First Watch — Restaurant in Huntsville

I’ve had First Watch a total of 5 times. The first being Dine-in, the rest being delivered via DoorDash.

During our Dine-in experience, a server spilled water all over me and my daughter. Which I can look past, accidents happen. But it should have been a sign.

The second time, AKA first time ordering through DoorDash, I ordered 2 kids meals, B+G, million dollar potatoes, side of apple sausage, and a coffee. When the order arrived, I noticed the bag had a label that said “bag 1 of 2.” I received the kids meals, 2 sides of bacon that I didn’t order, and the biscuits. So I was missing gravy for the biscuits and gravy, the million dollar potatoes, and the apple sausage. I attempted to get credit from DoorDash, but they wouldn’t allow it. I decided to call the restaurant and explain what happened, they insisted on remaking what was missing. I told them I couldn’t pick it up for a few hours, as we’re a 1 car family and my man was at work, but he could pick it up afterwards. They said they’ll have it made fresh and ready for us, sitting on their pick up shelf around 1:30. Around 1:40 my man walks in and grabs the bag with my name on it and brings it home. Inside the bag was actually the missing food from earlier. It had been sitting on the shelf for hours. Nothing was remade. The million dollar potatoes were just a box of plain potatoes, the gravy was obviously super cold, and the sausage was super cold. All these items grow pathogens quickly, so I was not about to consume them. I was pretty hangry, so I didn’t do anything further about this situation except decide to ban First Watch from our list of spots.

Fast forward a month and a half and I decide to give it another chance. It was actually pretty good. A very redeeming experience. I ordered 2 kids meals and the elote burrito. Delicious!

A week after that we give it another go. I had a similar to order as previously mentioned. I didn’t receive the million dollar potatoes at all, and the kids pancake flavor was incorrect. Not the worst in the world, but still very annoying.

A few days ago was the last time I gave my money to this business, and it’ll be the last. Order was 3 kids meals, side of fruit, million dollar potatoes, coffee. I didn’t receive the potatoes, I didn’t receive the fruit, and the sausage in one of the kids meals was pink in the middle. The bag was signed by someone with a D followed by a squiggle.

I understand nobody is perfect, no business is perfect. But even after the flaws I kept giving it a chance because the product I did receive when fresh was good. I still haven’t got to try million dollar potatoes, and I’ve ordered them 3 times. Lmao. The number of consistently bad experiences outweigh the 1 good experience I had.

Another Broken Egg has this place beat in all categories. First, watch me go spend my money...

I was fortunate to catch the preview of this cafe. To say that my fiancee and I were blown away by this place is an understatement. First Watch Huntsville was incredible. It combines the best of many restaurant offerings over the years with the feeling of dining at home.

The atmosphere is airy, bright and comfortable. It very much reminded me of the mom & pop, beach front bistros I saw in Florida and California (2 decades ago). The staff was also incredibly friendly and attentive. Because it is very open, it was a bit more noisy than expected, but not uncomfortably so.

The food and drink went beyond our expectations. My fiancee had their French Toast and a Purple Haze drink. The 2 brioche slices were huge, lightly covered in powdered sugar and came with a fruit compote and syrup. She was so impressed by the mixed berry compote, she never touched the maple syrup. The Haze, a lemonade drink with a lavender syrup topper, was delightful.

In my case, I had the Chickichanga (omelet), Morning Mediation Juice and coffee. I can't begin to note how impressive the Chickichanga was. While it's advertised as having a flour tortilla wrap, it was so light and delicate I almost swore it was a perfectly browned omelet exterior. The fixings in the omelet had a rich fresh flavor without being overpowering. The Morning Medication juice drink was a step outside the box for me. Tart but not overwhelming, the ingredients created a very pleasant flavor combination.

The coffee... Normally I wouldn't give a separate space to review just the coffee, but wow. I haven't been this impressed with a restaurant coffee in over 20 years. Their Columbian bean coffee has a medium body, with nutty full flavor and hints of cinnamon & chocolate. There's no bitterness in the finish.

Prices for meals are very reasonable in comparison to other sit down breakfast diners and the quality is better.

In closing, I believe this is going to be our new go-to for breakfast/brunch spot...

I'd had a crazy intense craving for French toast and decided I'd get some by trying out First Watch. This is the first Huntsville-area location. It's off of Whitesburg drive in a repurposed building. The inside is beautiful and there's a nice large patio, though the views are not that great as it's surrounded by a large parking lot. That said, parking is easy :^)

Surprisingly, there was a short wait even on a Tuesday. I think it was more a feature of tables not getting cleared super quickly rather than an excess of people, but I got a seat in about 10 minutes.

The menu is fairly simplistic and more "wholesome" or healthy-ish breakfast and brunch fare. I saw a special for lavender French toast online for my location that I wanted to try but I never got any menu or verbal rundown of the specials so I wasn't sure if I could actually order it. I felt too awkward to ask about it, lol.

Service was...okay, kind of weird. Everyone I talked to was super soft-spoken, not especially smiley or engaging, but not really rude, either. I did feel a little rushed to get out, but I guess I get it -- one person taking up a two-top and what all.

At any rate, I ordered my French toast, sans lavender. It was supposed to come with a mixed berry compote, but was delivered without it. I would've liked to have tried it, but my waitress was darting around so much it didn't seem worth flagging her down to ask for one.

It was solid enough French toast, if quite plain. I liked the brioche selection and it was cooked well. I added my own syrup and got my craving met with relatively little fanfare.

Prices were about average.

Not a bad time overall, I was just hoping for something a bit more, I suppose. I would return if I was with friends who...