Portage Bay Cafe
| Address: | 2821 NW Market St, Seattle, WA 98107, USA |
| Phone: | +1 206-783-1547 |
| Site: | portagebaycafe.com |
| Rating: | 4.3 |
| Working: | 7:30AM–2:30PM 7:30AM–2:30PM 7:30AM–2:30PM 7:30AM–2:30PM 7:30AM–2:30PM 7:30AM–2:30PM 7:30AM–2:30PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 10
LA
Lauren Huffman
There have been two restaurants that I have found that I love that have been able to fit my dairy free gluten free needs and this is one of them! It is popular so it is busy and wait times can be long if youre trying to get in for breakfast on a weekend! Dont act like youre the only person trying to eat and just make a reservation or enjoy the ride because frankly its worth it. Especially if you have any food intolerance or care anything about the quality of the food youre stuffing in your face (organic). The portions are a nice size. We shared some meals and had leftover. The fruit bar is fun too. Theres an array of higher quality flavors (lingonberry and bananas foster) outside what you normally find at an American breakfast spot for pancakes or french toast. It is a few dollars more on average than other breakfast spots but I will gladly pay the price for organic local and gluten free any dang day! If youre like me and havent enjoyed a Swedish pancake for a long time and want someone else to cook for once, this is a good spot! I only give it 4 stars because I enjoy restaurants with more outgoing servers. They werent rude though. Coffee is smooth, portions are "shareable" (like the braised pork omelette) to save money if needed and I would return again when Im once again tired of cooking for myself every day :) Ive been craving the food the last couple days so thats always a good sign I think!
SH
sherry Saehlenou
We were crammed into a table for 2 with hardly room to get in out chairs, let alone enough space to enjoy our breakfast. The wait staff were friendly enough but there was no possibility to order a childs meal.... We werent that hungry so we ordered scrambled eggs and bacon- and poppy seed French toast. The scrambled eggs were so so and not worth the high price, the French toast"bar" where you put your own toppings on... Had CANNED FRUIT! Yuck. The coffee was good. The toast (our wait person didnt mention if we had a choice of toast) that came with the scrambled eggs was cold and was a strange grain... Tasted like honey mixed with some weird coarse wheat blend. No condiments on table. Costs extra to split an order. The bill for 2 just average breakfasts was close to $40. Dont go here if you like good food and/ or atmosphere. There are so many other restaurants with good food and good value.
MA
mark roberts
Winter review only. So they dont have heat. Dress for outside temperatues. The server said hopefully the heater (pointing at the single little space heater on the window ledge) will warm it up soon. The place is a warehouse, there is no chance it was going to warm up. Ok, so I love this place every other time. Fantastic food! The trick is beating the rush and not eating too much and wadling out with a tummy ache. Go here and enjoy, 10 months a year. But if it is freezing outside, go somewhere else. My egg dish arrived cold through, I assume because they had to wait for my dates sweedish pancakes (which were steaming hot). I just had them take mine back as I wanted to go home to warm up. They gladly removed my meal from the bill. Again I highly recommend this place, other than the winter heating problem.
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Lizzy Marie
So good! Everything was so fresh and filling. Prices ranged from $11-$20 for brunch. They seem to be best known for their breakfast bar, which consists of fresh fruit and other toppings for pancakes or oatmeal. I got the classic pancakes ($12) which included a free trip to the breakfast bar. The pancakes were very tasty and included ingredients that were substantial and filling. I was pretty full after only a few bites! My boyfriend got the scramble (I forget the exact name) but it contains spinach, mushrooms, and cheese. It also came with potatoes and the thickest piece of wheat bread that Ive ever seen at a restaurant! Again, everything was super fresh. Currently this place gets really crowded on the weekends, and I can imagine why! It wasnt too bad for a Tuesday morning and I would definitely return!
JO
John J
The food was fine, nothing worth writing about. I remember it being much better at the U-District location, or maybe other brunch places have caught up, and Portage Bay isnt really special anymore. The reason for the 3 stars is their online reservation system. We had a reservation for noon on a Saturday. When we showed up, we still had to put our name on a list, and wait ~30 minutes. Sure, it was better than the 45-minute wait without a reservation, but why offer a reservation system if you cant make it work. An apology, or even an acknowledgement that this was a problem would have helped. I dont know if this was a one-time issue with reservations, or a recurring problem, but I dont plan to find out.
ME
Megan Linner
Portage Bay is one of my go-to breakfast spots! I dont thing Ive had anything here that I didnt like! They have a great variety of breakfast standards and locally inspired dishes with plenty of vegetarian options. Plus, if you get pancakes or french toast, they have a toppings bar full of fruits, nuts, and fixings! They get all their ingredients from small farms and local companies, but their prices are still pretty standard and their portions are large. The service is always great and the atmosphere is open and airy with high ceilings and big windows. TRY: Oatmeal Cobbler French Toast TIP: It gets really busy on mornings and weekends, so I usually go around mid-day on weekdays.
JO
Jonathon Loos
Tasty and wholesome brunch served in a lively atmosphere, with very friendly waitstaff. This place is clearly a local favorite in Ballard - its packed for Sunday brunch. My group luckily had a reservation to avoid a long wait, I would recommend others do the same. They were a few minutes behind on reservations, but no biggie. The coffee keeps you happy. I had the farmers breakfast; packed with fresh veggies, eggs and corned beef hash, it was excellent! Seems like the fruit bar is also a favorite part of this place. Will definitely be returning in the future. A good place to bring out-of-towners too.
BA
Bailey Walton
The food here is always amazing, fresh local and organic. Who could ask for more? Well, if youre asking for fast, friendly service then youre going to be asking a lot from this location. It seems like each time my boyfriend and I come in the wait gets longer and longer. Slow Friday morning and it took over 15 minutes to even get coffee... our waitress just seemed to ignore us. When we finally got our check it was for the wrong table, we then watched our waitress wonder into the back for over five minutes before correcting the problem. GREAT food, but be ready to wait for it.
MA
Mark MRB
I think the place has promise and I probably just ordered the ordinary from the menu because what I got was ordinary. The potatoes like many restaurants were probably prepared the night before and sitting in a warmer that just dried it all up and became hard pieces of starch. Sausage probably sat as well. I will give it another try in the future but my experience wasnt elevated to a level where I would say it was any better than a diner. Service was nice though.
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d chin
I read great reviews and see different locations in Seattle but my experience wasnt good. I had to wait 45mins which is fine but I noticed the host not trying hard to get people seated when customers finish and leave there table. My smoked salmon omelette was overcooked on the dry side. The bright side was after we ordered the food came to the table pretty fast. Spend over $80.00 for four people. Skillet in Ballard would be a better place
