Marina Café

We LOVE Marina Cafe! They have lunch everyday that comes with a salad, chips, cookie and soda and whatever hot sandwich/wrap is made for the day. On Thursday through Saturday evenings, they now have tapas, beer, cider and wine and it is the best thing that has happened in Port Townsend! Jen and Sean are the best people and their food is just as good. We love coming here for lunch and evening tapas every week. We’re moving out of Port Townsend and Marina Cafe is going to be one of the 3 places we will truly miss!

We were lucky enough to stumble on this hidden gem. The muffins were great and breakfast was yummy. Hosts were incredibly nice and you could tell that locals love it. I want to go back to try the empanadas

This place is amazing. Small, quaint. Amazing food. The staff (a small kitchen) knew all their regulars by name. It felt like dining in someone’s home kitchen. Even my picky boyfriend really enjoyed this place. Cannot recommend it enough. Excited to come back! Feels like a true locals spot

Short Version:
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If you appreciate a heart & TRULY home cooked meal for breakfast/lunch, served with the best smile in town, then you should go to this excellent cafe.
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Long Version, Context:
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My partner and I had just finished driving/camping all along the Washington coast and parts of the interior. We planned Port Townsend as our last stop —On Valentine’s Day. (Side note Port Townsend is the best for a quiet Valentine’s Day) After looking around town and searching google maps we found this place after passing on some much busier ones. I myself was excited because I love wooden boats and the shipyard is nearby… Out front the door.
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Our Meal & Experience:
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Outside we found parking amongst the shipwrights and other trades working in the yard & docks, no issues there.
From the outside looking in we saw a small cafe with totally fogged up windows on our rainy day. A poet would have had fun.

Upon entering we saw that the windows were fogged up as a result of the fresh (& fragrant) muffins which are apparently her speciality. Within seconds coffee was offered, and gladly received. An instant wave of “at homeness” was felt by both myself and my partner. The owners smile and kindness permeating easily into us.

Quickly thereafter we looked at the menu on the chalkboard (half dozen items or so) and made our selection of bacon scramble.

Quickly she and her cook began making our meals. Brought to our table with the bacon scrambled eggs accompanied by an enormous fresh blueberry muffin. The latter cut in half despite only just coming out of the oven, filled with delicious butter for further enjoyment.

—I cannot stress enough how the taste, warmth, and contents of the meal felt home cooked in the best imaginable way. Instantly we felt as though we were at home and made the meal ourselves with all our favorite ingredients. Fantastic.
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Experience Outside of Meal:
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The room is filled with home style seating, baking materials, and much boat/sea paraphernalia. Clearly a local haunt.

Kids will no doubt be more than welcome, with high chairs leaned up against the walls.
We saw a family come in with many kids, quickly greeted with warm familiarity by the owner.

Many shipwrights and other workers briefly entered to get some of her muffins, which are apparently a local legend.
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I only have two regrets:
- Not remembering her name
- Not taking a picture

Regarding the latter, my partner and I are avid film photographers and realized we would have loved to take their portrait. But it didn’t feel right to interrupt the experience we were both lost in the enjoyment of.

—Go Here

Loved this place. Owners/chefs were very personable and felt like I was at my Aunts for breakfast. 😂
I had the salmon scramble with a mixed berry muffin fresh from the oven.

Hidden gem in Boat Haven. It’s the perfect place to get an elevated food experience while still in your well worn boat attire. Yes it’s in the parking lot of the boat yard and marina, and that’s so convenient!!!

The owner and staff are friendly and welcoming. It’s a bit of a funky setup. You walk in and it’s unclear if you should order or wait to be seated, but it’s not a problem. It feels like either works. A lovely lady will make sure you get the best experience. Small plates so you can try many things. The prices are reasonable for the quality food. Now that I know the restaurant is there, I will try to visit when I drive to PT too.
Should have taken pics, but I was too focused on eating and hanging out. Patio is dog friendly too!

This experience should not be missed. The food was absolutely amazing, and our hosts were the BEST at what they do. If you need to wait for a table, the wait is worth it! The menu changes every week.

Small but delicious cafe! Doesn’t seem like there is a set menu, just what they are cooking that day. All the food tasted super fresh and great quality. Their muffins seem to be the staple and they were out when I got there but waited for the next batch. So glad I did! One of the best muffins I’ve ever had! I personally thought the prices were cheap considering the quality of ingredients and how good it is.

