Social Profile: 
✔️Breakfast ✔️Brunch ✔️Lunch ✔️Dine in ✔️Take out
… View more
Portage Bay Cafe, established in 2009, brings Ballard a taste of the Pacific Northwest with its focus on fresh, seasonal, and local ingredients. The menu offers both classic brunch favorites and creative new dishes, perfect for breakfast, brunch, or lunch.
Bustling, bright cafe serving local, organic & seasonal breakfast, brunch & lunch dishes.
Address and Contact Information
Address: 2821 NW Market St, Seattle, WA 98107
Phone: (206) 783-1547
Website: http://www.portagebaycafe.com/
Menu Photos
Photo Gallery
Related Web Results
Ballard | Portage Bay Cafe — Seattle Organic Breakfast, Brunch …
Located next to Seattle’s Ballard Locks, it is the perfect spot to fuel up before going to explore the waterway. We feature local, organic, sustainable …
Portage Bay Cafe – Ballard Restaurant – Seattle, WA | OpenTable
Located in Ballard since 2006, Portage Bay Cafe has a mission of local, organic and sustainable fare. From our Crab Cake Benedict to our signature House-Made …
Portage Bay Cafe (@portagebaycafe) · Seattle, WA – Instagram
Local, organic, sustainable lunch and brunch since 1997. udistrict, south lake union, roosevelt, ballard, west seattle #eat like you give a damn
Last Updates
Reviews
QueenB OfThe206
Very crowded Sunday breakfast crowd, but it created a fun atmosphere. The staff seemed burned out already when we got there at 11am, and were not the friendliest, but they did their job well. My pancakes tasted like they were made with wheat flour, but I don’t remember that being called out on the menu or being given an option. They had a weird mouth feel, but the rest of our breakfasts were delicious! Avacado toast and French toast were stand outs. I loved that they offer salad as an option with breakfast meals and not just potatoes. Also, saw some gross things with adults and kids helping themselves at the berry bar, so I passed on going up there. Might want to find a way to make that more sanitary.
… moreKaren Tobiason
We met friends for breakfast on a Saturday morning (thanks for taking reservations). Busy time but Andrew was an amazing server. He was cheery, responsive, and helpful despite the pressure of having too many tables. We give Andrew 5 stars and would love to see him again. But the Joe’s Scramble and potatoes were way too salty – and my husband is a salt user. The gravy with the biscuits was skimpy and flavorless and the potatoes were very overdone, bland, too salty and we should have sent them back. I have to admit the salad dressing was as delicious as Andrew had promised. So there’s a yay for good salad dressing – at a breakfast spot.
… moreKevin Ka L Ngan
: 9/10. I came here with a couple friends to catch up after a long time! We ordered a lot of food and they were all very delicious! I ordered the grain oat blueberry toast and it was delightful! I love how everything tastes so refreshing and fulfilling! And yes, I made a big trip to the fruit bar and I am very satisfied with the fruit! Very sweet and just perfect! There are many fruit options and it made my toast taste so much better!
: 7/10: The waitress there are all very friendly and kind to us! Willing to give us many time to decide what we want because we are all very indecisive, they are very patient and so nice! I really like their service! Hopefully next time we don’t have to wait that long because this place is always crowded!
: 7/10: Great location with many parking spots but we are just very unlucky after waiting for a while and still do not have a parking spot! I am very glad that we came here because it is way more easier than the other locations to find parkings! It will be nice if we have more room between tables so the dining experience will be more comfortable and complete!
… more : 7/10: The waitress there are all very friendly and kind to us! Willing to give us many time to decide what we want because we are all very indecisive, they are very patient and so nice! I really like their service! Hopefully next time we don’t have to wait that long because this place is always crowded!
: 7/10: Great location with many parking spots but we are just very unlucky after waiting for a while and still do not have a parking spot! I am very glad that we came here because it is way more easier than the other locations to find parkings! It will be nice if we have more room between tables so the dining experience will be more comfortable and complete!
John
Andrew is the most friendly waiter. Great service and really good breakfast. Portions are large enough to split for 2.
And a short walk from the marina.
… moreAnd a short walk from the marina.
Betty Sun
Casual brunch place that reliably serves a wide range of delicious dishes, from Swedish pancakes and challah French toast to farmer’s hash with eggs, massive breakfast burritos, and classic eggs Benedict a few different ways. We continue to marvel at the freshness and sweetness of the berries on offer at the breakfast bar!
Always crowded and popular, this Portage Bay location takes reservations through Open Table, which helps minimize or eliminate the usual wait. Service was very friendly, attentive, and efficient.
