Portalis Wine Shop

This is a great beloved local wine shop. The owners are fabulous — you can find exactly what you want here at an affordable price! If you are in the area stop by and get your wine or enjoy a glass!

Love this place. We went to the old location a few times for dinner and drinks, but their new location is very nice. Targeting only a wine crowd and not for food, they have the best selection. Only focusing on small wineries around the globe makes this a wine shop unlike any other. Their Wine Insider club is fantastic. You receive heads up on tasting events, sales and more!

Good food, great service. We started with a cheese plate. Yummy bread and a delightful brie & pepper sheep cheese. Then our entrees were: quail with a sweet potato bacon hash and mustard greens, which was a little on the small side even for quail, but was cooked perfectly and very tasty. The lamb Shepards pie was yummy! Perfect portion. Splendid Savory comfort food. The wine pairing was spot on. Finished the evening with 2 desserts that we shared: strawberry cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust that was light and yummy and a dark chocolate pot de crème that paired perfectly with the fresh French press coffee. A little pricey at $ 120 with gratuity but, All in all a delightful evening.

Portalis is super comfortable– there is an awesome lady who usually is at the wine bar area and she is great about helping you pick out a wine. I am really good at picking out local wine but when it comes to non local wines I am a bit lost.
I am dying to come back for dinner sometime as I had some serious food envy of the gentleman next to me the other night at the bar.
I am so sad they are closing down the tasting area and I plan to enjoy the location a few more times before they move into more of the wine distributing business.
I have picked up nice bottles of wine here as wedding gift and I know I will miss it greatly!

I have been coming since it opened. The owner is incredibly nice and helpful. I don’t feel like an idiot when I ask for help and don’t use «proper» wine lingo.
Jen really gets to know your taste so he can make better recommendations.
The selection in the restaurant is fabulous as is the food. This place is awesome.

Great wine selection. I love to go in here and chat with the staff about their selection. They always make really great recommendations. I would check this place out for a nice bottle of wine every day and certainly if you are looking for wine for a special occasion.

Perfect place for an aperitivo or wine and cheese with the lady. Love the wine selection and wine tasting on Sundays

Occasionally they have wine tastings. The day we popped in, a wine rep was pouring samples of 5 different Spanish wines. We sat at the bar afterwards and ordered wine and appetizers. If you are into whiskey, they are starting to offer that too. This is a good place to come on a date. If you aren’t sure what to order, the bartenders are super helpful.

Love, love, love this place! The food is good and the menu changes regularly to keep things fresh and new. The atmosphere is cozy, the wine selection is outstanding and the staff is as friendly as it gets. When we were temporarily living in Ballard this was our go-​to spot to share a few small plates and a glass of wine. Will definitely miss our regular outings to this place after leaving the neighborhood.

We have been to Portalis a few times, and every time has been a pleasure. We love going on Sunday and partaking in the wine tasting with Jens and then having a glass of something after that. Jens is always so knowledgeable about the wines, and his selection is awesome! Rhiannon is always a pleasure too. If I am not sure what I want, she will gladly pour me a smidge of something so I can see if I like it. She always has a smile on her face and has extensive wine knowledge as well. My husband loves going because of the great whiskey selection they have. He is a big fan of the Willett, and it is always available. Though we often don’t eat when we are there, we have had the homemade pâté’ before and it is delicious! Take advantage of the food, wine and experience here at Portalis. And don’t forget to take a bottle home!

Fabulous food and even better wine. You can choose any bottle from the wine shop with a $ 15 corkage fee. 450+ wines.

This place was awesome! We had a Pinot Noir around the world wine tasting and then we spent a few hours at the wine bar enjoying the wonderful wines they have with a cheese plate.
It was such a relaxing environment with great wine, great food and really nice people that work here. Wonderful service!!!

My first experience here was «meh.» I’d like to go back one day and re-​review it, but til then I have to rate it as I see it.
Atmosphere: Laid-​back and chill. Perfect wine bar vibe.
Service: This is truly what killed it (in a bad way). I’m really tolerant and patient; however, I was so put off by the complacency that it soured the evening. I’ve noticed the few bad reviews on here all point to bad service so I feel somewhat justified.
8pm, we arrived to a half-​filled restaurant with no hostess to greet us. After a good minute of standing there, one of the servers, who was chatting up a storm at a nearby table and had failed to notice us, walked right past us to the bar. After doing her business, she looked up and yelled, «Sit anywhere.» I’m all for the casual, seat yourself thing if you have a sign saying to do so. Otherwise, acknowledge your patrons and don’t make us stand there like idiots!
We get our first glass of wine, which was really good, and wait more to place our food order. 8:25pm, food order goes in. 9:00pm, our server says it’ll be out soon. We have yet to get a refill of water during this time and I’ve noticed tables aren’t being bussed, dirty dishes everywhere. 9:20pm, almost an hour later, we get our entrees. Wow… I’m just hoping it’s damn good. After all, the price commanded promise: $ 25 for trout and $ 16 for a spinach tart.
Food: The fried fish dish was good but nothing memorable; it should’ve been $ 15. The tart with spinach, cheese, and bacon on a piece of pastry was tasty, but shouldn’t cost more than $ 11. Desserts were hit or miss (pineapple upside down cake was fine but really sweet and my husband’s cornmeal poundcake was like eating a doorstop).
I’d like to think I’ll make it back one day; however, life is too short and I’d prefer to take my hard-​earned money elsewhere.

