Morrell Wine Bar & Cafe

Location, location, location. Can you beat having a nice little wine bar, with outdoor seating, right on Rockefeller Center? This is great spot to stop in for lunch, or just for a glass of wine in the evening, as I recently did. During our visit, on a Saturday evening, the place was very quiet but not empty. Their wine by the glass list is not huge, but they have some very nice, interesting wines to choose from, both from CA and Europe. Pricing is what you’d expect for this NYC location. I didn’t not have any food, but it’s nice to have a place you can just drop in for a glass of wine.

This is a very popular location for after work crowds and out of towners considering it is located right across the Rockefeller Skating Rink. We have been stopping by here for years for several reasons, to sit at their indoor wine bar on those cool days or their great outdoor seating on those pleasant weather days. They have a cozy indoor bar with a great selecting of wines by the glass. One of my favorite Sauvignon Blanc wines, Merry Edwards, is also available by the glass. I am also a customer of their wine store where I have bought many unique and small production wines.

So I would love to give Morrell more stars because the wine was really good and so was the service, the food for me however really missed the mark. I had never been to Morrell’s before so didn’t really know what to expect, but it’s what you’d imagine if you’ve ever been in a wine bar before. Located right across the street from Rockefeller Plaza, it can probably be a bit touristy, but I did not find it to be so when I was there. I went to Morrell’s for a few drinks before getting dinner there with friends. The wine I had (and unfortunately cannot remember the name of) was very good, I have no complaints with the alcohol. Now, everyone I had dinner with said that their food was good, but nothing to rave about. My friends had the Greek Salad, English Pea Risotto and the Mushroom Fettuccini and from what I could tell, everyone was satisfied with their dishes and everything tasted fine. I had the short rib. Of the three short ribs on the plate, two of them were pure fat, no meat whatsoever. Now some people like fat on there meat, I am not one of those people though. I think it’s nice for meat to cook in its own fat, but it’s not something I enjoy eating on the finished product. Nor do I think it should compose 2/3’s of my entire meal. Other than that, the dish was flavored nicely, but there was something additional scattered on the plate, which tasted fine, but looked kind of strange and had a strange texture. Still cannot place what that was. With all that said, I feel that three stars is warranted, especially given the cost of dinner. Morrell’s is very expensive, and I’m super disappointed that my dinner fell way short of expectations. That being said, I don’t think I’ll be getting dinner there again any time soon.

Love this place! The food is amazing and the wine list is extensive. My fiancé and I have been coming here over the past 5 years around Christmas because they have a great view of the tree. This place is awesome year round though. The bartender is super friendly and always makes us feel invited.

This place is a real gem. With delicious wine and fantastic food.
My friend has just moved back to manhattan and wanted a special almost touroristy treat.
So it will definitely be an uptown hangout!

Wow! A new favorite I just happened upon! I will definitely come back. The quinoa salad is Amazing! So fresh with grilled vegetables. I added chicken. It’s a huge portion, enough to share. Excellent service and friendly staff. Great ambiance and convenient location!

I have been to this place twice for their dinner plates. This is a fantastic place to eat a good dinner, enjoy some time outside, and look at the scenery.
Rockefeller Plaza is known for their tourist traps. Therefore, many businesses in this proximity are pricier than the average place in Manhattan, even if the higher prices are not worth the overall quality. Morrell’s is an exception. Morrell’s is not a tourist trap. The prices are much more reasonable compared to the other nearby restaurants.
The view is amazing. I love being able to enjoy my dinner outdoors while I look at this fine part of Manhattan. There are several beautiful buildings nearby, Rockefeller Center being the most famous of them. From my perspective, this aspect enhances the overall dining quality. For those who enjoy people watching, there is plenty of that to do here.
The employees appear to have a good eye on cleanliness and order. They appear to stay on top of their cleaning duties. Neither of my visits did I see any messes or clutter, indoors and outdoors. Therefore, I always felt comfortable sitting here and enjoying a good meal.
The customer service is superb. On both visits, I was served by the same waiter, whose name is Drago. He is amazing at his job. He is always pleasant to be around, he is always resourceful, and he is always happy to answer any questions I may have. I observed the other employees, and they all also appeared to be friendly.
On one visit, I ordered the rib dinner. On the other visit, I ordered the salmon meal. On both visits, I ordered the meal with a glass of merlot. Both meals tasted delicious! The plates were served to me hot and fresh. On neither visit did I have to wait any longer than ten minutes, which I feel is reasonable. This is also quicker than i originally expected because of how busy they were (on both visits, the restaurant was packed).
When I am in Manhattan and need a good dinner, I will continue to keep this place in mind. I feel like I can count on them for an amazing dinner and overall experience.

