First Watch — Restaurant in Columbia

Edited to update recent experience: First Time: Me and my girlfriend went for lunch to try it out, there was a bit of a wait which was perfectly understandable and when we were seated everything seemed fine. However the problem started after we ordered. We waited almost an hour. No check ups to let us know we weren't forgotten, and we did start thinking that as people who arrived later where getting served in much more timely manner. It was almost time for closing before we got our food, but they didn't even have my girlfriends soup. They promised it was coming though. The food was amazing. Very impressive since most places that only do breakfast and lunch tend to taste like hospital food. Not this place, it was worth every penny, but it wasn't worth waiting an hour after ordering and not being reassured or having the situation explained so we could understand. The worst part though, that soup she was promised? It never came. We were still charged for it though of course. I was prepared to dispute it but my girlfriend, not one conflict, hurriedly paid while I was washing my hands.

This place has amazing food but I wouldn't expect anything in terms of customer service.

2nd Time: I took them up on the offer and contacted them about the terrible service from before. They contacted several people in management regarding the behavior. They came across as genuinely sincere, so I did give them another chance. The service was much better and nothing was forgotten. The food was the same great quality as before. The place was still packed and the lady who checking everyone in was struggling to keep up, and yet I seen one girl just scrolling through Instagram. At first I thought she just didn't have the ability or knowledge to help and didn't have anything else to do at that moment, until there was no more space for anyone to stand. Then she grabbed a tablet and begrudgingly went to help the woman. Then a man came running up and sweating to help as well between cleaning tables. So basically, the service has got a lot better. Most of the staff (and I believe the owner's as well) seem to genuinely care and I appreciate it. About 20% of them don't though, but you get those types at any company. I do believe they need a bigger place or more workers though, I know that's not...

First of all, they do not have their license to sell any alcohol at all as of 7/14. Don’t come here expecting to get a Bloody Mary or a mimosa. They don’t have their liquor license “at this time.” I dont know if they plan on getting one or not, but we were bummed to find this out.

Everything else was mediocre. There seems to be a lot of disorganization with some employees scrambling while other employees are just standing behind the bar leaning against it with their arms crossed. It’s pretty loud in there, too. Parking is not great right now due to construction, but that’s not their fault. Service wasn’t bad but wasn’t great either. We were taken care of in a moderately timely manner, but never got refills on our waters and our server brought out our check literally 5 minutes after he brought our food. Even though he said “no rush at all”, obviously there’s some kind of urgency or you wouldn’t have brought our check before even checking in on us to ensure we were satisfied with our food…but I digress.

On to the food… again, solidly mediocre. Grits had absolutely zero flavor at all, the gravy was pretty lumpy, and the turkey sausage they use definitely doesn’t work as a great substitute for pork sausage in the gravy. Although the size of the portion of biscuits and gravy looks a little small, it’s pretty filling. The portions of some of their other menu items were plain old small for the price being paid. They use massive plates for everything which makes the portions look even smaller. My eggs were cooked perfectly but my friend’s eggs were not and we ordered the same style, so consistency seems to be lacking. The English muffin was perfect to sop up my runny yolks though. That was top notch.

They were all out of their one seasonal juice before noon, so we had to get our second choices. The lavender lemonade and the morning meditation were both really good, I would honestly go back to them JUST for the juice.

All in all, we had a fine experience. I will return for food if they get their liquor license, but until then, I think I’ll swing by and grab a juice...

Really wanted to like this place- the menu is so promising and a great breakfast place is needed in this area. It is cute. Service started off great but then almost non-existent- had to flag our server down for missing items, didn't receive requested drink refill, had to flag down server for our check. The chickichanga was very good as was the million dollar bacon (although the million dollar bacon was not on the menu?). The ham and gruyere omelet was fine, nothing special- although came with salad greens not the potatoes ordered as a side. Took a very long time to get the potatoes- both those and the chickichanga potatoes (brought out at two very different times) were meh- not much flavor, entirely underdone/hard. The salad greens tasted like nothing- just olive oil. The lemon ricotta pancakes also did not come out with the food, took a while- and then were just awful. Very dry, no real taste except the lemon curd, overdone. Worst pancakes I have had possibly ever. Checking out there were 3 people joking with one person paying, I had to to ask for someone to check me out. I didn't say anything to my server about our disappointment because they pretty much disappeared after taking our order and I was having a hard enough time asking for missing items and waiting for the check, and then I couldn't get the attention of the cashier to even cash me out even though I was standing right there in front of them. I understand that this place is newly opened, and was giving them the benefit of the doubt and provided my feedback to the corporate website and not here- but that was almost 60 hours ago and didn't hear back. Sadly, can't recommend.We came in early on a weekday- when we arrived were almost the only ones there and when we left it wasn't that crowded at all, so my experiences are not due to it...