Backyard Comedy Club Reviews Summary

Venue

Pros:

• "The venue itself is in a prime spot easily accessible from the overhead station and buses."
• "The venue has also clearly been spruced up and looked very fresh."
• "Pleasantly surprised by the size of the venue, ample seating."
• "It's not a big venue so it's very intimate."
• "Easily accessible...3 minutes walk from Bethnal Green station."
• "Great bar and quirky environment - they've got a great roadsigns theme going too."
• "The venue stands out if only as in an area with little else around in the immediate vicinity."

Cons:

• "The venue itself is quite small. There is nothing truly special about it."
• "The actual venue is shabby chic, or dilapidated depending on the clientele you class yourself as."
• "The place was filthy, toilets disgusting."
• "Food really needs to be upgraded, more seats should be available too, (rather than ping pong table etc on show nights)."
• "The venue is shabby chic, or dilapidated depending on the clientele you class yourself as."
• "It's a bit rough and ready."
• "There was a particularly nasty racist 'comedian' performing last night."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Door staff are very professional."
• "The staff were all very friendly and helpful."
• "All the staff, including the manager, were very nice and service was great."
• "Staff here were super nice and drinks food etc was good."
• "Bar staff really friendly and helpful."
• "Also the staff are super friendly."
• "Friendly staff and quick service at the bar."

Cons:

• "I've never experienced such shocking customer service and such poor admissions workflow anywhere else as bad as at The Backyard Comedy Club."
• "Customer service could be better (Black girl behind bar was moody and no eye contact)."
• "The staff are rude and unaccommodating."
• "Bar staff - untrained and unprofessional. I have never experienced bar staff to be so unprofessional."
• "Daniel who proudly boasted that he owned the venue was EXTREMELY rude!"
• "The door staff weren’t particularly friendly, I had lost my paper wrist band and asked politely for another one to enable me to leave to go to bathroom and I was told I shouldn’t have lost it and it was my fault."
• "Bar staff could do with wearing a smile."

Food and Drink

Pros:

• "The food and drink was extremely reasonably priced."
• "Food is good and beer prices are ok but better if you buy pitchers."
• "Well priced food (loved the pizza) and a welcoming vibe."
• "Beer is also reasonably priced and you can buy 4-pint jugs if there's a few of you for even better value."
• "The food was great, and with some more unusual than others."
• "They do good food too."
• "The bar itself is nice and open, and my American Hot pizza was very nice."

Cons:

• "The food did not look great kind of glad we ate before we got there."
• "Also paid £3.30 for 2 small packets of crisps which I thought was a bit excessive."
• "Drinks are a bit expensive but very descent."
• "The pizza, which is the only thing on the menu barring nibbles like nachos and wedges, was terrible. Rock hard crust and I was made to pay £1 for a thimble of ketchup."
• "The food wasn't great, but that wasn't why we were there so we weren't phased."
• "Paid £10 each for frozen supermarket pizza."
• "Rubbish beer selection and food has all taken the tried and tested path from freezer to microwave or deep fat fryer."

Comedy and Entertainment

Pros:

• "The tickets are cheap for comedy and the acts were very very funny/talented!"
• "Quality of the comedy was superb at a competitive price."
• "Don't be put off by the low prices, top comics use this place to try new material and want audience feedback more than money."
• "If you want to go and watch stand up but are on a budget - it's FREE entry via their website."
• "The guy who was introducing the acts was hilarious and the 9 acts who supposedly are fighting for Friday night positions were all amazing!"
• "Absolutely brilliant - every comedian was top drawer and had the entire place laughing from start to finish."
• "Comedy was good and tickets prices are really good value."

Cons:

• "Rather disappointing night here. Ticket prices have doubled and we were unexpectedly charged an extra £3 each for arriving after 7.15."
• "The atmosphere and poor management does the art of stand up a great disservice."
• "No frills comedy club, really funny comedians."
• "Seen some really funny acts, and some average acts too."
• "The acts are 'okay' eish."
• "Seriously urging you to not waste your time or your money the comedy was sub par."
• "The comedians relied on too much slapstick humour, so don't expect any well thought out constructed humour."

Pricing and Policies

Pros:

• "£superbly priced from £5 a performance and at that price its a cheap date with plenty of laughs."
• "For £3.30 a head, it was unbelievable value for money."
• "Drinks reasonably priced and entry was a good price also."
• "As always a good cheap night out, tickets are usu.£10 each but you get a ten pound voucher to to spend on entry for food and drink in the venue."
• "The comedians we saw were outstanding and the price we paid was a steal."
• "Great atmosphere and value for money. There was some talent from the younger generations of Comedians coming up through the ranks."
• "A fantastic night thanks to some great comedians."

Cons:

• "We have been fined '£3 late fee' each because we arrived at 7:45 for a show starting at 8pm."
• "Arrived at 10:00pm for a 11:00pm show, and queued up accordingly. I noticed another shorter queue forming adjacent which was filling up with guests who had arrived later. When the doors opened, both queues were allowed in - this was very poor."
• "I don't know what's going on with the price point though, you can pay the same in central."
• "This is clearly a ploy to get people to spend more money on food and drinks. It's cheeky, considering the tickets are already £12."
• "The comedy was good, but the structure of the show is annoying. They want you to come 45 minutes before the show starts, otherwise you're charged a late fee."
• "I didn't like having to pay £3 extra on the door when I had already paid for my ticket online."
• "Paid an extra £12 ON TOP of Tickets and Booking Fees because we didn't get there an hour BEFORE the show even started, this policy is frankly a con."