This place was quite fun. There was a live karaoke, with full bar. Lychee martini was delicious. The atmosphere was good. Decoration is modern with light up table. read more

Came here for my birthday, my bf and I booked it about 2 weeks prior, they require a $100 down payment to hold any reservations for rooms. Came around 10PM on a Friday night, the rooms are clean and huge!! I had about 16 people with me, and we fit very comfortably in their VIP room. They have their own bathrooms as well, which is awesome. They had a good selection of both Chinese and English songs, booze prices were a little pricey, but that was expected. We had a lot of fun! read more

After having a great hotpot dinners in Chinatown, i walked down to the place called Sakura Karaoke-lounge which the one of my friends strongly suggested me to. My friend told me they had lots of fun while they were holding the birthday party there. So i will definitely check this out myself. Walking down to the stairs into this place, when i opened the door, that was surprising my eyeballs. Downtown feeling Design plus asian feeling lighting, it's very stylish. This place packed with young, good-looking Asian-Americans and a few Caucasians. Lots of lights dance around the room, which is dotted with white leather couches. It's heavy on plaintive emo songs--plus U.S. faves like Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga--and unlike karaoke at most North Side bars, the singers are surprisingly great-singers. A pretty asian waitess set me down on the stage's table on the main dining room area. Great smiles on her face, made me feel very comfortable like being home. She recommended me to try the signture house special drink named Lychee Matini and Passion Fruit slipper, there were fantisy great!! I tried few snack-foods showed on the menu, the sakura chicken wings was amazing good. Besides the main dining area, they also has three vip rooms in the store for the shy type ppl or the ppl enjob the own-group party. I had made up my mind to reserve my birthday party there as long as i saw the rooms. Great environment, sweet servers and resonalbe price. i love this place. read more

Horrible Experience I reserved a medium room on a Saturday night to celebrate my birthday with a total of 8 friends. We were rudely interrupted about an hour in and accused of smoking. The manager stormed in during a song, turned on the lights, and said okay you have to go. When asked why, that's when we were accused. My whole party was defensive and offended by the accusations. The manager looked around our table and once he noticed there wasn't any signs of smoke, he cut off the light and closed the door without another word. I would have loved to continue with our session but my guest were taken back and were no longer having fun. The real issue did not start until I went to speak with the manager. I peacefully told him that we were going to leave because we were offended but we purchased drinks and we could finish in the common area to not hold the room any longer. The manager was confrontational and told me that he was not dumb. I told him we weren't either and each one of my guest were college graduates and continuing education. He told me that we could finish our drinks in the room because he didn't want us out in the common area, so basically we weren't staying in the room as a customer service but as a way to hide us from the rest of the crowd. I walked to the register prepared to pay and the manager printed my bill, as I reached for it he walked away and greeted other guest before giving me the bill that he was holding in his hand, I guess his intention were to non-verbally let me know that my time or money didn't matter. I told the manager I can't wait to write my Yelp review and he replied I can't wait for you to leave. We definitely left without drinking the 2 buckets of beers we had just purchased for $60 bucks. The private rooms are beautiful but the song collection could have been better. There was a shortage of American artist but the selection did include Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Nelly, Nicki Minaj, Mary J Blige, Justin Timberlake, Drake, and Adele. I wish anyone who plans to attend has a more successful night than we did. read more

Dumb place. Drinks are way too expensive, and they sorta talk to you at the door to make sure you are going to buy enough to warrant them letting you in. Then the Karaoke is pretty bad, meaning there are original vocals in most of the tracks, so you are singing along with the original artist, not singing by yourself, they have really cheesy karaoke versions of a lot of songs that don't sound much like the original, the microphones are turned really low so you can't really hear yourself, and the stage is like 6 inches off the ground and tiny. For a place that is all about karaoke, it's priorities seem to be overpriced drinks and dumb lasers. Try the Blackhawk VFW Hall if you are looking for awesome Karaoke, not this place. read more

Sakura is a beautiful bar. Very trendy, modern, swanky. The service was good & the guy handling the karaoke was really helpful & accomodating. The problem: they have the worst collection of English songs I've ever seen. They have Kelly Clarkson, Beyonce, Madonna, The Bangles, Phil Collins, Bon Jov, and maybe 20-30 other artists. It's not that it's a bad collection (I mean, I will sing the hell out of some Bon Jovi), it's that it was so, so, so limited. Some of the artists only had one or 2 songs listed, and they didn't have songs by artists I commonly hear elsewhere, like Blondie, Sublime, Pat Benetar, Queen, Violent Femmes, Vanilla Ice, The Eagles, Journey, The Go-Gos, Bjork...I asked for artist after artist that they didn't have, and as you can see I'm not talking about obscure Indie rock. I will definitely have to pass on this place in the future. The bar is nice, but I went there for karaoke & that part was a let down. read more

