Portage Bay Cafe - On 65th

We came here for brunch on a sunday for Mother’s Day, and was very busy, but we had made a reservation so we didn’t have to wait long. The food was delicious as always, and we had a nice time.

Portage Bay Cafe is a popular burnch spot that has a few locations in the Seattle area. They're known for their delicious breakfast menu, but mainly for their French toast bar where you pick all your toppings. The service is great, you get a good amount of food in your order, and prices are decent. There is pretty much always a wait at every location, so either show up early or be prepared to put your name on the list then come back in a bit. Totally worth it though. This location has a tougher parking situation though, so also be prepared to talk a bit.

We were able to easily make a reservation on OpenTable and they seated us right away. They have both booster seats and high chairs for kids as well as a kids menu and crayons for them to draw! They were really kind to all of us including my two-year-old son. Our food was fantastic! My husband got the wet burrito I had the seasonal special biscuits and gravy and my son had the kids French toast with which he got to go to the breakfast bar and load up with berries and whip cream. They have great coffee too. It took less than 10 minutes from when we ordered our food to when it came to our table! We had a great experience and can’t wait to come back.

Always a great experience when we come here. My husband and I went on a breakfast date, and we love the vast options. We ordered mimosas, which were fabulous (grapefruit by far is my favorite). We ordered off the chef choice menu's and the salmon Benedict was excellent. We will be back.

Breakfast is delicious, make sure you make a reservation in advance if you don't want to wait 30 minutes to an hour for a table. 🍽 Food is really good, if you like sweets the French toast is a must. I loved the bananas foster french toast. I also tried the goat cheese omelette and it was also delicious. 🚻 they have bathroom inside 🅿️ no parking so you will need to street parl

Very good breakfast and brunch Cafe. A little too much on the whole no gluten because the portions are big. The sausages are really good and it's just a very good wholesome breakfast place with heavy portions 4/5 will definitely go again if I'm in Seattle!

Warning: this review contains a thesaurus's worth of superlatives. Wow, where to start. Right- make reservations. Definitely make reservations. This is a super popular spot, and there's absolutely no doubt why. With a focus on local, organic, sustainable ingredients, the brunch menu is astounding. Local, organic coffee and juices. Incredible mimosas. The food was heavenly. I had the Seattle Benedict (Dungeness crab, avocado, arugula, PERFECTLY poached eggs, the best Hollandaise I've ever had, English muffin, and fresh dill) with roasted potatoes and the best mimosa I've ever had. My husband has the steak sandwich, and my sister had the Farmer's scramble (I think). The service was welcoming and snappy, the food came out super fast, the atmosphere relaxed. We were absolutely blown away. Best. Brunch. EVER.

We initially went to the Portage Bay Cafe - Roosevelt location. However, the line was insanely long and the hostess was rude. We decided to go to the 65th location instead. I ordered the breakfast sandwich and enjoyed it very much. The fig jam adds in a different complexity into the sandwich, on top of the smoky Gouda cheese and a hint of flavor from the arugula. The egg was fluffy and complemented so well with the crispy potato bread. Portion sizes are decent and I got to bring half a sandwich home! Our waiter was kind and attentive; atmosphere was comfortable and cozy.

We came on a Wednesday morning and were immediately seated. The server was pretty attentive and we got our food after about 15 minutes. The food was very delicious (I got the Swedish Pancakes), and I will definitely be coming back! The only issue I had was that the high ceilings made it very loud inside and hard to keep up a conversation.

Very good breakfast / brunch food, very friendly service and love the ambiance. Came here on Sunday, it was very busy, line up out the door but worth the wait. Got the veggie hash, very large meal so be hungry! They have a kids menu as well. Will be going back to try other dishes :)

Amazing food and atmosphere. The energy was contagious. Service was par excellence. Every small detail was paid by the staff. Food was amazing. The place has an indoor and outdoor setting. Must visit place at seattle

Nice location (65th), service, very good food, outside seating (although it was cold, they supplied blankets and heat lamps, so not bad). Excellent selection of breakfast items, available all day long. Food tasted great, reasonable pricing, no complaints about anything. If you're looking for a potent breakfast) brunch in Seattle - put these folks on your list. Definitely recommend them.

Fantastic!!! There is a reason they consistantly a crowd waiting to be seated. The food is amazing especially for the price. When i walked in there where 10 or more groups of people waiting to be seated and they told me the wait will be 20 minutes. To my surprise we where able to be seated in the next 10 minutes. It was also great to meet the owner. You can tell the man does what he loves and enjoys interacting with people.

Brunch in Seattle was delightful, thanks to Portage Bay Cafe. Do yourself a favor and book ahead. This is a busy location. The food is phenomenal with huge servings. They also use many locally sourced products throughout the menu. Everything was fresh and delightful. Highly recommend!!

Rancher's Breakfast is legit, potatoes are really good, bacon is cooked perfectly, eggs are nice and light and fluffy, and it's the best French toast I've had. The berries and whipped cream are nice. Not a big fan of their coffee, but everything else is great!

