There aren’t many good reasons to go to Andheri. You could probably count them on one hand. We’re going change that. We’ve discovered, with a little persistence, some will power and a lot of hand holding, that Andheri is actually quite an exciting place, rife with trendy restaurants, cool pubs and your friends from work who keep insisting Andheri is a cool place.
Karaoke is something I’ve always found amusing to watch but never actually participate in, much like fighting, or arguments about which God is best (it’s Allah). Everyone loves an underdog, and nowhere is this more true than in the sport of Karaoke. So we set out to find the best Karaoke in Andheri, every day of the week (well, almost).
Monday – Zoobar, Vile Parle
Zoobar is right next to McDonalds, near the Vile Parle Station. I know, this article is supposed to be about Andheri. But it’s only Monday. Baby steps. Zoobar is a great looking bar with an animal safari sort of theme, something that requires a level of restraint and composure to pull off classily. For an example of how not to do an animal theme, drop by The Rainforest Cafe and enjoy the pleasure of dropping your phone into their bubbling stream while you bump your shin into a plastic rhino. Zoobar, however, is a great looking place, with a large, spacious main floor, long wooden tables, and the occasional penguin sculpture. It wasn’t very crowded, and no one sang Wonderwall, which is always a good sign. The night reached it’s peak when a somewhat elderly man did a rendition of Green Day’s Holiday, and everyone lost. their. shit. Although it’s a great looking place and is probably a blast on the weekend, the karaoke wasn’t very exciting. But hey, it’s only Monday.
Pint of beer – 200
Did someone sing Wonderwall? No
Tuesday – Wtf!, 7 Bungalows
Wtf! is on the far side of Andheri. By the time we actually got here, we’d been travelling for three days straight, and our rickshaw driver had missed his daughter’s wedding. Wtf! is a pub with a large outdoor area and a comparatively tiny inside room. We arrived an hour early to a nearly empty room, lights on, projector screen up. Were we in the right place? They wouldn’t let us sit on a sofa, in case a larger group showed up (it didn’t). So we sat on high chairs with our pints and waited, like toddlers with beer. Not soon afterward, people started to trickle in, and the festivities began. The party was led the coolest MC of the week, Brian, a middle aged man with a great singing voice. At no point were there more than ten people in that room with us, and we didn’t ever really have to wait for long for the mic to come back around. Although it wasn’t a party, the karaoke at Wtf! was intimate and thoroughly enjoyable, like a group of old friends who’d met up for a night of beer and old tunes. It seemed like some of the guys had been coming there every Tuesday for years, and they made us feel like we’d been too. The karaoke here is just that, Karaoke. Singing old songs with great friends and a cold beer. No EDM or short dresses allowed.
Pint of beer – 200
Did someone sing Wonderwall? Yes
Wednesday – Hard Rock Cafe Andheri
Okay. We did’t actually plan on going to Hard Rock on Wednesday. We were supposed to go to Harry’s, a little up the road from HRC. However, when we arrived, we were told they’d discontinued karaoke night just a week earlier, and it was never to return. Our questions as to why they still had a large poster outside their restaurant advertising their karaoke night were met with silence and blank expressions. So we walked down the road to Hard Rock, who, coincidentally, also do karaoke on Wednesdays. The inside of Hard Rock Andheri is a large, cavernous space that seems to go on forever. Most of it, however, was empty. There were no more than three or four tables with people at them. It was a ghost town. However, there were people at the bar who seemed to be very into the whole karaoke thing, complete with jiving on the restaurant’s empty dance floor. We didn’t order anything to drink, and once again, our Frank Sinatra covers were met with confusion and hostility. Maybe karaoke here makes sense if you’re with a drunk group of people, but if you aren’t, its not very good.
Pint of beer – 230
Did someone sing Wonderwall? Yes
Thursday – Road House Bluez, JP Road
Road House Bluez is great. It’s a bar on the side of a busy road, so if you aren’t paying attention, you might just miss it. It has a medium sized, dimly lit ground floor area, and a larger, more brightly lit smoking area upstairs. When we arrived at around 11 pm, the festivities were already in full swing. The faces in the dark room were lit only by the light from a glowing projector screen, with lyrics to ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ lighting up across it, much to everyone’s delight. What followed were rounds of Elvis, The Eagles and Sinatra (finally). Everyone at Road House Bluez was friendly and welcoming, and made us feel like part of the group. We even got hugs from some aunties who thought we were cute (we’re cute as fuck). The karaoke at Road House Bluez is like chilling with your parent’s cool friends. They’re easy to talk to and let you drink alcohol. Although we were sceptic at first, that all changed forty five minutes later, when we were loudly singing along to Here Without You by 3 Doors Down.
Pint of beer – 180
Did someone sing Wonderwall? Yes
Friday & Saturday
We couldn’t find any worthy karaoke in Andheri on Friday or Saturday (tell us if you do).
Instead, enjoy this adorable, sensitive photo of Salman Khan with a puppy.
Sunday – The Little Door, Lokhandwala
The Little Door does something they call a ‘drunch’, which is essentially a Sunday Brunch with unlimited alcohol. The Little Door is a nice little place in a quiet lane off the busy main road, and has an outdoor seating area with a canopy of vines and creepers. This felt like fun from the start and by late afternoon, more than a few drinks in, everyone was having a great time. The Karaoke itself was great fun, with people singing every sort of song, old and new. There was even an old white man who everyone fell in love with, mostly on account of him being white. The atmosphere here was great, and it soon turned into a big party. However, the karaoke slots fill up fast, so it’s best to get your suggestions in early.
Pint of beer – 170
Did someone sing Wonderwall? No
If you think you know better places for Karaoke in Andheri let us know, and we’ll check them out.
