Momo2

I was at the University City Center strip mall earlier this afternoon, and as it turns out, Momo2 is now CLOSED. :-/

What a weird fucking place. I went here for the first time last night for a friend’s birthday party and I don’t really understand what the hell just happened.
This place feels exactly like the old Ohio Union, with a big central area with a bunch of people just hanging out on computers or playing Magic while wearing D&D apparel, with seemingly no other options in life.
There is a counter for ordering food and drinks, with an employee who will likely mumble their way through the transaction. I made the mistake of ordering a mixed drink. Firstly, the dude had no clue what Tanqueray was — I had to walk over to their liquor case and point out the bottle — then the grapefruit juice that I mixed it with tasted like it had been in their fridge for about 5 years. So. Gross. I was hungry, but due to the grapefruit juice debacle, I decided against ordering any food because I didn’t want to spend the night projectile vomiting all over their Chococat display.
Most of the evening was spent in the karaōke room. The room was $ 30/​hour and I’m glad I wasn’t paying because it was too small to accommodate our group and the sound was funky. The songs themselves are a trip. 90% of the time, the video playing during your song will be from some Asian soap opera and have nothing to do with your song. It’s sort of distracting trying to sing «Bombtrack» by Rage Against the Machine while the girl with the umbrella stares coquettishly at the handsome young fellow in a yellow tuxedo. You also can’t search for songs by artist, which is maddening. Also, half of the telephone book-​sized songbooks are written in Cantonese and Mandarin, so you have to flip through about 2000 pages to find a song. Every. Time.
Momo also doesn’t allow you to keep an open tab, nor do they have servers in the karaōke rooms, so every time you want a drink, you have to walk all the way back to the front, wait in line, and charge another transaction on your card. They need more employees. I think about a total of 3 people were working last night and the place was packed.
Décor is hilarious. This place is so dingy, it’s not even funny. There’s some old-​ass red curtain in the back that is apropos of nothing, that you have to walk through to get to the bathrooms. Some buckets are scattered around back there too, by the pool tables, maybe if they run out of chairs? Classy. I don’t think the furniture in the karaōke rooms has been cleaned this decade. There were some «stains» that made me wonder about some of the activities that take place in there.
I don’t really know what to recommend this place for — I marginally enjoyed myself but that was due more to the people I was hanging out with than Momo itself. Bad drinks, bad service, (probably bad food), and weird vibes. Creepy, even.

I am a veteran of Momo when It was previously at the last rinky dink place. Honesty I liked it a hundred times more then when they moved to into JoAnn fabrics old place. The service was better, the atmosphere was bustling, and it just seemed like an overall happy place. Went there today and there was one employee working in this massive place, barely any lighting, not a single person in the building except for me and my friend. The man (he had glasses) was rude; did not smile, say welcome make any sort of conversation. We walked up to the counter and he just stood there staring at us, impatience got the better of him and he said «What would you like?» We were still deciding and were tossed on what we were getting so we said «I don’t know yet…» and he only responded in «What can I get you?» My friend ordered the bugolki rice bowel and he repeated several times «Is that all your getting?» Clearing displeased that we were not ordering everything from the menu. You should of seen the look on his face. It was so annoying… Upon leaving my friend said thank you to him and all he said was «Yep.» not even looking up from his laptop from behind the counter. The place needs its floors polished, maybe some more enthusiastic staffing, maybe a new look to bring in more customers because its always nearly empty and some of the walls need repainted.
There are some pros to the place: they have food, drinks (alcoholic too), desserts, merchandise, bowling, plenty of seating, private karaōke rooms that are different sizes, lots of TVs, pool, board games and free wifi (however it was not working when I was there).
I also like the bubble tea here more than Pochi, Fantasia and the place in the North Market.
**Sadly Fantasia has closed down**

Bubble tea… those little tapioca pearls make me swoon. And Momo2 knows how to make them! It’s cheaper than Pochi (and more delicious!). Unless we are comparing crispy tofu, sorry, Pochi wins out.
Things you should know:
The bowling doesn’t have bumpers.
They have the best board games.
Couches are tattered and worn down.
It’s always empty.

