First Watch — Restaurant in Fairfax

I have heard rave reviews about First Watch for years and today I found myself in a shopping center with few other dining venues that appealed to me so I decided to give it a try. I was not impressed. The very best I can say was, "it was okay" and I have no plans to return.

The hostess was very friendly and seated me immediately. She gave me a choice of tables, which was nice considering I was dining alone and solo diners aren't always afforded the same attention as those in groups of two of more. I wound up seated at the window, which would have been nice except immediately after I was seated, a huge delivery truck pulled up outside and stayed there for the duration of my visit. The side of the truck was my only view. This is not the restaurant's fault, but it was annoying.

My waitress came to the table pretty quickly and I ordered a Coke, and a Monterey Club. The sandwich comes with salad or soup, and I chose the soup because it was clam chowder, one of my favorites. The server didn't know if it was Manhattan or New England clam chowder, so I had to ask if it was red or white. She said white so it was New England clam chowder. She was not particularly friendly or unfriendly, she was just kind of "there," which is fine, I guess. I don't expect to be treated like royalty, but it is nice to have a cordial greeting and friendly face, and I feel like I got slightly less than that, but adequate service.

My drink came immediately, the food took longer, but it wasn't a terribly long wait. The place wasn't all that busy, so I felt like it took longer to assemble a sandwich and scoop up a bowl of soup than it should have, but I didn't wait forever, either so I was satisfied with the wait time overall.

I have to say, I was not blown away by the food. The clam chowder had lots of appetizing chunks of potatoes in it, but not many clams at all and overall it had a watery flavor. It was also not white, but more brown-there wasn't much, if any, cream in the soup. It was more of a broth-based soup.

The sandwich was just meh. It came on white bread, which I think was toasted because it was slightly rough and dry on the surface, but there was no color to the bread the way toast normally is. The bread was not substantial enough for the sandwich so it came apart with every bite. I am guessing this sandwich is served warm, which I was wasn't expecting, because the cheese was kind of melted, and everything else on the sandwich was lukewarm. The ingredients were nice and fresh, especially the avocado, but the bacon was dried out and broke into pieces and left little bits all over my plate. There was very little flavor to the sandwich and by the last few bites, it felt kind of cloying and not terribly pleasant to eat.

The waitress came back partway through my meal to ask if I wanted a drink refill and I said yes. She then proceeded to clean up some neighboring tables, so that when she did bring the drink refill, I was almost ready to leave.

It was loud. The patrons were speaking loudly, probably because the music that was playing was also loud, probably too loud. And even though I was facing away from the entire restaurant, there was a sense of a lot of busy-ness going on around and behind me. Another server was sweeping near me, and scraping chair across the floor, which I realize is necessary and to be expected, but it detracted from the overall atmosphere and I certainly can't say that this was a quiet or relaxing place to dine.

Overall I was disappointed in my visit. I know this place is probably known for certain specialties, and maybe I just didn't hit on the "right" food order to get spectacular food. And I guess a coffee drink (I don't drink coffee) or fresh-squeezed juice (I wasn't in the mood for juice and I needed a caffeinated beverage anyway) are also reasons why people go here, but it just wasn't the place for me and I won't be...

First Watch is the most inconsistent restaurant when it comes to the kitchen. Sometimes they prepare orders correctly, and other times the kitchen messes up terribly. This is partly due to the servers who don't always write down the order correctly. But sometimes the kitchen goes rogue.

My favorite example is when I ordered an omelet with cheddar cheese. When the server returned with an omelet with cheddar and jack, I pointed out that I ordered only cheddar. She looked at me rudely, and said in a very unpleasant tone that the kitchen doesn't have plain cheddar. I told the server that she should have shared that with me because I don't like jack. I paid for my coffee and left. I would have talked with a manager, but he was the one cooking that day.

Interestingly, all of my orders that have ever been messed up at this location have been when the same manager is the one cooking. Is this joint incapable of hiring and keeping a competent cook?

It seems that a manager should be able to hire and retain more than one cook. Also, a manager would spot check silverware to ensure that it's clean. Further, a solid manager would stop at tables to get feedback from customers. I have never the manager do any of those activities. I have seen, however, the manager standing around idly while fraternizing with employees during times that could have been spent checking with customers.

Also, I have seen the busboys "clean" tables whereby they leave complete place settings, including coffee cups and water glasses, on tables merely because someone didn't occupy that seat. For example, a family of three, including a sickly infant, will sit at a fourtop. When the family leaves, the busboy won't replace the place setting where the baby's highchair was located or the one where no one was seated. The busboy doesn't account for the baby and parents hacking and sneezing all over the "unused" place settings. I have even seen a baby teeth on a coffee mug, which the parents returned to the exact location on the table, which led the lazy busboy to believe that it was unused. I am sure that this violates a health code.

I once talked with Oakey, the regional manager of this location, on the phone regarding an incident I had with the manager of this location. Although Oakey was very kind, I wasn't satisfied with his resolution.

First Watch in Fairfax could be a fantastic restaurant, but it's not very different from the IHOP just down the street.

The only thing that keeps this location afloat, in my opinion, is that a large percent of customers have very low standards for cleanliness and good service, or they don't know any differently.

I gave 3 stars because the food is otherwise delicious when the kitchen gets it right, and the coffee is wonderful. Oakey, feel free to let me know when this place is under...

We visited on a Saturday morning, fully prepared for a long wait and a busy restaurant. To our surprise there were plenty of open tables and we were seated right away. (Perhaps that should have been the first red flag?) The server poured our coffee but I noticed that my white coffee cup had pink lipstick on it. I requested a clean one, he handed me one from a neighboring table and walked away - leaving an empty coffee pot on our table. So I waited awhile with my empty cup until he came around again. We ordered: million dollar bacon, morning meditation juice, ham & gruyere omelette, and pumpkin pancakes. The million dollar bacon was okay but not great. I've visited other First Watch locations where it was wonderful but this just wasn't as good. It was soggy and underseasoned. Just floppy bacon with syrup on it. However, the omelette stole the show by being downright gross. It had a square slice of cheese sitting on top. The eggs were dry and overcooked. Inside was a wad of COLD deli-sliced ham in only one corner of the omelette. Absolutely no seasoning whatsoever, despite the menu description including "fresh herbs" - there were none. My friend received his pancake but the server did not bring syrup and did not come back to our table for a long time. We finally asked people at another table if we could use their syrup. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I had to stifle a laugh when the server noticed my mostly untouched plate of food and asked if I wanted a box.

In the end I spent 60 bucks for juice and a couple cups of coffee. I left hungry. I definitely would not...