Love this place Great time with friends always Karaoke all night with drinks in your face. We won't stop the party until world peace. LOL

I went here for my friend's birthday party, it was my first time visit but this place surprised me. It had amazing sound effect and great snacks, and the servers were friendly and patient. Also, I was lucky to see their boss, a really nice young man. He send wine to my friend to celebrate her birthday. We had a great time that night, can't wait to come again! read more

Funny experience. The staff was singing louder than us outside the private room ! We could barely hear our own voice ; One waiter was checking on us for something every 20 min , without talking and expression and left with door open .... Overall it was creepy and strange , we will not go back again read more

We came here for my husband's birthday. I called a few weeks ago to book a private room but they somehow screwed up our reservation. It was supposed to be form 9 to 11 but they made it for 10 to 12. After speaking with the manager, he told us they woulnd't be able to change it but they did give us a complimentary round of drinks. Our group had a good time. Some of the songs have the original music videos but a lot of the songs have the most bizarre videos of what look like somebody's European vacation in the 90s. Anyways, we still had a good time and the lychee martinis were tasty. However, I had 4 of these drinks, and I don't have that high of a tolerance and I was not even drunk so I am thinking they are maybe slightly weak. Which is strange considering the whole thing is supposed to be a blend of different liquors. The point though is we had a fun time and would come back in the future. I have not been to other karaoke bars in Chinatown so I am not sure how this place compares to the others and that's why it gets 3 stars. read more

I love what they've done to the old Sushi Lounge. Very modern decor, trendy and hip now. Along with the new look are new dishes which goes along perfectly with the late night munchies while drinking and singing the night away. The dice game is a lot of fun and gets you drunk fast. Sakura is a great chill place to go on the weekends or weekdays :) read more

I hated this place everything from the rude staff they were so "short" when talking to me that it almost felt like they could care less that I could be a possible returning customer. The place is also super small and the drinks I had all were so nasty tasting. I will take my voice and my money to "Canto", thank you! read more

It was nice singing with friends in an own room, but overall quite a few things could have been better. Some songs didn't work or were badly synchronized (tone + lyrics + matching video), some staff members were very unmotivated and slow (others were friendly though) and we were kicked out at 10 pm sharp even though they told us on the phone when we made the reservation for two hours that we could prolong if we wanted. The drinks were good I guess, but not that cheap (and you have to get them yourselves from the bar). I liked the interior design though. I think we might be back, but maybe we'll also try out other karaoke bars first. read more

I really wanted to like Sakura Karaoke. I never do lounge karaoke or whatever, but I loooooove private room karaoke, so we went for my birthday (also I have a ridiculous passion for sakura blossoms, but that was only mildly related ;). Mister had no problem making us a reservation, and also he had no problem changing it ('cause we had to). The staff was helpful, if a bit confused about what we actually wanted at times. The place itself was super cute, as was the room we rented (though it got really HOT in there really fast--but we didn't mention it to the staff, so I'm not sure if that was resolvable or not). The problem, though, was the actual karaoke. The interface was a bit confusing, and some artists were listed both with typos and without (for instance, there were songs for Coldplay and also songs for Coldpiay, with an i) and other artists were listed only with Chinese characters for their names, even if they weren't Chinese (for instance, Elvis). The latter issue was helped somewhat by the fact that there were pictures of many artists/groups as well as their names, but it was still a bit weird. The English song catalog wasn't very extensive, so people had a hard time picking songs they wanted to do. There seemed to be a fair amount of recent hits, but I guess we're just too old. ;) In all, I had an awesome time. I'm just not sure I could have the same amount of awesome time again, because I'd probably have to do all the same songs over. I would definitely recommend Sakura Karaoke to anyone who's okay with singing a limited catalog or anyone whose singing ability spans a few languages. read more

I came here pretty drunk from in-house drinking. It was okay. I was the only one singing, everyone was just standing around casually drinking. They were looking at me like I was a freak. Oh well, I didn't care because I was buzzing. The drinks were ok; it didn't matter what they tasted like at that point. read more

It was actually a lot better than I had expected! This place private karaoke rooms as well as a lounge are with a DJ. The DJs on Friday were actually really good. The private karaoke room was spacious and the music selection was extensive. Crowd is quite diverse and tends to be younger. The price for private karaoke room and drinks was pretty reasonable. I would definitely go back to sing. read more

