Ha! Ha! Bar – CLOSED

I came here a couple times for drinks and meals. We ended up with buy one — get one free vouchers after signing up online but never got to use them. The name is fun, and I love the clock where it’s always noon (or midnight). Nothing to complain about, nothing to write home about.

I don’t agree with other negative reviews here. I’ve been for lunch, dinner and drinks here and each time I’ve had good service and great grub.
They’ve been doing lunchtime deals which mean you can get a good plate of food for under £7 — I had the handmade haddock goujons and a friend had the steak sandwich both of which came with fries and trimmings. There aren’t many places you can get a decent lunch like that for the price.
It’s perfectly located for people-​watching too, just by the back of the Brighton Pavilion. Sit outside or by the window if you can or if dining inside the restaurant area there’s a large table with a skylight so ask for that one.

What caught the attention of my friends and I was the name as we were walking towards the Royal Pavilion. You can’t come up with a better name than Ha Ha! Ok I lied, there was something else, the 10 pound pitcher (choice of either rekorderlig cider, pimm’s, or key west cooler).
We walked in and were seated in the restaurant section; the place looked clean and nice. I decided to grab some menus myself since the waiters were busy; when the waiter that seated us saw me he thanked me. We were discussing the food when another waiter came by and told us the wait for our food would be 45 minutes; since we weren’t in a hurry we didn’t mind. We had yet to make up our minds about our food anyhow.
When the waiter came by again we asked him to describe the pitcher choices and we opted for the Pimm’s. This was my first time drinking it and it was really good! Great combination of fruit, Pimm’s, and lemonade.
As we were waiting for our food we could see the kitchen placing the food on the counter for the waiters to grab and send to the tables. The food was constantly being dished out and the waiters were on a continuous walk around the restaurant/​bar. The restaurant was pretty large, so it didn’t seem full, but based on how many dishes were being taken out, there seemed to be a lot of orders place; that’s a good thing right? I thought the price for the food wasn’t bad; lunch prices start at 6 pounds.
My fish fingers and chips were delicious. The fish was so fresh, it wasn’t greasy, and the side of mashed peas was also good. I usually hate peas… I wasn’t too hungry at the time since my friends and I had a snack a few hours before this, but I downed all my food! The combination of food and Pimm’s was perfect! Good food always makes my day =)

Despite my usual scathing reviews of chain pubs and bars, I actually quite like the Ha! Ha! Bar. This is a different class of chain pub, which is reflected in the slightly more expensive pricing. They do however, in true chain pub fashion, often have drinks deals and food offers. Look out for their cocktail offers especially their Cosmopolitans are absolutely delicious.
I’ve eaten here several times and have got to say that the value for money you get varies dramatically. At around the £10 mark for their risottos and about £15 for a sirloin steak, I don’t think the portions are big enough for you to truly feel as though you’ve got your money’s worth. Saying that, their butternut squash, blue cheese & walnut risotto is rather delicious. The best time to go here to eat is when they have their £5 lunch menu on offer, although it’s far more limited than the normal menu, it does offer great value. Last time this offer was on, I had their chicken breast with serrano ham which is usually £10.45. I think if I’d have paid full price for it I’d have been distinctly unimpressed, but for a fiver it was perfectly decent.
Of an evening, this place gets pretty busy and has a nice atmosphere. In the summer months, their outdoor area next to the entrance to Pavilion Gardens is a great place to sit and sun yourself with a white wine spritzer.

Ha! Ha! Bar isn’t a bad place to go on a Friday evening, this is like being upgraded from Wetherspoons or Yates. Ha! Ha! isn’t much better, but what it does differently, it does better and with a bit more style.
If you come here on Friday then you’ll find they do £3 cocktails, which is brilliant value to anybody. The other drinks are pretty expensive, a pint of Peroni draught (rare) is over £4, something I massively object to.
This is a good place for groups on account of the sheer size of the venue. Ha! Ha! also offer a discount food menu, usually offering 2 main meals for £7.

