First Watch — Restaurant in Chesterfield

UPDATE (06/27/2024):

Overall Score changed from 1 to 4 based on response from business. It is always more important to recover, learn, and do better for your customers.

Email from Director of Ops, First Watch STL.

I just read your review describing your recent experience at our Chesterfield location. At First Watch, we pride ourselves on stellar customer service. It appears that we definitely dropped the ball during your visit. I have already coached management and the team member involved, as the customer service you received was unacceptable. This is not our standard. I would like to send you 2 of our Brunch Bucks ($20 each) to both apologize and invite you back in.

My reply:

Thank you for reaching out and addressing my concerns regarding my recent experience at First Watch. I appreciate the prompt and effective measures your team has taken to improve customer service. While I am grateful for the offer of $20 coupons for brunch, I must respectfully decline. My intention in raising the complaint was not to receive free items, but to highlight an issue that I hoped would be addressed and prevented in the future. I am pleased to see that steps have been taken to improve the situation, and that is what truly matters to me. I will update my review to reflect these positive changes and adjust the overall score accordingly. Thank you again for your time and efforts. Always a fan of First Watch!

The review:

Prepare yourself for quite a long read. Frequent and regular First Watch customer for many years. Have visited many in several states. This is my first ever negative experience. Entered restaurant, early morning, greeted immediately, Only five tables in use. Young lady who seated me was not my server. I watched her tell my server that she had a table. My server was sitting down with another guest hanging out and looking at things on guest’s phone. Approximately five minutes had passed, and the young lady who seated me noticed that no one had visited my table. She went back over to my server (who was still seated at another customer’s table) to tell her a second time that she had a table. She got up, entered the kitchen, came out with coffee. Walked up to my table and said, “you know what you want?” I ordered, she left to turn in the order, and returned to sit down at the customer table. She didn’t say hello, good morning, Nothing. Absolutely zero greeting! Food ready quickly my server brings it to the table, set it down, and walked away. She did not utter a word. Yep, You guessed it! She went back over to sit down at the table. I tried to get her attention because there was a problem with one item on the plate. Finally, after about 10 minutes, she came to check on me, and I explained that all of the bacon was overcooked and burnt. Her response? “It doesn’t look burnt to me! What do you want me to do? You asked for it crispy, and that’s not burnt.” At this point, I am quite taken back with the fact that she is arguing with me over burnt bacon. I had already completed the rest of the meal, but had not touched the bacon. Her attitude and body language became more agitated. I asked that she take it off the ticket and bring me an updated bill. She said, “so you don’t want the bacon?“ — At this point, I asked to speak with a manager. She immediately offered to pay the whole bill In an effort to keep me from speaking with a manager. Absolutely awful experience from start to finish. I paid for my entire meal, except for the bacon. Train...

The GRAND entrance: Pushing my mother in for our first ever visit, the hostess came running to try to help with the door! Immediately, I was impressed with that sort of concierge seating/greeting experience, and then upon entry, I saw "Be Kind" written on their easel! Both made me happy we had chosen to come, and we hadn't even at that point even been seated or tasted the food!

Seating NO ONE'S beating: Approaching the table, it was swift and hands-on despite the wheelchair as several TEAM players assisted in pulling a chair, seating Mom on an open aisle, and in a comfy spot without the need for us to say or do a thing. Needless to say, we were HIGHLY impressed at this point as I can honestly say I have NEVER had this sort of courteous seating anywhere with Mom!

Vittles that lasted about as long as a paper shirt in a bear fight: I will NEVER do the food justice with words, but when I say it all lasted about as long as a paper shirt in a bear fight?! That is country slang for hoo-we-mama, we greedily downed that food and almost cried when it was gone! The menu first of all was limitlessly overwhelming if I had to say anything 'negative', but I mean that as a HUGE compliment, and as God is my witness, I do not lie, I HATE breakfast foods! But when I tell announced mid-way through devouring my breakfast tostada carnitas, "This is THE BEST FOOD I MAY HAVE EVER eaten" (not just breakfast foods were being drawn into comparison), I reiterated, by emphatically saying, "Again, I'm saying, NOT just the best breakfast food I've ever eaten, b/c ya'll KNOW I don't even LIKE breakfast food...this is THE BEST FOOD I have ever eaten!" It was expertly spiced, nutritious, and alternatively breakfast-y! (And, yes, I KNOW I'm using a lot of exclamation marks, but, ya'll?! This food was delicious, and rarely do I EVER say that as I am gluten free, don't like breakfast food, and am picky as picky can be because I am an admittedly good down home, Southern-inspired, Paula Deen type cookin' mother of three, and as I say, "Ya'll, I didn't get hips this size from skippin the butta" 😉!

Drinkin's not just for Friday nights, mama: Holy Mary Mother of God, you have GOT to try the seasonal Juice Bar fixins, their take on Sangria, and/or the Bloody Mary. Period. End of story. Don't cry to me if you choose to ignore this one piece of advice. I will tell you to talk to the ✋🏾if you try.

Service ... (ask for Kim, but tip like it's Nicole) 😉

Gluten-Free Options APLENTY: Part of my hesitancy in eating out is, as I mentioned, due to having to cook at home and the fact that I grew up in a home where mama cooked every meal and we scarfed it up by leaving no crumb behind. But usually, g/f food is hard to find, limited in scope, boring, and without flair or imagination. This place? The choices were almost as plentiful as the non-g/f options were, and EQUALLY as gorgeous on the plate and as yummy or yummiest than traditional breakfast fare like the others chose to eat! That carnita tostada was heavenly and with the fruit sprinkled with tajin?! My fresh-squeezed watermelon juice on the side? When I say I was almost wistful when it was all over, I do not lie!

My suggestion? GO EARLY...these west county folks arrive in droves about 9:45-10 am, but the early crowd was quiet, lighthearted,...

We went here because the food looked good online. We walked in and a white gentleman with glasses greeted us. The place was packed. The seating area was stuffed with people. No seats and no where to stand. He stated it would be a 20-25 minute wait. He took our name AND phone number so they could notify us when the table was ready. Instead of standing where one can't really stand, we waited in the car. APPARENTLY this was a big mistake.

Roughly 20 minutes later we recieved a text that our table was ready. We left the car and went inside. This maybe took a minute. When we got inside they looked at us like we had 3 heads. We showed them the text and they said are table had ALREADY been given away. Dafuq??? So instead of us leaving like some people with some sense, we waited some more. This time we waited inside because they can't be bothered to wait 1 minute to keep your table. Please note, at no time were we every apologized to about our table being given away.

So we sat down. The guy who look confused when we said we got a text about our table asked a black gentleman if he knew what happened. He used our name and he said we never responded. 🙄 So we're waiting and we were assured it would only be a few more minutes. As we waited, other people were being seated. Some more people came in and they got seated too. So the last straw was when a party of 3 got seated and they weren't even inside the place when we came back inside the second time. Horrible service. There is 0 reason to take our number and text us if you plan to give the table away in less than a minute. We won't be back. I doubt...