Reviews

• • kunmingteacher100
    April 18, 2013
    3 reviews
    2 stars: 1
    3 stars: 1
    4 stars: 1
  • To be honest, the decors a bit cheesy but it's a cool relaxed bar. It is a more relaxing place than the rest of Kundu. There are lots of westerners as well. Good to kick back and have a breer.

• • indosailor
    April 3, 2013
    1 reviews
    5 stars: 1
  • Went to the open-mic and jam last Monday for the first time and had a great night. It was fun to hook up with other musicians, western and Chinese. But.... if you want to play, bring your own instrument. At least the guitars they have are grotty!

• • Marc0746
    March 29, 2013
    2 reviews
    5 stars: 1
  • The Mask gives musicians a stage to work on their music, this alone is worth it's weight in gold. But to add to that, The Mask attracts an audience that is interested in listening to music, so it is absolutely a musicians sanctuary. That audience includes both Chinese and non-Chinese, wonderful, fantastic, digging the music! When the stage is quiet, they are spinning a variety of different records, also very cool. Convienent location, open very very late, great drinks. Let's burn down all of the Karaoke joints and neighboring cheap beer bars and convert the city into one big Mask franchise, finally...the music would have a chance to survive in Kunming and life would be all too good.

• • helface
    August 28, 2012
    7 reviews
    3 stars: 1
    4 stars: 3
    5 stars: 3
  • The Mask benefits from an unusual geographical advantage in that it's situated right by these long and wide stairs that bar-goers love to loiter on, effectively tripling the bar capacity and giving it one of Kundu's only outdoor 'lounging' areas. This aspect alone contributes significantly to the bar's popularity and appeal.

    On top of that, this place has great music (especially for Kundu), a lively dance floor, an efficiently run bar, and a crowd as diverse as you will ever see in Kunming.

    What is there not to like.

• • Moderator
    August 3, 2012
    5 reviews

  • As a response to earlier complaints concerning the removal of reviews:

    Several 0 star reviews that were given here in the last week have been removed due to the fact that all of them were posted by a single user.

    The reviews section is meant for honest reviews by distinct individuals. If users use the review section only to discredit the venue or when high ratings are clearly self-promotion by the venue the review will be deleted and the user banned.

• • TICexpats
    July 31, 2012
    10 reviews
    1 star: 2
    2 stars: 2
    3 stars: 3
    4 stars: 1
    5 stars: 2
  • Not bad, not bad at all. They make a real effort and are friendly.

    well exceeds the accepted mediocre of most of the places around Green lake.

• • aaronb
    July 31, 2012
    2 reviews
    2 stars: 1
    5 stars: 1
  • Anyone who finds the music in nearby bars to be "nicer" than the Mask's, has basically no musical taste, and I think a charitable organization should be set up to help such people.

    I am not big on most bars, including the MASK. But it is one of the best bars in town. Small enough to be cozy, good drinks, friendly staff, actual live music, a good mix of different kinds of people.

    It does seem to be an after hours type bar, so don't be surprised to see it empty at 9, only to be brimming from 11-2. Lots of people start at other bars and end up there.

• • mingbai
    July 31, 2012
    7 reviews
    2 stars: 1
    3 stars: 1
    4 stars: 1
    5 stars: 4
  • I'm not a big fan of Kundu either, but if you ignore the location, it's just the best bar in town right now.
    Alex and Steve do their best to organize different events every week and it's not so easy with the current amount of bands and musicians around, they play a variety of music every week so you can't complain about it, just go there when they do play your type of music, they can't please everyone all the time.

• • Yereth
    July 30, 2012
    16 reviews
    3 stars: 1
    4 stars: 6
    5 stars: 9
  • The Mask is easily one of my favourite nightlife places to go out to in Kunming. There's events on a few nights a week featuring different kinds of music, whether played by bands or DJs. The drinks are great value for money and there's generally a good crowd on weekends, Chinese and foreigners alike.

    The only complain is that we need more places like the Mask.

• • dtedheshi
    July 28, 2012
    6 reviews
    3 stars: 1
    4 stars: 3
    5 stars: 1

  • Hey everyone. Look at the left sidebar at the top of GK and rarely do you NOT see the Mask having an event of some kind. Taste is taste and you may or may not like whatever events they have, but they ALWAYS give it a shot and they work hard to bring quality entertainment to the KM public...even for those of you who stand outside with your 3 Yuan Dali beers purchased at the little shop next door. Live music is hard to come by in the summer because many local musicians are travelling or touring. Why kill the bar with one or two stars when you can simply walk up to the bartender and ask if they could play something else? The thoughtless flaming of local businesses on gokunming has gotten out of hand. If a place is not to your taste, and all you wasted was the price of one drink and 30 minutes, there is no reason to jump immediately onto your computer to vilify the joint.

