The 8 best karaoke bars in Sydney

If you’re all about the glitzy Sydney singing experience, this might not be entirely your style. The booth seating is pretty bare, the mics are more school assembly than Lizzo concert, and you’re required to operate a giant 18th century calculator to select songs. But we’re happy to abandon our tech obsession if it means we get those little free dishes of soy crisps and popcorn and tambourines upon request.

The system:
The novelty of having to flip through an actual song book is kind of charming, even though the tracks are alphabetised by song name (artist is always best for a tipsy crowd), as is the oversized Game Boy-style remote. You can’t be shy here: the sound system is loud, the reverb is intense and the backing vocals are mostly inaudible. Your adoring crowd will hear every note. Good luck.

The songs:
There’s a gorgeous contingent of Korean songs in the thick tome, but in the smaller English section, we also find some fresh flicks that we know will get us top points in the room's scoring system. Mariah Carey’s ‘We Belong Together’ makes an appearance, and we reach a perfect 100 for a very cheesy rendition of ‘Beautiful Soul’.

This shiny joint throws down the sparkly, Janet Jackson-style gauntlet. 
The rooms are like little mod capsules – ours was all mirrored oval tables and plush, light olive lounge seating – and the Japanese menu (order via the touchscreen near the door) is extensive: bowl of ramen with your ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’?

The system:
One of the easiest touchscreen systems, but with no book for browsing, the queue at the screen gets long.

The songs:
The song list is huge, but still fails our Johnny Cash test. Does no one in this town want to sing a rollicking good-times version of ‘Ring of Fire’?

K-factor:
You enter via the Sun Tower on George Street – the bouncer waits by the lifts – and there’s something fun about sneaking tipsily into an office building late at night. These days, they are offering a promotional deal for $7, per person, per hour all day. All bookings have to go through an online request form, with prices changing depending on the time of day. 

An unobtrusive doorway in the middle of Dixon Mall in Chinatown leads to an elevator, and then you walk into a Blade Runner-style idea of the Shanghai wine bar of the sci-fi future: pulsating screens, mirrors, giant ads for Hennessy and serious terracotta statues. You’ve got a choice of either private rooms or taking your chances on the big main stage, and staffers here seem to think that if they keep you fed and watered, you’ll stay all night. They’re right.

The system:
Touchscreen, and it’s the familiar system used by many of the K-rooms around town. Videos are mainly the original clips, allowing you to either sing along if you’re a timid little k-coward (koward?) or mute out the vocal.

The songs:
The selection is adequate in the department of ’80s ballads and Brittney Spears hits, but we were missing bangers from the last decade or so. Still, you can only send out good vibes in an uplifting group rendition of ‘Unwritten’ by Natasha Bedingfield or Kilye’s ‘Spinning Around’.

K-factor:
For a proper rager of a night, this rules. It’s gaudy, shiny and over the top, with statues on everything, one-way mirrors in the private rooms, unisex toilets, touchscreen tabletop games if you get bored with the singing and generous jugs of Hennesy and green tea. Rooms range from $10 per person per hour at happy hour to $288 for a VIP party room that’ll fit around 30 screeching singers.

There are a lot of things to love about El Primo Sanchez – Paddington’s cocktail bar by the Maybe Sammy Group and Public Hospitality Group. So let’s start with the most important bit: the karaoke room. The entry is found at the back of the tangerine-coloured room lit up by no less than 15 glittering disco balls. 

The system:
Look, the room is small with a little screen. We’ve heard it’s only meant to be for two people. But we've squeezed at least five people into that little room. Do with that what you will. What it lacks in size, it makes up for with a button you can press for tequila. 

The songs:
The song choice is pretty solid. Our pick is anything Abba or Shania Twain. Although a rendition of 'Tequila' wouldn't be amiss at this fun colourful cantina.

