During the BYOB tasting menu experience at Honeysuckle Provisions in West Philly, we argued over the Mount Rushmore of rap artists while eating truffle and egg toast, and learned about the origins of the trifoliate oranges growing down the street without feeling like we’d be quizzed on it later. So unless your city has a place like that, the $95 meal at this Afrocentric cafe is going to stick with you for a while.

Even the bathroom of this Vietnamese restaurant in Downtown Miami is fun. We don’t want to spoil why, so we’ll just tell you it involves karaoke. But you’re not coming here just to drink enough wine to justify three trips to the bathroom. Tam Tam’s menu has creative takes on Vietnamese dishes that are tragically rare in Miami. It’s a tiny spot, so come with a small group or a date and order the sticky fish sauce caramel wings.

Dreamland defies Seattle’s grungy-gray reputation. The diner’s galactic jungle grotto patio conjures up Jurassic Park, Alien, and Xanadu in the best way possible. Groups come here to drink $99 large-batch margaritas served in disco balls and Jell-O shots that taste like homemade jam straight from the jar. Plus, bar snacks are way better than the chaotic atmosphere demands.

Dinner at Muukata6395 in San Francisco is a rowdy Thai barbecue event. Each table has a domed charcoal grill where pork belly, shrimp, and bacon sizzle, as well as a broth moat loaded with vegetables and noodles. Come with friends who are willing to yell across the table, since birthday parties and large groups shriek as they take shots of soju (that’s part of the appeal). And for the pièce de résistance, finish the meal by slurping up the broth flavored with all the barbecue drippings.

Brasero specializes in throwing a party every night. This Latin American spot in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood plays catchy bossa nova in a dim room where you’ll want to gossip, and the food matches the fun. Dishes like fried quail, sweet and spicy moqueca, and grilled half lobster are all great for sharing with your book-club-turned-real-club companions. Whatever you order, you’ll leave with a light cologne of smoke thanks to the wood-fire grill in the back.

Between the crunchy karaage and the motion-activated box of action figures that flashes when you walk into the bathroom, it’s next to impossible to be a grump at Kemuri Tastu-Ya. The restaurant is a mashup of a Central Texas barbecue joint and a Japanese izakaya, with a space full of hanging deer heads and vintage Japanese posters. Bring a crew to share chicken meatball skewers and brisket and gouda hot pockets wrapped in tofu skin, but also to drink matcha painkillers and Texas whiskey.

Dining at The Bazaar in DC feels like entering a Willy Wonka fever dream. The Spanish restaurant inside the Waldorf Hotel has cathedral arches and crystal chandeliers illuminating indoor cherry blossom trees. Drinks come with clouds of dry ice. And the tapas, like the cotton candy foie gras and bao con lechon, are never boring. This is the type of place where you bring a group to dress up and blow half a stack on delightfully bizarre stuff.

Spending time at this laidback wine bar in Hollywood is sort of like crashing a green room after-party—only Stir Crazy serves better food. Half of the place fills with people who have Netflix comedy specials in the works, while the rest of the crowd drinks funky riesling with reckless abandon. The menu skews snacky, with stuff like marinated tomatoes, serrano ham, and a particularly delicious plate of anchovies. Come with a group and order the entire menu.

If neon lights and K-Pop jams are your speed, then dinner at One Shot Pocha will hit all of the right marks. You can doodle notes on the chalkboard walls, crunch deep-fried chicken wings that create reverb just as loud as the speaker system, and drink soju out of a watermelon (the proper way to consume the beverage). Hit the karaoke rooms after dinner to sing your heart out and play a little tambourine, too.

For excessive amounts of fun in under 90 minutes, book a counter spot for the $99 omakase at Sushi On Me in Queens. The place looks sort of slapped together: there’s a disco ball on the ceiling, alt-rock posters, and a neon sign that says “Enjoy Your F*cking Dinner.” But the meal has a precise choreography, from the “Hooked on a Feeling” ooga chuggas that drop as you slurp oysters, to the “smoked” salmon you’ll inhale as the staff sing along to “Because I Got High.”