    Keep up the good work, Mask...

• • sean1
    July 28, 2012
    5 reviews
    3 stars: 1
    5 stars: 3

  • Giving one or two stars because you dont like the music isn't a fair representation of a bar's quality.

    in my opinion if you want to fairly judge the quality of a bar you have to consider 5 things, giving a full star for 满意,half a star for 一般 and no stars for 不满意

    1- atmosphere
    2-music
    3-service
    4-cleanliness/upkeep
    5- price

    obviously, waiting 20 minutes for a drink, breaking your neck because of a safety hazard, or dying because a curtain caught fire are all good reasons to break the rules, but a night of classic rock or shitty dubstep cant ruin your experience entirely....I almost want to give another five stars to offset unreasonable reviews, but fuck it, anyone with knowledge in the industry can clearly see that a good standard of customer service, innovative design, and hardwork has been put into this place........selecting music or being a DJ is often a thankless job, you can never make anyone happy. Just go to 天籁时代 disco directly to the right for a night, I promise you'll never complain about the masks music again.

• • yunnanrose
    July 27, 2012
    2 reviews
    5 stars: 2
  • I love going to The Mask.

    They play a lot of different kinds of music.

    Many of the bands and musicians are now on holidays or touring, but will return to play in Kunming, at The Mask, soon.

    The staff are always helpful and friendly.
    The owners always try to please everyone with their music selection.

    I personally feel the drinks are great.
    You can actually taste the alcohol!

    Also, I enjoy the inside/outside atmosphere.

    As Alex says "On any performance night we like to keep things focused on the genre or the theme of the night in terms of the music."

    The Mask is one place that cares about both the customers, and the music.
    Thanks to all...

• • pushingeast
    July 25, 2012
    5 reviews
    5 stars: 4

  • As one of the owners of The Mask, Jacob84 I'm sorry that you feel this way. We try to keep an open mind at the bar in terms of the music policy. We've put on most thing from hip-hop to all genres of electronica. Latin to funk, acousitic to full-on punk rock and most of the good things in-between.

    On any performance night we like to keep things focused on the genre or the theme of the night in terms of the music. On non-performance nights, we really do mix it up depending on the mood of the bar.

    As a consolation in the next 4 nights we've got electronica, funk & soul, and a live reggae performance. Hopefully you can give us another go?

    Sincerely,
    Alex

• • bojnin
    May 18, 2012
    1 reviews
    5 stars: 1
  • Thank you Steve5150 for your comment and concern.
    I certainly don't want to give the Mask bad press, and, of course, I do come back to the Mask as often as go to Kundu.
    The incident was totally unrelated to the place, and my only impression of the Mask, as I said, is of smiling and tolerant people, friends on the stairs, pretty girls sitting around playing dice and chatting.

    I didn't see it as a fight, as I had no hostile intention toward this angry chap. I am happy to hear he apologised (not to me, though).
    Seems hooligans are very insecure people.
    The staff -or a bouncer- couldn't have intervened anyway as it happened very quickly.
    It was just an incident of life as can happen anywhere. Thank you Alex for preparing a bag of ice without second thoughts. I said I would return the cloth he wrapped the ice, butI can't seem to find it.

• • LouieK
    May 5, 2012
    8 reviews
    3 stars: 1
    4 stars: 1
    5 stars: 6
  • I came here a twice with my gf when we first visited. Very nice loungey ambience, a good addition to the Kunming scene we saw.

    Got quite crowded and music was decent. The crowd was quite diverse. Some ppl noted the hooligans that come around here sometimes - I believe I saw them. Others are mellow and some seem a little snobby but it seems typical for this type of area.

    Drinks were very reasonably priced. Cocktails could use a little work. Overall a nice place to hang out in Kunming.

• • Magnifico
    April 27, 2012
    3 reviews
    5 stars: 1

  • kundu does have a history of having several rather violent incidents. it seems to me that having some security check at the entrance and a bouncer might be a good precaution. just my suggestion.

• • Steve5150
    April 25, 2012
    1 reviews

  • Hi Bojnin, I'm one of the owners of The Mask.
    First of all I'm sorry for what happened last Saturday. As you said it was a very busy night. I remember seeing you outside, after you got punched, but I didn't see what happened before and honestly thought you got in a fight somewhere else.

