J Morgan's Steakhouse

Beautiful restaurant, it's been a few years since I've been in. It's much brighter/ more open than it was prior.

My wife loved her lobster mac & cheese, I couldn't help but feel like the steak was pretty overpriced @$50. Basic steak, bland mashed potatoes. At least the asparagus were good. Felt a lot more like a $30-$35 meal.

The food and quality of the service here is the best I experienced in a recent trip to Vermont. Definitely recommend the brussel sprouts for dinner as they are wonderful! The breakfast is equally wonderful! I definitely intend to go here whenever I am back in Montpelier in the future!

Went for Mother’s Day brunch… food was mediocre… service was awful… had reservations and noted this to host upon arriving… he went to get table prepared… came back about 4 minutes later askingif we were there for brunch…. Hello????? Got seared, No waitress came over to take drink orders, just told by host to go up to buffet…had to go to the bar and ask for drinks…. Water, coffee, mimosa ( which was flat and plain). Ate, and host came back to ask if anything else needed… asked for another coffee… he came back with bill and thanked us for coming in….. this place had gone steeply downhill since Morgan’s days… food, service, atmosphere… will not be returning

We had a large group reservation. The space planned for us remained occupied by other celebrants after our reservation time. However, management found another place and provided us an excellent server. The food was great! I'm a fan!

Sad… this was once a fun lively steakhouse with delicious food now not one of those things are true.
However you enjoy spending $100+ dollars a person on bland colorless food served to you in a cheap hotel lobby atmosphere this is the spot.
**** also if you are looking at the pictures of the menu make sure you check the date!
Most of the menu items that would make you pick this restaurant are no longer on the menu.

Very disappointed in our most recent experience. My partner and I used to come here often when we lived in Montpelier, I was excited you guys were back after Covid. Unfortunately the food was sub-par, the 20 dollar risotto was mushy white rice from the same side dish my partner had - it tasted the same and had the same vegetables and was about the same amount even though it was a 'main'. I asked for grilled chicken to be added, that was an extra 10$+ it was dry and cold, sloppily thrown on the crappy rice. The waitress acknowledged the meat didn't look great and offered to have them grill a steak for me (that I would still have to pay for and without addressing the risotto at all). I just asked for another drink and was happy to wait for dessert because my partner was half finished with his meal at this point. The cream brulee came out while I was in the bathroom, I could tell from the bathroom door it was burnt. The general manager had the audacity to argue with me over whether the dish was browned or burnt - there's quite a visual difference. After I paid I asked to speak with the general manager, she admitted the crem brulee was burnt when they tried it but said it wasn't acceptable to refuse a replacement - we got into a little bit of an argument since I hadn't even gotten to eat during this 150$ excursion.
Overall, extremely disappointed in the food and relatively insulted by the general manager.

Extremely Disappointed – A Far Cry from the J Morgan’s I Remember

We visited J Morgan’s this past Saturday for a 12:30 PM lunch reservation with a party of 10 to celebrate a birthday. Unfortunately, what should have been a special and joyful occasion turned into a frustrating and disappointing experience.

We arrived on time to an empty restaurant — not a single other table was seated — yet it took 40 minutes just to get drinks, and not even everyone had water in the meantime. After waiting patiently, I finally had to walk over to the bar to ask about our beverages, only to find no one there. I stood awkwardly for another 10 minutes before someone finally noticed me and I was able to explain the situation.

When our food eventually came out, half the orders were incorrect or incomplete. Items were missing, others were poorly executed. One guest’s burger came without cheese — which feels like the bare minimum of a cheeseburger. The mac and cheese with chicken was $30 and practically inedible: dry, flavorless, and visually unappetizing. The chicken was overcooked and tough, and there was no cheesy creaminess to the dish at all. Other meals ordered medium rare arrived well done. Across the board, presentation was lacking, and the food felt like a rushed afterthought.

To make matters worse, the check included items we never received. While the staff did fix the bill after we pointed it out, the final total was still over $300 for a meal that felt like a chore.

It’s honestly heartbreaking — this used to be one of Montpelier’s more upscale, classy spots, and I remember coming here years ago and having a great experience. What happened? The location inside the Capitol Plaza Hotel once added to its appeal, but now it feels like the quality, service, and attention to detail have all plummeted.

To be blunt, the bowling alley we went to afterward had better food.

