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BMB Karaoke and Music Studio
Categories: Education Specialty Schools Nightlife Karaoke Specialty Schools, Karaoke [Edit]
593 Bloor St WToronto, ON M6G 1K5
Neighbourhoods: Koreatown, Palmerston, Seaton Village
(416) 533-8786
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Music:
- Karaoke, Music Videos
- Happy Hour:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Smoking:
- No
- Coat Check:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Good For Dancing:
- Yes
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
9 reviews for BMB Karaoke and Music Studio
9 reviews in English
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Review from Elisa L.
7/31/2011
Went here for the 2nd time this weekend with a group of 7 (on Friday), and just found out that they had rooms in their basement! They gave us a huuuge private room because they ran out of smaller rooms (which was fine with us). They actually have quite a few rooms, I think at least 7 or 8.
They are a typical Korean karaoke place, not as nice as MHQ @ Pmall, but still pretty decent and kept clean.
In terms of music selection - not bad for a Korean place. We were a group of asians and white people, who were looking to sing all English songs. So yes, they had a good selection, although I didn't see any newer 2011 songs. We also did not have to watch those 90s videos that most other karaoke places use. Sound quality was pretty good, and their rating system is pretty cute, although I have no idea how they calculate it.
Food & drinks - they have snacks, instant noodles, and beer. I don't think they have much else but the food is decently priced.
Rate was $35 for us, I believe (so $5/hr each of us). We only sang for an hour, and for an extra half hr they were going to charge us $1 each.
Overall a great place to do karaoke, or hang out with a large group of friends. -
Review from Tony F.
7/27/2011
Not sure how.. but somehow a group of us ended up here on a Saturday night because the waiting list at Snakes and Latte was over 2 hours long!
In my youth, private room Karaoke was the place you go to because if you come from an asian family, you most likely lived with your family and if you wanted a bit of private space.. for.. umm.. getting to know your partner, Karaoke was the place. Bringing friends into the family home and chilling in the basement just wasn't done, so these Karaoke spaces were the places to... Par-tay/
It was the place to get served under aged, gamble, play drinking games. The actual Karaoke part was really more of a thing running in the background.
This time around I was there with friends who'd never experienced private Karaoke, and we were there strictly for Karaoke, which was a new concept for me.
The typical scenario of my youth was, there'd be a zillion people crowded into a tiny room. Some folks sitting on the dirty ass floor around the table gambling with dice. Another group playing Chau-Da Di (Big 2, card game). Those remaining playing another drinking game using hands (5-10-15). Couples making out in the various corners of the room. And random people going up to the mic in between their turns at these various games and sundry activities.
Fast forward many years later I'm here with my western friends, sitting on the couch going through the book of songs.. and get this.. actually singing?!
For the 6 of us, it worked out to be $30 an hour. And they don't allow alcohol in the room?!
The English songs predominantly had pop music of the 80s with lots of ballads which is completely out of my genre. I've definitely seen better.
The couches have probably been there since the 90s, and I don't really really want to think about what has happened on them since.
Anyways.. I've learned.. you can't go back in time... Not that I'd really want to either.Listed in: Date night
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Review from Aaron P.
8/29/2011
Honestly, I'm not a big fan of karaoke simply because most of the time I go everyone is falling asleep and nobody wants to sing as two people sing their hearts out of some old song nobody knows because the karaoke place doesn't have new ones people know. However, I just came to this place with a bunch of my friends the other weekend and I was shocked just how updated their songs were. Oh, and MOST importantly, I'm not talking about korean songs (because this place is a korean karaoke place), this place has updated ENGLISH songs. FINALLY a language I can actually understand!
The place isn't the most attractive place and the rooms are somewhat small upstairs (non-alcoholic) but the rooms downstairs are HUGE and the charge was actually very cheap only clocking at around $5 an hour per person depending on how many people are in the room. After a few shots, a few jager bombs and some irsh carbombs we were ready to PARTY. The place had lights all over the room that synchronized with the music (awesome!) and also couches and tables perfect for drinki- ahem, I meant playing cards. We had around 15 people in the room at once so it got very hot but nobody really cared because we were singing our hearts out and dancing around having tons of fun. The place isn't amazingly nice and there's only one bathroom so don't expect too much coming in here.
One word of advice I must say is that karaoke isn't really meant to be done sober. That is, of course unless you actually enjoy the art of singing and watching other people sing then that's fine but in my opinion, you can just sing in the shower at home so I don't see a point of pay $5 to sing and watch a stupid music video with cheesy MIDI versions of my favorite songs. However, when you are with the right group of friends and the right amount of alcohol, karaoke becomes dangerously fun.
I've had many experiences of my friends just sitting around watching other people sing and even people falling asleep just because its so boring, so karaoke really isn't for everyone. However, when a place like this has very updated songs and everyone's just having a good time singing along together, it really becomes a lot of fun. If you have a chance to go karaoke around this area with your friends, make sure you come here, order a bunch of beers, and just keep singing your hearts out to korean music videos that don't match the song whatsoever. This place is tons of fun and it has a huge song selection with nice service and gives you bonus points for singing well (which we did not unfortunately). Make sure you come check this place out and CRANK UP THAT JOURNEY! -
Review from Steeven L.
