Saw Mill Cafe

Another member of the Cafes Inc chain of restaurants. Every single one of these restaurant is absolutely outstanding in customer service and quality of food.
We were at the Saw Mill Café during the Saturday morning breakfast rush around 9:30a. As soon as we walked in the door and were met with a kind greeting (only had to wait less than 10 minutes to get our table) we knew it was going to be a good experience.
Our waiter, Angel, was busy with MANY tables, but treated us like we were his only customers. We received a very delish breakfast with very little wait.
It’s so impressive how Angel, and the rest of the staff were able to multi task with so many patrons. The food was outstanding in quality and taste!
We will absolutely be back!

This place was okay and nothing out of the ordinary. I had steak and eggs, asked for my steak to be medium rare and it came out almost well done, so that ruined it for me. The hash browns were more soggy than crispy and the seasoning of the food was bland. My friend ordered the clam chowder and wasn’t a fan either.

Came in on a Saturday morning around 11am for our friend’s birthday. We worried about the wait as there was a lot of people in the waiting area and when we saw the hostess she said it was a 30-​minute wait. They have coffee at the front for you while you wait and you can see the dessert display in the waiting area, as well. We were catching up with our friends and the waitress called our name in about 15 minutes, I would guess.
I took a look at the menu online and I kinda knew what I was gonna eat. They serve breakfast all day and I was deciding between the corned beef hash and the country fried steak. The blue-​haired waitress said they were both good, but that I could get sausage gravy on my biscuit, the same gravy that goes on the country fried steak, and at least I’d get a taste of that, so I went an took her suggestion. The waitress was very attentive and made rounds for coffee and water. I feel like our food came out pretty quick considering how busy the restaurant was. I went right for a bite of the biscuits and gravy and thought it was okay – just your regular sausage gravy, nothing special. But the corned beef, man it was tasty! I was pretty satisfied with my meal, overall and the portion size was decent. I’m cutting carbs at the moment, so didn’t eat too much of my biscuit, which was good too. My wife had the California omelette, which was okay. One last note, I’m not sure if they squeeze the oranges in house for their juice, but a small glass of OJ is $ 3.50 and it wasn’t worth that.
Value — 3*
Food — 4*
Customer Service — 5*
Amibence — 4*
I’d come here again to try some other dishes. Customer service was great and there’s a lot of things that look good on their menu for lunch and dinner. I’d lean more towards 3.5*, but the customer service pushes them to 4* overall for me.

I had the pumpkin waffle which was amazing. Everything was really great. Great service also.

Great place for breakfast. Kids m&m pancakes are great for the little ones. The waiter forgot to put my omelette as egg white but he corrected that fast and gave us some pancakes for the kids to make up for it.

An excellent breakfast spot in Mill Creek.
Have been in a few times and the service and food are consistently good. The portions are pretty big, so wear your stretchy pants.
The prices are on par with other breakfast places in the area, but the portion sizes make this place a value for sure.
Try the migas and the meat-lover’s omlette they are so good!

Cute place! The fireplace, woodwork, and not-​too-​cracker-​barrel-​esque décor made it feel much more like a ski lodge and less like they were trying to hard to be cozy. The staff was responsive, checked on us many times, and genuinely nice. Food came out quickly (a definitely plus if you have kiddos like me!) and everything was delicious. Bacon tomato eggs benedict — ON POINT.
This little local and convenient gem will be a go-​to for our family from now on for Saturday breakfasts out.

Sawmill Café is one of our favorite «go to» eateries for breakfast. Service is always good and food quality is top notch. My favorite is the Monte Cristo with fries — there are several other side options. The fresh strawberry sauce is an excellent compliment. We also appreciate the lunch and dinner comfort foods.
It is worth the drive and the wait. A popular place, wait times are often 20 – 25 minutes on Saturday or Sunday AM. Please note that you will not be seated until your entire party is present. That said it assists with group wait time; if your name is called prior to other peoples arrival you remain on the top of the to be seated list.
Employee longevity likely contributes to the impeccable service we always receive. In fact one of their waitstaff is from Stanwood. Willingness to commute is noteworthy.
There are daily specials and lengthy everyday menu. I enjoy watching kids marvel at the whip and mini m&ms on top the hot chocolate. In addition to breakfast we’ve enjoyed selections such as turkey dinner. Serving sizes are large and some selections offer smaller portions.
Décor is rustic, cozy, comfortable, with certain logging memorabilia. I greatly appreciate the attention to detail and cleanliness of the restaurant and bathrooms.
Overall we are very satisfied regulars.

