The Bad Ass Bar, Bistro and Grill

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £11 (set lunch)
   £16 (evening meal)
• House wine: £11.50 per bottle

• High point: Genuinely friendly welcome
• Low point: Strangely rubbery frangipane
• Food served: Sun-Thu noon-11pm; Fri/Sat 11.30am-midnight
• Private dining: Up to 30 covers
• Open since: 2000
• Also offers: Childrens portions, Childrens high chairs

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops.

This review is from the 2007 edition.

There's something of the faded opulence of a Bourbon Street blues bar about the Bad Ass, which isn't inappropriate when you consider its position on Edinburgh's famously pub-heavy Rose Street. It's far from being a rowdy place though - more like a mellow coffee bar that's had an antique shop flung at it. Deep red walls are just visible behind a host of old mirrors, lamps and black and white photos, and the jumbled wooden chairs and tables are just a shade lighter than the dark wood floors. Like the decor, the food is homely and a bit haphazard. Kickstart things with the Cajun spiced chicken wings, which are tangy and crisp on the outside, sticky and soft inside, and stacked in a vertiginous pile on the plate. Or try the lighter, chilli-spiced haddock and spring onion fish-cakes. The mains are generous, if a little lacking in imagination. The Bad Ass burger is chunky, home-made and herby, though on the dry side, while the rack of ribs is substantial and cooked to perfection but low on hickory BBQ sauce. Desserts are not a strong point, but don't despair: the huge coffee is accompanied by a flake, and the bill by a lollipop.