Where is the best karaoke in San Diego?

For a straight-up karaoke bar, most locals point to The Lamplighter in Mission Hills at 817 W Washington Street. It runs karaoke every single night starting around 9:15 p.m., has a song list in the tens of thousands, and has won the San Diego Reader's best-karaoke title more than once. It is cash only, so hit the ATM first. If you want to be downtown in the Gaslamp, Werewolf American Pub at 627 Fourth Avenue also does karaoke seven nights a week. For a private room with your own crew, head to the Convoy District in Kearny Mesa, where Hive and Melody rent KTV suites by the hour.

Are there private karaoke rooms in San Diego?

Yes, and they are clustered on Convoy Street in the Kearny Mesa / Convoy District, San Diego's KTV hub. Hive Karaoke at 4428 Convoy Street has 14 private K-pop-style suites with Korean fried chicken and soju cocktails. Nearby, Melody Karaoke & Cafe (4344 Convoy Street) and Jin Music Studios (4690 Convoy Street) rent rooms by the hour, and Bobos runs 13 BYOB rooms in the same plaza. Spot KTV over on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard adds Taiwanese food and is all-ages friendly. The Gaslamplighter downtown also has reservable booths if you would rather stay in the Gaslamp.

How much does a private karaoke room cost in San Diego?

Convoy's KTV rooms are billed by the hour, not per person. Jin Music Studios starts around $25 to $30 an hour for a small room, and Melody runs about $45 for an eight-person room. Hive's published rates run from $45 an hour for a small room (up to six people) Sunday through Thursday up to $80 to $90 an hour for the biggest VIP suites on weekends, with weekend nights costing more than weeknights. Prices change, so call the room you want before you drive out. Most of these are BYOB or have a bar, and food is extra.

What nights is karaoke in San Diego?

Something is going on nearly every night. The Lamplighter in Mission Hills and Werewolf in the Gaslamp both run karaoke seven nights a week. Redwing Bar & Grill in North Park hosts most nights of the week starting around 7 p.m. For a specific night: Tivoli downtown does Mondays, Star Bar does Tuesdays, Rosie O'Grady's in Normal Heights does Wednesdays, The Ould Sod and Gilly's do weekend nights, and Winstons in Ocean Beach runs its famous OB-o-Ke on Sundays. Convoy's private rooms are open most evenings into the early morning on weekends.

Where is the best karaoke bar in downtown San Diego?

Downtown's karaoke lives in the Gaslamp Quarter. Werewolf American Pub (627 Fourth Avenue) is the reliable pick with karaoke every night, while The Gaslamplighter (536 Market Street) is the newer, dressed-up option with craft cocktails and reservable VIP booths. For a cheap-beer dive, Star Bar (423 E Street) does Tuesday karaoke, and analog (801 Fifth Avenue) runs an early Friday session. Note that Henry's Pub, a longtime Gaslamp karaoke staple, closed in 2025, so old lists that still send you there are out of date.

Is there Korean or KTV karaoke in San Diego?

Yes. The Convoy District in Kearny Mesa is the center of it, sometimes called the singing street. Hive Karaoke (4428 Convoy Street) is the flagship, a 20,000-square-foot complex with 14 private suites, a Korean kitchen, and a bar. Melody Karaoke & Cafe, Jin Music Studios, and Bobos are all within a couple of blocks, and Spot KTV on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard leans Taiwanese. These are private-room, book-by-the-hour spots, not open-mic bars, so you sing with your own group.

Best Karaoke in San Diego: Top Spots + Downtown Bars (2026)

The best karaoke in San Diego is The Lamplighter in Mission Hills, a cash-only dive at 817 W Washington Street that runs karaoke every night of the week and has the deepest song list in town. If you want a private room with just your crew, drive to the Convoy District in Kearny Mesa, where Hive and a cluster of Korean and Taiwanese KTV lounges rent suites by the hour. And if you want to stay downtown, the Gaslamp Quarter has a bar with karaoke almost any night you show up. We have lived in San Diego for 25 years and have closed down more than a few of these rooms, so this is the real local map, not a list scraped off Yelp.