What is this place? I don’t even…
I’ve been coming to Momo’s for years. I even have a little bit of an insider’s perspective, since I knew an employee there. I once asked how the heck the place even stays open, and he said «well, I’m not sure. Every once in a while things get bad, and then the owner sells another car, and then we’re OK.»
So that’s that. On the food side, Momo’s offers bubble tea, fried food, frozen yogurt, and some entrée dishes I’ve never tried. On the «activity» side, there’s bowling, karaōke, pool tables, and space to hang out and watch TV. I used to go there to study, or have meetings for group projects.
The bubble tea is OK, though it seems to vary — sometimes it’s perfect, sometimes the bubbles are a bit off, sometimes they’re out of bubbles. The fried stuff — cheesesticks, calamari, etc — is cheap and plentiful, and though that also tends to vary based on who’s cooking it at least it’s never made me ill.
I don’t have a lot of faith in the employee’s food prep experience, so I’ve always avoided any dish that seems more complicated than «insert frozen stuff into fryer.» Mixed drinks were likewise a disaster the couple times I tried them.
That said, I like Momo’s. Parking is easy, it’s a great place to take people that isn’t a bar, and the bubble tea is good enough. I just wish the service would be a little more consistent. And as other people have said, fix up the place! The furniture is not aging well.

The other reviews are accurate in the place is kinda scuzzy… The floors are nasty & the furniture is really gross. (They also use pop crates as décor…) The staff all seemed like they’d been working there for a week. We asked if we could get our crepes to go & the chick acted like we were morons telling us, «uhh, they don’t really travel well». So?! I don’t really care, I just wanted to get home & had stopped in for a quick snack! The bubble tea is NOT THAT GREAT (go to ZenCha!) We were also solicited for money by some random off the street WHILE we were eating. Blech.

Whenever I’m in Columbus, this ends up being my go-​to bubble tea hangout. It’s close to where I stay and just down the street from the Riverside hospital on Olentangy.
My go-​to is the chrysanthemum tea at just $ 2.99 with bubbles. It’s just sweet enough for me, and the bubbles are above average with good chewiness. I’ve tried the other flavors, which work well together. Prices overall are fairly standard for the midwest.
Love the fact they have lots of options for snack food here as well. They also started selling frozen yogurt with a large variety of toppings, but they sell by the number of toppings and only have one flavor, original. And the frozen yogurt has a strong yogurt flavor, even tangier than the tangy yogurt flavors I’ve had elsewhere. Still not quite the same as a typical yogurtland/​pinkberry/​red mango place.
What’s unique about Momo2 is that they have 3 lanes of bowling with reasonable prices, and a few karaōke rooms, also reasonably priced. They have many couches to lounge on, and a few pool tables. There’s even a random gift shop. It’s a perfect hangout place. Did I mention there are board games? Beat my friend in Battleship a couple of times!

This is a pretty amazing place. Besides the full-​size bowling lanes, they also have a couple of pool tables which they rent by the hour. And they have a complete stock of Hello Kitty stuff plus bubble tea in just about every flavor imaginable. Oh, and private karaōke rooms. Very interesting!

Used to bowl here, because the price was right and it was centrally located. I’ve since moved on. If you’re even somewhat serious about bowling, I’d avoid doing it here. I once stepped in gum on the lane.
I guess if you’re into Hello Kitty stuffed animals or drinking coffee in the vicinity of pool tables, this is the place for you. If you want to bowl, go to a real bowling alley.

