please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
The place has shut down at long last and not surprised either.
Re-opening as Browns on 14th April 2011. Can't wait :-)
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The place has shut down at long last and not surprised either.
Re-opening as Browns on 14th April 2011. Can't wait :-)
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Horrible place. Sadly I have been here numerous times owing to the fact I work in the building above so work colleagues with no taste often go there. They do at least serve London Pride now (originally there were no ales at all) but it is very poorly kept and served.
Service - awful. Staff seem to be rude, slow, stupid, and appear to be trained to serve seriously short measures. Have to get pints topped up about three times.
Prices - ridiculously expensive.
Toilet - seemingly about 5 minutes walk away.
Food - poor, overpriced.
Avoid it like the plague
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Went for a meal here. Terrible. Clientel truly awful, full of vacuous suit types. Beer is poorly kept, staff have no personality too.
Save your money and go somewhere else. Very overpriced too
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The previous reviews are bang on.... It is terrible. Why do people give these pirates there hard earned, until we say no, never again, these big companies will keep giving us these crappy places....
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Terrible as noted, crowded and expensive with no redeeming features...
anonymous - 27 Apr 2009 11:09 |
truly appaling with regard to beer measures; nothing has changed. If there was ever an example of a pub group trying to extract maximum profit whilst selling the punter short this is it. Deserves to fail
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I just don't understand this place it is possibly the most beautiful building for a bar in the area with a great looking restaurant as well, but the service and the ripping off is just extrodinary. Now as other reviews I have written will say I am the type of people who likes a trendy bar over a pub any day but the service here and the pricing is even too much for me. I really hope that this place closes down and another bar group take it over as it should be the place to go but in reality is the place to avoid as the worst place in the area.
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Only go in here if you are a chav.
Chavs please note: Bar staff are criminals, and will rip you off.
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Oh dear, I entered The Ha Ha! Bar and Canteen after work on Friday (5th Oct) not entirely certain as to whether I�d be better of saving my money and checking out somewhere else. The negative reports this bar has received however, only made me more curious, either that or a sucker for punishment. Interior wise, yep, you�ve guessed it, neon purple, modern lighting and dull furniture. To complete the mood, we had some kind of house music. Terrible. No ales on offer and this is when we get onto the subject of measurements. No word of a lie, my �pint� of Stella had the hugest head I�d ever seen pulled which (as previously stated by another reviewer) quickly evaporates. I was then just left with a rather flat � full glass of beer. When at he bar, I noticed others being ripped off and yet the worrying thing is� I really don�t think they care. People should. Places like this are a monstrosity.
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One of the worst and most overpriced bars in the area.
Had lunch in here one day - service was so slow was afarid my lunch would arrive the following day !
And, as noted below, not the place to go if you want a *full* pint or something more than the ordinary to eat. Pop into La Tasca or Nando's for better service, food and beer (and that's saying something !)
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After standing at the bar for bloody ages and watching with interest how the beer was poured so that there was a good 2" head on each pint (which rapidly disappeared), I actually asked a member of bar staff the other week if they were instructed to give short measures. Her wry half smile and silence spoke volumes. Trading Standards methinks - this is simply illegal apart from anything else. They say they're happy to top up if asked - which I ALWAYS do - but surely if one asks for a 'pint' that's what one should get? Not half a litre. If that. And at �3.20 for a Stella it's simply unnacceptable. Scumbags.
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Could not agree more with the last post I also had the cocktails and not only me but also others around just left them and went elsewhere. Why try to do something that they are obviously not good at?
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Have to say that i went there the other night for the first time, new bar had time to settle in and iron out all the problems so it should be up and running by now. Boy was i infact let down or what, with posible the worst staff in history and not sure on the quality of the management either!
It all started really well got a seat, great look and could talk so I went to the bar and ordered a pitcher of cocktail and some small sides of food for us to nible on. First problem being a former manager of cocktail bars I found the coctkail not only to be bad but actually incorectly made to a stage which it was undrinkable. I did then take it back to the bar and demand for it to be changed and yet again they made the cocktail wrong so i demanded a refund to which i did get but that was not the point.
After grabbing a few beers sat down again waiting for the sides. All i can say i now know what it must have been like to be stranded when the Titanic sank as there was no food (or help) coming any time soon. After yet again complaining eventually and hour after ordering the sides came out of the kitchen with no appology or reason just plonked on the table and that was it.
Victoria desperatly needed a trendy bar like this as the area is lacking but to be frank I think it would have been better to use this space for yet another starbucks or something as the bar is a complete waste of space with the most arrogant staff on the planet. If there were elections for bars I would vote to remove this one without a second thought.
