Both Ways Cafe

We had a late morning brunch over the weekend. The service was very warm and friendly and the food was homemade comfort but with none of the work and cleanup you need to do at home. We were told the bread was baked in house and it was delicious — both on my French toast and my husbands sandwich. The vinaigrette on the house salad was exceptional and the salad was crisp and fresh. The chicken sausage gumbo was ok — a little too thick but tasty. A nice little neighborhood find — not pretentious — we’ll definitely go there again.

Came by the café with friends. Great place for breakfast and lunch. Many posters on the wall. Pretty good variety of food on the menu. Crowded at times during the weekends. Street parking is available. Service was friendly.

I’m always pleased to find a place with grits! Amazing grits as well. Small but good

Short version: BEST BISCUITS YOU CAN GIT.
Long version: I’ve been a regular — that is, 3 – 4 times per month — for a couple years (I live nearby). I love the down-​home, laid back vibe, and the food, while not excellent, is pretty good. It’s all prepped in-​house. I’ve never had bad service. Slow service, sure — it gets crowded on weekends — but never bad. The negative reviews might be due to the attitude of the crew — when it gets super busy, they go the same pace as if it was slow, but they are unfailingly friendly and polite. My secret is that I go when they open. For food I’d recommend anything baked. I usually get whatever the breakfast special is, with a biscuit. This place absolutely kills it on the biscuits. They’re best eaten as dessert after breakfast. Mound one up with homemade berry jam, top up your cuppa joe, and enjoy, and all will be right with your world.

These two stars are for the nice cheery people who staff this eatery. I’d like to give them more stars but…
Heading out to breakfast this morning to Stone House… they were closed for the day. Glad they treat their people well on Labor Day.
But where to eat. I kept driving along that road till I got to Both Ways Café. I’ve passed this place many times but never stopped there to eat. I didn’t want to drive all the way into Seattle to find a place, so I parked the car and went there. The staff was cheery and helpful but the food was not up to par.
I ordered a spinach and feta omelette which came with potatoes, toast and a little fruit garnish. I asked for a side of bacon with some decaf coffee. All that came to $ 20 with tip.
The omelette was the best part but it had very little feta and barely some spinach. I ordered some salsa because all they had for hot sauce was tabasco. Note to all restaurants: Tabasco is crap! Find some of the other great hot sauces out there!
The potatoes were dry, dry, dry… like they had been cooked yesterday and left out till this morning and barely heated up.
The toast faired a little better but it was still dry. The bacon I ordered as a side dish was pitiful!!! 2.5 pieces of mostly crunchy fat. Not much meat on them at all and very dry.
The fruit garnish was days old and very small. Tiny square of watermelon, orange and green melon and the tiniest grape ever.
The place was packed and I can’t see the appeal, except that all the locals must be going there because they are too lazy to go to someplace good.
Ugh! A waste of money. My poor stomach.

How cute is this place?! Driven by this place a million times and finally tried it! It’s a small and cozy with yummy breakfast.
The Nw scramble was delicious, with salmon, cream cheese and veggies. The cream cheese in it was something I had never tried, but I loved it!
It is small inside, so not great for groups. A few outdoor tables too.

What a gem. We were escorted here by friends that just happened upon it. Everything is made in house. Old town vibe, locals favorite. We had brunch and it was all delicious. I had a scone (yum)! With amazing homemade jam. The scone was a Scottish scone and had great texture flavor, hubs had a cinnamon roll with raisins– he said it was ok, nothing special, but he would order it again. We all had grits. Very good! We would go out of our way to come back here. Thank you Both Ways!

Hmmm more of a coffee shop and pastries than anything. It was alright, but found a hair in my sandwich which was the end of that lunch. They were very understanding and they took good care of the situation. But after a hair in my food let’s just say no thank you. Hmmm probably will not return to try anything else. Just my prerogative I guess.

Perfect for: fueling up before a lake ride, multi generational brunch, biscuits!
The best biscuit in Seattle. Delicious and simple breakfast, relaxed atmosphere, big round table for group, event posters on the walls are always updated. Kids friendly. I always get biscuit with butter and jam, coffee and bacon. The service can be a bit slow, so be patient, not a good recommendation for when you are in a hurry!

Came here for brunch for the first time and i thought it was delicious. It’s this nice little place on the corner at sewaed park on Genesee. It’s kinda small but there’s a couple benches outside to sit as well.
I ordered the home made fries with bacon and 2 eggs on top. the menu says 11 but it’s actually 12, the girl didn’t charge us for a coffee for her mistake.
When you think of «fries» you literally think fries, but they’re just potaoes on the bottom of the eggs, with pico de gallo, which tasted super fresh! i really liked it, and it’s really filling. I would love to come here again!
The waiter was kind of awkward, not sure if it was because i was asian and they’re used to seeing their usual seward park faces, other than that food was good!