    One of my partners, Alex, saw the beginning of the fight and actually had an argument with the guy who punched you and asked him to leave. The man, or one of his friends, first tried to attack Alex then apologized to him and said they thought you were mocking them.
    By the way, Alex is the one who gave you the bag of ice.
    I guarantee you the bar is not ruled by hooligans and whenever we notice someone causing troubles we try to promptly deal with them. Having said that, I admit we are a bit short on staff and it is sometimes difficult to keep an eye on everything going on. Unfortunately, I believe a bouncer would cause even more problems since, for example, they can't deal with Chinese and foreigners in the same way.

    When something like a fight happens, whether inside the bar or right outside, the best course of action would be to ask for one of the owners and, if necessary, we can deal with the police or simply ask the troublemakers to leave.
    We try every day to create a safe and friendly environment for locals and foreigners to mingle and have fun.
    I hope to see you back at the bar.
    Sincerely.

    Steve

• • Natsymir
    April 15, 2012
    55 reviews
    0 stars: 1
    1 star: 3
    2 stars: 7
    3 stars: 16
    4 stars: 15
    5 stars: 10
  • A great location, nice staff and acceptable pricing, and some of the live music acts are really not bad, though there's something wrong with a place when it's actually funnier to be -outside- of it (it's diminutive size, probably, combined with the fun liveliness of Kundu square). The inside of The Mask gets a little more appealing as the crowd begin thinning late at night, and the tables upstairs are very cozy. A big plus is that the toliet queues, for some reason, never get very long, and the sound level is seldom too high.

    The Mask could get a better grade if I liked the music more, I'd appreciate something less mainstream once in a while.

• • Kirkpatrick
    January 12, 2012
    13 reviews
    1 star: 1
    2 stars: 2
    3 stars: 1
    4 stars: 2
    5 stars: 6
  • Great place to party and the only reason to go to Kundu.

    Can't wait for the restaurant.

• • moondog
    December 25, 2011
    3 reviews
    5 stars: 2
  • walking into the mask yesterday put a big smile on my face.great party.nice place

• • peacelover
    November 28, 2011
    2 reviews
    5 stars: 1
  • Met lots of great people here. Good music, good drinks, a home away from home.

• • stretch
    November 24, 2011
    4 reviews
    3 stars: 1
    5 stars: 1
  • i like the mask on friday when there,s is a big crowed and live music,but the beer is not always cold.but on weekdays don,t like it so much.sitting at the bar is very unpleasent with that big pilar in the middle and the chairs are very uncomfertable.i went their last eir this week and it was empty.

• • Philou
    November 20, 2011
    13 reviews
    4 stars: 8
    5 stars: 4
  • Thank you funk assembly, that was awesome.

• • vic077
    November 7, 2011
    3 reviews
    5 stars: 1
  • Sat nite at the Mask was great!! The DJ was spinning 90s hip hop at it's finest!! Need more of these "golden age (aka the 90s)" events for sure! Thanks Mask, thanks DJ killa gorilla!!

• • chris
    September 26, 2011
    46 reviews
    4 stars: 24
    5 stars: 12
  • The recent addition of Alex and Steve to bar management has transformed The Mask from a 'bar with potential' to a quality bar, full stop.

• • voltaire
    August 29, 2011
    4 reviews
    4 stars: 2
    5 stars: 1
  • The only reason to go to Kundu.

• • barshopper
    August 28, 2011
    8 reviews
    1 star: 2
    2 stars: 1
    3 stars: 1
    4 stars: 3
    5 stars: 1

• • tahoe
    August 28, 2011
    5 reviews
    5 stars: 2

  • A great big thanks to Steve & Alex for the wonderful time at the Mask Bar last night! Truly, one of my best gigs ever!

    The sound system was fabulous! Playing solo and then with Ian for that crowd gave me goose bumps! Again, my heartfelt thanks!

    Nevada

• • Ian_Kunming
    August 19, 2011
    7 reviews
    4 stars: 2
    5 stars: 4
  • Fantastic new venue for live music!

• • Andorra
    October 8, 2009
    17 reviews
    0 stars: 1
    1 star: 1
    2 stars: 7
    3 stars: 6
    4 stars: 2
    5 stars: 1
  • Yes, the owner is nice and a good retreat from surrounding noisy places. Can be very cozy.

• • jules
    May 22, 2009
    1 reviews
    5 stars: 1
  • The mask rules!! The owner is really sweet and accommodating, not to mention a wild party animal, haha, and she's really happy to "host" parties. Bring your own music!

• • piers
    December 28, 2007
    8 reviews
    0 stars: 2
    2 stars: 1
    4 stars: 3
    5 stars: 1