Eat Here. No, Seriously. Eat Here.

So, you know how you get those blog posts pop up where the blogger is so excited to tell you about the latest, greatest product they have been paid to write about discovered?

This is not one of those posts.

But seriously. I am so excited to tell you about this place (and spam with pictures).

Okay, rewind to Saturday. It was my friend Sara's birthday meal, and a bunch of us went to MEATliquor in Brighton.

Walking in, we're greeted by a kickass mural behind the desk a spaceman and arm-wrestling dobermen! Glowing and surreal, it made stepping across the threshold like falling down a rabbit hole into another time and place!

This is not a place you'd go for a quiet meal. This bar & restaurant plays music - good music - and they play it loud.
But really, when Beastie Boys' Intergalactic is blasting out when you walk in, you know you're onto a good thing.

Usually when I write about the places I've eaten, I don't bother taking photos of the decor beyond a quick interior shot, but MEATliquor was too full of photo-worthy things...

The restaurant is set out with a main eating area and some other booth-type areas that are sectioned off in various ways. The one above is near to the front desk (I took the picture on the way in) and features a pleasant murderous clown, and retro-style seating, cordoned off with metal fencing!

Our table was near this neon flamingo girl, in the main part of the restaurant. Along the side were more booths--one with a doorway and windows (complete with blue chain curtains), one closed off to the main area with the kind of heavy plastic curtains you find in meat warehouses!
Well, I suppose it's appropriate...!

Most of the walls and ceilings in MEATliquor are covered in this trippy black and white collage-type pattern. It's everywhere!

Now, I'm about to address something I never write about when it comes to cafes, restaurants and suchlike...

That's right. Toilets.
Usually they're not worth a mention (because who the hell writes about toilets? ...me, apparently).
But behind the door, there lurked a (nice) surprise...

Carnival mirrors!
(Also, check out the wall. So effective!)

Of course, I had to take a couple of mirror selfies!

The opposite wall had this graffiti-style mural on it, mostly advertising Deliveroo (a food delivery service).

The doors in the regular loos were either black or covered in more of that black and white pattern, but the disabled toilet had this great military pig image! Piggy looks ready to dance...

But I've done enough waffling about the decor of this place, right?

Food and drink was the purpose of going to MEATliquor, and they have a damn big selection of drinks to choose from, mostly alcoholic. Tempted though I was to go for their so-potent-they're-limited-to-2-per-person Game Over (mostly so I could say I'd had one), I opted for a soft drink.
MEATliquor have a decent selection of non-alcoholic drinks, including shakes, floats, juice and carbonated drinks.
I had root beer, which came in this cute little can!

On the subject of drinks, the bar at MEATliquor has a giant yellow 'SIN' sign next to it. The restaurant was packed so I couldn't get a proper photo, but there was a photo in a collage in the loo, so I snapped a pic of that instead...

I just really wanted a picture of the big sin, okay?

Food at MEATliquor involves variations of burgers, chicken, and 'rabbit food' (vegetarian), along with a plethora of sides and 'part timers' (which I'll assume are lighter meals!)
I was spoilt for choice!

The food was served in a way I'd never experienced before--on big trays, with everyone's food on it!
Since we were a group of 7, our food was on two trays. I'd ordered a bacon cheeseburger and onion rings; the other food on the tray here is deep fried mac 'n' cheese and 'monkey fingers' (battered, marinated chicken breast in hot sauce).

Those onion rings were HUGE. Seriously, I was expecting a little bowl to show up with like, a handful of little onion rings. Instead I get six ginormous onion rings big enough I could've worn them as bracelets!
They were so good...

The bacon cheeseburger was the main event of my meal, and honestly, I could have eaten just the burger and not bothered with the onion rings. It was so filling--more importantly, it was 100% delicious. If I hadn't been so stuffed with the first one I would have happily eaten another!

Whilst we were eating, another diner took up the 'Triple Chili Challenge'. That's when the restaurant got really noisy. One of the servers was armed with a loudspeaker, making no secret of the fact someone had gone in for a challenge that reads like something from Man vs Food.

The challenge involves eating three chili items from the menu: green chili cheeseburger, chili dog, and chili fries...Eat them in ten minutes, and they're free.

Whoever did it was a total madman but he sure got an audience, as the whole restaurant was cheering him on! Meanwhile the sound system was playing songs like Ring of Fire and - as the ten minute mark neared - Final Countdown.

I've seen food challenges in restaurants before (anyone remember Fatty Arbuckle's 'Gut-Buster Challenge'?) but none were as lively as this.

Eventually our meal was finished, so we paid up and waddled out into the street in a state of total food coma.
MEATliquor totally ticked all the boxes for me--great food, upbeat and friendly service, a good selection of music, lively atmosphere, and the bonus of some damn kickass decor.

As I mentioned towards the start of this post, this isn't a place you'd go to for a quiet meal. But why would you want to when you can go here?

I'm not even kidding when I say this is the best restaurant I've been to.

If you're in Brighton, eat at MEATliquor. You won't regret it.