Here is what newcomers get wrong: San Diego karaoke splits into three very different scenes. There are the neighborhood dive bars where you put your name on a list and sing for a rowdy room of strangers, the Convoy private rooms where you and your friends rent a soundproof suite, and a small live-band karaoke scene where a real band backs you up. We cover all three below, grouped so you can find the one that fits your night. Nights and prices are current for summer 2026, but bars change their schedules, so we flag which ones to call first.

The short answer: For a classic karaoke bar, go to The Lamplighter in Mission Hills (nightly, cash only) or Werewolf in the Gaslamp (nightly). For a private room, go to the Convoy District (Hive, Melody, Jin, Bobos) and expect to pay by the hour. For a night out downtown, the Gaslamp has karaoke somewhere every night: Tivoli on Mondays, Star Bar on Tuesdays, the Double Deuce midweek, and Werewolf or The Gaslamplighter any night. Want a live band behind you? Live Band Karaoke San Diego plays Whiskey Girl on Thursdays and the Rabbit Hole on Fridays.

San Diego karaoke at a glance

Spot	Neighborhood	Karaoke nights	Private rooms?	Best for
The Lamplighter	Mission Hills	Nightly, ~9:15 p.m.	No	Serious singers, deep song list
Werewolf American Pub	Gaslamp	Nightly, 9 p.m.	No	Downtown, any night of the week
The Gaslamplighter	Gaslamp	Sun to Tue, 9 p.m.	Booths	A dressed-up cocktail night
Redwing Bar & Grill	North Park	Most nights, ~7 p.m.	No	Beloved neighborhood dive
Winstons Beach Club	Ocean Beach	Sun (OB-o-Ke) + Fri	No	Rowdy beach-town crowd
The Ould Sod	Normal Heights	Thu to Sat, 9 p.m.	No	Irish pub, big patio
Star Bar	Gaslamp	Tuesdays	No	Cheapest beer downtown
Peter D’s	Clairemont	Thu to Sat, 9 p.m.	No	Old-school family dive
Hive Karaoke	Convoy / Kearny Mesa	Nightly, by reservation	Yes (14 rooms)	Private K-pop suites, groups
Melody Karaoke & Cafe	Convoy / Kearny Mesa	Nightly, by reservation	Yes	Cheaper group rooms
Spot KTV	Clairemont Mesa	Most nights	Yes	All-ages, Taiwanese food
Live Band Karaoke SD	Gaslamp + Normal Heights	Thu + Fri	No	Singing with a real band

Best Karaoke in San Diego (Our Top Pick)

The best karaoke bar in San Diego is The Lamplighter at 817 W Washington Street in Mission Hills. This is the one we take out-of-town friends to when they want the real thing. It is a tiny 1950s-era dive that has been named the city’s best karaoke bar by the San Diego Reader more than once, and it runs karaoke every night of the week starting around 9:15 p.m. The song book is enormous, the regulars are good, and the room is small enough that every song feels like a show.

Parking is street-only and tight in Mission Hills, so give yourself a few minutes and be ready to walk a block or two. Best time to go is a weeknight if you want a shot at singing more than once, because weekends pack in and the rotation gets long. The local move: it is cash only, so stop at an ATM before you get there, and put your slip in the second you arrive rather than waiting to “warm up,” because the list fills fast.

Karaoke Bars in Downtown San Diego

The best karaoke in downtown San Diego is in the Gaslamp Quarter, and there is a bar hosting it almost any night of the week. These are walk-in, open-list bars where you sing for the whole room, not private suites.

Werewolf American Pub (Gaslamp)

Werewolf at 627 Fourth Avenue is the downtown karaoke workhorse, running it seven nights a week from about 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. It is a divey gastropub that does brunch by day and turns into a karaoke bar at night, which makes it the safe bet when you are not sure what else is going on downtown. Parking is the Gaslamp garages or metered street, and the local move is to come on a weeknight when the list is short and you can sing two or three times.

