San Francisco Karaoke Bars

San Francisco Karaoke Bars: Amnesia

853 Valencia Street (between 19th and 20th Streets) (415) 970-0012 Official Website: Amnesia

Chill little hole in the wall Mission District bar got a makeover a few years back and looks better than ever now—the interior is minimalist and classic, and the entire place is constantly bathed in warm red light. There’s an incredible selection of imported beer and a great wine list, but no hard alcohol or cocktails. Tuesday night is one of the best nights the joint offers—ROCK OUT Karaoke with your host Glenny Kravitz. I’m telling you, this is without a doubt the most spirited, raucous karaoke night I’ve ever been to—people get sloppy drunk, and people BELT IT OUT. If you come, fall in love, and decide to make it a weekly ritual, expect to see a lot of the same karaoke jockeys there each week.

Annie’s Cocktail Lounge

15 Boardman Place (at Bryant Street) (415) 703-0865 Official Website: Annie’s

This wonderful, little-known jewel is located in the bail bond row section of South of Market and is a stone’s throw away from the city jail, making it a great place to spot people who have just gotten sprung from the cage for minor offenses. It’s also a great spot to hit if you’re a broke boozer—they’ve got one of the cheapest happy hours in town (4pm-7pm daily). Karaoke happens every Tuesday and Saturday night at 7pm—if you’ve come for happy hour and knocked a few back, hopefully, you’ll have worked up the nerve to take control of the mic. The crowd is primarily tattooed, rocker-ish, and bike messenger-garbed, as well as always friendly and down to earth.

Beale Street Bar & Grill

133 Beale Street (at Mission Street) (415) 543-1961 Official Website: Beale Street

Highly popular after-work bar has great big dripping burgers and one helluva karaoke night on Fridays—come in at 6pm and belt your heart out to the song of your choice from the massive collection of rock, pop, and classics titles available. If you come in early enough on Friday—say, at 3pm—you’ll be able to catch women modeling lingerie (!) before taking control of the mic! There’s a great daily happy hour with incredible price breaks on domestic beer. Always an interesting crowd of people to be found at this place—expect couriers, dot.commers, lawyers, secretaries, and construction workers still covered in dust and dirt from the day’s job.

Festa Karaoke Lounge

1581 Webster St., Suite 210 (2nd floor of the Kinokuniya Building in Japan Center) Main Telephone: (415) 567-5866. Reservations: (415) 971-9648. Official Website: Festa Lounge

As Japan is the culture that brought us karaoke (kara oke means "empty/air orchestra"), it follows logically that you would find karaoke in SF Japantown. As you walk into Festa Lounge, which is located on the second floor of the Kinokuniya Building in Japan Center, you might feel yourself being transported to Ginza or Shinjuku. The ambiently dark and stylish interior is anchored by a decoratively lit skyline which frames the stage. Masae, the proprietor and your hostess, is on hand almost every night of the week to welcome you and your party. For small groups and individuals, hole up at the bar with the regulars. If you've come with a group, grab one of the tables or the corner booth. Festa has Japanese songs and non-Japanese songs as well, so whether you want to belt out some SMAP, Maroon 5, or Frank Sinatra, you should be able to find something. Drinks from the full bar are well made for the most part, and they serve from an extensive wine list. Festa is a great place for birthday parties, and can be booked for private events as well. If you are a lone wolf karaoke crooner or just there to observe, you can sit at the bar and chitchat with the extremely friendly (and mostly all-Japanese) staff as you wait for your song, which you will be able to sing on a wireless microphone (others must sing from the stage). Highly recommended stop for your Japantown crawl.

The Mint Karaoke Lounge

1942 Market Street (between Laguna and Buchanan Streets) (415) 626-4726 Official Website: The Mint

The granddaddy of all karaoke bars in San Francisco, the Mint is dedicated solely to this relatively new art form—you can do or hear karaoke every single night of the year here! There are giant, hulking books filled with thousands of songs to choose from, and no matter how bad or good you do singing, you’re always guaranteed thunderous, backslapping applause from the spirited audience. Be aware that many who come to do karaoke at the Mint complain about favoritism towards regulars on the MC’s side—when you sign up to perform, make sure you take note of where you are on the list, and ask how long you can expect to wait for your performance. The Mint’s space is rather narrow—there’ s a long bar as soon as you walk in, and the karaoke lounge and stage are up a few stairs to the right. Strangely enough, even when the place is packed to the gills, you never feel uncomfortably crammed in.

Rick’s Restaurant & Bar

1940 Taraval Street (at 29th Avenue) (415) 731-8900 Official Website: Rick’s

If you love Hawaiian food, then you should definitely make a trip out to Rick’s. They have a tantalizing and extensive lunch and dinner menu featuring classic Hawaiian dishes, a cozy, essentially no-frills dining room, and enormously popular karaoke nights on Fridays and Saturdays beginning at 10:30 and going to around 1:30 or last call. If you are tired of the hipster karaoke scene, then come on down to Rick’s, for your more likely to find people like your mom and dad commandeering the mic! There’s also live Hawaiian music on Friday and Saturday nights before karaoke begins.

Silver Clouds

1994 Lombard Street (at Webster Street) (415) 922-1977

This Marina haunt lies on the non-crooked side of the crookedest street in all of San Francisco, and has the distinction of serving—without a doubt—the finest food of karaoke nights and bars in town (you can eat Dungeness crab cakes while waiting for your turn to sing Pat Benetar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”). While many of the city’s karaoke spots usually attract a casually dressed crowd, you can expect denizens at Silver Clouds to be a little more spiffed up in the wardrobe department (this is after all the Marina). There’s a lovely patio garden to catch some fresh air on after you belt out your tune, too.