Baby Ketten Klub — Restaurant in Portland

Okay, I love this place so much, and have been for several special events. Love coming here. However I have to write a review for our recent experience at the bar on 11/24/23. We were there for a birthday party, and had hoped to end the evening on a high note with a birthday party group sing along on the stage. I, very kindly, asked to have a second mic. We immediately were very harshly PUBLICLY scolded by the karaoke dj, he dropped at least one F bomb at us, and let us know we were not following the rules of karaoke, and he would not be giving us a second mic “especially tonight”. He said this all over the microphone, so the entire bar went silent as everyone in the bar took in the awkwardness that was ensuing. We all stood there in silence, until he decided to allow us to have a second mic. But not without further publicly scolding us about following the rules. Really killed the birthday party energy for us, and I’ve got a few things for ya:

1. we had no idea we were supposed to ask for a second mic before hand or that it was a a rule of karaoke-our bad, I guess
2. we finally saw the rules afterwards, but let’s be clear, drunk people in a bar might overlook a small display of rules in a dark, crowded bar
3. I was completely sober. If the sober girl didn’t see the rules, drunk people might not either…
4. if this rule is that important, we recommend announcing it on the microphone just as many of the other rules had been announced.
5. if some mere mortal should make this mistake again in the bar, I highly recommend the dj approaching the situation maturely, politely, and hopefully we less public scolding, and they could just tell me quietly to the side to please write it on the paper next time, instead of asking for a second mic when I go up to sing the song.

Side note, when there was about 10 minutes left before closing, there were still many folks waiting to sing, and the dj took that time for himself to sing a song. Didn’t seem like a very customer service oriented decision.

Giving three stars for my prior positive experiences, but this wasn’t one of them. I know customer service work is difficult, and it’s so tough dealing with annoying drunk people, but please keep your cool...

I didn’t order any food but was pleasantly surprised at how many gluten free things were on the menu! I would like to come back just to try some of it!

They have room rentals at $45/hour. This was what we paid for the smallest room, so nice, with a discount ball! I think it can comfortably hold 6-8 people. Probably could squeeze more if you wanted! It was 4 of us in the room and it was a lot of fun. A lot of extra space to dance and roam. Barstool seats. There’s a QR code that you can and each person that scans it can add songs from their phone. Good variety of songs. Even new ones! Like from the wicked musical part 1 that just came out… adding songs was super easy. You could easily search the artist or the song itself. You could see the queue of the songs on the right hand side.

There’s also karaoke in the main room and that looked super fun, chill vibes… loud bass. So bring earplugs if you’re sensitive. It was the kind of place where you can feel comfortable singing and it has a fun underground dance club feel. I would go back to the main karaoke and not necessarily have to rent a room.

You go to the bar to sign up for the karaoke room rental. That’s what we did, at least. And pay at the end. We wanted to do just an hour and it actually gave us a 5 min countdown when our time was up, I appreciated that!

I...

I visited, I believe for the second time, during Portland Mercury's Wing Week 2021, to try their "Vegn Gochujang Wingz w/Garlik Aioli" (pictured). They feature savory, sweet and spicy Korean gochujang sauce, sugar cane 'bones,' and are served with garlic aioli and house-pickled daikon and carrots.

Really cool atmosphere, decor, music. I like the vibe. This place has style. Seriously, I used my phone to Google microphone "search a song" function, twice.

I also love karaoke, but I am a bit introverted, these days, and vastly prefer shorter rotations, because I want to sing more than I want to drink or meet people. So for me, busy karaoke is not my jam. This spot was busy, even at dinner time, with no karaoke occurring, yet, so I can only imagine... Maybe I will rent a private room, with a few friends, on a special occasion.

I do want to try more of their all-vegan menu, and the service was really good. Friendly, prompt, very accommodating. Among the best service, of the Wing Week participants (and I did all 24).

If you like my photograph, feel free to follow my foodie Instagram, for more (casual, and almost exclusively small / local) greater-Portland-area foodventures. Instagram:...