Living in Bothell/​Mill Creek, it’s pretty hard to find any decent breakfast places around here. Saw Mill is now on my top list for breakfast! The service is great, the food is great and not to mention the food comes out quickly!

Listen to me. Sometimes at night I toss and turn in bed and the only thing on my mind is this place’s California Omelette. I have craved this dish more than any other in this entire state. I crave this omelette more than physical interaction with the opposite gender. So don’t talk to me unless you have an omelette to offer.
Order it. It’s all going to be okay, if you just listen to me and order the California Omelette.
I love this place, it is a breakfast diner that is delicious, cozy, stylish, and friendly! I want to eat here forever. It’s always packed on weekends and for good reason. The hot comfort food just hits home on a cold day, and their menu has a great selection. Service is great and the seats are well worth the wait. Everyone who comes here seems so friendly. The waitresses are all sweet and really seem to love their Seahawks clothing!
I love you California Omelette. Come with me, we’ll run away, far far away, and then I’ll eat you.

We just walk out from this Restaurant. Worst customer service that we experienced this morning. Worker in the Counter doesn’t know how to work with customers that’s on the list, who’s on and who’s not.
It is a shamed that that this kind of service is in Mill Creek area.

I’ve never seen this place not busy, and had even passed it up a few times because of the line of people outside. But finally I saw a chance and I took it. When I got inside, there was still a line, but I noticed the counter near the register was wide open. Looking around at all the people waiting to be seated I simply sat down and was promptly given a menu. I ordered black coffee and corned beef hash.
To give some context, I generally order two things when I go into a diner/​greasy spoon/​ect. Those things are as you may have guessed Corned Beef Hash, the other is a French Dip Sandwich or Burger Dip if available. To date, my favorite Corned Beef Hash had been on a recent road trip where I found the Hi-​Lo Café in Weed California.
This however, was an entirely different animal. Not literally, it was still beef. But it was unlike any I’d had before. As the menu promised, it was in fact made fresh with shredded potatoes and not just typical hash-​browns.
The Coffee was also pretty good, only being 1 upped by the Rusty Pelican who give you stronger coffee and use whole cream instead of half and half.
Its a little out of the way for me and the lines can be long, but its worth it.

If I had been Unilocaling this entire time, I would be a regular here with over 200 check ins. My fam and I have been coming here since they’ve opened many years ago. It’s just a simple, average, fuzzy-​wuzzy feeling of a diner. Their menu is boundless with plenty of options. With pricing on the lower end, there’s only one real thing I can complain about.
This place gets very busy in the dinner hours which can get a bit noisy because the restaurant in general is pretty open in terms of seating so peoples voices can travel. But really this is somewhat common in most diners as it is, so expect it.
1) Order the BLT (BLT with avacado)
2) Side order of fries
3) Order drink
4) Wait 4 – 5 minutes for food
5) Profit

After settling in Bellevue, I wondered why I’d rarely visit Saw Mill while I was still living in Everett. Saw Mill Café is located in Mill Creek Town Center, where some of my favorite stores just happen to be! Saw Mill introduces a very rustic, cabin-​like atmosphere; it embraces customers with the feel of the Pacific Northwests’ scenic forests. Best of all, free and plentiful parking in the open parking lot.
My party and I were seated surprisingly quickly on a Saturday morning for breakfast when most tables were filled. Our server was very welcoming and oh so sweet!
I ordered a Two Eggs Your Way with 2 links along with a side of cut fruits and rye bread; I didn’t want to start the day off too heavy! Although it wasn’t as hefty of a meal, it was exactly what I wanted and it filled me up just right! I didn’t feel too greasy or felt the need to fast for the next three days. I had an awesome time over some good breakfast and great conversation! :)

