First Watch — Restaurant in Germantown

The two stars for service are NOT for the waitress. She did a fantastic job. We're going to be talking about the manager.

The manager was constantly orbiting the restaurant buried in a tablet doing something mysterious. He aggressively avoided making eye contact with any of his "customers" while he paced through the tables with his head down. He passed by us at least 15 times while we were there, walking by the same un-bussed tables over and over again.

He actually stepped over a large pile of scrambled eggs that our neighbor had dropped in the aisle. Repeatedly. The hostess was complicit in his negligence, and actually picked up the fork on top of the eggs and then did nothing about the pile of eggs. The eggs were about half of the order for the poor girl who had dropped them. (Mom did nothing. She may not have noticed.) Our waitress finally picked them up after we pointed them out to her since people were beginning to track them across the restaurant.

There were MANY empty tables when we got there, but it took 30 minutes to seat us. The manager didn't lift a finger to bus any of them. When my wife asked about that, he told us we would be getting our table soon, and that one of the bus people was late.

The kitchen was obviously very well run with food appearing quickly and producing absolutely flawless food. My Classic Benedict was perfect, with lemony hollandaise and poached eggs that Gordon Ramsey would have praised. My wife's French Toast was also fantastic, and the complimentary birthday order of Parmesan Potatoes was AMAZING. While the kitchen ran like a machine, the front end was like a 1962 Ford running on half of its cylinders.

Will we be back? Probably. But only because the food...

FANTASTIC! First time at one of these, and I must say.. won't be the last. Had to pop in for their first official opening a little after 7am. Greeted at the front by 2 friendly servers, then a friendly hostess. Friendly! ✅️

Decor and design is very refreshing. The Germantown mural is a nice touch so you don't feel like you're in just another cookie-cutter chain. Ship lap, wood-grain siding, wicker all lending to a comfortable, clean-home, bright design. It's an open layout, except for the bearing wall separating the side sunroom dining area. Doesn't feel like a sea of tables.. mix of tables and booths, which looked comfy, not to mention bar seating. ✅️

Sat at the bar with my wife for a quick seating and breakfast before heading off to work. Decent size bar seating maybe 12-15 people. **NOTICE: IF YOU'RE ONE PERSON COMING IN TO DO SOME WORK ON YOUR LAPTOP, DON'T TAKE UP 3 SPOTS AT THE BAR, so inconsiderate especially on their opening service. Anyway, very comfortable wicker bar stools with arms and low back. Super sweet bartender/server. While waiting for a second order (to-go), we noticed a set of First Watch trivia cards.. what a fun and thoughtful touch especially if you're eating solo solo and don't need anymore screen time!-- or you're on a dreadful blind date and need convo starter... ✅️

Gotta try their coffee: original, sourced from a woman-owned company, Columbian. Lemon ricotta pancakes.. Breakfast tacos.. Plain pancakes.. Biscuits & gravy.. Mint chocolate chip cold brew specialty drink -- all winners for our family! ✅️

This place is a guaranteed...

Keep in mind this is the first time in this establishment. So I heard from a few of my friends that this new place opened up and it had great food so I was in the area and was going to place a pickup order online. The website was giving me a hard time so I decided to go inside and order, since I had some time. They were SLAMMED. I was met by a hostess and I explained to her I was having a hard time placing a pickup order online so I wanted to do one in person. She said that she would after she got done with a gentleman paying that she would get to me. I had another hostess greet me and I explained the same thing about placing a to go order and she started to bring me over to the bar when the original hostess screamed to beckon me back to the front. The second hostess apologized and said that she was new so I totally understood. I was waiting for the gentleman to pay and the original hostess stared and beckoned at me to approach the counter and right out of her mouth came “Did I not just say to wait until I was done with him?!” (referencing the paying customer) I kind of looked at her very perplexed because I was not expecting her to react that way, then she said it again “Did I not just say that?” It was EXTREMELY RUDE and CONDESCENDING tone. I didn’t say anything else to her and I just walked out. In my years of dining and doing to go orders I have never had a business establishment leave such a bitter taste. I understand that the business is new and there are things to work through, but customer service should be a...