… moreAlways crowded and popular, this Portage Bay location takes reservations through Open Table, which helps minimize or eliminate the usual wait. Service was very friendly, attentive, and efficient.
Mariana Garman
Portage Bay is one of my favorite brunch spots — the fruit bar is always amazing and the food and service are consistently great. The only disappointment this time was the Seattle Benedict. For $30 (pre tax), the portion of crab was really tiny, maybe a couple of tablespoons. It still tasted good, but for that price I expected more of the star ingredient.
… moreLeo Poon
Fantastic brunch place in Seattle.
The line up wait time was reasonable. 15 mins wait on Saturday 11am
Our server, Erin, was super friendly and chill, introducing the dishes she recommends personally and giving detailed explanations on the dishes feature patiently.
We ordered the shrimp Benedict and lemon ricotta pancake, waited around 15-20 minutes for the fish to arrive
Food was prettttttt good.
Shrimp egg Benny: definitely well seasoned, the shirmp is on the spot, tender and bouncy texture. The sauce is at the right thickness too. Though the muffin was not the fluffy one that we were used to, it was pretty interesting too. (Almost tastes like raw sour dough)
Pancake was the besttttt, the buttery flavour and the light touch of lemon was purrrrrfect, plus the fruit bar was simply a fantastic idea.
2 people, after tax and tips, around $80. Reasonable pricing.
Love this place, and will definitely revisit again when we are coming to Seattle next time.
… moreThe line up wait time was reasonable. 15 mins wait on Saturday 11am
Our server, Erin, was super friendly and chill, introducing the dishes she recommends personally and giving detailed explanations on the dishes feature patiently.
We ordered the shrimp Benedict and lemon ricotta pancake, waited around 15-20 minutes for the fish to arrive
Food was prettttttt good.
Shrimp egg Benny: definitely well seasoned, the shirmp is on the spot, tender and bouncy texture. The sauce is at the right thickness too. Though the muffin was not the fluffy one that we were used to, it was pretty interesting too. (Almost tastes like raw sour dough)
Pancake was the besttttt, the buttery flavour and the light touch of lemon was purrrrrfect, plus the fruit bar was simply a fantastic idea.
2 people, after tax and tips, around $80. Reasonable pricing.
Love this place, and will definitely revisit again when we are coming to Seattle next time.
Mari Kim
Friends came from South Carolina. Decided they should enjoy the brunch experience at Portage Bay Café. Across the street from the beloved dive bar The Sloop in Ballard was the closest.
First and foremost: at this (and every) Portage Bay location reservations are absolutely necessary. Open Table app is a much easier option than trying to get someone on the phone especially if you’re actually doing the same-day reservation. You’ll always get voicemail. They’re just that busy.
Went an hour and a half before our reservation time to request a table for eight at 1:30PM. We arrived 10 minutes before our reservation and checked in to make sure everything was tracking. Fast-forward: it would actually be another 35 minutes before we would get to sit down. I share this because as I was leaving I heard another couple say they were 25 minutes behind their reservation. If you regularly go to Portage Bay Cafés across the city, you know that a longer wait is not unusual (but it’s helpful to know if you aren’t accustomed). But here’s how we managed that time delay in that neighborhood.
We had four kids between the ages of four and 11 so we decided to take a walk down the block to visit the Danbo troll in front of the Nordic Heritage museum. A great place to pause for photos. Then, what is not as well known is that there is a cool full-size labyrinth behind back. So we went around back through the parking lot to the back entrance to explore another great PNW tradition: the walking labyrinth.
We and the kids walked the labyrinth — turned out to be a super cool experience that the kids took to right away. They had never done one before. We had a hard time pulling them away and had to suggest we return maybe after our lunch. At 90 minutes on the dot we went back to the restaurant and we were told they were waiting for one table to get up so that we could be seated together.
Due to no fault of the staff another 25 minutes passed. At that point a couple in our party indicated they might have to leave… because they were not sure there would be time to for them to sit and eat their meal once they had ordered bc they had to get to their next commitment.
I mentioned this to the host/hostess team and they sincerely apologized because they realized it had been quite a while. Luckily with fresh turnover they were able to offered us the option to sit outside. That actually suited us well because it gets pretty loud inside, and when kids are hungry and overstimulated it’s nice to be in the open air.
We indicated we were happy to sit in the fresh air. We were offered blankets to help with warmth. The outside seats have umbrellas to keep you dry which was helpful since it was drizzling a bit bit today.
We had our orders all ready to go and placed them immediately. And they came out with in 10 minutes! The kitchen was very prompt; our server Erin understood our situation and was great about taking our orders immediately and bringing everything out as quickly as possible.
