First Watch — Restaurant in Chesapeake

Update 5/15/23: After being promised by Hanna that their leadership team would be reaching out to address this both internally and personally, I heard nothing more. I also have not returned to First Watch. Whether I ever do again remains open.

Update: You'll notice that Hannah responded right away and I also received an email from her the next day informing me that I'd be hearing from their "leadership team" to address this. But after almost a week it's been crickets.

Total fail. Breakfast for 2 on a Thursday morning . Not busy. Had to wait 10 minutes before a server showed up. Other tables were seated after us were attended to. The first thing that signaled that this would be less than an ideal experience was that there was lipstick smudges on one of the coffee cups placed on the table. After ordering, It took much longer than expected to get our food. My wife's food, Chicken Pesto Hash was delicious although the basted eggs were pretty firm. I ordered Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict. The poached eggs were undercooked and too runny to eat with a fork. I had to send it back. 15 minutes later, the new order showed up and the eggs were actually more undercooked than before. I literally would have had to use a straw to consume the raw egg whites. Fail #2 on my order. (picture is the 2nd fail) The server was apologetic but offered nothing but to remove it from the bill which is nothing. Also, the "Million Dollar Bacon" was not the thick-sliced bacon as stated on the menu, but the same boring bacon you can get anywhere with some cold syrup poured on it. Upon paying the bill, the person asked how everything was and I said, "terrible". She thought I was kidding. After telling her after two tries I had nothing to eat but some potatoes, she went and got the manager. He was friendly and apologetic but offered nothing except telling his cooking staff to cook the eggs right. No discount, no gift card, no nothing, Not sure if...

I hate to be the first person not to rate this place five stars; but here we are. The food is delightful, my team came here for lunch and there wasn’t a single complaint about the taste or quality.

We came on the second day of business, so the wait/server staff here is still fresh and perform accordingly. That isn’t why they didn’t get 5 stars, as that is perfectly understandable this early on (though I’d recommend figuring out how to serve drinks before food.)

The knock here comes from the space design. There are two points I’d like to make:

First, and most importantly, there is zero regard for acoustics in this building. There isn’t a soft surface in the entirety restaurant. This leads to an overwhelming echo which makes a crowded space sound almost deafening; to the point where, not only could we barely hear each other, but we couldn’t hear the staff (and vice versa.) Spending a few bucks on some sound dampening material would go a long, long way; especially over next to the kitchen. This would greatly improve your guests’ dining experiences (and your staff’s sanity) and is all too often overlooked. I implore this business to at least consider this.

Second, checkout. The guest waiting area is small and inadequate during peak times. But that’s not the problem. This congestion is compounded by the fact that the space to enter the restaurant between the checkout counters and the wall is maybe three-people wide. Add a line to checkout and you have a complete meltdown with staff coming in and out, new guests coming in, and departing guests checking out. This experience could be pretty decently avoided if they just took your card at the table. If this were the restaurant’s first location, this could be overlooked; but they should have enough experience by now to...

First off, I want to say that my complaint is not about My server. It is specifically about the young brunette cashier that check us out at the end of our meal. While she had made a mistake during splitting her checks after I had detailed what was on mine, I paid for it without getting a printout of my detailed. So that mistake is on me. But I did use the restroom before I left after I paid, and realized that the bill appeared kind of high, so I went back to the cashier and let her know, and it was the behavior after that that was supremely disappointing.

Instead of acknowledging a mistake, or saying that she would correct it, without any discussion she prints out the receipt that we had just paid for and nonverbally hand it to us to show us what the bill was. No explanation, no apology. So, I flipped the bill over and I explained to her that the bill is incorrect after I had told her what part of the bill was mine. For a second time. Walk goes and gets our waitress so we can For a third time what is on our bill. Our waitress knew she was great. Took care of it. Got a manager corrected the transaction.

My complaints specifically about the lack of social communication cues that our young public has. The cashier never acknowledge her mistake, the cashier never apologize for causing us to have to repeat ourselves or waiting again or correcting her mistake. I’ll take part of my mistake by paying for something that I didn’t double check but at the end of the day if you are not listening to your consumers and doing your part either and meeting us halfway, that is very disappointing, and the behavior was very very rude. If you do not know how to handle the public, you do not need to be in public service. Get a new job go be...