Revel in The Venue, Koreatown’s Hippest Hidden Party Palace

Farley Elliott is the Senior Editor at Eater LA and the author of Los Angeles Street Food: A History From Tamaleros to Taco Trucks. He covers restaurants in every form, from breaking news to the culture, people, and history that surrounds LA's dining landscape.

Do enough wandering in Koreatown soon and you might just stumble into The Venue, a spot so low key they didn’t even give it a big new name — let alone a normal entrance. No, to get into Koreatown’s newest karaoke star, you’ll have to access the basement restaurant/bar/singing lounge via a private stairwell right off Wilshire Boulevard. But isn’t that half the fun?

Once inside you’ll find a massive new undertaking right beneath the street, complete with moody bar, dining room, and thirteen different private karaoke spaces. Some seat just a couple, others hold parties up to 50, and the whole thing is buoyed by a dining room and full bar.

Kayson Chong leads the culinary side of things as a BOA Steakhouse vet who more recently has been working with Mainland Poke and the Rockenwagner team. He’s back to doing big meats here, with sturdy steaks anchoring a menu that also includes raw fish preparations and a ton of shareable stuff. Cocktails come by way of Devon Espinosa, who has manned the bar everywhere from No Vacancy to Ink to The Tasting Kitchen.

The Venue officially opens Thursday, January 26. From there on out, expect daily hours from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

The Venue
3470 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA