Morso

Nothing like a Morso breakfast to chase away the Monday blues :)

WHY ARE YOU CLOSED MORSO!!!
This place was (/is…apparently they still have a location at Bridgeport) — Awesome. Best most delicious giant salads for a super reasonable price. Working close to the food carts, there aren’t always a lot of options for healthy lunches. This place was my go-​to. SUPER SAD!
PLEASE RE-​OPEN!

Right next to Powell’s Books, this little spot has some great options for breakfast or lunch. I got the squash sandwiched and it was delicious. Oven roasted butternut squash with a portabello mushroom, arugula, blue cheese, and garlic, all toasted to perfection. Yum!
They also have espresso affogato — always a plus in my book.

The guy was super friendly and patient while I pondered what flavor of gelato to get.
I ended up getting the honey and cinnamon and a scoop of strawberry and cream. I enjoyed the honey flavor better than the strawberry but both were very good.
I only stumbled across this place on accident while trying to find the west bound max lines.
It is out of my normal path so I wont be coming here very often, but I recommend it if you are in the area.

The lattes here are AMAZING… best I’ve ever had. Great expresso… but really strong so be careful! I have become addicted! I’ve tried their breakfast sandwiches, regular sandwiches, and soup. All amazing as well. Love this place. Grab some lunch and a latte… head across the street to Powells and enjoy!

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
It’s been a while since I’ve found that place that’s made my heart flutter at the very thought of it. Not since my first time at Andina have I fallen in love with a place the way I have with Morso.
First off, I should start by saying the food is amazing. Somehow, the chefs here have found a way to package deliciousness in a way I haven’t experienced before. Imagine salads, soups, and sandwiches, but on an elevated level of dining.
I’ve had a few different dishes whenever I go there, and each time I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. The chicken and meatball sandwiches are superb and well-​portioned, and honestly, the butternut squash I had was maybe the best I’ve ever tasted.
The thing is, I’ve had a lot of good food in my life, but what truly blew me away was the price. Honestly, I am capitalizing on them as a new (ish) business by eating everything I can before they have to raise their prices due to demand!
Seriously, eat here once. You will be back.

I love Morso! It’s hands down one of my favorite places to eat in the Pearl. The staff is friendly and accommodating, the atmosphere is cozy and relaxing and it’s consistently ridiculously, tasty-​what more can you ask for? The menu of salads (huge), sandwiches (both hot and cold) and daily soups is nicely rounded out by a selection of pastries. The mixed green salad with chicken is one of my favorites but it’s really hard to decide-it’s all so good! They have happy hour from 5 to 7 pm and I plan on heading in soon. Especially when there is a chef’s morsel that accompanies each and every drink. :)
I would not hesitate to recommend Morso to one of my friends.

Dungeness. Crab. Sandwich.
Do yourself a favor, get one of these for yourself, and make sure to get an extra if you aren’t dining alone. YUM!

Still have a chip on my shoulder that one of my favorite gelato places was converted into a fairly nondescript sandwich shop.
That being said, Morso has a killer Caesar salad. Perfect balance of garlic, sweet, sour, and anchovy umaminess. Yumminess. Generous size too. The lettuce anyway.
My one complaint. I added chicken for an extra charge and was surprised to get 4 quarter-​sized thin-​sliced pieces of chicken. C’mon, even the idiots at the USDA food pyramid recommend more meat than that in one serving.
Maybe next time I’ll order it plain to-​go and add my own chicken at home.
[Yelp 30 Challenge: 28/​30]

My partner works around the corner, so he goes here often, and now I know why! I had been once before and nibbled at his unusual, but delicious, vegetarian sandwiches. I say unusual, because they had things like roasted butternut squash and figs, things like that. It wasn’t your run of the mill, portabello mushroom «veggie» sandwich. The ingredient combos appear to have been given some decent thought, because they work oh so wel… I digress…
I had the chicken sandwich yesterday. One of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. Seriously. Warm toasted focaccia bread, perfectly cooked chicken breast, fontina, pesto, pickled onions, and a tomato jam of some type. So delicious. Like I said above, the ingredients work oh so well together. The pickled onions are great, and make me want to try a batch at home. They make them in house at Morso. Service is excellent; you order at the counter, and they bring it to you. The servers also check in on you for water, and to see if everything is ok. If you can, throw a little $ in the tip jar, they deserve it IMO.
Go try a sandwich, or some soup. Never had the gelatto, maybe when it warms up a bit.

Not bad, I say, not bad.
It was raining (surprise, surprise) and we had just loaded up on books (surprise, surprise) and needed a quick snack before hopping in the car and heading north.
It was quiet so we grabbed a table and then ordered our food.
The staff were nice and friendly, took our orders and started making things right away then brought them to our table. The food to price ratio was great, $ 6 for a big salad that filled me up and the coffee was good.
The place was a little sterile, but I suppose if it wasn’t pouring with rain and I wasn’t hoping for something cozy, I wouldn’t have minded. All in all it makes for a great pit sop.

Great place for a glass of wine and snack, book, people watch, friends, breakfast, sandwiches. Cute place with nice service from the girls. I had a lovely glass of wine $ 7 with roasted squash $ 3.

Loved, loved… Popped in before heading into Powells Books and glad we did.
A glass of Prosecco and their Cheese board in the Bistro atmosphere perked us up after walking around the neighborhood. The salads at the tables around us looked light and refreshing.

