DoReMi Music Studio

CLOSED — Yes it is sad. They are building luxury apartment buildings upon the very place Do Rei Mi used to stand. The sign on their location said they’ll be updating their website soon and that they plan to re-​open else where. I hope this is true!
Hands down the best selection of songs of all the Karaōke places I’ve been to in Boston. The new one in Malden, Jazz Moon in Quincy, and Jin next door got nothing on this place. I say this because they’re the only place that has my favorite tunes. If you need Broadway songs they’ve got your favs! They usually have the newest songs of the current year as well.
Sure the couches and chairs are worn but if it kept cost down I didn’t mind it too much. Better condition than Jin Karaōke (to me at least). Ah you will be missed DoReMi!

I think they closed down, because the two numbers I could find for them didn’t work. but they didn’t leave a forwarding number or even post anything on their website. Lazy guys. Really lazy

There wasn’t soap in the men’s room. They fined us a bunch of money for sneaking in alcohol, even though we didn’t make it obvious that we had it, and the man insisted on searching bags after they had let us in.

I LOVE THIS PLACE. Every time I come here I have a blast, and I’ve been here probably at least a half a dozen times in the year that I’ve spent in Boston. It’s not quite the same as the places in k-​town in NYC that I love so much (Duet 35! Good memories), especially since they don’t serve alcohol, but I’ve been varying levels of inebriated here regardless. Staff is great, friendly, non-​intrusive. Lots of songs here, not quite as many as what you might find in NY, but thoroughly respectable selection, which they do update on a seemingly regular basis. And for the price, you can’t beat it! They are cash only now, which is annoying, but likely is part of what keeps prices low.

I made a reservation several days in advance for a room at 5pm on Sunday. They open at 5pm, but I asked whether I could get in a few minutes early to prep the room. The manager just said, «We open at 5pm.» OK, no big deal.
When we showed up at 5pm on Sunday, the place was completely dark. Turns out there was a blackout that affected the entire block. Not Doremi’s fault, but it ruined our party plans. Problem was, the power had been out since 2am, but they never bothered to call to let us know about the problem, even though they had my cell. Very lame. This forced us to make last minute plans for relocating our celebration for 12 people. Inexcusable.

On the weekend night that I came here, the place was pretty much dead. My group was basically the only one there. It was fun nonetheless in our own private room where we sang for 3 hours. The piles of books filled with song listings speak to how extensive the song choices are here. It seems they’re always being updated because of all the really new songs. Another thing I really enjoyed here were the various take-​out menus on the table. We were able to call for food deliveries to be made to DoReMi. The man working the counter was also very nice and helpful. The only downside was when we paid for expired drinks from the onsite vending machine. Beware, drinks may be expired. You’re better off to bring your own.

+ lots of new music (which have the REAL MV with it)
+ has a timer at the bottom of your screen to keep track of time
+ spacious rooms
— run down environment
— the MV may freeze and we had 1 broken microphone
— the older songs (lets say anything before 2008?) are all paired with blue screens and words only or those awkward scenes of people rowing boats and walking around
Came here with some friends on a Saturday snowy night, (what else is new in Boston though?) and over all it was pretty fun! They have most of the latest and greatest and I like that all the new MV’s have the real music videos. But anything slightly older gets a little awkward as you sing words to random Asian people walking along a forest path or rowing boats.
The place also does not have its alcohol license and there’s a lovely sign that says you will be charged $ 100 if you’re caught with any and «the party is over.» Karoke’s not quite as fun when you can’t have a few spirits in you, so maybe find somewhere to do it before heading here? The place is a bit old and run down, but for your karoking needs, it gets the job done in a pinch and it’s well located near the 66 route in ktown. I’ll be back if the craving hits hard… or just sing loudly to myself in my room to youtube and flick my lamp on and off for effect.

