Jake’s Place

The stairs to the beer garden in this place are a death trap. One of my party slipped and spilled the drinks he was carrying. The manager insisted we repay for 3 spilled drinks. Despite being in a party of 12 who would have spent a lot of money and time there, he couldn’t see the bigger picture, so we moved on. Voted with our feet and we won’t be back. Word of mouth is consumer power… Don’t touch this place with a barge pole!

Make sure you check in for the sweet potato frys! The sauces they come with are perfect. Although the staff didn’t know what Unilocal was or the deal, they still honored it.
Ordered the fish and chips (the chips are thin), as well as a pie. The fish was a very generous portion and was able to be split between two people.
The pie was OK, nothing to rave about — the meat was rather tough, but the gravy, veggies and crust made up for it.
It’s a very chill atmosphere, definitely early 20’s. It might not be the best place to take the family, but you’re young and traveling it’s not a bad place to go.

I’m guessing I was unlucky the night that I went to Jake’s Place as every other review seems to rave about this place. They have a large menu of American beers, however, the night I was there the first four I asked for weren’t in stock.
The burger I had to eat was OK but I can strongly recommend the Sweet Potato chips which were, for me, the highlight of the visit. I’ll probably go again to see if I was just unlucky on my visit but won’t be particularly rushing back.

What a cool place! It’s definitely well hidden along Market Street but boy, am I glad I found it. It has a nice American feel to it without all the frills and ugliness usually associated with American bars. I felt right at home. The space is small but that adds to the appeal. They have a great selection of craft beers and a few from home that I’ve been missing.
The only caveat is that food is limited. If you’re a vegetarian then you’re limited to an even smaller selection. My friend and I ordered the cheese burgers. We both loved them! They were large and very flavourful. We had also originally ordered the tots but the kitchen no longer had them thus we ordered the jalapeños cheese sticks. Now, we were thinking jalapeño poppers like back in the States but no, these were cheese sticks with sweet jalapeño dipping sauce. They were good but unexpected.
I will definitely be coming back but I would also come back earlier as it seems that food is in short supply. A table arrived a few minutes after us and could no longer order food because the kitchen didn’t have any more left. We got the last burgers, do I regret it? No. I want more!

Jake’s place had been on my radar for a while because I had heard people saying it had a great beer and American food selection. It’s a small bar and it’s associated with the hostel next door. It’s situated near waverly station which makes it ideal for thirsty travellers.
The first time I visited I was with my Flatmate. Jake’s Place is similar to the Hanging Bat, the Vintage and the Potting Shed in that it serves schooners rather than full pints. We ordered some obscure IPA which was actually quite good (sorry can’t remember the name). We were also ordered chicken wings. The wings here are good because they are fresh — fried when ordered. Unfortunately they only come in one flavour. The wings so come with a tasty blue cheese dipping sauce. I found that the staff are very knowledgable when I was trying to decide on a beer.
My only issue is that to use the toilets you have to enter the hostel that it’s connected to.
Tip: if you check-​in on the Unilocal app you get a small portion of sweet potato fries!

USA USA USA!!!
Love this bar, the only real downside is it is too small.
Location — right next to Waverley and great stop off for any pub crawl through town. The service is top notch and the guys take time to talk to you — and they know their stuff. Really good range of beers — local and North American. Good whiskies also, not just the usual stuff.
Great music also, you could easily lose afew hours in this place
Food looks great too, but I still haven’t tried it…

I properly heart this place. It makes me feel like a kid in a sweet shop… except older and with beer and (supposedly) enough common sense to know better. The hangover I had on sunday suggests I’ve got a bit to go there yet! ;)
The couple of times I’ve popped in here have been all too brief as far as I am concerned and one day I will make it back here and stay long enough to try as many ”sweets” as it takes me for me to talk nonsense and require rolling back on to a train (not many I fear).
The beer and whisky selection is pretty fantastic, plenty of stuff I recognised, and plenty I didn’t but was intrigued by. Got to try a wee beer I’d had my eye on for a while and whilst it wasn’t anything much to write home about after all, the other 2 plus the whisky were pretty awesome. I’m not usually one to go for dark beers but the coconut porter I had reminded me of a tin of quality street someone had tried to drown in booze. As odd as that sounds, it’s definitely a good thing!
The barman is lovely. Chatty and knowledgeable without being pushy or in your face. A good dude. If you’re a beer head, get yourself in here, it’s great!

Great little bar attached to the st Christopher’s hostel. It has a good chill vibe with some great local beers on tap. I can vouch for the dominion Oktoberfest! It has some really good Scottish bar food, deep fried haggis! The chicken wings are great too. The main pub meals are nice big sizes too. The service is excellent and will go out of their way to make sure your food is up to standard.

