First Watch — Restaurant in Christiansburg

My partner and I entered First Watch excited to try to the new restaurant! There were other people in line waiting to be seated. Our hostess took menus and sat us, then commented, with no other context, "Just so you know, we close in 7 minutes," and walked away. We watched her seat another table and say the same thing, to which the family proceeded to just leave. We saw other tables still eating and debated in what to do, while waiting for service. My partner and I are understanding people, but we were unsure if 7 minutes meant that we needed to leave, that we only had 7 minutes to order, or that we had 7 minutes to dine.

However, after employees walked by us without serving us, and seeing the hostess laugh about people leaving, I took the menus up to the hostess and asked why she would seat us, only to proceed to tell us that the restaurant was closing. A server interjected saying that "they're obligated to still seat people." My partner and I, who worked in the service industry for 7 years ourselves, decided to leave. If restaurants are obligated to seat, are they not also obligated to serve those tables? Neither the hostess or the server made it clear that if we were still seated, that we would be served. My partner and I felt that as customers who weren't aware of the closing time, we could have been told in different way, or even asked if we'd rather order Togo than dine-in. Instead, she made sure to seat us, then tell us twice that the restaurant was "almost closed." We felt the only purpose in her saying so was to get us to leave. That statement makes people feel like a burden, or in the server's words, an "obligation," and we wish there had been different communication throughout the interaction, rather than cattiness. We understand that we should've double-checked closing times, but we're disappointed in the way the situation was handled. There was no attempt at customer retention (I.e. "We close soon, but we'd love to have you back tomorrow morning!" OR "We close soon, but you can still order Togo if you'd like!"). Every word that was said to us was in hopes that we would leave. We were very hopeful to try this place for the first time, but left without even getting to...

After 4 times over the past 6ish months of trying to love this place, I can't. Our first visit was great. A tad pricey for two people ($72), but it was tasty, with good service. The second time it was still good, but the service was sporadic at best, with our drinks not getting refilled the entire meal. We asked our server literally 4 times for water while he flitted around to other tables bringing endless drinks to people. The third time, we brought our children. This time we tried the Christiansburg location. We go our two year old a kids meal, the adult version was brought out, we inquired, they admitted their mistake and we were told the charge would be adjusted appropriately. It wasn't, and we actually realized later we were charged EXTRA for two drinks we didn't get.

We really should've learned, but we recently decided to give it one last try, back in Roanoke.

This most recent time sealed the deal. We were seated quickly, exactly where we wanted on the patio, this was a promising start. Our waitress was very sweet. My main course was great, carnitas tostada. The side, however was fruit. The fruit was great! Until the second bite, when I bit into egg shell. And upon further inspection, about a tablespoon of eggshell and egg goop was mixed into my fruit. Our waitress hadn't come back since our food was brought, so I waited. My husband's meal wasn't as good as mine. The potatoes were so crispy he couldn't finish them. They were literally rock hard. Our waitress finally came to bring the check (no refills, no checking, just came back at the end) and I notified her, that while I don't really want anything for myself, the egg mixed into the fruit was very concerning if it came from a large container, because then the entire thing could be contaminated and someone with a weaker immune system (like a child) could become ill. She said she was sorry and asked if I would like fruit to go. 🤦‍♀️ Anyways, we...

I have only eaten breakfast at another location of First Watch, and have always enjoyed the food and atmosphere. Today, my work chose to order lunch for everyone (take out). I ordered the Monterey Club with soup of the day---I called & they said the soup of the day was broccoli/cheddar & the other soup available was tomato. 2 other people ordered the exact same thing except they preferred to omit some items on their sandwich. The order was picked up & all the soups were tomato (not the soup of the day/broccoli cheddar), and some of the sandwiches were not prepared as requested.

That aside, my sandwich was "okay". My biggest issue was the bread was very old---this was NOT day old bread---this is what I would consider 2 week old bread that I would have either thrown or used in a recipe....I'm old enough to know what fresh bread is and this was on the verge of mold. As a matter of fact, there was a blue powder substance on the edge of my bread that I would only be able to describe as a cleaner possibly. Although I checked it over for mold this didn't look like mold because it was very blue---definitely a powder--I cannot think of anything it could be except for a cleaner. The rest of the ingredients seem good and fresh, and the sandwich was just okay due to the bread.

I am writing this in hopes that the management will actually do what they are supposed to do and improve things at this location. I will never order food from this location again. I would have had better luck at a regular sandwich shop.

Also, because it's food for me and my coworkers, we do not have time to run back and forth for them to "make things right". They should have had it right in...