Many Chinese new songs, and the biggest room is good for party! I have been there for couple times, used rooms and the public place also, both are good, and the cocktails are not bad. read more

My friend had her birthday party there. We reserved a room and sang the night away. It was a blast and the atmosphere was great. Drinks were a bit pricey. I'd definitely go again. read more

With multicolor LEDs glowing in the bar area, the establishment has a dated nightclub look and feel. It's decently clean though, the floors aren't sticky (1st star), and the karaoke system - while it doesn't have recent month's music - does effectively control the mics and the backtrack (2nd star). So why the poor review? The staff is really unpleasant. Simple as that. Just the minimal rude interaction of asking which room we could have and the employee barging in at 10 minutes before our time was up to give us a check made my group feel unwelcome. We get it; time is money, so they have to keep everybody on track. But the employees' people skills are sorely lacking in maintaining a balance between time management, professionalism, and courtesy. I'm sure they don't care, but I don't recommend this place nor will I be back. read more

A fun place hidden away in Chinatown. The rooms are designed well, and the drinks are affordable, and the machines are state of the art. Hope to have many more nights spent here. read more

This is one of two karaoke bars in Chinatown. They have remodeled which makes it look cleaner and trendier. But I don't like their tables setups. This is the one when you are looking for a nicer place to have a drink and chill. If you go for singing karaoke, I'd recommend another one. Songs selections are kind of limited here if you are looking for popular hits to sing. I only go there on the weekends. And I've never been there during weekdays, Sometimes, it's not even busy in the weekends. The owner Kenny is a very cool guy. He likes to give us free drinks. read more

Sakura Kara-OK did a nice job decorating for Halloween......w/ cob webs on the ceiling and a big spider at the center of its web! Scary!!! BUT! We went on a Sunday night...Halloween night of all nights....w/ only 4 ppl at the bar( slow night) and not a welcoming feeling at ALL. Come on!! I had a difficult time trying to find a song in english...the staff wasnt helpful at ALL!!! Please, MAke the best of a slow night and make your paying customers feel welcome and like coming back. Not a very welcoming place...the staff did not represent service standards well and decided to make they're own tip scale at 22%. Watch your wallet...not a fun place. read more

Had an absurdly and very unexpectedly fun time here when I was visiting Chicago. The 'karaoke' thing in the main room is kind of a joke - you can't really hear the person singing, which is not a bad thing necessarily, and everyone is usually too busy dancing to pay attention. Super fun and casual atmosphere - everyone seemed to be having a great time. If you're looking for somewhere to go drink delicious fruity martinis and dance to goofy top 40's shit all night, Sakura's the place to go. read more

I had so much fun here!!! The staff were friendly and the people were so much fun. Everyone was very welcoming! The food was awesome! Would make this my weekly hang out!! read more

Sakura Karaoke has a modern look setting. Very affordable to hang out with friends after a long day of work. Great place to do karaoke! The servers are nice and well manner. read more

When the birthday boy says all he wants to do for his 30th birthday is sing...his wife set up the stage at this spot. It definitely is a hole in the wall type of spot as it is also located in a basement area that is pretty dark with the exception of the changing lights near the singing area and dimly lit lanterns and bar area. There are chic white couches and square ottomans, not extremely comfortable but maybe there to incent you to stand and go up and sing. I was surprised by the amount of newly released albums and songs that were readily available to sing to. While there weren't always people up and singing the DJ would just let a whole album go on so there wasn't too much variety in songs if there weren't people making selections. Some of the older stuff that you could sing karoake to had old videos and not the actual music video but it was so nice to hear those songs. It brought back lots of memories. I love how diverse the crowd is. It was a lot of fun. I sang along but know well enough that it's off key and not microphone ready. I didn't really have anything to drink, but next time I'd like to and try some food as well. read more

The setup is nicer than I expected a karaoke joint in Chinatown to be. Great place to chill, eat and pretend you're Beyonce.

Always enjoy my time here. Great people and just plain out fun. I can't sing and will never attempt to sign anywhere beside in my shower. So I mainly goes there for the drinks and the chit chat. Great music selection updated constantly. So you basically gets all the new song compared to other Karaoke places. read more

This place is a gem. I'm admittedly used to the karaoke places in Los Angeles, specifically Korea Town, and this one is much more reasonable. People claim the drink prices are high here, but they're actually less than any downtown bar in Chicago, and the rates for karaoke are very reasonable; $40/hour for the big room is a steal. And of course, the atmosphere of a Chinatown basement is simply unbeatable. read more

It's a small nice warm atmosphere. Mixed crowd, however certain nights are mostly Asians. The karaoke was fun and has some good selections. The drinks are great and they serve some small snacks. The new decor looks great and nice ambiance. read more

The stock footage behind some of the songs is *hilarious.* Service was quality, hot wings are tasty, and the lychee martini is worth trying.