We came here for the first time for lunch during restaurant week because it’s close to my boyfriend’s office. Some of the reviews said it’s very «touristy» given its proximity to Rockefeller, but I didn’t think that at all! Perhaps it was because we went during lunch, but it seemed to be mostly business people.
The service was fine; nothing exceptional but not bad. Attentive and timely, but not overly friendly.
The food was great! I decided to go with the restaurant week menu and had truffled deviled eggs to start which were to die for! Creamy and not overly tuffle-​y. For my main course I had steak tartar served with toast pints. It was delicious as well. Dessert was a crème brûlée.
He decided to go with the special of the day which was a croque Madame (Monsieur was also an option; Madame comes with an egg) and served with a side salad. Also excellent!
Overall it was a great dining experience and I’d recommend for anyone who needs to take a client out or is just looking for a good meal.

Came to enjoy some wine with a couple of Appetizers while we enjoyed the patio view of the Rockefeller Center and Ofcourse the Tree all lit up!
Wine was fine, decent list to pick from. The Tuna Tartar was excellent but the Cheese and Meat plate was better! Plenty for 2 – 3 to share!

It would be easy to overlook this lovely wine bar due to its location smack dab in the middle of one of the most touristy areas in the city. Regardless, this cozy and welcoming establishment has one of the most impressive wine lists I’ve seen (tons of choices by the glass and about 1,000 bottles to choose from all over the world). The food is good too. The cheeses were excellent, and the Pumpkin Ravioli and Pea Risotto were yummy. Despite a few issues, the service was strong and they were quick to fix the minor problems we had. I’d happily come back for a nice glass of wine and some cheese any day of the week.

I came here on a Friday night around the time when the tree was just lit. You’d think it’d be a busy place but i easily made a 8pm reservation on opentable the day of.
My friend and I ordered the truffle deviled eggs which I would recommend if you like the truffle oil flavor. It’s a little bit heavy, but aren’t all deviled eggs?
My friend ordered the cod. I’m not a big fan of fish so I can’t say how good it was. Except that the fish seemed like it was cooked to perfection and it was so easy to cut a piece, it like flaked right off (and I see that as a good sign).
I ordered the mushroom truffle pappardelle which tasted as expected. Except what I also enjoyed about it was there were so many mushrooms! Usually I feel like by the time I’m done with the mushrooms there’s still lots of pasta left
We got the toffee pudding which also tasted as expected. Yummy and it hit the spot
We asked the sommelier to make a recommendation based upon what we ordered. And boy did she make a great recommendation. I’m not a big wine drinker but I feel like it’s not often that I have a wine that tastes good with everything I ordered and it did. It tasted great with the fish, pasta and deviled eggs.
Some other reviews people have complained about the price. For what we ordered it felt like typical NYC prices. Maybe a tad more but you’re paying to be so close to Rockefeller center and the tree!
I would probably go back if I want to eat in the area again. I kind of liked how the restaurant wasn’t too crowded. The service wasn’t the best bc we rarely saw the waiter. But whatever. We didn’t need to always be i contact with the waiter

Had an amazing time just sitting on the veranda in the rain having Godiva chocolate covered strawberries and a nice glass of red wine with my wife! Buy the chocolate covered berry from Godiva chocolate tier on Fifth Avenue!

I shouldn’t love this place. It’s in the middle of Rockefeller Center, a tourist magnet, and I’m a New Yorker. It’s an extension of the next-​door retail wine shop that used to be up on Madison Avenue. My first thought is that the place is a ripoff. However, I’ve spent numerous delightful weekend afternoons enjoying their warmed olives and salads and drinking their wines by the glass. In winters, you overlook the skaters in the ice rink. If I came weekday mornings I could catch the Today Show outside the window. I don’t come here for dinners or lunch, but for its ambiance, location and light between meal fare. Although I find the wine shop mark-​up a deterrent to my buying there, the café is a place – on weekends – that is quite delightful.