We’re sharing this review not to be cruel, but in hopes that the restaurant takes the feedback to heart. J Morgan’s has the potential to be great again — but it needs serious attention to service, kitchen execution, and overall guest experience.

Went here for lunch with coworkers. Nice set up inside with a large bar and two areas for seating. I got the Maple Grilled Chicken burger. It was perfect, toppings were great and the fries were crispy and seasoned well. One person got the J Morgan Burger (demolished it) and another one got the Mac and Cheese, which was a bit under seasoned for her taste. I would definitely go back!

Mediocre food. However it’s priced like a 3 star Michelin restaurant. THE PROS: Much more natural light. The table we sat at was comfortable with good chairs. Ample room. THE CONS: The food. Unimaginative, modest portions average flavor. Nothing to knock your socks off. Our server was very pleasant but untrained. I had a large salad but was never offered a dressing or a topping like shrimp, steak or chicken. The dessert was delicious but the coffee was COLD. They need to sharpen up their game.

I've eaten there about a dozen times over the years and always had wonderful service until tonight. I'm not sure if I offended the bartender by explaining that I was very hungry when he first came to the table, but he completely ignored us for the next 15 minutes until I gave up and left. There were maybe 9 other customers there.

If you go there, get served by regular wait-staff. They are reliably wonderful.

Had a phenomenal Valentine's Day date here with my boyfriend. Queer friendly and phenomenal food. Our server was lovely and the atmosphere was pleasant.

I didn’t have dinner. I went for drinks and dessert. Sat in the bar area and the bartender was awesome. Drinks were cold and the dessert was sweet. I have the strawberry shortcake and felt it was over baked. The ambiance was cool as the light fixtures reminded me of the Atlantis in the Bahamas. Ask for the train to be turned on.

The basis for my review is largely a comparison of the “old” JMorgans, before the flood to the new format and menu.

Bottom line; we really loved the atmosphere and the experience and the menu of the original J Morgan’s. We miss it…

The new restaurant isn’t bad, per se. It’s bright and clean, the service is friendly and quick. It just feels like every other hotel lobby restaurant in the world and not the sort of intimate, wood-paneled tavern steakhouse we enjoyed.

The menu has been appreciably gutted. I’m not sure you can really call this a “steakhouse” anymore with just one or two sort of basic and uninitiated chops on the menu. The steak was good, as were the sides and the appetizers. I would go back and order again…

On an unrelated note- we used to take business clients here exclusively pre-flood for a fancy meal celebration. Several years we held our holiday party here. I hate to say it, but I now favor the “other” old restaurant in town for such engagements.

In summary- not bad, in fact pretty good. But no where near what it was. Montpelier lost a real classic…

The photo is what the menu used to be… what a lineup!

We made reservations with expectations of an experience similar to the old J Morgan’s. We were disappointed. The beer selection was excellent with plenty of tasty local IPAs. Unfortunately they no longer serve the yummy bread with the garlic Parmesan butter. We ordered muscles and wings for appetizers. There were 5 wings and the muscles did not come with bread. Usually the best part of muscles is dipping your bread in the juice. The wings were OK and the muscles were spoiled, so we didn’t really need the bread after all. We ordered steak, seafood and chicken and there were no standouts. The ribeye was fifty bucks and it was chewy. The new decor looks interesting and more Florida than Vermont. It would be great if they could figure it out because we could use another good restaurant in town.

Unfortunately both of our filets were overcooked. Drinks took a while to come out. Our server was a bit odd and he kind of gave an attitude about splitting checks (I think this is something you should always ask at the start of a meal). The cesear salad and creme brulee were good.

Breakfast in the midst of some employee drama. Shannon recovered the situation along with another waitress (whose name I didn't catch) but was super friendly and came in early to cover. These woman are working hard and made our three day stay awesome ❤️

Jay Morgan’s used to be one of the best and most consistently delicious restaurants in Montpelier; sadly, after a much anticipated re-opening, I can solidly say that it is now one of the worst restaurants in Montpelier. The amount of money you pay for the quality of food you receive is highway robbery. The pub chicken is terrible and the signature coleslaw that used to come with it, is gone. They couldn’t even make a dirty martini. My wife’s cosmo was terrible and the only food that was slightly tasty was the smash burger. But Three Penny Tap room’s burger is cheaper, and much better. To top it all off the manager asked for our honest opinion of the new Jay Morgan’s, and when I offered to send a detailed email, she said they wouldn’t read an email and to just tell her what we thought. So we did. And she was clearly not happy we were honest. But if she had eaten at the old Jay Morgan’s as much as we did, she would know why we were so disappointed. Everyone in our dinner party was very disappointed and we will not be returning to the ‘new’ Jay Morgan’s.

