butt with underage sweaty kids. If you're actually here for karaoke, the song selection is okay. The karaoke rooms feel dirty and the bathrooms need to be serviced more often. read more

The karaoke, drinks and food are over priced and is paired with slow service and missed orders. The room had broken equipment and things that just did not turn on. There was no way to queue up songs and there was no handheld option so someone always had to jump behind the person singing. read more

Robbers. Thieves. Shady methods. Not a way to run a business. They give you one price when you reserve a karaoke room and then they charge you an obscene amount of money after the fact. Do NOT go here. Find a place who is honest and up front about their charges. read more

We had an extremely large group of 30+ people, so our reservation was for the large back room - there were 5 separate tables, and we took 4 of them. I believe there was a bottle minimum/price per person minimum of some sort, but it came with food platters (assorted fruit platter, fried foods platter - fries, chicken wings, mozzarella sticks). The manager/staff came to check in on our party fairly often, and they cleaned up idle shot/drink glasses very promptly. There was a security guard at the entrance of the room the entire night as well. The middle table had a large bell hanging from the ceiling, and it was honestly a little annoying having to dodge it all the time, especially when you're just trying to have fun with friends. This level also only had a single bathroom, so the line was always long (for the girls at least). At the end of the night, since there was only a single stall, we were trying to get out as quickly as possible, but were delayed from waiting for people. Luckily the staff was very friendly and allowed us to finish up. Fun spot overall for a night out with friends. read more

Absolutely horribly rude staff. We called and they said they had a room available. When we arrived not 2 minutes later, they charged all of us at the door a cover fee... and when we got upstairs they said they had no karaoke room available. We reluctantly got a drink and then left because all of the staff was rude. When we left they made us take the stairs down, and then when we tried to get our money at the door they were rude and when we finally left they said "no we actually have a room available" to try to make up for the mishap. Overall they were just rude and completely non accommodating. Absolutely awful establishment. read more

The karaoke here is great, and definitely worth it if you have a large group. We came with a group of 6 and they were able to accomodate us right away. We got a huge room to ourselves for an hour for around $16 per person including one drink that we all ended up splitting. The cocktail was not that great, tasted a bit like watered down skittles but the overall vibe of the place is really nice. They have cool lights and all the machines worked properly too. read more

I went with a group of people for my friends birthday on 6/21/24. Ladies were free. I'm going to assume that they were racist, because they charged the one asian guy in our group $20 for the cover fee, and the rest of the guys who were a mix of black and hispanic were asked to pay $40. My partner who is Hispanic knew that the cover charge was expected to be $20, because thats what they charged our asian guy friend, but upon meeting the bouncer, they completely switched up and demanded $40. On top of that, the place was dead with barely any people at 12 am, the dj had trash music with terrible transitions between songs. It is unreasonable to charge people that much for club that was not even good, and it is racist to charge people more because they don't appear asian. As an asian myself, I would never ever recommend this place to anyone. read more

Delicious drinks. Accommodating staff, great music selection. A+ all around. I will be back Cute decor too read more

Maru Karaoke Lounge - Lounges Near Me - New York, New York

The music was wonderful and, before it got crowded, my friend and I were able to dance around. However, the patrons there are some of the most unkind people I have ever met. They pushed us and fetishized us. We were trying to make friends and they were just blatantly unkind. I'm not sure if it was because we were some of the few black people in there or what but we won't be back. The promoters and other staff were very nice and respectful but we left with a bad taste. read more

*for the club, not karaoke I came here for the first time this weekend and I think it may also be the last time. The DJ was so bad, he didn't even play more than a third of a song before abruptly switching to something else and kept cutting off the best parts of the song to yell "IS IT ANYONE'S BIRTHDAY!!!" The flashing lights were also really atrocious, it should've come with an epilepsy warning. Staff was also so rude and dismissive and almost lost my friend's coat which was even more rude because coat check was mandatory. They tried to give her some random other person's jacket because she complained and luckily we spotted her actual coat and were able to grab it, but all with ZERO help from the worker. Overall, a TERRIBLE experience. read more

Went here for a drink and not only was it overpriced but they basically gave us only juice. Bad drinks.