Make reservations! This place gets really busy. Great vibe - very lively. The food is locally sourced, the meals are fabulous! The only thing that bothered me a little bit was that our server seemed to be in a rush to get us out of there. He slapped down our check before I was even finished eating, and didn't ask if we wanted dessert. We had only been there an hour so it felt a little rude - but other than that, it was a wonderful place to have a nice meal.

My go to spot, this one and all of them! Best French toast EVER! I love the topping bar they have with fresh berries and seasonal fruit... (not available during covid). Eggs Benedict’s are my go to brunch item. Great seating area, owner was at this location when I was there and served us himself.. very sweet man, well deserved success... hoping for more branches up north ♥️

The food was delicious. Even with it being mother's day morning, we were able to get seated right away and there was little wait time in getting our food and check.

Everything was delicious and fresh. Ulis sausage was my favorite out of all and French toast with fruits was a perfect brunch ending. Definitely will go back again. It’s good to make reservations before the day and they do take phone reservations.

Great breakfast spot. We always do the mimosa bottle and sit at the bar. Gets busy so plan accordingly. People love the self serve berry bar!!❤️

delicious food, with well sized portions. the berry bar is also an excellent idea (unlimited berries in one trip on one plate, if you order french toast / pancakes etc — but you pay for food waste). the potatoes were well cooked, the french toast was fluffy, the goat cheese omelette had an excellent blend of flavors. the eggs benedict was so-so, since the ham was relatively flavorless and the dish lacked an element of freshness. the hollandaise sauce was delicious, but i’m not ordering eggs benny (which should be perfected as a brunch classic) for the hollandaise sauce. we were also seated outside, but the heaters weren’t working and as a result, it was freezing. overall, solid brunch spot.

got the French Toast this included a trip to the breakfast bar - where i was able to load up with butter, whipped cream, strawberries, and a couple other fruits also came with a cup of syrup Whew - so this was a sugary rush. I don't know if I've ever consumed so much sugar in as short of a time period as I did here On each piece (that already came with powdered sugar) I spread whipped cream, poured syrup, and ate with butter Being french toast itself has some strong built in advantages - so I can really only compare this against other french toast So while I do wish there was something more solid with this meal - I did know what I was ordering going in The portion size was really good - there were three pretty decent-sized pieces of bread Each piece had an interior that was nice and fluffy but a bit too airy for me - I would've prefered a more solid interior of the bread Eating the toast didn't feel like you were eating something with weight behind it - it felt light - even though the three slices added up to make you full Going off that, the outside of the bread was pretty soft as well - I would've liked it to be more crispy As for the toppings - I thought the syrup was quite good - it complemented the top side of the bread in a nice way Similarly, the whipped cream added a pretty good flavor to the top. It also helped a good amount with the strawberries The butter I'm not sure on. It was hard to spread given the softness of the toast - and I could see that any attempt to spread it would result in the toast breaking apart. Eventually I decided to break off small pieces of butter and eat them at the same time as my toast bite. Overall, I did quite enjoy my experience with this french toast. It's not something I'm going to be returning for - but it was good (and incredibly unhealthy, but that's to be expected). 8/10 Side note: This restaurant was completely freezing inside. I get that it was cold outside - but when I have to wear a full length coat while eating and am still cold - that's kind of unacceptable

Made reservations on open table after finding this organic place on Google. The pictures of the food looked great! Got to the location and was told I made them at the other store. Funnily enough I clicked the link from this location on Google so maybe they have it set up wrong. Hostess sat us right away anyway as they had open tables so it wasn't a big deal, it might have been if we had to wait. The busser did not look like he liked his job but dropped us some water and went back to bussing tables while looking like he would rather be anywhere else. Cute open place, clean and a nice open area with some art on the walls, breakfast bar looked amazing but we decided on challah French Toast with bacon and sausage, Crab Cake Benedict and an Omelette. Our original server only touched our table a total of 4 times, once to take our order, to touch our table after someone else delivered our food and check in and to deliver and take payment of our check. Could work on her personality a bit, were were glad the rest of the team was quick with our food and beverages. My girlfriend ordered the orange mimosa but was brought a pineapple one by mistake, she liked it so it wasn't a big deal. The bathrooms were clean. The food was ultimately why we were there and the star of the show. It was nice to see a kitchen running like a well oiled machine. The Challah bread vanished on my daughter's plate and my Crab Cake Benedict was delightful, the eggs were perfect and the hollandaise sauce was delicious. My girlfriend omelette was tasty but did not keep it's omelette shape very well. I will definitely try this place again maybe the other location next time and attack that breakfast bar. Some personality and customer service skills need work but overall a good visit.

Burger was mediocre. Lemon raspberry pancakes were good! Loved the curd, but they were smaller sized than other brunch places.

If you do not make a reservation here, you cannot sit inside unless you sit at the bar during the weekend on Sunday. Unfortunately we had to sit outside and although it was nice that they gave blankets and heaters, it was still freezing cold. As a result, the food was cold due to the outside being cold. So cannot fully taste the full flavor since it got cold quickly However, I still recommend this restaurant because I've been to another portage bay before and it was great.

