Portage Bay Cafe in Ballard — Restaurant in Seattle

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...

Portage Bay. What a treat. I believe that it's good. I appreciate the fundamental idea of giving me, the customer, the freedom to pile whatever i want on my french toast and for it to be totally fine.

But I cannot say that this experience is worth, often, the incredibly difficult process of eating there. Maybe it being busy constantly signifies its quality. Maybe being popular makes it good, actually. But I feel as if it's popularity is unjustified considering how many options there are for brunch. At the same time, if there are so many brunch options maybe i just go there instead. A deep sadness comes when you realize an issue you have isn't completely valid. When you realize you cannot apply logic or reasoning to your emotions. But to eat at Portage Bay Cafe is often like a failed relationship. Usually it's no one's fault. Usually things just don't work out. And you can't blame any one person for why it didn't work out. But you still feel upset. That is me when I am told there's an hour-long wait. And the envy you feel seeing an old friend or lover move on. That's me when I see people eating from outside after i have to leave because there's an hour long wait.

But still, like a relationship, it's valuable experience, even if rare, when you do get to eat french toast. Sunk Cost is a falicy. And the reason I don't let my jealously consume me is because i must realize that, me not being able to eat at Portage Bay Cafe on a Saturday for Brunch is okay. Because it means so many others get to experience that joy. The joy of french toast. My personal unhappiness from not getting a table is far less than the joy of the family who gets to be there instead. The child who's first time it is eating at the Portage Bay Cafe, who realizes that there is no limit to how much whipped cream and chocolate chips they may give themselves. If i had gotten there earlier, i would've robbed them from that happiness. Perhaps it is for the best. For when i was able to eat at the Portage Bay Cafe it created a wait for another, I have come to accept that others will create a wait for me.

I think we all need to accept this. Or portage bay could open...

Ordered online for pick-up. Waited for 25 mins after the time they said it would be ready to find out my food was sitting there getting cold the whole time. The hostess said it was because I gave her my last name instead of first name so she couldn't find my order... yet they were able to find it after some magical looking up of things which apparently they couldn't have done 20 minutes before. To be fair, they seemed very busy.

With the unexpected extra time I had to spend waiting there, I was able to make some observations: The place was very crowded with unmasked dinners (obviously one can't mask while eating). Feels completely unsafe even just standing at the counter waiting. They seated almost every table I could see. Instead of seating every other table, they "adhered" to the 50% capacity rule by blocking one of the two sides of the single booths resulting in much less than 6' distance between tables. The outdoor seatings were definitely less than 6' apart also. The restaurant looked like a regular pre-covid Saturday if it weren't for the masks on the staff.

On top of an awful pick-up experience, my eggs were overdone, and cold by the time I got home. They told me they couldn't remove the onions in my hash per my request but add insult to injury by garnishing green onions on top on my eggs that could obviously have been avoided. To be fair, my partner really enjoyed the mole burrito after microwaving.

I had always enjoyed the food here but would not return again even post covid if this is the way they are managing. We support local restaurants 3 to 5 times a week by ordering deliveries or pickups. We want to do our small part to help restaurants survive and thrive without us placing ourselves physically there as potential contagions. This has been by far our worst "dining" experience in 7 months of this...