Salmon Bay Café

This place never disappoints. We come almost every weekend and it has become my family’s favorite hometown breakfast spot. The staff from the kitchen to the waitresses are so friendly and they have become one of our favorite parts of salmon bay. They go out of their way to get to know us and have watched my daughter grow up these past few years.
The food is amazing and the portions are huge for what you pay. It’s a good old fashioned breakfast done well. We are leaving again this morning with full bellies and smiles on our faces. Thank you Salmon Bay for being a highlight in our week and for all that you do!!!

Ok so you can’t mess up breakfast diner food too much… It’s also hard to hit the nail on the head, for me salmon bay does just that. Got the seafair omelette — extremely good (and real not that fake crap) crab and shrimp in an omelette for $ 12. A giant $ 5 22oz mimosa made it a great early morning breakfast.
The mimosas aren’t that fantastic, but they are strong. They could use a nicer sparkling wine but the price is gold.
Service was great too, moderately busy. Will be back, cheers

This is a great diner right on the water in a part of Seattle that appears to be fast gentrifying. It felt like what a diner should be — lots of character, staff knows customers by name, people greeting each other as they walk in, enormous portions — a feeling of a time gone by before hipsters moved in. I don’t live in Seattle but will make this a «must go to» on my future trips. The owner is great — he stopped by the table and talked to us a few minutes. Really a wonderful place.

I love coming to Salmon Bay Café for weekend brunch — great food, excellent service, good value and in the neighborhood! In a town that has so many wonderful brunch places, I feel luck lucky this place is so close to home. I usually order a scramble or omelette and specify my home fries crispy. I often stay for a while to read and drink their yummy coffee. Service is quick and attentive. Did I mention the wifi! Why aren’t you here with me now?!?

I’m sorry, this once yummy restaurant did not live up to the reviews. Good coffee, fruit and freezer jam, okay Joe’s scramble and that is worth the 1 star. However avoid the crab and shrimp omelette with hollandaise sauce. It is snow crab that tasted like salty fiber and shrimp that did not taste fresh. The hollandaise did not come on our omelette as advertised and when we asked for it they brought something that tasted like chicken gravy. We could not eat it and they did take it off our bill, so I need to give them credit for that. I used the restroom AFTER my meal, dirty, no hot water, poo smeared on a note in the stall.

An unpretentious diner with great service. What more could you ask for? The staff was friendly and my party and I were seated right away. For brunch, I had the country fried steak, eggs over medium, home fries, and a side of wheat toast. The portion was just right: D The steak was nice & crispy, & surprisingly did not feel greasy even though it was smothered in country gravy (which was
btw). Home fries were nicely seasoned & eggs were cooked perfectly. No complaints here and would definitely return in the future :) I heard the muffins are to die for so must check that out the next time I visit!

I just Love Diner food and this is a good one. We had a big group which of course can be a challenge, but everything was served on time, right (as in the way I think it should be!) and delicious! Myself I had the (I don’t remember the name) but something like the supreme scramble. It has everything and very plentiful. Delicious, cheesy, loaded with sausage and I forget what else and a nice dollop of sour cream making it even more delightful, and instead of the hash-​browns or house fries, I subbed in the tater tots (They told me… sure, anything you want is fine!) which made it great for me. Rounded off with English muffins and coffee that just kept coming we were happy campers.
A few other things I saw in our group was a seafood omelet with real crab, the fresh fruit was in fact that, a plentiful side of fruit freshly sliced like it just came from the farmers market…
Oh and let’s take just a moment to mention the muffin. I heard that is a house specialty baked fresh (ours were still warm) and let me tell you, it’s worth stopping in just for the coffee and a muffin. Loaded with berries and topped with crispy coconut, toasted just right… I am quite sure I will be back many times here since (if you read my reviews) a good diner always gets me going… Maybe next time I will have to try their chicken fried steak. I have a weakness for that and I am pretty sure they know how to do it right!

The food is yummy, reasonably priced, and is served by really nice staff. We recommend the seafood eggs benedict, chili (very cheesy), and mexi omelette. We’re also addicted to the muffins served on the weekend. Nice crunchy crust and soft moist goodness inside. Designated parking right outside in that area of Ballard makes it even better!

Love this joint! I’ve only had breakfast here, and it’s my favorite place to go for a weekend brunch. I almost always get the Fremont Omelet – big avocado slices, delicious bacon, and other delicious goodness. The staff is great – friendly and competent. It has the feel of a greasy spoon, but the food is a notch above. Parking can be a bit of a challenge due to the Ballard Farmers Market, but it is manageable.

I love this place. Great food, great staff, great atmosphere. The servers always leave me laughing. My favorite Saturday tradition.

A new owner, Ken, has taken on the grand tradition of Salmon Bay Café. He told me this morning that he’s planning to keep things the same, but introduce new treats, like home baked muffins (upgrade from toast for $ 1.50, only available on weekends). We shared a raspberry coconut muffing and a mixed berry muffin this morning, and they were fantastic! Ask which has just come out of the oven…
They’ve re-​upholstered the booths (it was long overdue, now the duct tape is gone – yay!) and have added new benches to the back room.
One disappointment – he hasn’t gotten his wine (Mimosas!) and beer license yet, but it’s coming. He told me he can’t wait, either.
If you haven’t been to SBC in awhile, check it out.

This a great café right in the industrial heart of Ballard. It is a six block walk from my detail shop and i meet up with a friend from Ballard Industrial. The staff is relaxed and casual. If you expect table cloths and linen napkins, this is not the place for you. Great variety of food done right! At lunch today I had their Belgian Waffle combo. 2 waffles, 2 eggs prepared to your specifications and I had the fruit option. They also offer sausages and bacon instead of the fruit. Last week, I had their Haystack offered on the specials board. Hash browns on the bottom, eggs, corned beef and jack cheese cooked to perfection and placed on top of the hash browns. Also offered with onions and tomatoes, but none for me thanks. I get their @ 11 on weekdays to avoid the rush time crowd. The also offer crayons and paper to keep the tykes amused. Yum!

