First Watch — Restaurant in Gaithersburg

Whenever I read reviews, I laugh at the ones that begin with "I would give negative stars if I could". However, in this instance--I really would give negative stars if I could.

You know you're in a bad restaurant when you can hear the other patrons around you complaining about the food service. You know you're in a HORRENDOUS restaurant, when you are seated directly across from the kitchen and can hear the workers complain about the customers who are upset.

I have only ever heard great things about First Watch from my friends in Montgomery County, so I was excited to try them out for breakfast today. Big mistake ..... big.... huge.

First off, when we arrived and were seated, no-one out of the 4-5 waitstaff came to greet us for 15 minutes. When our waitress did finally show up, she was not friendly--you could tell she was irritated she had to take our table. We placed our orders and noticed an elderly couple got seated directly next to us--within minutes, a waitress came to their table and took their drink orders. What?

I ordered the Shrimp and Grits and my boyfriend ordered the "Eggtastic" Sandwich. Food arrived in a decent timeframe but left a lot to be desired. My shrimp and grits were watery, to the point I texted a picture to a good friend of mine asking if this is normal, as he recommended the shrimp and grits at First Watch and he said surprise surprise absolutely not!

To make matters worse, when I unrolled my napkin, I see that the spoon that was given to me is dirty! And I don't mean water spots... I mean dirty dirty! Check out the picture in my review! Gross.

Where we were seated, I could see the kitchen staff preparing meals. 2 out of the 5 or so staff members who were directly preparing the food were wearing their masks incorrectly and below the nose. Come on.

To make matters worse, our waitress was super unavailable and very aloof. She kept us waiting for an additional 10 minutes after asking for our check--mind you, it had already taken us 10 minutes to flag her down to get our check in the first place.

The cherry on top was waiting an additional ten minutes to check out and pay our check at the stand.... there were literally 5 or 6 people waiting behind us in line because no one bothered to come over to the stand even though the staff could see us waiting there.

Here's the thing--I understand that COVID times are rough, last-minute things happen, businesses can be understaffed, and most of the time, that is at no fault of the staff who DO show up. However, communicate that to your customers! Apologize or at least let it be known that you care. Everyone we came in contact with today acted like there was nothing wrong and that this is normal. If multiple people in your place of business are complaining at once, everything is NOT normal. Acknowledge it. Super disappointed and won't...

This review will cover the two times when I decided to give this location another chance after a horrible experience with the “waitlist”. As of today, I have no intention of eating at this restaurant ever again.

First let me start by explaining that two visits ago about four months ago now I joined the waitlist and planned to bring my in laws for breakfast. We joined the waitlist and were told it would be 30-45 minutes. We arrived 35 minutes later and were then told that it would be another 30 minutes. Looking around the dining room, we saw several clean empty tables. We waited an additional 25 minutes and when I went in to check our place in line I was again told it would be another 30 minutes. After explaining that we had already waited an hour and ten minutes and were initially told it would be 30-45. The person running the front just sat there and didn’t really give me an explanation. I let them know that my father in law was diabetic and in need of the food we expected to be eating about 30 minutes earlier. He simply said that we’d have to wait.

Now fast forward to this morning. I joined the “waitlist” and it said it would be 25-35 minutes. We arrived a little early and to our complete surprise we’re told our table was ready, but we needed the other person in our party present to be seated. The other person arrived literally five minutes later. We went back inside to let them know and we were told that it would be another 30 minutes. We explained that we were about to be seated and were told we needed everyone in our party present. The person at the front said that his boss told him not to seat anyone for 30 minutes. Again I explained that we were about to be seated but were told we had to wait for everyone in our party. Then the person said he couldn’t do anything for us and that it we be 30-40 minutes.

This is the absolute last time I will go to this location. Additionally, I will let everyone know that it’s not worth the wait or the hassle due to the lack of organization and horrible management of...

I spent $100 for breakfast takeout for three people and paid extra, yes they charge you extra for real maple syrup, for things I never received. My takeout order had no butter, no utensils, and no syrup whatsoever. Imagine having pancakes you paid almost $20 for and left a tip on top of to not have any of the items one needs, and specifically added to the order, to enjoy the pancakes.

Also, the drinks and yogurt I ordered had me incur an extra 15-minute wait at the restaurant while the rest of my order, the hot food, got cold. The reasoning the staff gave me today as to why they were out of the drinks I ordered and why they were having issues fulfilling my order was that, “Mother’s Day was so busy for us!” Mother’s Day was four days ago. After I informed the host that I can’t wait for the drinks if they were out of stock when I ordered them, I kindly asked if she could refund the drinks that I paid for via my direct web order after she said it would take an extra 15 minutes of me waiting there. She said I had to call First Watch corporate in Florida to explain everything and then ask them to see if they might refund the drinks. Upon calling, you are met with a series of automated prompts that ultimately lead you to leave a voicemail with a litany of information that may be used to adjudicate a claim for a refund by First Watch corporate. Again, this was the ordeal to take off two drinks they did not have ready for my order that ultimately led to cold food eaten without toppings or utensils I paid for and ordered. Simply put, it was an awful experience made worse by the fact that I even included tip in my online order.

And if you are wondering, the staff was clueless of anything wrong with the order and could not understand my commentary for support - i.e. no effort to make anything right, leaving me ashamed in hindsight for the gratuity I foolishly added for this order. If the staff can’t even recognize when a problem has occurred, then it is hopeless to conclude that anything would ever be done to rectify...