Etobicoke, ON
5/29/2010
BMB is a great place to have a fun evening. They have private rooms so you only have to embarass yourself in front of your friends instead of a whole room full of people. I highly recommend a drinking room.
They have a fairly extensive list of English songs but the bast majority of the lists are in Korean. The staff was quick and helpful and gave a us a quick tutorial on how to use the controler to program songs.
The only down side is that you have to pre-book the amount of time you want the room ($45/hr for a 10 person room) and drinks are extra. I much prefer the Echo Karaoke style where if you drink for a certain $ amount, the room is free for as long as you want. -
Review from Catherine M.
ON
12/11/2008 1 photo
I had the pleasure of having a birthday party here this year, we had originally planned on going to XO Karaoke down the street but were turned away because they were overbooked. So we hoofed it down the street in the rain and sleet to BMB, and had a blast.
The first thing I noticed here was the decor, which I blithely described at the time as "if Martha Stewart threw a rave" - there are flashing and colored lights everywhere, but then also lots of dried flower arrangements. The combination is both jarring and amazing.
We had someone walk over and book a room for an hour or so later, the staff was very accommodating, although they did require a deposit on the room. It seems that they have a lot of space, with several floors of private rooms. Yes, this is the karaoke place where only you and your friends get to sing, as you're in your own little private room.
The staff member lead us down into the basement after double checking that we wanted a drinking room (heck yes!). They then carefully explained to us how to use the remote, which was unfortunately in Korean. The karaoke books, too, were mostly in Korean, although they did have a large enough selection of English pop songs to keep us occupied for an hour and a half. The best thing happened when we initially tried to program in a song, which was that some random video started playing of this beautiful Korean woman singing over shots of some sort of park. We were having fun already! The videos that show on the big screen are all completely unrelated to the song, so you can sing say "Like a Virgin" and the screen will show shots of puppies running in a field.
Once we got a hang of the remote it was a blast. We had our own crazy lighting going on, there was enough room for the ten or so of us to spread out on the the couches, sing and dance. The machine lets you pre-program a bunch of songs even while someone is singing, although we were not able to figure out a few other things like adjusting the volume (or how occasionally our pre-programmed songs would disappear.
The bar was just outside our room and we were sure to make use of that feature. The bar staff were especially awesome and even gave me a shot because it was my birthday. After the first hour was up the machine essentially went into sleep mode until we used the special white phone near the door to call upstairs. We ended up asking to stay longer and had a great time. About thirty minutes later they came in and said someone was booked in the room, and asked us if we wanted to switch to another room. We said we were fine and called it a night. The best part was that the bill at the end of the night was very reasonable. If you have a group of ten or so people, everyone only needs to throw in $6 for one hour. There are also smaller, cheaper rooms available, but I think the more people the more fun it is. -
Review from laura b.
Toronto, ON
3/13/2010 7 photos
This place brings back memories of my times in Korea at Noraebang, morning, noon and night singing our hearts out. With our fellow teachers, bosses, students... fun times!
Very friendly staff and great English song selection. The only thing I would recommend would be more crazy decor - maybe more funky wall paper or more laser beams! The soju is a little over priced, but I guess that is what we pay for it here in Toronto.
Anyway, over all a GREAT NORAEBANG (Karaoke!)!!! -
Review from Marie F.
5/30/2010 1 Check-in Here
I had an amazing time at BMB Karaoke, that being said there were definitely some room for improvement:
-You have to leave the room and get your own drinks (no service in the room)
-They don't serve food
- It's a bit pricey at $45 an hour
- There is only one washroom
All is not bad though...
- The song book is a bit more impressive than Echo Karaoke (although it omitted many newer songs)
- You can battle your friends. The mics calculate your pitch and tone than calculate your accuracy.
The staff is nice
IT was fun, but I prefer Echo Karaoke at Spadina and Queen -
Review from Jennifer L.
Toronto, ON
Updated - 8/25/2010
Upon discovering that BMB Karaoke has a HAPPY HOUR special from Monday to Wednesday (yeah, I like to pop in and sing a couple of tunes on a random weeknight) -- which means you can sing between 5pm - 9pm and only pay for one hour -- my rating has bumped up a notch. Find me there on a Monday evening, all by lonesome, with a bottle of Soju and a microphone.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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1/21/2009
guhh karaoke is awesome! highly recommend trying out a private room when you're feeling like poo or… Read more »
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Review from Denise S.
5/23/2011 1 Check-in Here
Came here after dinner on a weekend and had a great time reliving the 90's with friends! The place is pretty kitschy, with Christmas decorations at the front (in May). The rooms come in various sizes and have disco balls. I also really enjoy the "battle" feature that gives you a score and screams things in Korean between songs! And who doesn't love the unrelated videos of landscapes or soap operas that go with the songs? The English song selection is pretty decent, although there were a few key songs that we were looking for that they didn't have, like En Vogue "My Lovin' (never gonna get it)"... c'mon, that is a classic! I don't know how they calculated the prices, but it worked out to ~$10 per person per hour. They let us extend our stay without any problems. This is a fun place for the Noraebang experience or for people who like to sing but are too shy to sing in front of a bar full of strangers!
Listed in: Karaoke!
