Portage Bay Cafe in Ballard

I used to like to go here for gluten free stuff but I just watched a guy touch nearly everything, including sticking his hands in the salad bin to grab fistfuls of salad out after grabbing french toast, pancakes, and crepes. Meaning nothing here is actually gluten free because they don't use utensils behind the counter, just thoroughly rubbing gloved hands on everything without changing them. They're also nearly impossible to contact if you have a question.

One of the best meals I've paid for in a long time. Lots of great taisting and decent textured gluten-free and vegan options for those with allergies and preferences. Also the regular breakfast items were delicious.

The food was pretty good, but not amazing. We had reservations, but still had to wait 20 minutes to be seated. The service was interesting. Different people came to our table throughout the meal. One woman brought more coffee, but when we asked for more cream, she picked up the container and said, "You still have some left." I explained that we would use it all on the coffee she just topped off, and asked again for more. She just walked away and never came back. So we had to wait for our food to arrive before we could get more, by which tine the coffee had gotten cold. We didn't want to get up and squeeze through all the tables to find someone else to help us. It was just weird. They were all too busy running around to get anyone's attention. The food was good, but wasn't worth all the waiting and the hype. It's extremely crowded and noisy in there. But we were prepared for that. Their gluten-free pancakes were good. I ordered the Lemon -Ricotta pancakes.