Arena District gets new restaurant

Pat & Gracie’s owner to open Moran’s

The Arena District is getting a new restaurant from the owners of Pat & Gracie’s.

Moran’s Bar and Grille is scheduled to open Tuesday on the corner of North Front and Vine streets in the space that once housed the Half Pint.

The restaurant occupies the north end of a building that is also home to the R Bar, an Arena District staple popular with Columbus Blue Jackets fans.

Moran’s boasts a menu filled with sandwiches and burgers complemented with steaks, seafood and Mexicanstyle entrees.

“We tried to make it a pretty diverse menu,” owner Matt Rootes said. “People that are coming down here for (Nationwide) Arena, or conventions and things like that, and they want something fast.”

“But then we also have steaks and ribs” for the dinner crowd, he said. “We tried to get the menu so that it’s the best of both worlds.”

Rootes also owns Pat and Gracie’s in Downtown Columbus and Matt and Tony’s in the Arena District.

Half Pint had an industrial feel, with sleek, stainless aluminum chairs and tile lining the bar on the south end of the restaurant. But Rootes said he wanted Moran’s décor to give off a more homely vibe, so he lined the bar with wooden panels and brought in brown wooden tables and chairs.

“We bought the building as is and put some warmer touches on it,” he said.

Rootes did keep more than a dozen TVS that line the dining room. Although the restaurant is not officially a sports bar, he wanted to give customers the option of watching sporting events.

While the Arena District offers sporting events that can draw crowds, the past few years have not been kind to the restaurants and bars that populate the blocks surrounding Nationwide Arena.

Long-time establishments like the Half Pint and Bar Louie closed their doors last year, and even institutions like the R Bar struggled with lockdowns, restrictions and business slowdowns related to the coronavirus.

But vaccination rates were increasing when Rootes took over the space several months ago, so the restaurateur jumped at the chance to open an eatery in some of the busiest blocks in Columbus.

Even with COVID numbers increasing in Ohio, Rootes remains optimistic.

“We thought, ‘what the heck, let’s give it a shot,’” he said. “We always thought it would be a great spot, especially when the world came back to life.” pcooley@dispatch.com @Patrickacooley

DORAL CHENOWETH/COLUMBUS DISPATCH Chris Venci leads a wine and champagne tasting for employees at Moran's, a new bar opening soon at 415 N. Front St. in the Arena District.