Back to the good old trusty Camel, for all its' faults has never let me down like this yet!!
anonymous - 7 Feb 2007 15:55 |
Sorry to witter on but went in here again when it was very quiet the other day and even then my pint was woefully short. Barman was smug when I questioned this saying that they always top up pints on request. I requested a pint... they came nowhere near.Would be interested in other comments from visitors. If it seems that this is a concerted effort to short change customers (in a place where they make massive profits) then I feel a visit to Trading Standards coming
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I agree with Cleversaz... the beer measures can be woefully in here. I personally cannot stand the place.All the office bods seem to though
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Came here after work on Friday night (20 Oct) with a few colleagues. See my previous post, though on this occasion there was an improvement regarding the female talent on show. Maybe I was wrong on my first visit here, as based on tonight, this appeared to be one of the better bars around Victoria to search for H-Files. Anyway, I have increased my rating for this place as a result!
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Ha Ha! bars are notorious for being soulless and devoid of ambience and this one is no exception. Noisy, expensive and filled with people who are equally as vacuous as its atmosphere. Staff look at you as though you have three heads when you ask for a top up on the woefully short excuse for a pint they're fond of serving. Unless you happen to look fabulous in pink neon, avoid at all costs.
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I found the d�cor of this place quite smart and I appreciated the plasma screens showing the excellent Sky Sports News! The huge centrally located staircase made moving around the ground floor laborious when the place became busier though.
The restaurant area upstairs looked an attractive place to eat, which despite not having any food, I saw enough off given the walk to the stylish toilets on the same floor. Pleased there was no toilet attendant present, shouting the usual nonsense, �Freshen up for the ladies!�
The music playing in the background was mainly funky house, which was played at a sensible level, so you did not have to shout to talk. As with Ha Ha! Bar and Canteen's (well the Portsmouth & Embankment ones), there is no dance floor, but there was a relaxed atmosphere here, no doubt created by the pink neon lighting and pine flooring.
The place was mainly full of blokes, presumably from the local civil service/corporate worker population, while the female talent on show was pretty poor. Ideally, not a place I would come searching for H-Files, but a welcome change from the nearby The Duke of York or Phoenix for a few post work drinks on a Friday night.
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What started off as a pleasent Saturday lunch, in a pleasing enviroment soon decended in to total chaos. Having ordered 2 rare steaks we were presented 20 minutes later with 2 steak sandwiches. After enlightening our waiter that they did in fact serve steaks, not just steak sandwiches we sent them back. After another 20 minutes, we received our steaks, but the side order was wrong. To avoid another wait, we decided to cut our losses and eat what we were given. But no, it turned out 1 steak was well done instead of rare. We were then offered a replacement meal, but this would have meant we were eating seperately. We were offered a drink in compensation, but by this point we just wanted to leave. Having asked them to deduct the drinks from the bill instead, we were left for a further 10 minutes. After asking yet again for the bill, with the deduction we were faced with the farcical situation where we had to pay meal and recieve cash for the drinks. AVOID AT ANY COST!!
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One of a range of Ha! Ha! Bar and Canteens that are gradually being introduced around the country. The traditional pub lover will hate it, the chrome and neon brigade will love it. Those who baulk at the sight of All Bar Ones and Piano and Pitchers now have a new monster to contend with. This latest addition to Victoria�s drinking scene is set over the first 2 floors of a 60�s high rise and comes complete with wall to ceiling windows, pink neon lighting, pine floors, square furniture and plasma screen (with limited viewing). Up the large metal staircase is the restaurant � I didn�t bother venturing this far. Outside in the canopied shopping precinct are a few chrome seats where you can watch the shoppers roam by. Don�t look for any bitters � they don�t have any, not even keg bitter which is probably a plus. Fosters, Stella and Guinness are the mainstream attractions. The adventurous can go for Peroni or 1664 Blanc. If you are feeling affluent, they do �wine bottle� sized Hoegaarden for �7.95 or Leffe, a snip at �10.95. That all said, Wines start at a �reasonable� �10.95 and someone somewhere may be tempted by the Krug Grande Cuvee NV at �119.95 that will apparently leave your palate dominated by honey and nuts. A bowl of sugar puffs and a packet of dry roasted will also have the same effect for a lighter tariff. Personally if I were spending �120 on a bottle of bubbly I would choose somewhere a bit more special than this. Shooters are available for �3 and a range of cocktails are �5 a glass or �10 a jug. Main courses for lunch start around �5.50 for Egg and Chips with �proper meals� around �7-�11 which is again fairly reasonable for the area. All cynicism aside, this place will probably appeal to many young office types and I would expect it to get quite busy in the evenings. Personally it�s not my cup of tea.
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