Lebowskis: 18 Morrison Street, Edinburgh

 

 

This bar, just off Lothian Road, has changed considerably since the days it was called the Festival Tavern. The Festival Tavern was a bit of a radge bar, where cheap drink was in abundance and the décor was minimal.

It’s now called Lebowskis after the film the Big Lebowski, directed by the Coen brothers, who also directed the film No Country for Old Men. The film No Country for Old Men is one of my personal favourites and definitely worth a watch.

Anyway back to the pub trade. Lebowskis is a modern trendy bar with a mixed crowd and not necessarily upmarket as the pints were fairly reasonable. It looked like the place has been designed by an interior decorator a bit like the ilk of element or somewhere like that. It’s actually part of a chain and there is another venue in Glasgow.

The beer selection on tap is not extensive but they have quite a few interesting beers in bottles. Much of their trade also seems to be cocktails. If you like a cocktail you’ll enjoy it here as they have an extensive menu. If you’re just going for a beer you may have to wait longer than average to get served at the bar as service is often delayed by the staff making some elaborate cocktail. However bars serving cocktails tend to bring in attractive women, and this is also the case at Lebowskis, so it’s not all bad news!  

The Friday night I was there, it was busy, in fact we couldn’t get a seat, and there was a DJ in the corner playing funky kind of dance beats in the background (would you call that house music?). Despite this though the bar still felt fairly relaxed and was a far cry from the other rough and ready bars on Lothian Road.

However the ambience is directly related to the DJ, as I went back a week or two later and the DJ was so loud it may as well have been a night club.