Not a bad place for karaōke with a group of friends. It was exactly what I expected in comparison to a karaōke place I went to down in Florida. Party of 8, arrived at 10:30pm til 1am for a total bill of $ 118. Here’s a list of pros and cons for DoReMi:
Pros:
— Throwback and modern English songs
— Nice private room for your party
— We were the loudest ones there and the owner did not seem to mind it at all. I guess it’s because he appreciated knowing we were having a good time at his business?
— System is easy to use once he explains it.
Cons:
— Absolutely no alcohol… which is pretty lame.
— Cash only!!!
— Would be cool if it offered some small appetizers.
— Snack machines seems kind of old so we were a little hesitant to use it.

I wish I could give more stars, because a karaōke parlor like this is exactly what I think every city needs. Their song selection is vast, but here are my gripes:
1. The place is drab. One section of the hallway reeks of urine. Furniture looks like it was pulled from the yard sale of an old woman’s house and then soiled and trampled upon. The televisions are big, but so old and sometimes black out.
2. The patrons can be really drunk and messy. A guy was barfing in the bathroom, making the only stall off limits and leaving the one smelly urinal as your only option. Of course, when you go with a group of friends and get drunk and messy, it’s fun, but it’s disrespectful and gross to others.
3. The menu of songs is not digitized. You have to flip through a large book to find songs, which is difficult, and then enter the code. The remote also is not intuitive; you have to stop a song first before you can play a new one. We couldn’t figure out how to set a queue.
4. You don’t really know how long you’re in there unless you track time yourself. The register keeps your start and end times noted, but it’s really on you to know how much time has elapsed. A timer in the room would be nice. If you are with a lot of people dividing up the price, then maybe it doesn’t matter; but for small groups, knowing the duration

One of my favorite (and only ones I really know of) karoke places in Boston. It’s the asian style concept, where you get private rooms and can choose from a variety of songs in basically any language.
Price is so-​so — for about 6 of us, it came out to be $ 15 pp for 2 hours. Not a bad rate here in America, and this place obviously fails in comparison to what you find in Asia, but still one of the best in Boston.
One suggestion though — increase the microphones from 2 to 4. I know a lot of parties love to sing their hearts out as a group, so the option would be nice.

I came here for my brother’s birthday with the family and they all enjoyed it. Pricing wasn’t too bad in my opinion, two hours for a party of five ran up to $ 60. There were quite a few flaws however:
1. If your music isn’t loud enough, there will be a few seconds of silence through the song, so you have to turn it up! (that’s what the owner told me) So yup, we turned it up and those silent moments were gone.
2. One of the mic worked on and off. They need new mics, preferably wireless! Easy for passing and not get all tangled up in them. Maybe add a couple more as well.
3. Like others have mentioned, no alcohol. What’s the fun in that when you can’t drink and sing at the same time?!
The songs were decent, seems like the available options were all hit singles. The owner seems friendly. We called him into the room twice to fixed those two problems mentioned above and he was very helpful. Will definitely come back for any upcoming occasions and next time with foods and sodas, cause that’s allowed!

Super old style way too old style. Took forever to get any songs. And a lot of song a can’t mute the background/​original sound.

Attention: you. can’t. bring. liquor! Definite bag search and they will fine you $ 100 if they happen to walk in and find any alcohol in the present room. Rates are clearly posted now and there is a head count (new policy). They’re cracking down and they mean business! Still worth the go though.

DoReMi is Japanese-​style karaōke, which means you and your friends rent a private room by the hour and sing your little hearts out to an enormous selection of songs. The smaller rooms are $ 30 per hour for up to 5 people, and the big rooms are $ 80 per hour for (I think) up to 20 people. Add’l per-​person charge for extra people.
The song selection is insane. Thousands and thousands of songs. There were, for example, over 30 Bön Jovi songs, if that’s your thing. They also are constantly adding, with about 10 pages worth just of 2014 songs as of June ’14.
Each room has its own TV karaōke system and microphones, and soundproofing is adequate between rooms. DoReMi is definitely not fancy. The vibe is your high school boyfriend’s basement. But you do get your own personal disco lights to really make it feel like a party even if it’s just a few of you. And because you’re not singing to a packed bar, there’s no waiting hours for your turn, and no shame if, let’s face it, you’re terrible.

