Daniel B.
Yelp
Wow, I had no idea private, Asian-style karaoke rooms were available in Athens. You can find them at Shokitini, a trendy-looking Japanese fusion and sushi restaurant located downtown. Thanks to fellow Atlanta Yelpers Mike Y. and Viv W. for introducing a bunch of us to this place. We were part of an enormous group (40? 50? I don't even want to count) that karaoke'd the night away in the business's two biggest rooms until closing time.
The karaoke rooms are hidden upstairs. You have to walk through a few short, winding hallways to get to them. Once I stepped inside the karaoke rooms, I felt like I was back at any old Korean karaoke joint in Atlanta (e.g. Karaoke Melody, Sound of Music). For the most part, everything looked and felt the same, from the setup to the furniture to the karaoke system itself -- yes, they use the same "standard" Korean karaoke system complete with Korean and other Asian language songs and Korean music videos.
Don't worry. There's enough English on the remotes and in the songbooks to get by. If anything, the staff can teach you how to operate the easy-to-use equipment.
The sound quality was good, the song selection was decent, and everyone had a good time. Several of the karaoke bars in Atlanta have better song selection, but for Athens, Shokitini works just fine. The fun part is the karaoke system's scoring system. I think most people score at least 90 (out of 100) no matter how poorly they sing.
We imbibed on plenty of soju and I tried a small sampling of restaurant's food menu. This included the edamame (boiled soy beans, sprinkled with salt), agedashi tofu (deep fried tofu marinated in sweet soy sauce), gyoza (pan-fried pork dumplings), and some sushi rolls. Everything was appetizing and tasted quite alright. If anything, I recommend the agedashi tofu. That shareable appetizer was authentic and addictively delicious.
There were two American servers who handled our group. They did a remarkable job considering the size of our party and its numerous orders/requests.
The downstairs dining area is nice. It does give off an Americanized sushi bar/lounge-type vibe. There are multiple bars and HDTVs, the highlight being the projected widescreen display behind the sushi bar. There's also an enclosed patio outside next to the sidewalk. When we arrived at roughly 9:30pm on a Sunday night, the restaurant seemed moderately busy.
Several metered parking spaces are located directly in front of the restaurant on W. Clayton St. I was told parking is free after 10pm and all-day on Sunday.