Big Bang Karaoke — Attraction in Lynnwood

“Do you like karaoke?” asked the beautiful woman among all the usual getting-to-know-you questions that you ask and answer on a first date. We agreed that singing was fun and that we should do karaoke for our second date. That night I stayed up late Googling for a place. Most of what came up were sketchy looking bars. Maybe once we know each other better, that would be a fun adventure, but I didn’t want to scare her off right away. Also, the schedules for when they offered karaoke were unclear. I’d hate to invite someone to a dive bar to sing, only to be disappointed. Big Bang Karaoke had karaoke five nights a week and didn’t look like the kind of place where they need a bouncer to keep the drunks in line. Also, it had separate rooms, so you didn’t have to sing in front of a crowd. I sent a text and we made a date for Thursday. As it does every week, Thursday rolled around. I was happy to get to try Bing Bang and to spend some time with the beautiful woman. I showered, shaved, picked a good outfit and all the rest of the stuff you do when you hope to impress. I put the address into Google Maps and followed the commands towards the north. Soon enough, Google warned me that I needed to turn right in 800 feet. There were no roads on the right, so I was surprised when my phone ordered me to turn right now. I missed the driveway, but turning into the next one got me there. Big Bang is one of several Korean businesses in a building tucked in the back. There was not much parking, but it was Thursday, so most of the spots were empty. I took one and waited for my date. We had planned to meet up at 7, since that was when the internet said they opened. At 7:02, we tried the door and found it locked with no signs of life inside. A fellow came out of the shop next door and told us that the guy who runs the place also runs the restaurant nearby. We went in and asked what was up. They told us that the karaoke place doesn’t open until 8. We were welcome to take a table while we waited. They brought us water and peanuts while we waited. We were having a good time finding out about each other when the waitress came over and said that karaoke would be open in 10 minutes. After 15 minutes, we decided to head over and see what was happening. Sure enough, the front door was unlocked and the Open sign was lit up. We went in and found a nice guy who was happy to explain how the system worked. You get a gizmo with buttons all over it to control the karaoke machine. The buttons are labeled in Korean, but the nice man said that we only needed four buttons and showed us which ones. He took us back to a little room with a couch, a table and a karaoke machine. It took some trial and error to figure out exactly how to use the four buttons on the gizmo, but before long we were singing along with overly loud music. As first timers, we got 10 minutes free. It was enough of a taste to convince us to buy an hour. And a couple of drinks from the cooler out front. They had plenty of songs from a wide range of styles. We went from the Beatles to Taylor swift, having a grand old time. We hung out for quite a while after our hour was up. There were other people singing in other rooms, but they weren’t busy enough to bother us about keeping the room. Things went well enough between us that we cuddled up despite the camera that was keeping an eye on us. The whole event was less than $40 and we had a good time. I don’t know if was me or the cool date idea, but we have another date...

This place was near perfect for some low-key karaoke. The atmosphere and chairs aren't the best I've seen--but the facility is clean and has a good vibe. The light up tambourines turned out to be the secret gem of the night. The English song selection is actually VERY broad. I felt like we could have looked through the book for an hour trying to decide- especially since the songs are listed by their title and not by artist.

They allow outside food in, which is a nice plus. But no outside drinks--not even water. But the price of drinks is low at the front of the facility. This place is not a bar--though they do sell some beers. The part I really appreciated is that they do allow minors- a ton of karaoke places do not. Operating the TV and Remote for song selection was pretty easy with the English translation card. The location is good, especially if you don't feel like trekking into downtown.

THE MEH NEWS: The room gets hot with so many people in it--so you have to go to the front to ask the attendant to raise the AC, which seemed to help, but only after 20 or so minutes of it feeling like sweat box. It would have been nice if we didn't have to ask at all. I would also suggest they offer more than one book in a room with 7 and up people--we had to take turns looking through the book.

The BAD NEWS: The price was steep- $35 an hour for a medium sized room on a THURSDAY night- we had eight people with us. I felt like this should have been discounted since this was a week night and the place was empty. Out of the 8 or so rooms only two-three (including ours) were occupied.

Overall, I would definitely return--especially if they offered week...

To sum it all up, I love this karaoke place. Even had my birthday celebrated here. Price rates are reasonable. The staff is very chill and would even sometimes provide you more extra time without no additional cost. It’s a great place to bond with coworkers and friends to unwind. Would recommend this to anyone especially those who don’t like singing in public. And would prefer to sing only around people they know. Love the private rooms. The songs seem to update in my opinion and there’s such a...