Cafe Muse

Karaoke is not the best way to start your night. The urge to sing in public comes later, after dinner and a few glasses of wine. That makes Annandale's Cafe Muse the perfect late night destination; its Korean-style norebang rooms are open until 5 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

One of the area's oldest and best-known karaoke destinations, Cafe Muse boasts of offering more than 60,000 songs in multiple languages; the selections of Korean and Japanese songs -- K-pop and J-pop -- are especially strong, and Filipino, Thai and Chinese are among the other choices.

Rooms are outfitted with couches, video monitors and large screens that show odd scenes of sailboats or the countryside while you're singing. A small kitchen serves sushi and bibimbap at all hours, and the beer selection doesn't get more exotic than Heineken or Sapporo.

Prices vary based on the time, the day and the size of the room you need: A group of six can expect to pay hourly rates of $30 every day before 8 p.m., $40 on weeknights after 8 p.m. and $50 on Fridays and Saturdays. But when you feel the need to belt out Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" or a favorite TVXQ song before heading home, you'll think it's money well spent.

-- Fritz Hahn (Oct. 28, 2011)