Soooo much potential for awesome. Soooo much that needs work.
As others have said, the concept of Momo is great: billiards, bowling, karaōke, drinks, etc. The karaōke is particularly amazing because your group can get it’s own room for the hour, night, whatever. There’s something here for everyone, and it certainly makes for a fun night. I also love that it’s relatively close to home. If we’ve been out and had a few, this makes a good stopover on the way back to our abodes.
Ok, nice try, Momo. Actually… try harder, please?
This place is in DESPERATE need of a renovation. For serious. The interior is downright terrible. I’ll keep coming back for those private (albeit nasty) karaōke rooms… and that must be what the owners are banking on, because they seem overconfident in their offerings.
Also, I feel like the song selections were kind of strange. There were a lot of great songs missing from the songbook. The equipment could also use some updating. And I want to be able to search by artist, dang it!
Get a construction crew in this joint, and maybe a promoter/​marketer for more fun events and happenings. The owners are really letting a great concept go to waste.

We held a surprise party for a friend here last night, and it was totally horrendous.
I reserved one of their large karaōke rooms about a month in advance. At the time, I mentioned to the person who took the reservation that we were hoping to bowl for a couple of hours before our karaōke time – he explained that he couldn’t reserve the lanes without a substantial fee, but that we were welcome to arrive early and they could briefly hold a lane or two. This same information was confirmed during a subsequent phone call a week beforehand, and when I stopped in two days before to scope out the place.
When we arrived for the party, we were told that only one of the lanes was working (it was occupied at the time, so I asked that we be put in the queue). One of the employees I’d spoken with during my prior visit offered to «try to get one of the other lanes working.» I said that would be great, and I’d check back once all the guests had arrived. Yet, once everyone arrived just 15 minutes later, the staff told me that now none of the lanes were working properly, and it was clear no effort had been made to fix one of the problematic lanes as promised. The woman I spoke with, who seemed that she may have been a supervisor of some kind, actually told me, «I can let you guys try to bowl, but the lanes haven’t been working right for a while lately and I know they are going to break. I can’t spare anyone to fix the lane if it stops working, and then you’re all going to want your money back, which we don’t have time for.»
That’s right. The bowling lanes – one of Momo’s key features distinguishing it from other bars or party houses – have apparently not been reliably working for some time; this is a fact that is known to the staff, and no one seems to have the slightest interest in fixing them. What’s more, they couldn’t be bothered to tell me as much, on 3 separate occassions, when I mentioned our intention to bowl prior to our karaōke reservation.
Things went downhill from there. I asked for additional time in our karaōke room, which they were not able to accommodate because of a prior reservation, and no additional restitution for the ridiculous situation was offered. We ended up going next door to another bar before our karaōke reservation to avoid Momo’s overpriced drinks and absurd drink line. The place was so badly understaffed that at the peak of business on a Saturday night, operating at *maybe* one-​third capacity, it literally took members of our party 45 minutes to get a drink.
I could go on to list a number of other issues we had, but I’ll leave it at this: one friend remarked that he’d rather hang out at his parents’ funeral than spend another night at Momo. It’s astonishing that this place is still in business. It was exceedingly painful shelling out the $ 40 an hour karaōke room charges for such an incompetently run operation.
Looking for a good night out? You’d be better off trying the Big Lots next door than going to this place.

Had I been a Unilocaler at the time, I would have reviewed this place a year and a half ago after we had a birthday party here for my daughter. I haven’t been back since then, but thought I would throw in what I loved and hated about the experience.
I loved the concept, thought it was brilliant, really, because (1) it’s an indoor venue (more of these types of places are definitely needed in Ohio, due to the unpredictable weather) (2) there is a lot to do here — pool tables, bowling, karaōke, board games (3) it has private party rooms (4) it has bubble tea and Hello Kitty (my daughter loves them both). Seemed like the perfect place for a teenager’s party — like the teenager version of Chuck E. Cheese. They even let us bring in our own cake for the party.
I hated that the furnishings in the place were old, worn, stained, and dirty. Their web site is also lacking. It looks like they currently have an «old» site and a «new» site, but they don’t seem to update it. Their «new» site is completely worthless right now to all but those who can’t look up an address in Google Maps by themselves. If you actually need information, find the old site, because it appears they forgot they have a new one. It has an «under construction» note dated Sept. 2010. Seriously?! Why even post the new site until it’s done? Sigh.
Yep, they hit on one of my pet peeves… people who come up with great ideas but are lazy about the details when it comes to putting it all together. I really wanted to love the place, but I was very disappointed. Maybe the lack of competition in town has deceived them into thinking they don’t have to care. If I hear that they have cleaned up their act, I would definitely be happy to give them another chance. Otherwise, I will hope I can find an alternative if I find myself planning another party.

