Morrel's is a great restaurant, certainly much better than Alameda for steak. I haven't been there for a long time, but I should make a point of going next time I'm in town.

As far as Alameda's location, it is down a little alley on a rapidly declining Jiu Ba Jie, and it is hard to find the first time you go. Still, it's it's one of the few Western restaurants left in the immediate area (especially with the demise of Mediteraneo a couple of years back), and there is still a huge embassy crowd in the area. The other alternatives are a little farther (e.g. Athena), a little less business friendly (e.g. The Book Worm), or even harder to find (e.g. De Niro's).

When I'm not in China, I live in a small town in Maine where it's hard to get great food (ok, plenty of lobster and blueberries), so I try to make a point of going to some of the good Italian, Thai, Korean, French, etc. restaurants when I'm there (I know it sounds weird to go to China for good French food, but there you have it). Unfortunately, most of my Chinese friends don't care for Western food too much, so I usually end up in Chinese places nonetheless.