We were so disappointed in our dining experience. It's a pricey restaurant and the ambience does not match, it's a typical Hilton hotel breakfast experience. My husband ordered the steak special but was not told the price. The steak was $125 insane. It was good but not that good. The steak on the menu was around $50, we were expecting a similar price. At most restaurants we have been to they let us know if the special is going to be more expensive than what was on the menu. My daughter and I ordered the pasta dishes, the sauce was ok but the pasta was too starchy not sure if not cooked right.
We will never go back to this restaurant which is too bad because we did enjoy the old JMorgan's restauant.

We were really hoping for J Morgan's to come back strong, but the kitchen needs some major refinement. We started with shrimp cocktail and noticed a couple fruit flies with that. Then the Cobb salad had shredded cheese on it in addition to the blue cheese, no need for the shredded cheese.

Things went real south from there. I was told the chefs ravioli was wild mushroom with Alfredo sauce, and what they brought was lobster ravioli with a spicy vodka sauce. I only noticed the sauce at first, and when I told the bartender it wasn't an Alfredo sauce, he said "it's a different kind of Alfredo." After looking in the next bite of ravioli, I noticed the lobster instead of mushrooms and sent the dish back. Glad I don't have a shellfish allergy!

My wife ordered the beef schnitzel, and it came out with hair on it. When she asked to send it back, she got told " I don't know how hair could get on there, they are all bald in the kitchen," from the non-bald bartender with a beard. They said they would remake it, and then 10 minutes later they brought the same plate back out without the hair on it, room temperature schnitzel.

At this point we were ready to call it and head out, but I was still very hungry. Got the smash burger, and it was pretty good, but Buddy's Burgers down the road does them just as well for half the price.

Really hope the kitchen figures things out. J Morgans has been a staple restaurant in Montpelier throughout my life, and we were excited to see it back open and had high hopes.

We had a manager come over to the table to see how we were doing last sat night (aug 3) . Her name was Shannon she was very nice to talk to and came to see how everything was with our meal . I will definitely be back , she made it a pleasure to be there

This place is incredible. One of the best meals I've ever had. A nice, classy atmosphere and great, friendly service and incredible food. A great selection of beers and cocktails, mouth-watering food.

I had a great beer on tap and a cosmopolitan to drink, both great, and had the ribeye that melted in my mouth. Strawberry cake for dessert was MASSIVE and delicious. If you're near Montpelier, J. Morgans is a must. Man I loved this place.

So happy to finally have Montpelier's steakhouse open again after a long year off from the flood. My ribeye was cooked nicely and the creme brulee was a great finish.

Great prices for a steakhouse. They do validate parking. I got my Cowboy Burger cooked medium and it was just about perfect. Kids meals are served in a frisbee that the kids can keep. I highly recommend it if you are in Montpelier.

Great people and service. The chef is very creative and the food is perfectly prepared. Very warm atmosphere with socialization going on. Very fairly priced, especially based on the quality of the food and service.

We have visited J Morgan's two times! Both times the food and service were amazing! I Highly recommend giving them a try! It's a little on the pricey side but well worth it!

Pretty pricey for the quality, lame we got nailed with parking fees as well.

**Despite what he owner said below, parking is not free you get a few moments to run to your car and if you stop and talk with your friends or go to the bathroom the validation expires and you are charged, I got validated and it charged me.**

I think they have potential but I wasn't very happy this evening.

Food was top notch. Should have requested a booth, as the high top we were sat at was really small. Service was ok, not a dig on the server, though. I think the auto gratuity makes the staff a bit more complacent.

Just had a delicious anniversary dinner/last date night before our baby arrives.
Beautiful restaurant with an upscale vibe, sublet but tasteful decor.. Our server (Liv or Lin)(I'm bad with names) was awesome. Attentive & made sure we had everything we needed!
We had the garlic bread & crispy chicken for apps, both yum! For entrées my boyfriend had the VT maple ginger salmon and I had the filet mignon & added the buttered lobster... both were amazing!!! My man raved about his salmon and my entrées was exactly what I have been craving, cooked to perfection.
We ordered the strawberry cake togo, and though I haven't dug into it yet, if it tastes as good as it looks, I know I'm going to be happy!! (Really, hard to get such a pretty presentation in a togo container, but they did it!)
Long story short, we had a fabulous meal & experience & are happy we chose here to celebrate this evening...we will definitely be back.