It was a saturday night as we found ourselves sipping on hot bubble milk teas, reading mags, and watching the scene at Momo’s. There were kids screaming and running amuck since someone was hosting their child’s bday party. International students getting their billiards on as said kids lingered about observing them. High schoolers in packs, trickling in and out in just to pass the time. Young Japanophiles fondling and eyeing overpriced items in the gift shop. Eventually, my friend and I decided to take on their small karaōke room. We spent a good amount of time troubleshooting the volume and inputting songs. By the time we figured out how to adjust them, we realized that they gave us a defective remote. After we finally got a functional remote (had to go back to the desk twice and wait in line, and wait for the guy to fix the remote before deciding to switch it out), a good twenty minutes had passed. I asked if there was anyway that they could extend our time. They said they couldn’t since «too much time had passed» and offered to give us a10% discount upon checkout. When we brought our mics back, we paid $ 18 for a total of FIVE songs.
Momo’s needs to get their act together. For a place that advertises its food and activities, they don’t offer things that are listed on their fancy flat screen displays, three of their karaōke rooms were «broken» and after the technical difficulties I experienced, I don’t see how a place like this can keep its business. The staff was courteous and patient, but it doesn’t help that they were so short staffed on one of the busiest nights of the week.

I can’t believe nobody has mentioned how gross this place has become over the years. Maybe it’s best to come to this place at night when you’ve already had a few so that you hopefully overlook the freaking disgusting scuffed up vinyl flooring and dingy discolored couches. They seriously need to redo the flooring in this place. So so gross.
I still love coming to momo for their karaōke. They offer private rooms, which I prefer because my friends and I tend to be greedy singers. In general we have no interest in going to a bar to listen to strangers sing. We are mic hogs.
They offer bowling and billiards as well. The gift shop area has also gone downhill over the years. It’s like this place has seen some bad times. There are also paper signs everywhere stating «Smile You’re on Camera». Yikes I wonder if they got robbed or something.
I used to enjoy coming here to study during the day time. They have a huge area of just tables and chairs with couches. I probably would pick some place over here just because of the gross factor.
If they made some floor and furniture improvements, I would give it more stars.

Another case of strip mall surprises!
I’m only attesting to my lunchtime experience here, which actually didn’t involve any lunch, but a bubble tea snack instead because the food options were slim; however, the tea flavors are plentiful! As are the options for frozen yogurt toppings. So a 3.5 would be better, but alas, I’ve yet to convince the Unilocal gods to offer a half-​star rating.
I can imagine this place getting packed at night, though. Any place with a small bowling alley, pool table, plentiful seating, karaōke, a massive fish tank AND Asian novelty shop is good place to spend an evening. They do serve beer, and even have a decent bottled selection. Do come full though because like I said, your «munchie» (yes, that’s what it’s labeled) offerings are, well, not abundant.

I love hanging out here. There’s plenty of space to do whatever it is you do (laptopping, card games, etc), pool, bowling, drinks, snacks… if you can be bored here, you fail at life. There are comfortable couches and chairs all over the place (even at the bowling lanes — no airplane-​terminal benches here) and free wi-​fi. And, the atmosphere is great.
Although, I don’t recommend the smoothies. The one my friend got was pretty bad.

