10/25/09

bring a hotplate

by gwaltney53

I was disappointed. Our food arrived quickly but was cold! Toast, potatoes, pancakes and the plate all cool or downright cold to the touch. WTH?!! My corned beef hash was a roasted vegetable variation. My guess, the ingredients are all pre-cooked and tossed in a skillet for a quick warm up before service. In my case too little warm up and too much pre-cooked. As mentioned elsewhere, the corned beefed was sliced lunch meat chopped and tossed into the mix to reheat. Chunks of unseasoned and un-browned potato complete the "hash." The whole was oily, wet, unappetizing and expensive. The pancakes were okay for flavor but cold, again. Service was cheery but there were many plates stacked on the warming table waiting a long time to go out. Weirdly, the warming lamps on the warming shelf appeared to be turned off. Not a place I am going to return to or recommend.

• Pros: pleasant atmosphere
• Cons: Kitchen staff unskilled, servers understaffed

05/18/09

Not sure what the hype is about.

by cheeseholm

Imagine trying to re-brand a university cafeteria as a mom-and-pop brunch destination, and you pretty much end up with Portage Bay Cafe. It suffers from this identity crises in that they are trying to be all things to everyone- a mass eatery with community sensibilities. I love the idea of local and organic going to the masses, but the problem is in the the execution of the idea. Consistently hit-or-miss dishes (stay AWAY from the Swedish pancakes), loud impersonal atmosphere (think food service cafeteria), really overworked servers, and a very obvious commitment to keeping things this way. Want brunch? Go somewhere else.

• Pros: focus on local/organic, some decent options
• Cons: Cafeteria style atmosphere, some sub-par and over-$$$ food

04/30/09

Great place for organic, healthy brunch!

by TechGuy206

Portage Bay Cafe is a great location tucked away near UW. My girlfriend brought me here during lunch and we had to wait about 45 minutes to get seated. Sipped on a latte and spoke with people around me while waiting. When I got our food it was amazing and everything is organic. You definitely must try out the french toast w/ trip to the fruit bar along with the eggs benedict. If you go there during an off-hour (around 9-11am) or when it's rainy you don't have to wait in line. This place is growing on me the more I go.

• Pros: Organic, Fruit Bar, and Clean!
• Cons: Long lines if you go during lunch time.

11/19/08

great brunch spot.

by theurbanfoodjunkie

this cafe is awesome. the food was great. the challah french toast is delish! i would definitely come back, although the wait can be tiresome, but it's worth it.

08/30/08

Another dissappointing Seattle trend

by kcjanae

Well, it wasn't terrible. But, not worth the wait. The seating is rather chlosterphobic and noisy. The coffee is not tasty (organic is not synominous with good tasting, folks). The food wasn't anything beyond regular ol' breakfast fare. In fact, I would say my pancakes were rather bland and floury tasting. Also, the "fresh" fruit bar--hm, the berries I added to my plate were partially frozen. And I would agree with previous reviews, too, that the service was not particularly friendly. I can understand it's stressful to be busy with a lot of customers, I've been there, but hey, when you are in a customer service position, you have to go out of your way to be friendly and welcoming. Earn your tips, folks!

• Pros: I left full.
• Cons: Read my review.

08/04/08

Over-Hyped

by Dreaharris

After several great reviews from friends, my boyfriend and I decided to go for a late Sunday brunch at Portage Bay. First, they said the wait would be a 10min wait, but in reality the wait was 25-30 mins. When they took us to out table in the back room it had the same feeling as a high school cafeteria, and we weren't served water or utensils for at least 15 mins. The staff was less than welcoming. I ordered hot coco, and it was only steamed milk with the slightest tinge of chocolate. When the food arrived, I was sad to see that my organic mushroom hash was at least two thirds celery. My boyfriend's salmon omelet was fine, but nothing worth 13 dollars. The only thing I really enjoyed was the toast with organic preserves.

Next time when I want brunch, I'll just ask my 21 year old boyfriend to make it because it's a lot cheaper, tastier, and a better atmosphere.

• Pros: Close to U-dist
• Cons: Many.

06/22/08

are you kidding me??????

by rookie_food_critic

After reading the reviews and seeing the ever present long line over the weekends, we decided to try this place. First of all, the wait is absolutely insane!! And after a long wait of 45 mins to an hour, you would expect the food to be really good or atleast good. I had the greek omlette, it had to have the saltiest bacon I have ever tasted. I waited almost 10 minutes for the waitress to notice me and bring sugar for my coffee by which the coffee was cold. Another 10 minutes for my water refill and 15 minutes before they noticed that we were done with our food. After which, the waitress comes in and plonks the check and walks away... we weren't even asked if we would like to eat anything else.. the staff is so snotty and presumptous. Needless to say, you are not going to see me there ever again.....

• Pros: no pros
• Cons: everything possible

06/01/08

SLU location - changes need to happen

by dustinpz

I find that I am re-itterating most of the poor reviews for many of the same reasons that others below have written. We also decided to go there at 10:30am on Sundy the 1st of June at the new SLU location. I will begin with what I liked about this and why I find myself being forgiving. The food was good, I throughly enjoyed the style and taste. The problems we saw were lack of organization on taking names and seating. Then, on a busy day, they had no clear way of indicating that orders were ready for pick-up. Many orders packed the window at times two plates high. In turn it took 40mins to be seatted another 30-40 mins to receive our food after beeing seated. While I understand that this is a very busy time of day, I don't agree with a new location falling into such poor habits after only a month of serving. These problems need to be fixed if they want to appeal to the changing area of South Lake Union and grow the name of Portage Bay Cafe. I will be expecting some changes before I return.

• Pros: Good food, great concept (local, sustainable, organic)
• Cons: Poor service

05/30/08

Great Breakfast Spot

by bergquistj49

Ok I get what everyone is saying about the service, its not always the best (I once called to order to go food and they told me they were to busy and hung up on me), but the food is amazing! My two favorites, crab caked eggs benedict and banana's foster french toast. I am a foodie and have traveled all over the world eating breakfast at what are suppost to be some of the most amazing places and Portage bay breakfast still sits at the top of my list. I know, I know the service is not always great, the wait is long, and the parking stinks. But come on, the food is amazing so lets cut them some slack! I definitly reccomend to at least give them a try. You will not be sorry!

Side note: I kind of feel like the bad reviews are from people who are sick of the long wait maybe trying to scare people off.

• Pros: Amzing food, huge portions, healthy alternatives
• Cons: parking, long wait

04/27/08

SNOTTY staff

by pearljam888

I went for breakfast on the weekend. I understand it's a busy time, so I was okay when they told me it would be a 30-40 minute wait for our table for 2. I stood there and tried to be patient as I watched the host seat table after table of people who arrived AFTER my friend and I arrived. I finally asked how much longer it would be and he looked down at his list (which I could see, as well) and it was obvious that he was seating the people he knew, before us. He told me we were next (bullsh*t, because I could see the 5 names BELOW mine already crossed off). After an hour and 35 minutes, my friend and I were seated about 3 inches away from another table. Nice. The food was good but overpriced and not worth the RIDICULOUS wait. I have never been treated so poorly at a restaurant before. I've been ignored before, but never so blatantly lied to. Would never recommend this place to anyone because the service was so SH*TTY.

• Pros: None.
• Cons: Snotty staff, tiny parking lot, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG wait.