We are here at Morrell’s in NYC. Zeus is our waiter. Friendly, accommodating and interesting background. Next to Rockefeller Center. Full bar. Ask for Zeus… excellent Service!

Great location; in the heart of Rockefeller Center; nice layout including an outside sitting area. Food is very good with an ever changing menu.
My only negative is that the service is slow, below average and not very attentive. The evening we went it wasn’t overly busy; but they server was slow and not very attentive. This alone is holding back my rating to 4 stars vs. 5 stars.

Amazing place! The food is fantastic! I had the baby spinach salad and it was the best I’ve had. The sommelier, Anna, was extremely knowledgeable and helped me tremendously in choosing a wine to my tasting. My server, Roman, was polite, very intelligent, incredibly attentive, and made sure I had everything I needed at any given time. Roman was a perfect gentleman and I couldn’t have asked for a better server! I live in Brooklyn, but will DEFINITELY be frequenting this amazing restaurant in the future! I LOVE this place and so will you!

On a recent trip to the city to take in a show, we needed a place for dinner and cocktails. I had been to Morrell once before but only for cocktails so I knew I wanted to come back to try the food. We were seated immediately which came as a shock because it was a Saturday, almost Spring-​like day in the heart of Rockefeller Center.
We were seated in an excellent booth toward the back of the restaurant and water came out promptly. Because of the time of day there were only a few small-​plate options available, but we were assured that the dinner menu would be available shortly. While we enjoyed our drinks, we tried the deviled eggs and the warm olives as well as the four-​cheeses plate. All were very good and I especially like the warm olives.
Conversation was easy and the décor of the restaurant was very tasteful. Seating was very comfortable and there was ample room on the table for the rest of the food we were to order.
In addition to our opening assortment of small-​plates, we were given new menus for dinner and we added to our palette: Duo tartar, Mini Steak Sandwich, Pork Tacos, Herb Chicken, Crabshrooms and the Onion Tart. All of the food came out hot and was really very good. Prices were reasonable and we were not hurried through our meal.
I was very impressed by the martini I was served– just right. And coming from the Patron Saint of the Martini– you know that counts for a lot.
Morrell is great for small groups or couples or even to just come in for a cocktail at the bar. Outside seating is also available in the better weather. Well done, Morrell!

After walking around the city, my group of friends (11 people) decided to come here for drinks and some appetizers.
They were able to accommodate us pretty quickly. We sat upstairs and I really like the décor.
The guys really liked the mixed drinks which consisted of «old fashioned, Long Island, cranberry vodka». The girls liked the recommended sweet moscato and amaretto sour. I found my gin&tonic to be really strong, so if you like it strong then go for it!
We ordered cheese plate, shaved Brussels sprouts and a few desserts. We liked everything.
Our bill was about $ 375, gratuity included. Definitely more than we anticipated to spend, but overall we had a great experience so I would definitely recommend it.
Service was good!

Took a client out for lunch with a couple colleagues. They have a very nice patio area for outdoor seating and luckily the weather was so nice.
Atmosphere (⁵⁄₅): didn’t get a chance to check out the inside of the restaurant. However, the outdoor area is nicely set up with canopies and it’s in the heart of the Rockefeller center in the heart of midtown. Great for people watching.
Service (⁵⁄₅): Originally I put in a reservation for indoor seating, but the hostess was able to accommodate us with outdoor seating right away.
Food (⁵⁄₅): the staff comes around with a large assortment bread basket, including 5 different types of bread for each party at the table. I had the chicken salad for my entrée. It came with large chunks of chicken, feta cheese, cranberries, etc. it was delicious!
Great place to come here for lunch. They have a vast selection of wines (huge book). The salads are a hit here! Sit outside if it’s nice out.

Went here with some lady friends and had a perfect bougie evening. The wine list is crazy long, but there’s also a full bar and a good beer selection.
I tried a beet sweet and sour which was really tasty and unique without being in-​your-​face beety. To eat, we started with fancy-​ass deviled eggs (I think they had truffles in them and chicken skin on top) — they were good but I just don’t think you should mess with a classic. The kale salad with chicken and pumpkin was the evening’s clear winner.
Service was great and we didn’t feel rushed at all as we lingered and chatted for 30 minutes after the meal was over.