Everything about this bar annoys me. The name especially winds me right up. The last time we were in there, the service was absolutely dreadful, we had to wait an hour for a round of over-​priced sandwiches and there was no apology what so ever. The sandwiches were nice though to be fair.
When we asked for the bill the 3^rd time and still didn’t receive it, we went to pay at the bar and were ignored. In the end, we walked out without paying. With service like that I’m absolutely amazed the place is still running.

As central as you would like and with the Pavilion in sight, Ha! Ha! Bar is a nicer version of the many chains that you may or may not have frequented in the past. Being in such a prime location the bar does tend to be quite busy most of the time. Don’t let this put you off, it’s a great place for a pint and never too much of a problem to squeeze in and get amongst it-​there is always ample seating outside, depending on weather.

Coming across as a bit of wetherspoon copy cat, Ha! Ha! bar is actually a decent grade better for eating in than your average spoon (the place not the cutlery).
The bar and small lounging area is set away from the restaurant and casual seating area, so you won’t be constantly buffeted by comers and goers if you’re eating in, and secondly you won’t need to circumvent dozens of diners for each drink if your just coming in for a pint. They also do coffee here, and once I’d managed to fold my leggs around the table from my stool based position, it was actually quite a pleasant place to sit and watch the world tick by. With the Pavilion right next door, I can imagine that its a great place to sit outside on a summers day and soak up the splendour of the building, watching the comers and goers come and go.
Prices are certainly reasonable, and the food doesn’t carry that same industrial quality that you get with somewhere like Wetherspoons, so Ha! Ha! bar makes for a decent enough place to enjoy some budget British pub grub.

This place is really good for a chilled out lunch or dinner and with lunches that start from £5 for real english classics you will not break the bank either. So, it is just expensive enough to stop people coming in and getting blind drunk and ruining it for everyone else.
They have seperated the drinking area from the restaurant area well so on the odd occasion when those coming in for quick drinks do come in you won’t be affected too much. The bar offers lots of different types of drinks including my favourite snake bite for a reasonable price.
Definitely worth checking out and dropping in as part of a pub crawl but make sure your round is wetherspoons if possible to save yourself a few quid.

It surprises me that no one has reviewed this place yet. Not that it’s particularly great but it’s so central you’d at least expect someone to picked up on its popularity.
Located next to the Pavilion, it’s a trendy bar and grill that serves the usual range of grilled dishes along with a few pies and other nice things. Its average selection of wines makes it a rather average place for drinks, as you’d expect somewhere like this to pack a punch but alas no. For £15 per head you get reasonably good value, however, it’s somewhat better for formal meetings rather than social events because of its preference for slickness as opposed to character.

Visited restaurant for a friends birthday and had previously had bad experience. The menu was basic and they had some kind of meal deal going on. Our party of 8 people were the only ones in the restaurant on a Tuesday night. The service was so bad our food took longer then expected to arrive. I dread to think of what it would have been like if the restaurant was busy. When the food arrived it was obviously cooked from frozen. The only green thing on the plate that should have been fresh was the peas. These peas were over cooked and brown. Yes, brown. My other fish cakes /​fries were heavily deep fat fried and i just could not eat them. I wouldn’t recommend this bar/​restaurant to anyone for food. You might as well go to Iceland, load up on one pound value meals and eat at home for better quality/​service.

Always a great friendly bar. the food is also fantastic!

Slightly chainy but still a great place to go for lunch. Food area is separated from the bar area and is really relaxed. Food is typically ‘gastro pub’ eg: fishcakes, lasagne — and is really good value for money. Go in on a Sunday and there are usually a pile of newspapers you can sit and read with your lunch ! Nice wine list. Bar area gets quite busy and noisy in the evenings (Fri/​Sat) so for that reason I prefer going there in the day. Great venue for larger groups.

This is lively as there is a bar one end and the restaurant on the other. I’ve been here twice and it has always been a good experience when eating and chatting with friends. On my most recent visit here, one of waiters was a tall short hair man who was very witty with the customers — therefore the service was excellent aswell. The food is fantastic and the place is good to meet up with friends before a night out.