Spotlight Karaoke — Restaurant in Houston

My family went there last night for a family night out and we were there not long after it opened. It was our first time there and we didn’t know that we could reserve a booth so we were split up at the bar, because part of that was reserved. There was a section reserved right behind me, and we were there for a few hours and no one had shown up for that area. The atmosphere was great until the “manager” came in. Some of our family came late and we’re trying to order drinks, and we’re trying to ask this guy behind the bar but a female said that he was just a bar back and couldn’t help them and all of a sudden he says “yo no hablo englés”. So they kept waiting, even though they’d watched him serve others right before them. My niece ordered 2 shots of a drink and she asked if they could add a little more Red Bull because they added to much liquor became the drink was supposed to be half and half, she was told well that’s how we make it. She’s a small girl and wasn’t trying to get drunk, so she didn’t drink the second shot. She asked to speak to the manager who had previously told her that she could get a refund (another person said that she heard the lady say that she would give her a refund). She kept serving other people, but kept going back and forth around the bar avoiding our area. When she finally came over I saw that she was talking to my niece but couldn’t really hear the conversation because someone was sitting in between us. Then I heard the manager start getting loud and said,”We don’t give refunds, I didn’t say that”, then heard my niece say “yes you did”. At some point they had pulled her drink closer to them in the bar. The manager then told her, “I don’t have time to be standing here arguing with you”. And started to walk off. My niece pushed the shot glass over the edge and she got kicked out because she “threw her drink”. When the manager came back with the security guard, the “non English speaking” bar back, with no accent at all picks up the shot glass and tells the security guard, “she threw this”. I looked like wait, she didn’t throw anything and he speaks English with no accent. Smh. So when they kicked her out we all left too and won’t be back. We’re going to give the other location a try maybe we’ll have...

I used to frequent Spotlight 6-10 years ago. I've hosted a couple birthdays there, once in a room and the other on the floor. I haven't been there in such a long time and a few things have changed. First, Mr. Lee is no longer there, he passed away. Second, they charge a $10 fee at the door. Third, the place is fully reserved, only leaving a few bar seats. And lastly, the menu and song list is via QR code.

I arrived at 8PM and maybe 5-7 people were there. I was told all the tables were reserved but I could sit at the bar. Since 6 people were coming, I put my jacket and purse to reserve the chairs next to me. By the time all my friends arrived, a table opened up. At this time the place was packed. The same people sang multiple times in the beginning but as people trickled in, the rotation became longer.

The DJ said it's a one drink minimum to get a song and a two drink minimum to stay in the rotation. The cost of everything is higher (typical). However, Spotlight was always higher in cost than most karaoke bars I've frequented. I used to go to 3-5 different karaoke bars every week and it was free to enter, they sometimes had drink or food specials, or maybe they decorated for a holiday. Spotlight Karaoke isn't like that. My guess is, it's supposed to be an upper scale karaoke spot focused on karaoke and not a bar that has karaoke 1-2 nights a week.

In all, expect to spend more money than other places that have karaoke. Get there early if you want to put in more songs. The song selection is decent but I'm surprised they didn't Amy Winehouse's songs Back to Black, Valerie, and You Know I'm Not Good. They used to but not anymore. Reserve seating ahead of time or arrive around 10:30PM or later with the hopes of getting seating. Parking is trash. Spotlight shares a parking lot with several other places and it was packed at 8PM.

You can and will have a great time with good company. Parking made me want to give them 3 stars but they can't control the amount of people frequenting that shopping center. Make sure to bring your ID, it's 21 and...

Me and some of my friends came in for a girls night out. Well we get in and most of the table are reserved. So we sit at the bar the nice bartender asked if we wanted to sit at a table and directed us to one. We sit at the table where we waited over and hour to be served. One of us got up and told the bar nobody had came to our table. The bartender told her she’s going to get somebody to come by. Nobody ever did. Eventually we waited so long 2 of us got up and had to go order drinks from the bar (the table beside us also told us that nobody was coming to their table either). It looked as if you didn’t have a section you’re not getting service. After the drinks were ordered a serve came to our table to drop our drinks off and cash us out. Well after that nobody came back to our table to check on us see if we needed more drinks which we did. So we then had to flag a server down after waiting another 45 minutes mind you at this time the building was getting empty. One didn’t want to order drinks anymore because of how long we kept waiting. Definitely need to work on cocktail service nobody wants to keep flagging servers down to order. Atmosphere and vibe was there a nice spot really they just need to get the service together. Also a 20% gratuity on a table with 4 people is just ridiculous nowhere on the menu might I add or the website a heads up is nice. In the women restroom that first stall you literally cannot sit down on the toilet. I had to squat sideways. Needs newer menus can you jazz them up a little? Make them look appealing. Better explanations of your service on website and possibly QR code with updates. The chairs are semi comfortable. And make sure your staff knows what you have and don’t have. Server told us they don’t have that flavor when we already had one in that flavor. Hopefully we just came on a bad night with service for them because other than that we would have really enjoyed ourselves. Front door staff...