Note: NO ALCOHOL. DRM neither sells nor allows you to bring in your own alcoholic beverages. Returning to our room from a frequent bathroom run, I actually saw the manager confronting a girl from the next room who was holding a solo cup of some beverage and claiming that neither she nor her party had any alcohol. Ahjussi actually dips his finger in to taste the thing and let her know his informal test result! hilarious!
But seriously, no shenanigans here, just singing. The ahjussi will actually randomly open up your door and ask how everything’s going.
I am giving this three stars because it’s a pretty barebones operations. For the prices, it’s actually a decent value for small groups, but let’s just be clear:
Pros:
— Up to date English songbook with surprisingly thorough collections (so much Oasis!) but also spotty in many places. The breadth of the selection is bound to have plenty of songs that any party will want – anyone complaining about the selection is just being difficult. Didn’t get a chance to scope out the Chinese
— Machine with calpico and other delightful soft drinks
— ATM on premises
— Good hours (admittedly probably possible only because they don’t dispense alcohol)
— Tambourines to borrow (they’ll protectively snatch it back from your hands before you can even offer)
— Kindly Christian management
Cons:
— NO ALCOHOL in any way
— Really old system: you input numbers based off of physical binders
— Not classy: pretty decent looking Samsung TV but everything else in the room was obtained as cheaply as possible
— Not classy (2): one of the toilets in the women’s bathroom is partitioned off with a shower curtain that touches your legs as you relieve yourself

K, so my first-​ever Do Re Mi experience was fantastic. Props to Lauren M for dragging me out of hibernation and to a friend’s 24^th birthday party (crap, I’m old), as he’s evidently a Do Re Mi regular and had a party room booked for 15 or so karaōke-​loving kids after the pre-​game at his Allston apartment.
We entered the 70s style lounge, and I felt like I really should have dressed like Amy Adams in American Hustle to fit in better. In any case, my sequined shirt did the job OK and the serious Korean man at the front desk proceeded to explain how the room rental works (which made very little sense) and highlighted that no alcohol is allowed. «Got it,» we pretty much all exclaimed while gripping those nips in our pockets a little tighter. Some of use were also enterprising enough to pack 40s. I would assume these guys are in the business of busting customers for alcohol, since they don’t check bags upon entry and allow large volumes of 20-​somethings to enter the space… but anyway.
On to the Karaōke! And it IS Karaōke with a capital «K». The party room is the largest studio spot, but smaller rooms (think Limelight private room size, aka maybe 100 sq ft/​big enough for 8 people or so) are also on offer. Our room featured a big-​screen TV with the song selector apparatus thing, rows of couches, and a table and chairs. We could have probably squeezed 30 people in. I dug the living room feel.
You’ve got the option of requesting foreign languages (I heard Japanese, French, Korean, Hindi, Spanish), or sticking with English, and the staff will outfit you with songbooks by Artist and Song name, and a couple of microphones with the volume cranked. (Pro tip: ask for tambourines too!). Using a state of the art remote from the 80s or so, enter in the 6 digit numbers for the songs you want, and the system will queue them for you. (Pro tip #2: Don’t forget to hit «confirm» on your selection, or your song will disappear into karaōke oblivion and you will assume some mic hog just wanted to sing more than you.)
Then.sing! Words appear on screen and you are scored for accuracy at the end. For those of you wondering, I scored a sad 82% on What’s Up, but Lauren M and I somehow managed to hit 95 with Ke$ha’s Die Young. We’re basically pros now. Autographs on the sidewalk after the show, y’all.
The scariest/​funniest moment of the evening came when aforementioned angry counter guy came in and started collecting empty beer bottles from our room. Whoops!
We didn’t get kicked out (I don’t think… it’s all kind of a blur), but upon leaving, I think we were maybe charged that extra $ 100. Though one of our resourceful partygoers said she spoke to Angry Man in Korean, which appeared to win him over and he said he would not charge us.
In any case, some upstanding friend of the birthday boy paid a large chunk of our bill, so my friends and I left spending a whopping $ 8 for 2 hours of Karaōke (note capital «K»). I checked out the rate card, and it looked like a room for up to 6 people runs $ 30/​hr. If that’s really true, I will be back!