K-factor:
Maybe we should call it M-factor because El Primo Sanchez packs a real Mexican punch. Housed in a historic 1940's pub (formally the Rose Hotel) on Oxford Street, El Primo Sanchez is fun in every sense of the word. At night, the ceiling flickers with neon-rainbow lights like the ones from your school disco. And did we mention that tequila button?

Proper Sydney karaoke enthusiasts swear by the Point. Fans will fondly describe its battered ’80s aesthetic as careworn, like a favourite coat. Others will equally accurately add that the rooms smell like a teenage boy’s poorly supervised sock. Either way, this is where the karaoke devotees are separated from the karaoke noobs. The staff are friendly and you can get snacks, sushi platters and booze, but this isn’t a place to cuddle up and dine: you’re here to work.

The system:
Not immediately intuitive but you’ll work out the touchscreen and stylus set-up for pointing to your fave tunes. On Time Out’s visit, we would have raised the roof for some more bassy oomph beside the plinkity-plonkity synths coming out of the speakers.

The songs:
Amazing. Echo Point has Sydney’s greatest and largest range 
of tunes, hands down. They’re all keyboard backing tracks, which might sound like a minus but it is in fact an awesome plus, since you can adjust the pitch and tempo. Want to start randomly changing a song’s pitch because it’s Depeche Mode’s ‘People are People’ 
and you’re bored? Good news!

K-factor:
If you want to prove something about how this karaoke game is won, then this is the arena in which to do it. Their happy singing hour starts at $9 per person, per hour, and the rooms can accommodate up to 22 people.

It’s Sydney’s oldest collection of rooms to sing in and still one of its best, especially after a reno in recent years (that old Karaoke World smell is gone). The 18 rooms are now all dark walls, chunky glass tables (watch your shins) and rave-y lasers.

The system:
The remote is easy to use if you’ve laid off the sake but the mics can play up. Thankfully, the front desk is swift to the rescue with a replacement.

The songs:
The venue takes pride in promoting their mammoth selection of more than 160,000 songs in English, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Indonesian and Korean. The list skews toward Top 40.

K-Factor:
This is where the celebs come to let their hair down (one Time Out-er recalls singing ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ here at 3am with a WWE wrestler). Happy hour rates come in at $10 per hour, per person from 5pm-8pm, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, or $15 for two hours and a complimentary drink. After that, rates vary between rooms, with prices revealed at booking. You do get a free bottle of champers if it's your birthday though. Freak out! 

Even for a subterranean Sydney karaoke joint, K Square is rabbit warren-y. You burrow down off George Street through dark tiled walls all sprayed with graffiti 
to your room, which, if you’re a big group, will be a blissfully air-conditioned space that fits 35. We love the playing card-style kings and jacks on the wallpaper almost as much as we love our private bathroom. Order a snack – the menu is mostly Thai noodles and fried favourites – or a three-litre tower of Asahi.

The system:
Plus one: most songs feature the original music videos (no longing gazes across Manila Bay here). Plus two: there’s a book as well as a searchable digital system. Mild minus: they play the original vocal track with each song – good if you’re a blender, bad if you were planning your big all-ears-on-me Dreamgirls moment for later in the night.

The songs:
A big list, and current – so you can really show off your music eclecticism.

K-factor:
If you’re keen to pop in for a lunch hour training session with a few pals, sing your heart out midweek for $13 per person. If the weekend is more your thing, show off your moves to the full contingent of your seven closest pals for $138 an hour, or, if you're really feeling like a diva, hit up one of their rooms for 35 people for $358 an hour. 

If you like a grungy, booze-soaked karaoke vibe (that is absolutely free), look no further than Goros. 

The system:

iPad operated karaoke booths are the future, and also exactly what you get at Goros. Expect some extremely loud reverb. 

The songs:

When you’re not making your own sweet music, the playlist is a hip-hop greatest hits mix racking up Afrika Bambaataa, Pete Rock, Big Boi, and that Max-a-Million cover of 'Sexual Healing' that crops up on all '90s playlists if you listen long enough.