Portage Bay Cafe had a strong summer. It’s closing a cafe anyway

Portage Bay Cafe will close its West Seattle restaurant after brunch service Sunday, saying the location doesn’t have enough indoor seating to make it through another winter.

The Seattle breakfast and brunch chain announced the closure on social media, thanking customers for their support and pointing to a problem that strong summer business couldn’t solve. The restaurant operates at 4725 42nd Avenue SW in the West Seattle Junction.

“There are many factors that led to this decision, but the simple fact is that there was never enough indoor seating to support our business model,” the company wrote.

Portage Bay’s four other Seattle cafes will remain open. Owner Amy Fair Gunnar told the West Seattle Blog that those restaurants are doing well and that the company is finding positions elsewhere in the chain for nearly all of the West Seattle employees.

“We are really sorry to be leaving West Seattle,” Gunnar said. “We’ll miss our guests.”

Why Portage Bay Cafe is leaving West Seattle

The company said West Seattle customers supported the restaurant, especially during the summer. But those sales weren’t enough to cover the slower months ahead.

“The support of the West Seattle community has been amazing, and we are so grateful for your patronage,” Portage Bay wrote in its announcement. “Sadly, our strong summer sales are not enough to carry us through another winter.”

Gunnar also pointed to the “soaring costs” of running a restaurant. She identified the location’s limited indoor seating as the problem that made operating through fall and winter difficult.

The West Seattle cafe opened in January 2023 in the former Agave Cocina space, according to Westside Seattle. Its final service will come a few months short of its fourth anniversary.

In its farewell post, the company recognized the employees who helped establish the restaurant in the neighborhood.

“We are proud of the work our crew has done to make our West Seattle location a destination for the community,” Portage Bay wrote. “We will all miss serving you!”

Portage Bay Cafe’s financial challenges

The closure announcement came about six weeks after The Seattle Times reported that Portage Bay’s owners were facing eviction lawsuits and tax warrants, though they said at the time they were determined to keep going. In an update to its story, the West Seattle Blog noted that court records show the next hearing date is Oct. 29, four days after the West Seattle cafe’s final brunch.

The company’s closure announcement did not mention those issues.

Other Portage Bay locations will stay open

The West Seattle closure comes after another Portage Bay restaurant appeared near the top of a Seattle reservations ranking this summer. The South Lake Union cafe ranked fourth on OpenTable’s list of the most-booked Seattle restaurants during the height of summer. That ranking applied to the South Lake Union restaurant, not the West Seattle location or the chain as a whole.

The South Lake Union menu includes brunch dishes such as Bananas Foster French Toast and Crab Cake Benedict. The restaurant also offers outdoor seating, which is popular during summer.

Portage Bay’s closure announcement directed customers to its remaining cafes in South Lake Union, Roosevelt, Ballard, and on NE 65th Street. The company described those four locations as busy and thriving, and Gunnar said the same in her interview with the West Seattle Blog.

For employees at the closing restaurant, the company is working to arrange transfers. Gunnar said Portage Bay is finding spots at its other restaurants for “pretty much everybody.” She didn’t give an exact number of employees who would move to another location.

The final West Seattle brunch is Oct. 25

Customers who want to visit the West Seattle cafe before it closes have through Sunday’s brunch service.

The restaurant’s West Seattle page lists weekend hours of 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Junction location and links to online reservations.

Portage Bay ended its announcement with a message to the neighborhood: “Again, thank you, West Seattle. We’ll miss you.”

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here. 

Follow @https://twitter.com/kirocharlie