Do Re Mi is one of my happy places. My friends and I have been coming 2 – 3 times a year for years now, and several of us have had epic birthday parties in the huge room at the back. We have songs we close with, songs we must always include, duets we have perfected. I don’t think I’d change anything about the place… wait– I would like them to put a door on that one stall in the women’s bathroom that currently just has a curtain! But that’s all.

Yo, listen up, here’s a story
About a little guy that works
In DoReMi
And all day and all night
And everything he sees
Is just drunk
Like him
Inside and outside
Ok. Lemme lay this on the line for you. I get the feeling from other reviews that this place used to be really run down and dirty. It is not at all a shining paradise of cleanliness but it didn’t smell bad and wasn’t visibly dirty anywhere. The paint looked fresh, the tvs and couches were definitely used but they must have updated because the descriptions of some other reviewers don’t match my experience. We had a disco ball we could turn on or off, a light in the back helpful for reading the song library without destroying ambience, and sort of a stage light, which we never turned on because we all just sat on the couches the whole time and sang as one big family.
We had a party of 8 and were escorted to a room upstairs. Now, I’m not saying we drank, but I’m not saying we were sober either. They have signs everywhere saying alcohol is not permitted and if it’s found it’s a $ 100 fine and you get kicked out. There are a lot of places in life that will say things like this, kids. And to you I say, get creative. We were definitely not the only ones there rebelling against prohibition. We also brought in some food because that is totally kosher here, which is awesome.
They had books of songs in English and Spanish/​Portuguese, Korean, Japanese (probably lots of other languages too) so finding songs to sing for any language should not be an issue.
Our room had a big leather sectional couch, 2 mics and enough 90’s hits to keep us singing for 3 hours until we realized all the power ballads had made us so hoarse our choruses were now unrecognizable.
There was some noise pollution from other rooms, but it wasn’t bad unless there was a quiet part in the song, so I really wasn’t bothered by it.
It was also really cheap. For 3 hours of entertainment for 8 people on a Saturday night it was about $ 120, we split it 6 ways so it ended up being $ 20/​per person, which is really reasonable when you think about how much you’d pay to see a movie for half the time, plus you can bring your own snacks and *ahem beverages here. I guess they’ve had the same prices since they opened in 1997, which is cray.
Make a reservation if you’re coming on a weekend, there was a line by the time we left.
Come here if you want to belt out bohemian rhapsody at top volume with your friends.
Come here if you need to show off how you memorized a dope Eminem rap.
Come here if you belieeeeeve in life after love (after love, after love).

Great for groups and parties. Lots of fun and you basically get to sing whenever you want, since you’re at a personal karaōke bar! They had lots of current songs in the back of the books — I was impressed! Bathrooms were a bit sketchy, but eh, who cares! And the couches are… kind of old, but again… you’re singing, stand up and own it!
Parking is tricky — there are only a limited number of spots in the tiny lot behind the building, and you CANNOT park in the bigger lot next door for any extended period of time,
Also: Let me clarify something for all the folks who think they’re so smart: If you bring in bottles of alcohol, it will be taken away from you (and returned at the end of the night, they’re not monsters!). It’s not a «don’t ask, don’t tell» kind of place. It’s a «I will be searching your bags and periodically checking in» kind of place.
So, you should either be a group of folks who don’t mind not drinking (aka this is the perfect place for a tween birthday party) or your alcohol should be so stealth that even Sherlock Holmes couldn’t find it.

God, I love Do Re Mi. When you walk in, you will find a rather sketchy looking music studio. Sign up and head back to one of the karaōke rooms which comes complete with disco ball, several books of songs and, of course, karaōke equipment. You can also get some tambourines at the front (which always ends in hilarity).
There are a couple of downsides. It’s actually pretty expensive per person to sing here for an extended period of time (which you will want to do once you realize how awesome this is). And there’s no alcohol allowed. I have gotten a backpack full of beer taken from me and returned at the end of the night. Long story short, bring things that you can fit in your purse if you feel like drinking (not that I’m condoning that :)).
The best night I’ve had here was when the front desk guy fell asleep and we ended up staying until 3 am even though they close at 2. Classic.