Met a friend here for lunch on a Friday and it was pretty busy but we were able to get a table to problem. It’s a seat yourself type of place and super laid back with limited but eclectic seating options. The servers were very attentive as I waited for my friend to arrive and didn’t rush us to order.
Our waitress was very knowledgable about the menu and was able to answer our many questions (we both have weird diet preferences) without appearing irritated. She even recommended the fresh fruit as a side instead of the bread options, and they didn’t charge us extra for it. I had the Spanish tortilla omelet which doesn’t actually have a tortilla, the egg is the tortilla, and has cheese, potatoes and pico on the side. Only issue was that the menu said sour cream comes with it but I didn’t get it and when I asked for it they charged me $.25 but didn’t tell me it was going to be extra, although it should have been included, irritating but not a big deal. The food took a long time to come out but they were busy, I was in good company and the food was worth the wait so again, wasn’t a big deal. I would have given 5 stars if not for those 2 things.
Bottom line, go here, you won’t be disappointed, good food, great service, and good for infants and kids. My friend is 8 months pregnant and the waitress made a point to tell her to come in after she has the baby to just eat and hang out because they won’t kick her out and they have books and games for kids.

Menu is limited and missing key food staples. Service is slow and dining area is cramped. It’s a unique café and if you like this sort of thing then you will probably give it a good review. But for me it was a sub par place to go in that water is all I ordered.
3 stars because the food looks good, just nothing I like.

I love their food and atmosphere! I’ve come at least 3 times, with my bf, friends, and for my birthday brunch with family.
Their biscuits are delicious and their hash-​browns. I cant remember what all i’ve had for breakfast but i was never disappointed. The only bummer is getting a table, but they have reserved a spot for me when i called 20 minutes ahead. Thanks both ways!
Another tip– it isn’t very accessible– no railings on the 1 – 2 steps to enter, and no room for my dads walker. Though we managed by linking arms.

This was a very good breakfast place. Their biscuit is amAzing!!! It’s crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. And all the dish we had was delicious. The portions was pretty generous and you can tell the food is of high quality. And the service was good as well, the waitress keeps coming over to make sure we are good and water/​coffee was constantly refilled so we never had to ask. The only thing that I have to criticize on is the size of the restaurant. It’s pretty cramped and we had to sit crunched up with another group so it kind of ruin the atmosphere. Other than that, everything is amazing there. Would definitely come back for sure.

We tried this little café on Valentine’s Day morning and it was wonderful! The service was very attentive, even with a busy morning. The biscuits are delicious and the home-​made sausage gravy was just perfect.
It’s a small café that seemed filled with families with you children. There was even a children’s book rack near the door! Being close to the park makes it an easy weekend morning stopover for sure!

First off, since this is a SMALL breakfast place, expect to wait forever for a seat. I think my coworker and I waited outside (after our 5k) for about an hour to an hour and a half. I wanted to leave but my coworkers wanted to wait.
So finally we get seated, and the food takes a bit of a wait too– like 30 – 40 min.
But! The food was good! I ordered the breakfast sandwich with veggie sausage. Delicious.
So I give it an «ok».
Also, bathroom is hidden. You literally have to walk behind their counter lol

Not quite in the questionable stretch of Rainier Ave and a couple of blocks from the lair of the lake people. You can find street parking close by pretty easily. Typical café environs in there: wood floors, a small collection of odd wooden tables and a glass display case in the back by the register where they sell house baked goods such as scones, rolls, pastries etc. It’s cozy and you’ll definitely get to see what your neighbors ordered but focus on your own and you should be good. Or you can gamble on the weather and eat at one of the several picnic tables outside which would better suit a large group.
We ordered the daily special which was a Canadian bacon, mushroom and leek scramble and a spinach havarti scramble both with home fries and a biscuit. The service is a little spotty. While they seated us right away and took our order quickly considering we told them we needed more time, the first cups of coffee stayed half full or less for a while. Then they noticed us and we couldn’t keep the cup below full. Longer wait then typical for your entrée, too. Very tasty eggs, but the home fries were just so so and the biscuit was too sweet for my taste (you’ll be disappointed if you’ve tasted one from Morsel in the U-​District). Average prices for the times. Still, the chill vibe and tasty eggs wins a star above A-​OK.

***Wild King Salmon Scramble***
Order that for breakfast and then come back and thank me. I’ll be waiting.
Other than that, I don’t have much else to say. I was completely amazed at how wonderful my breakfast was though, so I will for sure be back. They have outside seating, which was pretty nice since it was a nice sunny morning. And surprisingly, we were checked on consistently while eating outside. I feel like places usually forget about you when the majority of their customers are inside. =\ So, that was a plus.

Came here for breakfast and loved everything! Good service, reasonable prices. We tried:
Frittata special with bacon, potatoes and some veggies. Delectable!
Salmon scramble was really delicious as well. I couldn’t decide which entrée I liked better so was glad my husband and I were able to share the two.
We chose biscuits as our side and it was the right decision. With the butter and freezer jam it was awesome.
Potatoes came with egg dishes and those were yummy as well.
Glad we discovered this place. Will definitely come back!

My boyfriend was keen on taking us to this café because last time he was here he really enjoyed the food. However today was just a bizarre experience and judging on a few recent reviews, I suspect that lately this restaurant has been in a bad funk!
First off it took forever for someone to give us menus. Then it took forever for someone to take our order. Then it took about 45 minutes for the food to come out. There was literally no explanation from the people. I don’t know if they were just short staffed today or what. I even saw a table just walk out because it took so long to get food.
The french toast I had was OK. I am inclined to agree with another reviewer that there was not much egg. The bacon was a bit overdone although was glad to see many pieces of bacon. They gave you one small piece of cantaloupe, one small piece of honeydew, and one small piece of watermelon which I thought was a bit insulting. Either have a few more pieces than that or none at all. The northwest scramble was tasty, I will admit.
Very little service + mediocre food + long wait time = terrible experience.