Small Cafe, usually 1 or 2 things on the menu. Great homestyle breakfast most of the time. Small town feel, lots of regulars. If you're down by the marina definitely check it out, worth it.

Hard to describe. We come back every time we’re anywhere near. Just go. It’s like going back 50 years. You eat whatever delicious, thoroughly homemade thing she’s serving today and smile. Today, it’s a salmon scramble. The salmon was caught by the gentleman seated at the table next to us. Put some cash in the ice cream pail on your way out and go about your day with visions of those big, fresh-from-the-oven blueberry muffins dancing in your head.

stopped in for coffee and a muffin. the coffee is standard coffee pot stuff but the fresh berry muffins we're excellent - really quite good. a charming little cafe in the marina. they close at 1pm so get there early

Don’t waste time reading this review. Just go now and enjoy. This place is foodie heaven. We stumbled across it doing an overnight at the Boat Haven Marina, and while they clearly do a thriving breakfast business, they’ve opened for weekend dinner and it’s PHENOMENAL. Like the morning reviews will show, the menu rotates daily, but it doesn’t matter. Everything is delicious. We were so amazed by everything (the crab cakes, the albacore tacos, the pan fried Lions mane, the patatas bravas were all to die for!) that we went back for a second round the same night. We added the kale Caesar and did follow up rounds of all the things we’d already ordered - and some torte (for a midnight snack).

The bar sits right at the kitchen, there are a handful of tables inside and another handful outside on a super cute patio space (that’s shielded from the wind on 3 sides), and the vibe is awesome.

My husband and I don’t normally love our overnights in Port Townsend (it gets pretty windy and night), but now we’re coming up with reasons we need to come back ASAP, just to have more meals here.

Seriously, this is my new favorite restaurant. How many restaurants would you go back and literally order more of everything 90 minutes after eating it the first time? For us, that list is incredibly small, and this place tops it.

Hands down our new favorite place in PT. Simple, fresh and so, so delicious. Thrilled that there are now some evening offers, the tapas are fantastic. Get there early, because they’re likely to sell out. Also happy to see that the opening times now look accurate. Love this place!

Exactly what a Marina cafe should be. Great place, excellent food and even better staff!

Terrific owner, great food, nice prices, and I personally like the ambience by the marina.

Picked up coffee and fresh blueberry muffins from here. Only $8 for 2 coffees and 2 muffins! Fresh baked that morning, and she even apologized that they might be crumbly because they were too warm from the oven! No complaints here! Excellent bakery with coffee, and the owner was the most pleasant happy person I've ever met, and she was happy to chat with anyone walking by.

TL;DR: You cannot go wrong here. Pro-tip: morning muffin/scone + coffee or lunch at noon.

This is one of the places that makes Port Townsend so amazing. Show up for your morning coffee and get whatever is fresh-baked with local fruit. It doesn't matter what it might be. Get it, eat it, enjoy.

Lunch is served at noon. Be there or miss it. And you will have missed out big time. You get what she is making for lunch. Buy whatever she made, shut up (my words), and enjoy the awesome. It's a complete lunch box of goodness, all the tasty, made-with-care calories you need to power through until dinner. Similar to a high-end restaurant, you're eating what the chef is making today, and it's always great. Whatever is getting served up is a value far beyond what you pay.

If the "your choice is [x]" isn't your jam, good. Leave the awesomeness for the rest of us to enjoy.

Amazing place! Food is phenomenal, and the owners treat you like family! Walked by it too many times and paid no attention....big mistake...Wish I had known how good this place was!! Highly recommend!!

Only two options when we arrived. Breakfast or lunch. Breakfast was a fantastic, not too sweet, berry filled blackberry muffin and coffee and lunch was a turkey and pesto stromboli with a salad a cookie and drink. $5 for breakfast and $10 for lunch which we got one of each and shared.

Loved the stromboli as it was delicious and seemed super fresh even though it only took a minute to come out. The salad was simple but seemed super fresh as well.

Bought 2 more muffins for the road and it all came out to $21... Mind blown. If you are in town do yourself a favor and go here for some of the best cheap eats I've ever found any where.

We went up to the widow and asked for a menu. The owner said, “I don’t have a menu”. She said that she just cooks whatever she feels like making and when it’s gone it’s gone. After explaining what was available, we ordered the most amazing spicy bacon muffins that we ever tasted. Paired with a perfect cup of coffee, it’s perfection to start the day.