Finally… a proper café in Portland!
Great food, simply prepared. Amazing service, wonderful staff. Prices are beyond reasonable.
There should be a Morso in every neighborhood.

I happened to pass by while a fellow Unilocaler was dining and his salad looked amazing– huge bowl, veggies, turkey. He had been there three times so I thought what does a diabetic girl need for lunch — a salad.
Holla! Caeser piled high with delectable white meat melt in your mouth chicken for $ 9. Sat outside in perfect fall weather, with perfect service of even my soda carried to my table after ordering at the counter. Dressing was one of the best in PDX with shaved assagio.
Inside, still mio gelato offered and the space reminds me of a café in Europe with delish healthy, fresh salads and sandwiches. Al fresco!
Will be a lunch spot as all I do is work from coffee shops nowadays! Loving and living the life with morsels like this!

What do my stomach, mouth, calorie-​counter app and wallet all have in common right now? They’re pretty blissed out after lunch from Morso. Even 45 minutes after I took my last bite of salad I’m still on high.
Morso is the next evolution of Mio Gelato on 11^th between Couch and Burnside in the Pearl. The owners upgraded the concept from simply a gelato shop to a very European style café that offers up tasty savory fare alongside wine, beer (soon cocktails), deli items and some of that delicious gelato. Kenny Giambalvo, former Bluehour chef, is serving up a menu that’s mostly sandwiches and salads — but different and upgraded than most café options in downtown. And as we all know too well, finding a tasty salad of any decent size from a local business downtown (that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg) is neigh impossible.
Three visits to Morso have me wanting to come back more and more. I’ve sampled the crab, avocado and bacon sandwich; the Caesar salad; and my ultimate fave, the Moreso Turkey Salad. The former consists of endive, lettuce and arugula with soft mozzarella, tomatoes, tender slices of turkey breast and grilled zucchini slices mixed with a tangy dressing. It’s a perfect balance of that lush wet mozz with bitter from the greens, acid from the tomatoes and savory zucchini… but the dressing ties it all together. I could have done a swan-​dive into this salad were the bowl a tad larger. The CAB sandwich is quite tasty (as you’d expect from a combo of those three dynamic flavors) and the Caesar is good. However honestly on a return visit it’s going to be hard for me to avoid straying back to the turkey.
The service here is order-​at-​the-​counter and they do the rest. They’ll bring your drinks and food out, box up leftovers for you, and clear your table. No self-​bussing. I kind of like this concept for lunch hour as it eliminates the waiting for a server to seat you, then come back and take your order. Just walk in, order, wait for your food, scarf it down and roll out. Or if you have time to eat more Euro style, hang out and enjoy a leisurely meal with a glass of vino or a cup of coffee. Some street-​side outdoor seats provide for some interesting people/​traffic watching as that intersection is crazy busy.
What really brings this to the top for me is how different it is from many of the other choices in the area. It’s fresh, tasty, clean and friendly. In fact, service is super friendly and has been on-​pont when I’m there. I look forward to making my way through these hearty salad options as I return for more. At around $ 9 per large salad, I feel like I’m getting a steal (especially given the alternative options in the area). Never had a problem with waiting too long — today’s lunch was under 30 minutes from ordering to licking my plate clean.

Nice ambience and pleasant people. Not very Italian however. I ordered a caprese sandwich. It came loaded with mayonnaise and lettuce. The beauty of a caprese is the combined flavors of the mozzarella, tomato, basil and olive oil, maybe with a little salt. Nothing else. The bread was nice.
There seems to be a need in Portland to load sandwiches with lettuce. It makes them look huge but gives no tooth.

Fanciful, sophisticated food without the fanciful price.
We enjoyed lunch so much that we came back for breakfast the next morning.
We ordered and split the Morso Turkey Sandwich and the Dungeness Crab Sandwich. Both were delicious, and my mom was shocked that they served such fresh mozzerella (on the turkey sandwich).
They both had very different, interesting tastes that I wish we could find back in the bay area. Their iced tea was served in these cute wine glasses with lemon. The presentation of our lunch made me feel like I was eating at a cloth napkin and cocktail dress restaurant. Loved it.
The next day, the breakfast was just as good. I ordered the Lighter Frittata with ham, bacon, and peppers, while my mom ordered the Irish Oatmeal with brown sugar. She had never had Irish oatmeal before, and she loved the texture. The bite I had hadjust the perfect combination of creaminess and sugar inside.
My frittata was fluffy and light, served with an arugala salad and buttered, french-​like, thick bread strips. I couldn’t finish it all, though I wanted to.
I also ordered a soy latte. It had a foam leaf crafted on top. Beautiful and tasty. Mmmm.
If there was a Morso around here, we’d probably become regulars and eventually try everything on their menu.

Great Salads, first you see this huge bowl and it is packed with goodness, the never ending bowl, Healthy tasty, and european ambiance, great wines and cocktails… I liked a lot.

How about they have a michelin 5 star retired restaurant chef hiding out in their kitchen? You can tell only from the quality of the fantastic food because their prices are extremely reasonable. When I asked the owner how he could afford to charge $ 6 for a huge arugula, parm and mushroom salad he said they only charge what they need to and «after all we are only talking about arugula and mushrooms!» This is a gem of a restaurant… minimalist/​modern, squeaky clean and delicious! Right across the street from Powell’s Books.

Morso? Too slow! Nice menu and good food quality but very slow service and often hot foods served cold or luke warm. It seems to be an equipment problem since people look busy, they just can’t seem to serve their hot menu items in less than 15 minutes.