Review - Genji's Japanese Restaurant and Karaoke Bar

Fun Japanese restaurant/karaoke bar that spares its customers embarrassment by allowing them to perform from the comfort of their cozy booth.

The premise of Genji’s, a tiny Japanese restaurant and karaoke bar, is simple. They provide unexpectedly good Japanese food at a reasonable price, offer a smarmy-free atmosphere to most (although a younger Asian crowd tends to dominate the later evenings) and allow patrons the opportunity to sing karaoke from the safety of one’s booth (which is a unexpectedly smart move).

Head to toe, you’re probably not going to find a lot of karaoke bars that someone would describe as hip, but if there were a bunch around town, this one would reside near the top of pecking order.

Over the years, the crowd seems to have gotten increasingly younger (or I’m just getting older, I suppose), but it remains a fairly mature place early in the evening, relatively speaking. It will get packed weekend nights, that much is guaranteed.

Beyond everything else, the clear draw at Genji’s is the food. Somehow, within the confines of this hole in the wall establishment, they offer one the best plates of Yakiniku you’re going to be able to dig up in late night Houston. (Their Nigori is pretty good too.)

If you and your party are looking for a fun, well catered evening of singing and sake, this is the place to go. But if you’re looking for some shine, you might be better off hitting a place like Spotlight Karaoke in the Galleria area.