The Ridgeback Cafe

The sweetie and I finally made it out for breakfast, and we even went to a new place!  The Ridgeback Cafe is a nice, open-feeling neighborhood breakfast place.  We were seated right away, at a "communal table," and were given coffee.  The mugs, by the way, are my sister's favorite mug shape.  We were warm and cozy, and for a while they had the door open so we could feel a breeze.  It was noisy, but I had no problem hearing when my sweetie spoke.

The menu was very creative, and not too expensive!  I ordered the special, which was a zucchini, chevre, carmelized onions, spinach and tomato crepe; he was tempted by the spiced pear waffle special, but had the bacon, basil and brie waffle.  My crepe came with potatoes; they were slightly mashed, had the skins, and appeared to be herbed but mostly tasted salty.  Nothing to write home about but fine.  The crepe was pretty yummy.  I'd like to experiment more with their menu; there's potential there!  His waffle had its ingredients as toppings, and he ate the whole thing with approval.

It could use a little more signage; its name is painted on its front window, and it has an A-board on the sidewalk, but the first time I went actively searching the place out, I missed it.  Its service isn't absolutely A+ because we had to ask three times for more cream.  Generally, though, I recommend the place. Its neighborhood is interesting, its prices are reasonable--the crepe was $10 and the waffle $7.50--and I want to test more dishes.

Address: 500 NW 65th St (feels like it's on the boundary of Phinney Ridge and Ballard)

Parking: street only, but we didn't have a hard time finding any.

Cost: slightly below average

Quality: pretty good

Wait: not too bad, although we arrived at the magic hour.  They did tell us an estimate of how long they expected it to take for the food to arrive, which I appreciated.

Coffee (since this is Seattle): ok, maybe thin, slightly burnt.  At one point the server said they were having problems with their coffeemaker, so this may have been unusual.

Menu/variety: concentrates on crepes, waffles, and sandwiches.  Really seemed pretty creative.  If you DON'T feel like having a standard breakfast, try here.

Extras: nice-feeling atmosphere (although the ventilation needs improvement).  Liked the art and the fact that there were toys on the bar counter.  The bathrooms, according to my sweetie, send the message that this is a place to which you can safely bring Aunt Aggie from Indiana--very clean, no major effort to artsy them up.

Payment: credit cards ok, as well as cash.  Didn't try a check.

Website: not found.