First Watch — Restaurant in Columbia Township

UPDATE 10/17: They seem to have doubled down on this matter. I attempted to contact their customer service team as instructed in the response to this review "from the owner." I got a support ticket emailed back saying someone would be in touch in 3 business days. 4 business days later, I replied asking when I could expect a follow up, and received another email with a new support ticket number...with a request to wait 3 more business days for someone to contact me. Next to my core complaint, this outcome is almost impressively ironic. Pretty sure they don't know how to admit that their apps and customer service technologies are a clown show they prefer instead of just apologizing and sending me a gift certificate.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

Totally blindsided and disrespected. Told family traveling on the road to meet me for breakfast on their way through town. We arrived, was told a 25 minute wait and texted a confirmation. Waited 25 minutes to be told that it would be a 20 minute max wait...25 minutes later...told it would be another 20 minutes, but also told that unlike walk-in customers, people who check in online are placed ahead of the rest in line. After 1 hour of waiting, I politely asked how many folks were ahead of us, and the general manager appeared and escalated the situation. Repeatedly interrupted me and called me combative in front of a crowded restaurant while I'm trying to calm him down and just get his name. Made me feel like I was the cause of the trouble when all I did was have the temerity to ask how many people were cutting in front of us. He came to the table after we were seated I'm suppose to apologize, but he really just underscored that I was at fault because I had "energy" he didn't like. Was far more interested in performing the adult in the room song and dance than realizing his staff had been caught feeding boiler plate times and had embarrassed me by debating there was actually, in fact, a huge difference between the 55 minutes his tablet says we waited versus the hour wait I claimed.

Dude, I brought folks out of town to your restaurant, you made us wait for over an hour because online check ins were getting priority for seating, there's no information on your signage or your websites saying that is how people are seated, but I'm the bad guy because I'm calling you out on giving me and who knows how many other people waiting the gas light? Gotcha.

My folks loved the food, it looked great, I passed and enjoyed ice water because I didn't feel comfortable eating where the general manager kept labeling me combative. Pretty out of line when he's the one interrupting me and talking to me like we're in court. They got nice handwritten signs and stuff on the walls asking for reviews, so here's mine: Never going back here, be sure to confirm at the door if online check ins are gonna cut in...

Let me first state the good at this place. It has a wonderful atmosphere on the inside, however that’s where the good stops. I took my father here while he was visiting in town because it was someplace I hadn’t tried and seem like a good spot. When we showed up he told us he would be about a 20 minute wait, which is fine and we were willing to wait that time. After waiting outside for 20 minutes went into check the wait time and they told us it only be about another 10 minutes. At this point we decided to wait inside since it wouldn’t be too long however ended up being another 30 minutes before we were sat. Now I worked in the service industry for a long time and I understand being overwhelmed by a big rush however what I noticed wasn’t that there was too many people waiting it was just poor management.

I saw multiple people who came in and got onto wait after us seated before us and I saw many open tables just waiting to be cleaned. I also saw that the bar was half empty, which was at this point when I asked the hostess if we could just sit at the bar since it seemed like it was empty they said no it wasn’t open seating. That’s one another hostess came up And ask how long we’ve been waiting and I said 50 minutes and that’s when they decided to clean a spot off at the bar for us to sit. At this point we then proceeded to wait another 10 minutes before one of the servers asked if we’d been helped. When we stated no she went to go look for a server. After another 10 minutes the same server came back and said “sorry I could not find her I will take care of you guys”. Now I don’t necessarily blame this next part on her because I think she might’ve been overwhelmed with the number of tables she had. However it took her another 10 minutes before she asked us what we wanted to order. And after we place our order took 30 minutes for us to receive the food. Now at this point this establishment did have the opportunity to regain some stars with the quality of the food. However the food was subpar. My eggs or cold and the diced potatoes were very undercooked to the point of almost being raw it was just not a good experience. And yes any rational person after taking an hour and 15 minutes to even get a glass of water would’ve left. But we felt like we had already invested too much time into waiting and hope the food would make up for the wait. I might one day give this place a second chance however I cannot in good conscience recommend that someone spend their money to have poor service, poor food, and extremely...

The food is looks pretty, but the taste is merely fine and it is definitely overpriced ($14 for avocado on toast with 1 egg, come on). I actually still liked coming here, despite the food costing too much for being just fine, so much so that I wanted to apply! I submitted an application online, then waited a few days to call to see about talking to a manager (the ol' go-gettum attitude my mother tells me is still effective, I'm not too sure about that). The hostess or whoever answered the phone and was immediately hostile, answering my polite "hello" with an attitude-filled "how can I help you?" in that vicious way people do when they're already bothered by you before you've even opened your mouth (excellent for the service industry). I asked, politely, if they were busy and if they were not, would I be able to speak to a manager about my application. She rudely cut me off to tell me that no one was available and that "they would never hire me anyways for calling during a rush". As if I, from my home, would somehow know that they were in the middle of a rush, and as if I hadn't first asked if they were busy (because I didn't want to take up anyone's time if they were busy, I have worked in food service before). I simply told her to have a nice day then hung up. My dad and I eat here most Sundays, say goodbye to that. I'm so sorry, Ms. Hostess, that you were having a bad day (poor you, having to work a rush at a restaurant, what a rare and unexpected occurrence), but it was entirely inappropriate and unprofessional to bite the head off a potential applicant for asking a simple question. Most of the bad reviews are due to staffing, I would suggest not hiring lazy, rude, discourteous people (like whoever answers the phone), or try training them more so they know not to be blatantly disrespectful to customers (not a good way to keep repeat business). I'd like to come back one day, but certainly not with the...