Came for brunch and the atmosphere was great as well as the service. Located near park and had pretty decor and seatings. The food was okay. We ordered smoked salmon Benedict, biscuits & gravy and banana French toast. My smoked salmon Benedict was quite salty and had hard time finishing it. French toast and biscuits and gravy were average :)

Food was great. Loved the breakfast berry bar. It was a real crowd pleaser for kids and adults alike. Service was a bit spotty and one of our orders was overlooked. It was very busy and they corrected the problem very quickly. We will visit again.

One Seattle's most popular breakfast spots! This location in particular might not have you wait too long for a table which is nice. They offer local organic food, as well as vegan options for those with dietary needs. Everything is very delicious. Especially their pancakes and french toast! If your looking for something sweet they offer a breakfast bar with lots of fruits! I had the breakfast burrito with chorizo! It was big, hearty and very filling! You can't go wrong with anything you get!

Waited ~30-40 minutes on Saturday morning around 11 am. The food came pretty fast and the portion is more than enough for two people. The benedict was pretty basic (it’s not bad) and the french toast is actually really good!! You could also DIY to add more cream or fruits!

A great place for brunch. Amazing staff, seating is a bit cramped though. But it seems it's the case with a lot of places in Seattle. Loved the food, very flavorful. I would recommend the Dungeness crab omlette, and not the Mexican dish my girlfriend had. Bar toppings for the pancakes were delicious. Pricey because of the location and ambience.

Sunday brunch, the wait was only about 25 min, not bad for a 10:30 arrival. The food was outstanding. Mole Verde Burrito and the Breakfast Sandwich were both top notch. Service was not great, saw the waitress twice, when she took the order and brought the check. So coffee and water refills were late to the game.

You will be served attitude by the hostess, not even a hello. LOL. The server was nice and everyone else too. Not too much of a wait for a table if you arrive early in the morning when they first open. The oatmeal cobbler thing was SO good! Lychee mimosa didn’t taste like lychee but still good!

We were told this is a Seattle staple, so we had to check it out. Surprised by how quickly we were seated on a Sunday afternoon- service was great, food was just okay. We got the buckwheat pancakes and they were even drier than they sound. The rest of our party’s meals were pretty tasty, but I was just not impressed overall. The pitcher of hibiscus mimosas was nice!

It's an ok place, with good service and terrible atmosphere. Very crowded but they do the eggs over easy perfectly so kuddos for that. Just good place to meet friends in the morning and get decent food.

Food is just okay (potatoes were pretty bland, hollandaise sauce on the eggs ben are a tad too salty, pancakes were on the drier side). Service is kind of slow in the morning, because it’s packed.

I appreciate how fast the service was and did not have any troubles getting seated around 10am on a Saturday. All the employees were nice and I appreciate their attentiveness even on a busy weekend brunch service. With that being said, our food was very average. The breakfast potatoes were very under seasoned and overcooked. I do not recommend getting the chicken sausage.

It is a nice spot, but I had a very poor first-time experience 😔. The servers were nice but the service was extremely slow. I recall seeing 3 other tables (I got there before them) get served and some even finished eating while I was still waiting to get my cup of tea (which I had to order twice because the server forgot). I easily spent 1hr+ there, but most of it was just waiting to be acknowledged and treated as nicely as the other tables around me 😥. I was so hungry and was looking forward to the food, only to be extremely underwhelmed by the presentation and the lack of flavour. I nibbled on some of it and promptly requested a box and the check as I had to get to work. Once I had the chance, I added flavour to my Portage Bay Cafe leftovers and finally enjoyed the 🥔, 🥚& 🥞 😋

Service was great and the wait wasn’t long at all. If you sit outside you’re either eating in a wasps nest or next to all the compost and dirty dishes for the whole restaurant. Food is very mid and under seasoned. Only really good things on the menu are the pancakes and the toppings bar, but for the price and location you would expect better. Nothing special here and I wouldn’t recommend.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. This is the best breakfast/ brunch place in the city. I’ve been the the SLU location, and now this one as well. Both experiences were extremely positive, food was fresh, well priced, and delicious. The fruit bar is a great plus to the menu. I highly recommend. Edit: Disappointing to see the food safety rating drop down to “Okay” with King county. Would like to see this improved.

We’ve given this place so many chances, but it’s consistently disappointing. We were in on Sunday, October 11, 2025, and things went downhill fast. We took our entrees up to the berry bar and used the butter, which tasted absolutely rancid. When our server came by, we asked if it was ghee because it tasted so sour. She said she didn’t know but would check. About five minutes later, another person came by and quietly removed the rancid butter. The server returned and agreed that it was indeed bad. Our meals were barely touched, and when she asked if we wanted to take our leftovers, we declined. Why would we want to bring home food covered in rancid butter? She then said she had taken one coffee off the bill. That was the only gesture offered after an awful experience. No real apology, no effort to make things right. We’ve officially given up on this place. Also how does a breakfast spot not have espresso … in Seattle?!