Howies Restaurant and Bar

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops. This review is taken from the 2007 edition.

Howies rarely varies from its tried and tested formula, and why should it? Well-stocked bars, café-style tables and menus with a mix of standard and novel dishes have served this Edinburgh-based mini-chain of Scottish restaurants well. This incarnation, above the cinema in St Andrews, follows form, but has a noticeable bar/diner feel, not least in the spacious nightclub-style lounging area at the top of the entrance stairs, with its sweeping bank of long, contemporary sofas with a view of the extended bar. The restaurant has a no-frills design, with paper napkins and bare wooden tables, and the down-to-earth menu, revised on a monthly basis, is equally forthright. Familiar starters, such as mussels in a white wine and garlic sauce, sit alongside more interesting, but ultimately insipid, offerings such as Buccleuch haggis spring roll. For the main course, a well turned out rump steak with wild mushrooms competes with a satisfying portion of pan-fried squid with chilli and coriander noodles. For dessert, Howies' 'infamous' and desperately sweet banoffee pie takes its place among the usual suspects - bread and butter pudding, vanilla apple and shortbread crumble and a selection of cheeses. Without challenging or truly delighting, Howies offers a keenly-priced menu with service for those who prefer rapid-fire eating.

• High point: Cool, contemporary and classy interior
• Low point: Staff drinking at the bar