This isn’t the same Salmon Bay Café that we have all loved for YEARS. New owner I heard. No mimosas till new liquor license. Waiter dude forgot our toast, forgot my side of gravy and the new frozen hash brown patties??? What a joke. And my Joe’s Scramble? He thought I said Jill … not going back for a while … In Ballard, Señor Moose is the place to go!

Food was ok, except for the frozen hash brown patties. Coffee was slow in coming and slow on refills. Service was very, very slow and a member of our party (3) had to go to the pass thru to ask for our order of missing toast. The waitress should have her hair up or back and not flowing into the trays of drinks and food she is carrying and the waiter should not be nibbling on food while waiting tables and wiping his mouth with his hand and serving food at the same time. Also, undergarments and personal hygiene should be mandatory for all wait staff. Maybe it is just me?

An average greasy spoon dive breakfast. Waitstaff was nice, wait time was average. We came here hungover but even so it was on the bland and greasy side for me.

We go here for the convenience.
Breakfast is your standard, prepared without a lot of fuss. Service is generally good, and portions are ok. We did get a moldy cinnamon roll once — packaged, not homemade, but that’s been the only ‘bad’ experience…
The potential is there for so much more.
I love the worn-​in, neighborhood feel of the place, there’s definitely character here that is being pushed out of most areas by the latest hipster hot-​spot.
There’s no ‘Artesian’, ‘Handcrafted’, or ‘Locally Sourced’ ANYTHING — and that’s GOOD!
Yet at the same time it could be a little cleaner, and maybe it’s time for a facelift.

This restaurant is near my slip and I’ve been coming here for years. It’s part of Salmon Bay Marina complex. The restaurant itself is pretty run down and they share the bathroom with other tenants and it’s kinda of gas station clean. The food and prices are decent. They serve breakfast the whole day and service is generally good. I wouldn’t drive to eat here but if you are close by, it’s good.

My coffee cup was never empty. Never even half way before the observant server filled it back up. For breakfast, take the fresh fruit option (ie: fruit, toast, or potatoes). Cozy & clean, comfortable & well priced.

People… you have to come in here with the correct expectations. This is a divey place… and for that I love it. The décor is hideous, the seats are worn and tattered, the parking lot is full of potholes and the food is awesome. I’ve only been here for breakfast but enjoy hanging out with the fishermen and other locals. The omelets are fantastic as are the pancakes. The coffee is basic but refills are free so who is to complain? This is a like a throwback to the 70’s and if you go with that expectation, you’ll find this place rocks!

Terrible service plain and simple! I’ve sat at my table for over 15mins without anyone asking if I needed something to drink. When the entire staff is comprised of 20yr old hipsters I should have known that the service was going to suck. Live and learn.

This place was very underwhelming. We ordered an egg scrambled and pancakes. Everything was bland, even the pancakes. The one thing that I liked was the portion and variety of their fruit that came with our plates.

I had the seafood eggs Benedict and it was delicious, except maybe for the baby shrimps, I could have done without those. The fresh fruit was actually fresh and delightful. I would definitely go back, especially to try the mimosas!

First we need to establish that the Salmon Bay café really is a bit of a dive joint. If you want to eat at some trendy hip Ballard restaurant walk up a block to Ballard Avenue. Also since it is NOT a trendy Ballard restaurant won’t be paying trendy Ballard prices for your food.
Reasons are probably numerous, the place hasn’t been redecorated since Doogie Howser was on TV and they probably buy all of their food from the cheapest distributor around. If you’re into the eat local movement this may not be the place for you.
At the Salmon Bay café you will get good sized portions and the food will be tasty. The menu has a wide selection of breakfast and lunch items. I recently tried the turkey supreme sandwich and the Ruben they were both good (they’re served hot) and I especially like the fact that they serve great big steak fries. The minced ham and cheddar cheese scrambled is pretty good too. Parking is never quite the hassle it is up on Ballard Avenue or on Market Street, this is a big plus.
It’s the kind of place where you can drop in for breakfast or lunch if you just crawled out from under your car, out of the engine room of your boat or if you just finished painting a house. Don’t worry, your t-​shirt and jeans will just look fine against the duct tape on the upholstery.

Great food I think only one cook back in the kitchen. Don’t be hurry it’s worth wait. Ok waitress was hostile when I asked where my hash browns was she then told me they only have hash brown patties. That’s not real hash browns. Then she tried to take my whole plate to make me wait longer when I asked her to leave the omelette she became hostile and questioning.

Looked up breakfast places in Ballard and decided to go to Salmon Bay due to the proximity to Rabid Hands. Because the key to a successful tattoo experience is a HUGE meal before hand!
I decided to get a «savory» breakfast, as opposed to a «sweet» breakfast. I ordered the Biscuits and Gravy with home fries (chunked up potatoes) and eggs. Upon arrival I tore into the biscuit. Gravy was delicious.
Potatoes had chives on top, not a fan so I took them off. Potatoes were good, but I would’ve much rather had hash browns. After I the my eggs and home fries, I went back to my last biscuit. Unfortunately the biscuit had hardened and was not edible 2^nd time around. Boooooo… :(
On to my moms pancakes for dessert…
Bomb-​diggity! Sooooooo good!!! There is something about restaurant pancakes that can not be matched! LOVED them!
Next time I am all about the SWEET breakfast!