Ninkasi Bar & Bistro — Restaurant in Quebec

The sign on the door says Karaoke starts at 10 P.M. Since it's currently 9:20 P.M., we manage to get a great seat with a fantastic view of the stage where people would be singing. We are immediately greeted by an attractive blonde woman with a voluptuous ponytail, and are asked what we'd like to drink. Most of us already knew what we wanted, so we placed our orders, which came out moments later, along with the bill. The server stood around, expectantly. We all started to pull out our cards, but the action was cut short when she stated, quite abruptly: "cash only".

We looked around at each other, then around the room, looking for some way we could have possibly known about this beforehand for this woman to be treating us so impatiently. The server rolls her eyes. "There's an ATM upstairs." And then she was off to the next table. My sister heads upstairs to get out some cash. The server returns shortly thereafter. "So, who's paying?" "My sister left literally a second ago to get cash. She'll be back in a bit." She sighs, quite dramatically might I add, before buzzing off to another table. And then she's back again, just as my sister is coming down the stairs. "I'm getting this round" she announces. The server does some quick and pretty impressive mental math to tally up all the bills, and my sister gives her two brand new twenty dollar bills. The server giver her exact change, but doesn't leave the table. "You owe me 15% for the tip, so that's about five dollars." We all look at her like she's nuts. We don't automatically owe her a tip, and her service was definitely not stellar. Timely, yes, but not conducive to a positive experience. My sister quietly gives her a five dollar bill and we never saw her again for the rest of the night.

10 P.M. they hadn't even cleared the stage from the previous show of live music. Instruments littered the stage. There was no music. Around 10:15 P.M. there was still no sign of a karaoke night starting, but patrons were piling in like ants at a picnic. My mom had gone out for a smoke and my youngest sibling had gone to the bathroom, so their chairs were lacking people. Apparently, this was a sign that we did not need the chairs or our tables, as people were trying to take them left and right, despite the fact that their things were still very clearly on them. In this establishment, if anyone leaves at any point, guard those chairs with your life, because they will get taken. The atmosphere was far from festive, despite the fact that a bachelorette party had just walked in, but I still had hope the karaoke would be fun.

At 10:40 P.M., I check the stage to see if they've made any progress on getting karaoke night started, only to see that there's a guy singing on stage. We couldn't hear him at all! The words to the song were projected throughout the room, but neither the music nor the singer could be heard from where we were seated... and we were in the center of the room. I asked the male server who happened to walk by if we could have a round of water for the table. He came back with a single glass.

I decide to give the karaoke a try. I make my way to the front of the room to give my name, only to discover that I'm up next. I mentally prepare myself to go on, only to have the guy call out someone else's name. I check the list, my name is at the top. I ask him why I'm not going on, and he tells me: "we're trying this new thing called alternating." WHAT? WHAT? ALTERNATING WHAT? He didn't clarify, and I was officially fed up with the place. I head back to my table to tell everyone that we're getting out of here. As I get my coat on, it becomes apparent that the person I had been "alternated" with didn't show up, and the guy called my name. Bad service, a cutthroat atmosphere, horrible acoustics (or just really low mic volume), and ALTERNATING (whatever that even means)? Nope. Karaoke, true karaoke, is not the aim of this particular bar. "Karaoke Night" is a catchy title to get...

Samedi, 28 octobre;

Un soir ou je passais par Québec, je me suis arrêté pour voir à quoi ressemble le "night life" dans la capitale. J'ai sélectionner un bar au hasard et suis tombé sur le Ninkasi ayant absolument aucune idée d'où je mettait les pieds.

Le hasard faisant bien les choses mon arrivée a coïncidé avec le début d'un spectacle stand-up comique que j'ai bien aimé. Trois humoristes dans leurs débuts nous ont fait chacun un petit numéro ni trop long ni trop court et le tout animé par un hôte ayant beaucoup d'entregent et trois juge qui, à mon humble avis, auraient pu se permettre d'être un peu plus critique dans l'intérêt du cheminement des artistes sur scène. Je tiens à souligner également le travail examplaire du staff qui ont servi les spectateurs de façon discrète et efficace pendant tout le spectacle.

Aussitôt le spectacle terminé une tornade de table et de chaises se mit à voler et tourbillonner dans l'établissement. Étant un nouveau client je n'étais pas en mesure de comprendre se qui se déroula devant mes yeux. En moin de 10 minutes la salle spectacle se métamorphosa en bar de karaoké. Étant enthousiasmé par la nouvelle je décida de rester au moin pour chanter quelques chansons. Mais plus la soirée avançait plus on sentait la convivialité et la proximité de chacun s'accentuer. Je me suis retrouvé dans plusieurs soirée karaoké dans ma vie mais jamais j'ai vue les gens être aussi enthousiasme pour chacune des chansons qui se sont chanter. Dansant et chantant devant le "stage" comme si il s'agissait d'un véritable concert. Je lève aussi mon chapeau au DJ qui à tenus sont rôles à la perfection, qui à été à la fois festifs et inflexible. Qui a fait respecter le règlement évitant les débordements tout en mettant le rythme et élevant l'ambiance dans l'établissement sans jamais se fatigué.

Pour une soirée où je croyais prendre une bière et continuer ma route, je me suis retrouvé à partir à 2h00 am tellement je m'y suis amusé. J'ai rencontré plein de personnes intéressantes. J'ai payé des shooters à tout un tas de parfaits inconnues. J'ai été très bien servi et même au moment où j'ai arrêté de consommer de l'alcool tout en demandant des verres d'eau à chaque 10 minutes, les barman/barmaid ont continué à m'approvisionné en eau, ce qui m'a permis de réduire mon taux d'alcoolémie et être en règle pour reprendre ma route. Ce qui ma énormément plu et épaté, dans n'importe quel autre bar passé un certain point les barmaids m'aurait probablement ignorer puisqu'il où elle n'ont plus de tip à faire avec moi mais pas au Ninkasi.

Un seul détail m'a paru vraiment étrange, les toilettes mixtes. C'est la première fois que je rentre dans un bar qui n'ont pas des toilettes séparés pour les hommes et les femmes. J'ai trouvé ça un peu bizarre et parfois un peu malaisant mais ça ne semblait pas faire gêner le reste des gens. Et honnêtement c'est pas un détail assez significatif pour que ça me donne envie de vous enlever un étoile.

Je ne dis pas que l'endroit est parfait, il y a toujours place à l'amélioration mais c'est hors de tout doute raisonnable un établissement qui ce démarque des autres et je ferais partie d'un des habitués si je ne vivais pas à La Tuque. Définitivement vous pourrez m'y retrouver de façon...

Waiters in the karaoke section guilt trip you if you're not getting wasted because that's less $ for them. You're asked probably every 15 minutes by multiple people whether you are having another drink and served looks if you say no. Cocktails are small and packed with ice so they take no time to consume. There was someone barfing in the bathroom at 10:30pm probably because they force alcohol down your throat. From the review replies, the owner is an immature snarky person, so I guess that's all on brand.

Be dressed cleanly as it's attached to a nightclub and come early (around 10) to have a table. Vibe is on the formal side. Music selection is good and performers generally had good voices, but you could barely hear the person singing over the music track. The place is loud in general so if you're looking to chat, another venue might be more suitable. There was an abundance of Quebec music the night we went. It took about an hour and a half between being listed and actually singing.

Overall, I had fun! But I'm not sure this...