The Gaslamplighter (Gaslamp)

The Gaslamplighter at 536 Market Street is the dressed-up option, an Art Deco cocktail bar with karaoke Sunday through Tuesday starting around 9 p.m. Unlike the dives, it has reservable tables and VIP booths, so it works for a birthday or a group that wants a spot to sit. This is where we send people who want to sing but also want a real cocktail and somewhere nice to stand. Reserve ahead on a weekend and use one of the Gaslamp garages.

Star Bar (Gaslamp)

Star Bar at 423 E Street is the cheap-beer dive of the group, and it does karaoke on Tuesday nights. It is known for having some of the least expensive drinks in the Gaslamp, it is pet-friendly, and it has pinball, so it is the low-key, low-cost way to sing downtown. Park in a garage and walk, since E Street parking is rough on a weekend.

analog and the midweek Gaslamp dives

A few more Gaslamp bars fill in the calendar if the big ones are packed. analog at 801 Fifth Avenue runs an earlier karaoke session on Fridays from about 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., a nice option if you want to sing before the club crowd takes over. The Double Deuce, a Road House-themed roadhouse bar at 528 F Street, does karaoke midweek (Tuesday through Thursday), and Tivoli Bar & Grill at 505 6th Avenue, one of the oldest dive bars downtown, hosts a Monday-night session at 9 p.m. Between these, you can find a downtown karaoke room literally any night of the week.

Neighborhood Karaoke Bars in San Diego

Outside downtown, San Diego’s best karaoke lives in the neighborhood dive bars, where the crowd is regulars and the vibe is looser than the Gaslamp.

Redwing Bar & Grill (North Park)

Redwing at 4012 30th Street is North Park’s karaoke institution, an LGBTQ-owned dive that has won “best dive bar” honors and runs karaoke most nights of the week starting around 7 p.m. (Thursday leads with trivia, then rolls into karaoke). The list gets long fast because the room is popular, so the local move is to walk in early, drop your slip, and settle in. Street parking around 30th and University is the usual North Park hunt, so budget time for it.

The Ould Sod (Normal Heights)

The Ould Sod at 3373 Adams Avenue is a proper Irish pub with karaoke Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from about 9 p.m. The best feature is the big back patio, which gives you somewhere to escape to between songs when the singing room heats up. Adams Avenue has street parking that turns over, and a weeknight is calmer than a weekend if you want more stage time.

Rosie O’Grady’s and Gilly’s (Normal Heights + North Park)

Two more neighborhood spots round out the mid-city scene. Rosie O’Grady’s at 3402 Adams Avenue in Normal Heights does karaoke on Wednesday nights with a regular host; it closed briefly in 2025 over a neighbor noise dispute and reopened after adding sound-buffering, so it is back and running. Gilly’s House of Cocktails at 2306 El Cajon Boulevard in North Park runs karaoke Friday and Saturday nights plus the first Thursday of the month, and it has pool tables and a screen-filled patio if half your group would rather watch a game.

Winstons Beach Club (Ocean Beach)

Winstons at 1921 Bacon Street is the Ocean Beach pick, home of the legendary “OB-o-Ke” every Sunday night at 8 p.m. with no cover, plus a Friday karaoke night. It is exactly as rowdy and beach-town as you would expect from OB, which is the whole point. Parking in OB is street-only and competitive, so bike or rideshare if you can. If you are making an OB day of it, our guide to what to do in Ocean Beach has the rest of the neighborhood mapped out.

Peter D’s (Clairemont) and The DOT (Barrio Logan)

Two more old-school neighborhood dives worth knowing. Peter D’s at 5149 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard has been family-owned since 1965 and runs karaoke Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., a no-frills classic with an easy free lot. The DOT (Dying of Thirst) at 3600 Main Street in Barrio Logan is a Black-owned bar with a cigar-friendly patio, pool tables, and weekend karaoke nights; there is no kitchen, but a taco truck often parks out front. Both are the kind of come-as-you-are room that the Gaslamp does not do.

Private Karaoke Rooms in San Diego (Convoy’s KTV Row)

If you want a private karaoke room in San Diego, go to the Convoy District in Kearny Mesa. This stretch of Convoy Street is the city’s KTV hub, where you rent a soundproof suite by the hour and sing only with your own group. It is the move for a birthday, a work crew, or anyone who does not want to wait through a stranger’s ballad.