What was also great was the kids took to climbing on the squid bike rack that is in front of the restaurant and that kept them occupied for the 25 minute delay. Then they had a field day visiting the breakfast bar with their pancakes. They came back with their plates loaded: fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, fresh raspberries, chocolate chips, fresh whip cream… It was like heaven. The pancakes came out as Mickey Mouse w/ the ears, and the kids appreciated that because they had been to Disney World earlier in the year. That pancake is a great excuse to get kids to eat fresh berries.
With the adults the grapefruit and orange mimosas were very popular. Eggs Benedict is my traditional go to for breakfast or brunch but here they have something called the Seattle Benedict. Two of us ordered Seattle Benedict because the base is crab meat. The Huevos Rancheros came out tasting great with chorizo. We ordered some bacon and sausages on the side, maple pork sausages. The bacon had some nice pepper on it which I loved. The kids inhaled the pork sausages.
… moreFirst and foremost: at this (and every) Portage Bay location reservations are absolutely necessary. Open Table app is a much easier option than trying to get someone on the phone especially if you’re actually doing the same-day reservation. You’ll always get voicemail. They’re just that busy.
Went an hour and a half before our reservation time to request a table for eight at 1:30PM. We arrived 10 minutes before our reservation and checked in to make sure everything was tracking. Fast-forward: it would actually be another 35 minutes before we would get to sit down. I share this because as I was leaving I heard another couple say they were 25 minutes behind their reservation. If you regularly go to Portage Bay Cafés across the city, you know that a longer wait is not unusual (but it’s helpful to know if you aren’t accustomed). But here’s how we managed that time delay in that neighborhood.
We had four kids between the ages of four and 11 so we decided to take a walk down the block to visit the Danbo troll in front of the Nordic Heritage museum. A great place to pause for photos. Then, what is not as well known is that there is a cool full-size labyrinth behind back. So we went around back through the parking lot to the back entrance to explore another great PNW tradition: the walking labyrinth.
We and the kids walked the labyrinth — turned out to be a super cool experience that the kids took to right away. They had never done one before. We had a hard time pulling them away and had to suggest we return maybe after our lunch. At 90 minutes on the dot we went back to the restaurant and we were told they were waiting for one table to get up so that we could be seated together.
Due to no fault of the staff another 25 minutes passed. At that point a couple in our party indicated they might have to leave… because they were not sure there would be time to for them to sit and eat their meal once they had ordered bc they had to get to their next commitment.
I mentioned this to the host/hostess team and they sincerely apologized because they realized it had been quite a while. Luckily with fresh turnover they were able to offered us the option to sit outside. That actually suited us well because it gets pretty loud inside, and when kids are hungry and overstimulated it’s nice to be in the open air.
We indicated we were happy to sit in the fresh air. We were offered blankets to help with warmth. The outside seats have umbrellas to keep you dry which was helpful since it was drizzling a bit bit today.
We had our orders all ready to go and placed them immediately. And they came out with in 10 minutes! The kitchen was very prompt; our server Erin understood our situation and was great about taking our orders immediately and bringing everything out as quickly as possible.
What was also great was the kids took to climbing on the squid bike rack that is in front of the restaurant and that kept them occupied for the 25 minute delay. Then they had a field day visiting the breakfast bar with their pancakes. They came back with their plates loaded: fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, fresh raspberries, chocolate chips, fresh whip cream… It was like heaven. The pancakes came out as Mickey Mouse w/ the ears, and the kids appreciated that because they had been to Disney World earlier in the year. That pancake is a great excuse to get kids to eat fresh berries.
With the adults the grapefruit and orange mimosas were very popular. Eggs Benedict is my traditional go to for breakfast or brunch but here they have something called the Seattle Benedict. Two of us ordered Seattle Benedict because the base is crab meat. The Huevos Rancheros came out tasting great with chorizo. We ordered some bacon and sausages on the side, maple pork sausages. The bacon had some nice pepper on it which I loved. The kids inhaled the pork sausages.
Origins Unity LLC
Wonderful restaurant! I’ve been wanting to try this place for some time and we finally were able to. Upon entering, the staff was kind and told us to seat ourselves. We chose a booth next to pancakes bar. A waiter promptly came to us and provided drinks and answered questions. We are diary free (me) and GF and vegan (her) and this was very easy to accommodate for. I tried the ranchers plate with eggs, bacon, potatoes and a side of the amazing GF vegan banana pancakes oh wow! And she had the Buddha bowl with tofu, lentils and veggies! Food was delicious! Pancake toppings bar was fun. Service was good. We even tried a blueberry mimosa yum. Great atmosphere. We’ll be back!
… moreSapnokiRani SKR
Pancakes were yummy, they have a fruit bar where you can add any toppings from your pancakes
… more