First Watch — Restaurant in Brentwood

On a crazy busy Sunday brunch with two nearby university parent weekends our group of four chose First Watch. The jump in line on the app has been in the past extremely reliable.

We arrived in the time frame and reported to the hostess station. We were told 10 more minutes, but ended up only being 5. The friendly host sat us at a great table away from the crowds which helped noise volume. He set our table up with menus and tableware.

The restaurant was packed! Every table occupied and staff hustling harmoniously. It was noisy as could be expected.

Our super enthusiastic waitress brought a water craft and got additional drink orders. In short order she was back to take food orders. We put in an app of Million Dollar Bacon. However, the table required more time for mains. Within 5 minutes she was back.

The app arrived in minutes and so good! If you’ve never got this it’s a must! I ordered the avocado toast with scrambled eggs. My wife the traditional and son pancakes and bacon. Our fourth French toast.

Food hit the table in under 15 minutes…wow! That impressed me. But moreover everything was hot and accurate. No complaints from anyone. My dish is always reliable when coming to First Watch. An overall above average experience that was made better by strong service. The performance of the staff stood out and elevated my rating.

Checkout was smooth and I utilized a coupon promotion for buy one get one. I never have a coupon when eating out, so this was awesome to get $20 knocked off. So I flipped it back to the server for a larger tip.

I think this is my first 5 star review for the breakfast and brunch chain and so well deserved. The GM should be proud of how the staff works together to provide such a high level of quality hospitality. I would return in...

Edit 12/24/20: they're still completely uninterested in what someone asks for on a to go order. You get what THEY want to give you and deal with it. Also, over easy eggs should be flipped over, still runny and not ice cold. The food and drink are 4* worthy, but the service is 2* worthy. At least when you order pickup. When it says your order is ready, wait at least 5 more minutes because its not actually ready. I've never gone in to eat, maybe the service is better then.

EDIT: I was hoping to be able to up the stars on this review, but a month later they are messing up every order. Simple things, like not putting utensils or sugar in the bag after it was requested in the order. The juices are amazing, the chicken apple sausage is to die for. The service blows. The workers are friendly and pleasant, they just don't seem to care if the customer is satisfied. 08/16/21 Every time I think this place has it together, they prove they don't. Ordered at 115 for 2pm, at 215 order STILL not ready. An orange juice and a sausage and I stood there for nearly 10 minutes while they said they were packing it up. That was the last chance. Never again....

I normally love the food at First Watch and understand why they often have a wait.

However, we arrived and were told it was a max 45 minute wait, per the hostess, "it will probably be a lot shorter though". After waiting over an hour in our car we went back in to check on our reservation and were told that we would have to wait ANOTHER 30-45 minutes!

Seriously?... and how did they explain our wait mysteriously going from 45 minutes to an hour and 45 minutes, after we watched another couple arrive after us and only wait 30 minutes before being seated...

...they said "well, some people check in online." Why would other people checking in online ahead of time have ANY effect on my wait time unless you are seating them ahead of the people already present and on the list?

We burned through an hour's worth of gas, after being asked to wait in our car, just to not even get to eat. Very unprofessional. If you can't give an accurate wait time, then that is what...