Very good steakhouse restaurant and exellent service. We spent luch there, family of 5 and small baby and left very happy. Sallads and steaks were all good and taste & prices were reasonable too. Very recommended !

The first time I came here from jersey in April 2021 and I got the cowboy burger and it was the best burger EVER!! But today I went back with my family and I got the pub burger and it was delicious. The food is sooo good and the servers are very helpful! I would definitely recommend to tourists

The food was delicious and the server that we had did a phenomenal job! If you like trains or just simply a good place to go get a bite to eat I highly recommend coming here

Went in for some drinks. Great atmosphere and decore but I did not appreciate the 20% service charge added to the bill.

I've never had a bad meal here. Portions are large. Service is timely. Waits can be long if you don't have resos.

We have eaten at J. Morgans a few times and the food and service is always outstanding. Peyton, our waitress was outstanding and very helpful (took great care of my buddy who had just broken some bones in his shoulder in a ski accident). The salmon special was fantastic and very flavorful as was the bread pudding for dessert. It has become our “go to” whenever we visit Montpelier. We look forward to going back!

My meal was fine. Portions were adequate. Final cost for my dinner was excessive. The appitizer, salmon entree, bread, one glass of wine, passed on dessert, tax (11%), service fee (20%) and suggested tip (20%) brought the total cost for my meal close to $80. They did however validate my parking ticket. I was only told about the 20% service fee after we finished our meal and that it could not be taken off of the bill (shades of Paris). The unadorned tables in the covered walkway at the entrance were tacky and an embarrasment. This is a once a year event for me.

Absolutely spectacular food. I got the sliced sirloin and shoestring onions with a side of Jim's Lyonnaise (amazing fried potatoes) and EVERYTHING was cooked to perfection.

Only thing worth noting was that meals were somewhat pricey... but that shouldn't deter you. Prices weren't outrageous and honestly, given how divine the meals were, I'd say it was worth it. This is definitely a restaurant I'd recommend making a staple to any trip to the Montpellier, VT area.

We had Jem as our waitress and she was fabulous - very nice, knowledgeable, and timely... She made our experience extremely enjoyable.

We have always loved Morgan's. Our recent experience was sub par due to the service. Once we received our food it was non-existent. The restaurant was very slow, as we were dining early, and our waiter was chatting at the bar. We needed more water, lemons and our appetizer plates removed. Our empty dinner plates sat for 15 minutes and we could not locate the waiter for a dessert menu. It took 10 or 15 minutes to get our dessert to go. The food was good but tacking on a 20% gratuity is wrong. We opted not to challenge it as I am sure we would have had another wait. Next time we will avoid the same waiter or sit at the bar!

Before this was taken over by Hilton, this was one of the best restaurants in Vermont. I personally gave it a five-star review across the board years ago. Always a little pricey but the food was worth it.
Those days are gone.
Now it looks like it fell out of Miami which is very jarring. The pub chicken tenders which used to be one of the best things on the menu with handmade blue cheese dressing and extremely good sauce. ... Well now it tastes like hidden valley blue cheese dressing and some very bland sauce on the chicken and (fake?) maple syrup and not much of it.
And like others said, ridiculously expensive now. For $20 for one meal which was just an appetizer, you would at least expect them to have cleaned the fryer oil but that obviously had not been changed in a long time.
However, the water was very good. And no, that's not a typo, the server was very good but the water was the best part of the meal.

First time back after the renovations. I like how bright it is now. Parking was easy in the garden parking lot and was validated. My ravioli was really good and others loved their salads.

Such a disappointing experience. The old owners really made it feel like an experience. The food used to be really good. Now with new ownership it's very much a hotel restaurant, food was mediocre at best, atmosphere far less inviting. Unfortunately we won't be back. I really feel it's deceptive for a new restaurant to keep the reviews of the old restaurant, there is no comparison.

Very pleasant and unexpected. we tried making a reservation online and we were unable to because it was "booked" We took a chance and called and we got in. When we got there the restaurant was quite quiet.