Yes, you could do better, but you could also do a whole lot worse than Saw Mill Café for brunch. Saw Mill Café is part of a seven café group that dots the eastside of Lake Washington, and a diverse menu, reasonable pricing, and good service, make the local one in your area worth an occasional visit.
Food & Drink:
What you’ve got is typical diner food, with minimal variation, and decent execution. For breakfast you’re looking at a host of pancake types, varied omelettes/​scrambles, and then your traditional eggs/​bacon/​hashbrowns type of thing. For lunch it’s a lot of sandwiches and salads. For dinner you’re looking at basic chicken/​steak dishes like country fried steak, pot roast, stuffed meatballs, and sirloin. You can also get a burger.
From my point of view the only time to really come to Saw Mill Café is for brunch. The menu, and how it’s geared up really lends itself well for it. The french toast and pancakes (strawberry/​triple fruit/​almond crunch) are all slightly above average even when accounting for the runny maple syrup. The scrambles/​omelletes offer some good options, and will certainly fill you up. Again, you’re looking at least average worst case. Both the migas and the corned beef has are good dishes with migas having good heat and seasoning on he beef (and good avocado portioning), and the corn beef hash being lean and made in-​house.
Venturing outside breakfast/​brunch you’re on your own a bit. I will say the roasted turkey items are generally a decent bet, and if you forced me to order of the lunch menu, I’d go with it and be relatively happy. The monte cristo is passable, but not great. The club rates at, or slightly below average. I have experience with the reuben or kentucky club. I’d personally rate the salads as average. Both the burgers and the fish and chips rate below average in my opinion, especially if you open up your options outside the Mill Creek area.
Insider Tip: Pie portions here are pretty good – not a bad stop after a night out for a quick dessert – chocolate cream (now gone) was one of the best.
Ambiance & Service:
Set in the Mill Creek Village area, the area is actually quite nice for a morning/​early afternoon walk. Within a five minute walk you can get coffee, groceries, pet items, wine, books, or even edible flowers (if that’s your thing). It’s a great location. In terms of the décor it’s a 40s diner look (off topic, but if you played Fallout, it’ll remind you of that), but it’s geared, as you would expect, as a logging camp with saws, picks, and axes. There’s even some artistic metalwork. It works OK, but passes the «charm» test because it seems fairly warm/​inviting.
Wait times are non-​existent outside weekend mornings, where typically it’ll hover in the 15 – 20 minute range. Service is generally pretty good. Things get fast paced, especially on a Saturday/​Sunday morning, but servers seem generally happy, and care. If you have questions on specifics of the menu, you’ll get pretty well thought out answers. Special orders/​modifications can be made with confidence they’ll be carried out.
Final Thoughts:
If we were grading purely on terms of breakfast/​brunch, I might splurge and give the place four stars. There’s enough good choices of omelettes, south-​of-​the-​border dishes (migas/​huevos rancheros), and sweet stuff (swedish pancakes) to give you some great options. When you get outside that range for regular lunch/​dinner you lose a star or two making it an overall average/​solid experience.
P. S. Bring back the chocolate cream pie!
–AC

While visiting the Seattle Area I met up with a friend at the Saw Mill Café for breakfast. The server, Amy, was very pleasant and attentive. The food, was well plated, flavorful and a good price. As for the atmosphere, it was a cozy café with a 1950’s vibe.
I would recommend this for a nice breakfast stop.

A real family friendly establishment. Portions are big and delicious. Young ones really short kid order off the kids menu or split adult portions. The wait staff are fun, friendly, and attentive.
I’ll come back here again and again.

Food was ok, hash browns had no flavor. I could taste the oil.
The sandwich needed to be on an English muffin not sourdough.
Just ok for me

5 words: skip the potato pancake. By pancake I didn’t expect to eat undercooked hash browns, semi-​mixed in with some eggs and bacon bites.
We stopped in with 3 kids for a late breakfast. This seems to be the only breakfast/​less expensive dining option in the area. The place was very busy for a weekday (granted it was after Christmas before New Year, so people were probably on vacation). We waited a good 15 – 20 minutes for our table.
Service was ok. He was slow to fill our water but overall efficient.
Kids all ordered from the kid’s meal, which for the egg & meat option only came with 1 egg and 1 bacon and a pancake or hash brown and a drink. For $ 5.99, they could throw in an extra strip of bacon or an extra egg in my opinion.
Overall I suppose this is an ok spot to eat if you’re in the area and don’t want to spend a lot for a meal.

I dont know why sawmills ratings are so low. I expected them to have at least 4 stars! Ive been coming here with my family for at least five years now and we have always been satisfied with the food and service. All the omelettes and scrambles taste amazing, as well as the pancakes (which are to die for. They are soo fluffy and melt in your mouth!).
A tip: If you dont eat HUGE portions, split a full size omelette or scramble with someone. Tell the server that youll be splitting and theyll split everything onto two seperate plates for ya. I remember one of the servers actually suggested doing that if we wanted to save some money.