First Watch — Restaurant in Columbus

We are so disappointed with our latest experience at First Watch. We've been before and although the service was spotty, the food was worth the wait so we decided to take my MIL during her visit. My MIL has a severe dairy allergy and we made sure our waitress knew this right away. The waitress ensured us that they take food allergies very seriously. We waited about 20 minutes for drinks and then another HOUR for our food. My kids got their food first which I always appreciate because toddlers aren't good at waiting. Mine and my husband's food came out next, and then we waited another 5 minutes for my MIL'S food. Her hash was COVERED in mozzarella cheese and her toast had butter all over it. We immediately sent it back. The waitress agreed there was definitely cheese all over the dish. 10 minutes later a different waitress brings out a new dish for my MIL, and there's clearly cheese all over it again. It's melting and stringy - no other ingredient in the dish could have looked like that. It was supposed to just be eggs, spinach, and potatoes. My MIL tells the waitress that there's cheese and the waitress starts fighting back saying it's not cheese! She kept saying the Manager cooked it herself. It doesn't matter who cooked it- it had cheese on it. Our assigned waitress comes over and agrees that it is in fact cheese again and takes the dish. 10 minutes later, ANOTHER waitress brings out the dish. This time there's definitely no cheese - finally. This waitress starts saying the same things, that the manager cooked it herself so it wasn't cheese the last time. Are you serious right now? IT WAS STRINGY MELTED CHEESE. 4 different people said it was cheese. I tasted it - definitely cheese. WHY DID THEY INSIST ON FIGHTING US ON A FOOD ALLERGY? Our assigned waitress has by this time apologized profusely for the mess that the kitchen has caused us and paid for my MIL's meal herself. We asked her if we could speak to the manager AND THE MANAGER REFUSED TO SEE US. What kind of manager are you that you don't take food allergies and customer service seruously?! We weren't trying to cause problems but it was clear to us that my MIL's food allergy was of no concern and more of an inconvenience to this "manager" and the other waitresses. I wish I could give zero stars, but our waitress was doing her damn best to help us out and the rest of our food was delicious. Our waitress told us she was getting chewed out by the manager in the kitchen too! It wasn't her fault - she didn't deserve to be yelled at. I'm not sure we will ever go back because of this terrible experience. I don't have respect for people who don't take food allergies seriously and don't have the guts to admit when they are wrong and face...

Had the farmhouse hash, AM Granola and Chia seed yogurt parfait, and morning meditation with boost. Starting with farmhouse hash, I ordered it normally, other than adding two eggs, goat cheese and removing bacon. Potatoes were a little burnt, but it was less than what would be considered 5% of the dish, so it could likely be seen as a minor refinement. Eggs were scrambled excellent, having not too rough of a texture to be considered burnt, and not too much liquid to be considered undercooked. Avocados used in the dish were ripe enough for the dish, complementing it well with not too much hardness of an unripe avocado, and not too soft and bruised and overripe one. Less than 5% of the onions used were undercooked, but the majority was excellent. The tomatoes add a slight tang to the dish that complements the rest of the dish well, despite have little to no salt or pepper. In other words, without too much spice or salt or even omitting bacon,the dish altogether boasts an great approach to brunch. Toast may be of personal preference, but a suggestion could be to offer an option to toast it longer. For morning meditation, the combination works well. Whoever is making it has managed to add just the right amount of cane sugar to not overpower it, but so you can taste the ingredients better with a hint. The approach seems to be not to really shock you into waking up with this, but to encourage you to work into the day, since the taste is more of a hint, rather than that strong taste we may see reminiscent of other drinks like soft drinks, energy drinks or heavily flavored drinks. Morning meditation matches this taste well, Id recommend giving it a try with a dish or two, and even throwing in the boost, because it does not seem to make the taste too medicinal as many supplements do. Finally, the AM Granola and toast is a good light tasting and healthy option to start the morning. It covers a good amount of nutrition with its ingredients, while still maintaining a good taste, which can be a challenge when trying to use healthier or fresher ingredients. Overall, I would give those all a try, possible together. It was a good recovery meal after an AM workout I finished an hour before. With delivery, it was packed well and securely, may be thinking about stopping by...

Such a disappointment today. First Watch has always been our go-to for breakfast/brunch when in town. In fact, we have been there 3 times just in the last month. But today was our last time to visit. Unfortunately, there were several reasons why we won't be back.

To begin with, we were appalled at how abrupt and basically rude our waiter was. First, he instructed us to hurry up and order, telling us the restaurant would soon be getting very busy and he wanted to be able to get our food to us. Then, later, as he came to clear the table, he wanted to lecture us on the waste of food...when some of the food ordered by our party had been cooked inappropriately and had to be redone. But HE messed that up himself. My husband's eggs were wrong, but our friend's were not. The waiter brought them both new eggs.

We also had a bit of a problem with our coffee, as what appeared to be a roach leg was in my friend's cup of coffee. She had poured from the same pot from which I had already poured a cup. Since we didn't know whether the cup she was using was dirty or the pot of coffee itself was dirty, we asked for new. With no apologies from any of the wait staff, they brought new cups and supposedly a new pot of coffee.

My friend asked for extra butter when she placed her order. It didn't come. She later asked again when he walked by. Nothing. A few minutes later, he walked past our table and I asked for more butter for her. He never acknowledged that she had already asked twice (and me once)...he got the butter and literally walked past our table gently tossing the cup of butter onto the table. But by this time, we were all pretty much finished eating anyway.

In fact, the 4 of us are finished altogether with First Watch. We realize that everyone can have a bad day, but this bad day (and the roach leg in the coffee) were enough to keep us from ever coming back to this...