Wow. From the bullet holes in the walls to the oversized beer labels stuck upon them, this place is awesome.
When we’ve had one too many a gin, my friends and I often entertain ourselves silly with the idea of opening a bar, imagining just how we’d run it and spruce it up. (Are we alone in this?) It seems that someone had done the job for us. — Jake’s Place is the bar we’d dreamt of with it’s candlelit rustic craft beer brand of cool.
Although a quick beer stop, we were impressed with the selection of craft beers, the atmosphere and the friendly welcome. It’s attached to the hostel next door and to use the toilets, you have to walk through the hostel to use theirs. The bar is so atmospheric so it was a little odd walking through the youth hostel with an entirely different feel. Nonetheless, this didn’t take all that much away from the experience. I’ll definitely be back to soak up more of Jake’s Place!
Also, I’m taller than Susan Boyle but just a tad smaller than Tom Cruise. It says so on the celebrity height chart in the corner, of course! Quirky! How do you measure up?

As with many places that pop up on Unilocal,I’ve been wanting to check out Jake’s Place for months.
The concept of Scotland meets the USA appealed to me for super obvious reasons, and I was won over by the inclusion of ranch dressing on their menu.
Ranch is the God of dressings. I think I’d forgotten how good it is, too, because when I had it last night I struggled to keep from eating it straight, with my fingers.
Anyway.
The first weird/​cool thing about Jake’s place are the tables. We saw the exact copper topped table in an architectural salvage recently and spent a serious amount of time humming and hawing about whether to get it. They’re super cool.
The beer list is extensive. It’s a proper list with several pages of options, similar to that of the Brauhaus. They’ve also got some beers on tap. I love trying new beers by new breweries and was able to try some really cool beers local to Edinburgh by breweries I’d never heard of before.
The food. The food was always going to be a winner. It’s a twist on super unhealthy beige food. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not healthy (lots of frying), but sweet potato chips are going to be better for you than normal chips, etc. We had the sweet potato chips, jalapeño poppers and cod croquettes. They were super tasty. Plus, we were stuffed and out food bill came to something like £14 for the two of us, so really good value.
They’ve got some mains, but a good portion of the menu is devoted to fried finger foods to grease your liver while you drink.
I *really* liked it. It really reminded me of some of the great bars I’ve been to in the states.
The only thing that’s a bit of a shame is the location and fact it’s connected to a hostel. Great for business I’m sure, but it means that it’s a wee bit tucked away and is likely to get pretty rammed during the tourist season.
It would be perfect located on Lothian Road as another business to join the increasingly cleaned up Toll Cross area. Plus that way I could go more often.

I have a brother who loves whisky and bourbon, and a boyfriend who loves craft beers. So where better to take them both at the weekend when my bro was visiting?
Adjoining St Christopher’s Hostel on Market Street, Jake’s Place is pretty small. The tables were all full when we arrived, but shortly after ordering some beers one freed up, so tehre we plonked ourselves down for the next few hours. We had a look at the menu and ordered the deep friend haggis patties (YUM), the salted cod croquettes (absolutely delicious and fluffy, if fish can be fluffy?), chicken wings and sweet potato fries. We were impressed with everything on the menu, although it’s not huge and a lot of it is deep fried — but I guess that’s perfect for soaking up beer!
The drinks menu is great too, with lots of American craft beers and lots of Scottish ones too. Not to mention a healthy selection of bourbons and whiskies on offer!
The staff were friendly, particularly when the barman arrived with a plate of fries for somebody who had left and another table snapped the freebie up before us. He then turned to us, and in a low whispers, asked if we’d like some free fries too. Hell yeah!
I’m not giving it 5 stars, but I did really enjoy my afternoon there. They’ve made a bit of an effort with the décor, but a little more wouldn’t go amiss. The drinks are a bit pricey for bottles too, but this may be down to a lot of them being imported. Still, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Jake’s Place. Go!

Oh Wow.
Like I said to the bartender as soon as I walked in… in the bar that Jake’s previously was, ten years ago, I did some filthy things after some filthy alco-​pops.
And now, 31, I have grown into a *slightly* different person. Luckily, so has Jake’s (formerly Belushi’s Hostel Bar). You can say we’ve grown together.
Things I like:
High quality beer (i.e. Black Isle, Ayr, Loch ness, Harviestoun, Fordham, Dominion)
America
Scotland
Beer barrel décor
Ranch Dressing
Hearing myself talk
The Black Keys
Cute bartenders with dimples
Walking short distances
My dog
Law and Order: Criminal Intent
Things that Jake’s Place has (or allows for):
High quality beer (i.e. Black Isle, Ayr, Loch ness, Harviestoun, Fordham, Dominion)
America
Scotland
Beer barrel décor
Ranch Dressing
Hearing myself talk
The Black Keys
Cute bartenders with dimples
Walking short distances
My dog
For some reason they aren’t big on Vincent D’ Onofrio.
Three thumbs up.