Description: Rock Box is a lounge and private-booth karaoke place on Capitol Hill that's rich with futuristic effects. The interior feels swanky, with vibrant underlighting here and there, but mainly the decor stays spare, and all the furnishings are modern and tidy. Also, there is clever technology—in one room that adjusts to your grandstanding preferences, you can control a window's opacity and choose whether to project your song onto the sidewalk.

What else: A dozen rooms in different sizes accommodate your crew—and there's one very tiny room, for when you feel like being alone, all alone. The bartender says it's pretty popular.

About that: Singing karaoke with yourself feels awkward at first, but you've just got to throw yourself into it. (Workout videos also require such reckless immersion.)

Happy hours: Mon–Sat 4–8 pm, Sun 4 pm–2 am.

Happy-hour drink specials: $3.50 drafts (Stella, Sapporo), $3 wells, $5 double wells, $3.50 house sake, $5 sake sangria.

Happy-hour food specials: None, but the regular menu has some fun options like purple ice cream ($3 per half-pint).

Insider tip: Karaoke costs $4 an hour per person (instead of $7) during happy hour, but it's still easy to spend trillions of dollars. Sing in the lobby, instead—it's free.recommended