Highlight

First off, I believe this venue used to be Walkabout Jongleurs but is now called Highlights and still run by Walkabout. Second, I must say having been to The Stand, I have come to expect most comedy clubs to offer a similar experience: an intimate atmosphere, decent pub grub type food, good service and good banter. Now I am willing to concede that our group went to Highlights on a groupon voucher, which saw us getting half price for their Friday night comedy and a meal (which was actually only a choice of a Burger or «vegetarian option» despite them having an ever-​so-​slightly more extensive menu) but I have had plenty of groupon experiences in places that don’t treat you like you are a discount customer, so expected the same for this experience.
The place itself turned out to look more like a beer or bingo hall that someone’s gran had booked out for her 90^th birthday, so not intimate at all. We were promptly led to our table at the far end of the «hall» which we could kind of see the stage from. We found menus set out on it despite us having Groupon vouchers, but seeing as we booked it so long ago, we thought maybe we could choose more than just the burger. When someone FINALLY came to our table, despite asking twice for someone to come over and take our order, we found out that we could choose between a burger or a buffalo mozzerella salad. That is the vegetarian option??? Luckily, no one in our group was a vegetarian because I would have been sorry for them! 6 burgers later and our Fosters, that was included in the groupon, we couldn’t wait to eat. We got our burgers and they were VERY underwhelming. The burger was charred on the outside, way over-​peppered, and pink in the middle. The patty (or just the burger for all the UK natives) was about half the size of the massive bun and dry as anything. No cheese, no bacon, just a piece of lettuce, a few sprinkles of onion and half a fresh tomato. The chips were good though! I think I was more disappointed by the fact that I had looked at the pizzas on the menu and was geared up for one of those, only to have a dry burnt-​yet-​undercooked burger served to me instead.
We managed to finish most of our meals but there were several couples around us that not only didn’t finish their food, but complained to staff and subsequently left the club early. Now, the club does offer an interesting service. You can fill out a sheet of what type of drink you would like to be served at the intermission for the comedy as the bar closes once the show starts at 9pm. Mind you, you can mostly just get pitchers of beer or cocktails. They were reasonably priced though and one of the better points of the evening!
The show started promptly and you had your MC, and two comedians with an intermission in between for more drink. The sound wasn’t the greatest and the only highlight (no pun intended) of the night was the last comedian, as he was hilarious, but I think it’s really out of the club’s hands if the so called talent is rubbish! The show was over by 11pm and you were quickly shoved out into Walkabout so they could clear up the club. Speaking of clearing up, no one came to collect our dinner dishes, our condiment basket or any of our glasses, bottles or pitchers unless we moved them to the empty table that two separate couples had vacated early. Again, poor service.
Overall, I would not go back to Highlights unless it was during Fringe Festival and there was a specific comedian I wanted to see. The food was terrible, the service just as terrible/​neglectful and the atmosphere left a lot to be desired. It seemed to cater towards Hen and Stag dos. The comedy show itself was OK. One thing I did get out of the evening was that I will definitely be going to the Stand for future comedy evenings. Not only can you get a cheap membership which offers discounts for Thursday, Friday and Sunday nights, you get at least 4 – 5 acts a night and it’s better food, better service and an all around better atmosphere.