(WSB photo from Portage Bay’s West Seattle opening day in 2023)
Almost four years after expanding to West Seattle with a location in The Junction, Portage Bay Café has just announced it’s closing in WS. We talked by phone with owner Amy Fair Gunnar shortly after she made the announcement. It’s one of five locations the local mini-chain has, and she says the other four are going strong, but – especially given the “soaring costs” of operating a restaurant – this one has a fundamental problem, not enough indoor seating to get it through the fall/winter season. “We are really sorry to be leaving West Seattle,” she told us. “We’ll miss our guests.” She also noted that the Washington Hospitality Association has tallied ~2,000 restaurant closures this year, which she says outnumbers the closures during the first year of COVID. We asked about the West Seattle staff; she said they’re finding places at their other restaurants for “pretty much everybody.” The last day for the breakfast/brunch café at 4725 42nd SW will be Sunday, October 25. (Portage Bay was preceded in the space by Agave Cocina for three years, and before that, Fresh Bistro for nine years.)
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