This is mainly a review of the karaōke rooms.
We reserved a medium room. The sound in the room was broken, and they couldn’t figure out how to fix this. There was another medium room, but it was occupied, so the clerk offered to upgrade us to a larger room… at the increased price.
Hell no! Determined to make the most of our night out, my party of 4 crammed into a «mini room» instead, which is more suited to two or three people, especially on a hot summer night.
The fiasco with the room upgrade/​downgrade might have been overlooked if anything else about Momo2 was good. The English song selection was mediocre, and even when we found something good to sing, there was a 1:3 chance that the song was broken.
We ordered some food and drinks too. The beer selection and price seems par, the food seems a little overpriced, and we were overcharged for cocktails. To make issues worse, they provided no condiments and were out of soy sauce.
The gift shop was cute and stocked with a smattering of Sanrio.
I feel like Momo2 is taking advantage of their customers because they are one of the only places in town with these offerings.

I haven’t gotten to come to MoMo2 during what are probably it’s peak hours, but this place is amazing. It has so much to offer, it’s kind of out there. I feel like it’s a little slice of Japan here in Columbus, which I believe is the idea, but having never been to Japan, I can’t really say for sure. Anyway, when you walk in, over to the right there is a huge selection of Hello Kitty merchandise and other imported Asian fare; stuff you won’t find anywhere else. To the left of that is a counter where they serve food and drinks of a fairly wide variety. I haven’t been there in a while, but I’m pretty sure you can get sushi and a host of other options.
There are numerous LCD televisions in the joint, above the counter/​bar area and elsewhere. To the left of the counter are upwards of twelve private rooms for, and yes, I’m quite serious, private karaōke rentals!!! In front of the karaōke rooms are one or two very, very nice pool tables. Also, some nice cushy seats for lounging are in this area. Behind all this is some more standard bar room type seating.
Now, over to the left side of the room are… and I shit you not… two bowling lanes. I’ll repeat that if you happened to stagger: Two. Bowling. Lanes. You can bowl here. At a bar. Bowling alleys have bars, why shouldn’t a bar have bowling lanes? Maybe that’s how the brainstorming went. I don’t know, but we all reap the benefit.

Honestly, I’ve never actually had the food at Momo’s. I’ve had the bubble tea and I really like it; it’s usually what I get when I go. I prefer the bubbles in tea rather than the milk.
What I like most about Momo’s is hanging out there. The bowling is fairly reasonably priced at about $ 6 (at least last time I went). I also like playing billiards and board games, or just hanging out on the couches slurping bubble tea with friends and chatting. Momo’s gets good business but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it jam-​packed, which is part of the reason that my friends and I go. It’s a good hangout place that’s far enough away from OSU that allows us to flee the crowds.

Momo– the tiny Asian Disneyland of Columbus. For one storefront in a plaza, Momo’s has a heck of a lot crammed into it– especially since they’ve expanded and added even more features. There’s bowling, food, a lounge and, arguably the main draw, the karaōke.
This isn’t the karaōke you awkwardly performed at the official after-​grad party your school threw and you went to like a chump. Oh wait, that was me! At any rate, this is how they do karaōke in Japan: private rooms where you and your friends can act like fools to each other like you always do without letting strangers in on the fact that you not only know but actually like some John Denver songs– or some 50 Cent songs. The song selection is pretty good, although you’re probably better off if you also know some Asian pop hits, which are plentiful in the catalog.
Momo’s also recently added alcohol to their expanded menu, which means you can now (legally) get drunk while you make an ass of yourself– not that anyone would ever have snuck alcohol into the old, pre-​licensed Momo’s. That would be Wrong.
This is not the average Ohio State late-​night hangout. It appeals to a very different crowd: Asian students and locals, yes, but also a large nerd element– animé club kids, for instance. It’s a fun place and as they expand and add it gets better and better. I dig it!