BE CAREFUL OF YOUR MONEY HERE!!! ASK FOR ITEMIZED RECEIPTS!!! Story time: The workers work together to scam you of your money. They talk sweet to you and say they are helping you get the cheapest deal, but they go behind your back and add extra charges. My friends and I went on saturday night - $20 dollar cover to go in. Fair, reasonable for new york. My friends and I decided to do karaoke because the place was empty and boring around 11:30 pm. They said only bottles for the room, and that it was $530 for the karaoke room for two bottles for one hour, AND that it included a table downstairs as well as two plates of food. We talked about it and because we were still waiting on people, we decided to go for it but asked if we can do the karaoke room at 1 because we still had friends coming (that were going to be part of the table) the waitress said okay. Mind you, we triple checked and asked the questions to make sure we weren't getting extra charged. We went to the table and drank and ate a little food, and it was time for our table. The worker made US carry the food and drinks to the karaoke bar. and then said it was an ADDITIONAL 80 for an hour of the room. At that point we were like whatever we will pay it. Everything goes well after hour, she comes back and says she will give us 30 minutes for free. Another worker comes in and gives us a bill and we asked for it itemized, and he comes back with the bill and the 30 minutes was charged. If we didn't asked for the itemized receipt they would have charged us for the 30 minutes without us knowing. Will NEVER be doing this again. Overall: dance floor is super small that crowds into the table. The security guards were nice tho but overall better to go somewhere else. read more

Wish I can add videos! This place is LIT Def great music and a mix of everything Make sure you get a table because it is VERY crowded and its a younger vibe (ppl were pretty trashed) Their bottle service is awesome because you get food as well The servers helping us were soooo nice and made the experience Now the reason i gave it a 3 and not a 5 is because the bouncer (hefty large man with glasses) was EXTREMELY rude to my friend which was simply asking a question. He screamed at her and refused to apologize or acknowledge he did anything wrong. For this reason unfortunately we will not be going back. read more

Way too overpriced. They say they give us 30 more minutes but didn't tell us we were getting charged. They took 15 minutes to check out ID and that was still accounted towards the hour. Online says 2 hour karaoke but in person they say it's only an hour. The charge was unfair but whatever read more

Imagine making a reservation and when you show up early for your reservation, they wait until after 2 rounds of drinks while you wait to tell you they can't accommodate your reservation cause they're booked. What was the point of the reservation? Why ask me to make one? Management was less than unsatisfactory in resolving the issue. Drinks are weak. Food is much better next door. Can't even trust this place to hold an electronic reservation not sure what I would trust them with. Good riddance. read more

3 of us girls wanted a relaxed place to get some drinks and since Maru was close by, we decided to go. We went up to the 4th floor and the bouncers checked our IDs. There was no space at the bar so he gave us a table. Drinks & Food: - Pink blossom (small for the price) - Miss Ja-Mong (refreshing grapefruit & vodka drink) - Four flavours of mojitos (original, mango, peach, raspberry) - Bulgogi sliders and fries The mango mojito was the best one. I love fruity drinks that don't have a strong liquor taste so it was perfect for me. There are two sliders and the fries were crispy and not thick (which I prefer). It wasn't very busy on a Thursday evening. Apparently if you come Friday/saturdays it's incredibly packed. I did come back on a Saturday night at 1am and it was packed. The hostess required us to get a table for entry. Since it's a ktown bar/clubby-type venue, it's mostly Asians. It's a good date spot or if you just want to catch up with some friends. Shoutout to the DJ. He mixed a variety of popular songs. One just led into another, I wish I got his nam read more

See all

Ive been here a number of times now! Once when i was much younger (partying days lol) and i remember it was SO crowded! But in the most recent years, they did some renovations and the place definitely looks different! They have 2 floors, i believe the 3rd fl has a live DJ on some nights. Ive been here for party, happy hour or just relaxin and catchin up with friends. All the times were great with great music, drinks and food to snack on! My gotos are the flavored sojus, lychee martini, butter garlic fries, and korean sweet chili wings! read more

The real reason you go to Maru is to have an excuse to get a little fancier in Koreatown. Think a new-age design with pretty bass-thumpy DJing. Perfect for impressing your friends new to this neighborhood. A little overpriced compared to many karaoke spots in the area, not sure if we necessarily needed lighting effects to accompany our the third rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. Let's be real though, order a few buckets of beer. They'll make your voice sound smoother, probably read more

Such a good time and great service! We will definitely be back very soon! The host was very kind and honestly she brought the vibe to the individual group karaoke room. She started us off with Beyoncè and we've been singing since :) read more

Great ambiance. Good song selection. Came here with my friends and we all had a good time.

Way over priced. They do not explain how to use the karaoke machines, they rush for you to order and get out as soon as possible. Service was terrible. Would not recommend. read more

I am dreading having to write this review; however I booked a reservation and when we were required to present IDs my Black boyfriend was racially profiled and accused of having a fake ID by the man at the front of the club. The karaoke room had multiple technical difficulties that took up most of our reservation time that we paid for. The karaoke room was not well maintained. We were not compensated for the multiple inconveniences. I will never come back here again and if you intend on renting a karaoke room; I highly advise you not to come here either. read more