Very rude greeter/receptionist at the front. Gave me attitude about being under 21 when the website clearly states if you're over 18 and underage you can stay until 10pm. It smells like a dirty hookah bar and the song selection is horrid. All the staff here need training in costumer service because the attitude is unbelievable. read more

I called prior to arriving to ensure that I did not have to have a reservation, the woman I spoke to assured me that I did not need to. She asked me if I would be arriving that same night and I said yes, she said, "I'll see you here". My friends and I arrived that same night only to be told by some overweight and overly saturated bouncer that there was a private event going on that night and that we would not be granted entrance. read more

First time to visit this venue. Started off fine but we were asked to move since all the sudden the chairs we were in were reserved. We asked where else was reserved and mysterious only the seats we were in. We than proceeded To choose two songs for our group to sing but they never came up only the reserved seating groups songs came up. We attempted three times to reload our songs but they kept disappearing from the list. We then found out the group was deleting our songs. When we confronted them the ask if we really wanted to sing. That was last straw, we got up and left along with the cash we would have spent and any future visits with our extend group read more

Exactly how every drunken adventure should end. The song selection has serious depth--even if they have random shots from "Arrow" playing in the background of "Thunder Road" by Bruce. Food's great too. Cool design that allows for large groups to not need to scatter. Also, the lights are on point. read more

great place! I go there all the time. Best sound and newest songs. Also has tasty food and amazing drinks! Love it!!!!

Reserved a large room a week ahead for a group of 11 through the phone for my birthday. The staff was very efficient and friendly. We enjoyed the nice sound system and updated songs as well as the private bathroom! Great place to chill with your friends in Chinatown!!!! :) read more

cool and cozy place!! Been there a couple times. Employees are very nice to me and my friends. Love their reasonable martinis wish they would have a bigger variety on snacks!! read more

The only reason why I'm only giving this place two stars is because of the karaoke room and modern songs. I made a reservation at 9:30pm. I even called and double checked our reservation earlier that day. We get there 10-15 mins late because some of my guest got there before I did. They tell us to go to room 8, when we get there it's occupied. The guy who I'm guessing is in charge of reservation seems to be pancking. They are looking through the reservation book and by then it's 9:50. He rudely proceeds to tell me that because we are twenty minutes late they gave our room away. So I asked him that there's no way under 15 mins the people in the other room ate all that food and drinks under 10-15 mins because we weren't even that late. He then told us nothing will be available until 11:30. I was furious and told him I called today to double check my reservation and he did not tell us there was a late policy. He told us we will get a bigger room at 11 but he would still pay extra for the big room but he would buy us a round of shots. It was my younger sisters birthday so we decided to stay. The round of shots was something weird which later we found out was only a martini drink from their menu because I had the same drink afterwards...wow what great service. We waited for an hour to get the room. It was 11:05pm and I had to remind the guy about our room. He once again forgot about us. We get to our room and we start having fun. We didn't know how to run on the mics when my friend went to go ask she said one the girl who helped was very rude saying "it's quite simple" and looked at my friend as though she was stupid. Later we press the service button only to be told by the staff that we have to go get our own drinks at the bar. So that's we all started doing. You order the food at the bar too. Some of these girls don't even know how to bartend, took them 15 mins to make our drinks plus they had to double check with the only guy in the bar who knew what he was doing to make sure they were doing them right. Don't have signature martinis if your staff won't know how to make them. At then of the night we get our bill for the room only to find that there's a 18% gratuity included. For what? So someone can come in and tell us that we have to give ourselves our own service. They close at 2, at 1:50 they come into the room and shut of the TV while we were singing my sister her birthday song. We had three different staff come and tell us that they are closing very rudely. We told them kindly that we were finishing our last drinks. When we walk out to leave we find other people still at the lounge hanging around and it seemed like we were the only ones forced out. I would love to come back to this place because the karaoke room was awesome but the service makes you not want to come back. I'm sure that's why it's semi empty on a Saturday night. read more

I probably would rate this higher, but since I have experienced Lincoln Karaoke, I had to grade it lower. Only 2 mics per room for a large group sucked. No tamborines. No cool lights. Not too much for song selection. Seats in private rooms were sooooo low to the ground! Only went to Sakura because Lincoln Karaoke was booked. read more