Hive Karaoke (Convoy / Kearny Mesa)

Hive at 4428 Convoy Street is the flagship, a roughly 20,000-square-foot complex with 14 private K-pop-styled suites, a Korean kitchen turning out fried chicken, and a full bar with soju cocktails. Rooms are billed by the hour: published rates start around $45 an hour for a small room (up to six people) on weeknights and climb to $80 to $90 an hour for the big VIP suites on weekends, with weekend nights pricier than weeknights. It is open into the early morning on Friday and Saturday. Reserve ahead for a weekend, park in the plaza lot, and split a room across your group so the per-person cost stays low.

Melody, Jin, and Bobos (Convoy)

Three more private-room spots sit within a couple of blocks. Melody Karaoke & Cafe at 4344 Convoy Street is the budget group pick, with rooms running about $45 for an eight-person space and a sake bar with Asian snacks. Jin Music Studios at 4690 Convoy Street is a BYOB spot with a genuinely multilingual song book (English, Korean, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese) and rooms starting around $25 to $30 an hour. Bobos, in the same 4698 Convoy Street plaza, pairs 13 BYOB rooms with a craft-beer bar and stays open latest on weekends. Exact hours and rates shift, so call the room you want before you head out.

Spot KTV (Clairemont Mesa)

Just off the Convoy strip, Spot KTV at 7327 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard is the all-ages, family-friendly choice, with private rooms, well-soundproofed suites, and a Taiwanese kitchen so you can eat real food while you sing. Staff speak English, which makes it an easy first KTV trip if you have never done the private-room thing. There is a two-hour minimum on the bigger rooms on a busy night, so plan for a real session, not a quick drop-in.

Live-Band Karaoke in San Diego

Live-band karaoke means a real band plays behind you instead of a backing track, and San Diego has a small but fun scene for it. The most reliably scheduled is Live Band Karaoke San Diego, which plays Whiskey Girl at 702 Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp on Thursday nights around 9 p.m. and the Rabbit Hole at 3377 Adams Avenue in Normal Heights on Fridays around 9:30 p.m. The Hard Rock Hotel at 207 Fifth Avenue also runs a live-band karaoke night on the third Friday of most months. Rock Out Karaoke, the city’s veteran live-band act, still plays select dates and private events around town (House of Blues, 710 Beach Club), but it no longer holds a fixed weekly night, so check its calendar before counting on a specific date.

The trap to skip: don’t drive to a karaoke bar that closed

If you search an old “best karaoke in San Diego” list or ask an out-of-date map, you will get sent to a few rooms that no longer exist, so cross these off. Henry’s Pub in the Gaslamp, a 25-year karaoke staple, closed in 2025. The Cat Eye Club in East Village, a retro tiki karaoke lounge, has closed as well. And The Hole (near the airport in Point Loma), a 60-year gay dive that ran karaoke, became a cocktail lounge called Bar 1924 in early 2026 and no longer does regular karaoke. Convoy’s Chorus Karaoke also closed, though the good news there is that Hive took over the same space. When in doubt, call before you drive, because bars flip owners and formats more often than the old listicles get updated.

How we pick a karaoke spot

A few things we have learned singing our way around this county:

Bar or private room? If you want energy and strangers cheering, go to a bar (Lamplighter, Werewolf, Redwing). If you want to sing only with your crew, book a Convoy room (Hive, Melody, Jin).
Match the night to the venue. The Lamplighter and Werewolf run nightly, but most neighborhood dives have one or two karaoke nights, so check the day before you commit.
Go early on a weekend. The list at a popular bar fills within the first hour, so drop your slip the moment you walk in or you may not sing until midnight.
Bring cash where it matters. The Lamplighter is cash only, and tipping the KJ (the karaoke host) a couple of bucks with your slip never hurts your spot in line.

Karaoke is our favorite rainy-night or too-hot-to-be-outside plan, right up there with a lane at the best bowling alleys in San Diego or a session at the batting cages around town. For more ways to spend a night indoors, see our roundup of indoor things to do in San Diego, and to find more bars, lounges, and entertainment venues across the county, browse the entertainment and recreation listings in our business directory.