I went to Portalis last night for a bachelorette party. The bride had her first date with her groom there, so it is a special place for her! I called ahead to let them know I was coming, so when we arrived the woman working the restaurant/​bar had a lovely table set up for us. It felt like we were being hosted by someone in their home. The restaurant/​bar is small enough that I think anyone would feel that way. She was such a lovely host! She made the bride feel so special by helping her select the perfect wines for our celebration and she brought her one of their handmade chocolates as a special treat. The ambiance was delightful and the wine delicious. We were so pleased with our experience there! THANK YOU!
Also, Portalis has a huge wine selection with a lot of really great wines at a great price! I will definitely stop in there in the future when I need to buy a good bottle of wine.

I really enjoy Portalis as a cozy, classy alternative to the usual suspects up and down Ballard Ave. It’s not all that often I’m in the mood for a glass of wine when I’m out and about, but when I am, Portalis always comes through with a varied selection of regional, domestic, and imported wines by the glass.
I’ve never partaken of the modest but varied menu, and I’ve only ever bought wine by the bottle after being duly impressed by one of the tasting pours and trying to secure a few of the remaining bottles. But the service has always been friendly and knowledgeable — it seems that many of the staff currently work, or have previously worked, at other tasting rooms around the area so they’re very familiar with regional wines, winemakers, and appellations.
It seems that the most likely time you’ll find me there is when I’m waiting for my name to come up at Rudy’s, but every time I’m in I remind myself to find a different occasion to visit.

Truly a hidden gem in Ballard. I stopped by after leaving Shilshole Bay Marina to burn some time until the traffic on I-​5 died down. The service was outstanding and the wine selection is excellent. The staff was very attentive and a super friendly. Rhiannon and JJ obviously enjoy their job and it makes the whole experience that much more pleasant.

I love Portalis so much I probably shouldn’t be allowed to write a review.
This is the kind of place that when I hear others mention having recently discovered it, a certain smugness seeps into my demeanor, as I nod knowingly… for this has been one of my top favorites in town for over 7 years — and a lot of great freakin’ restaurants have opened in this town during that time. In fact… wait… doh… ANOTHER ONE just opened while you were reading this!
Portalis is that kind of place — the kind of place that inspires proprietary emotions; the kind of place you want to keep a little bit secret (he says as he writes a Unilocal review…) for fear of having it overrun by yahoos. Then again, yahoos would hate the place…
But I’ve never had a bad meal here. Meal? Yes, meal. Yes, it’s a wine shop — one of the best — but they have a dinner menu that is laser-​focused on «just enough» items done, how you say, «perfectly.»
Jens and his staff know what they are doing and, as others have written here, it’s a perfect respite in a hectic neighborhood.
I’ll see you there.
Cheers.
PS — the categories below don’t lend themselves to the nuances and base notes of which Portalis is composed. They don’t have a «full bar,» but they do offer an excellent selection of scotch, whiskey, bourbon.

One of my favorite secret spots in Paris is a wine shop. The particular wine shop I am thinking of is tiny and serves a multi-​course meal, and epic food pours out of a pint sized kitchen. Here, one dish is better than the last. It goes without saying the wine they pour is excellent.
Portalis on Ballard Avenue is a Seattle wine shop, and while we have only ever come here for drinks, and not for food, it feels to us like another secret spot all the same.
A handful of tables at the front of the shop, dimly lit with flickering candles, and behind that a full bar with stools sits alongside a wine shop with stacked bottles in wine cellar formation.
Portalis is a good quiet spot to grab a glass of wine before dinner, or a Jameson or port after dinner. Its melllow, unassuming, casual, wine forward. It happens to be far more low-​key than some of the hyper, fun, loud activity on Ballard Avenue, making it a nice (sshhh!) spot for couples or friends hoping for a conversation & ambiance. A little secret spot worth sharing.

Great meet-​up place for after work, just a low key place to chill with some friends while people watching in a beautiful evening. Nothing über trendy, just straight up very well-​edited wines-​by-​the glass selection and some snacks to help wash down your wine.
Service was really mediocre in terms of friendliness and speed. He could have had a much bigger check if he hustled more — our glasses sat empty on 2 occasions — but he did know his stuff and introduced us to varietals we hadn’t ever tried. That’s no small feat, considering my wine-​loving friends and me.

I popped in here after dinner on a first date. The atmosphere is cozy, and I felt that even though we were pretty close to the next table, our conversation was private.
I was impressed by their selections of various wines and other types of alcohol. I ended up sipping on a white wine the server recommended (though I can’t remember its name for the life of me!). It was good, though not my favorite. A little too citrusy for me. My date’s wine was a smooth red that wasn’t too heavy. I feel like it may have been better if we’d swapped. ;o)