Sole Korea Restaurant

Sole, Galaxy’s hood cousin. At least, that’s what it looks like from its back alley entrance. Take the flight of stairs down and it looks a bit like Nanta with an open lounge with booths and tables as well as private rooms and a bar.
+tjmedia Karaōke system (read my review of Galaxy for a guide on how to search songs on your phone)
+room charge is waived if you order $ 25 (iirc) worth of food per hour of Karaōke
+wired microphones
+one-​touch service like at Galaxy
+decent portions for food
+flavoured soju
–nightmare parking, had to ask the manager to move the car behind me so I could get out of my spot
–crumby vibe, not really their fault but the place looks shadier than Nanta

«Wait, where are you guys taking me again? Why am I in this dark lit alley?»
Welcome to Sole.
Looks totally sketchy on the inside, but looks totally fine inside. We were here for a birthday party for about 20 – 30 people and it worked out fine.
Itching to sing some BSB? They have that too.
Korean pop? Mando pop? It’s all there.
Make sure to order the yogurt soju when you get there. Sweet, but potent.
4 stars.

Holy crap, Sole. Why the hell have I been going to Nanta’s sticky disease-​trap this whole time, when I could have been partying with you?!
You have the same song selections, your private rooms (and bathroom!) are much cleaner, and at the end of the night; I don’t feel it necessary to burn my clothes, bury them and then salt the earth.
Perhaps it’s because you’re located in a top sekrit alley way, accessible only either through said alley or Downtown Food’s back door.
I like you. Let’s be friends. You have food too? Need to come back for that!

Do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell? There’s a Korean karaōke bar with an entrance through the back alley! Yessiree sirs and madams, a central area, private rooms and… no sticky floor!
Oh, a maraca and a tambourine so you can play along.
Sole Korea was a welcomed «new» karaōke hangout. I’m not sure how long it’s been there, but it’s newer (so is the song selection), cleaner and… did I mention the back alley entrance? Ooooo! That’s the selling point. Right there.
Oh, there are drinks and eats too. We just partook in the drink, not the eats. So no comment for ya there yet!
Happy karaōke-​ing!

Sole earned this one extra star from my last review Sole Korea.
Last time I complained about their song selection, until they provided us with an english guide to use your Karaōke remote control, which is the size of LAPTOP, it felt like we were back in the 90’s.
Or MAYBE we were, because in this nifty control I discovered the SEARCH FEATURE, allowing me to reign down with my HIP HOP SUPREMACY.
EVERY BREATH I TAAAAKE EVERY MOVE I MAAAKKE…
TELL ME WHYYY ARE WEEE, SO BLLINNNND TO SEEEE, THAT THE…
CAAAALIFORNIA LOOOOOOVE…
Their food isn’t the best selection in the city for Korean food, but it’s good enough to give you a few things to snack on with their drinks. Their house sojus are great but they dont’ have a huge drink menu.
But they do offer OKONOMIYAKI pancakes, which can either be a hit or miss with your party. I loved it, but some of the others didn’t.
I would recommend this place as a great idea for group parties. The rooms are spacey but they do get really hot. But they do provide a large table and chairs. In case your guests just don’t feel up for Karaōke (which is crazy I know) the table is a great spot to host board games.
Finally booking a room here is relatively easy, as long as you communicate with it’s owner. A room is always a great idea. You never know who could contribute and it’ll surprise everyone that they still remember the songs they loved and HATED during their teen years.

Loved the atmosphere. Food was good. And the drinks where great (love the flavored soju). Had a great night there at a good price.

So, last year I planned a surprise birthday party. I booked a room days before the event and found it strange that (1) the person did not reply with business name (2) the person was the owner and (3) it all reeked of sketchy-​ness. I decided to go against my instinct and still booked the room.
I drove around that day to locate the spot and the sketchy feeling followed me as it was in the back-​alley. Later that night we entered that same alley entrance and every step made me want to reconsider taking another step forward. But since we had friends waiting, we decided to make a night of it.
Sketchy. Everything was in Korean. Even the karoke machines. Drinks were good. We had a private room to ourselves and were left alone. Great location to set-​up some major drug deals if you are into the drug-​dealing bidness. When we left the end of the night, a little drunk and karokied out, the atmosphere was just as sketchy.
Unilocal Unilocal and away.

This is a tough one for me to review! I spent a summer with my friends in Korea going to a number of Karaokes and in all fairness they weren’t always clean or nice. That and $ 20 for one hour of Karaōke is a great rate. The service is actually pretty decent as well. But there’s a vibe to the place that makes this place feel ghetto and trashy. The lack of a front door (and entrance by alley) starts things off on a bad note, and the interior is poorly put together. The rooms themselves felt a little small (although the Karaōke machines were the top of the line).
The food of course was way overpriced and I would HIGHLY recommend against trying anything on the menu, unless it’s an appetizer meant to be eaten as you drink. Not only is the quality of the food questionable, it is a poor representation of Korean food.
At the end of the night, you will have fun with your friends. And even cost wise if you go with a large group and share food and drinks, the bill will be pretty reasonable. But that being said Sole could do a lot better and I am sorry that people might get the impression that Korean Karaokes are all like Sole.