First Watch — Restaurant in Indianapolis

TLDR: Food was fine, service was mostly fine except for lying to us, which caused us to accept more health risk during this pandemic.

My friends from out of state, that I hadn't seen in a long time, were driving through and chose this restaurant to meet me for breakfast around 9 a.m. on Labor Day 2020 because I insisted on a place with outdoor seating due to the COVID pandemic, since there are documented cases of diners in a restaurant being infected through the air indoors by diners at other tables. The hostesses told the person in front of me and then me that they were closing the outdoor seating then at the manager's direction due to expected rain (the outdoor tables have canvas umbrellas at each table, not a roof). My friends were on a tight schedule and trying to find a place nearby that was open for breakfast and had outdoor seating with a roof to protect from the rain the restaurant staff told me was coming seemed like an impossible task in the amount of time we had for our visit, so we decided to risk it and eat indoors at the restaurant (we were willing to risk rain ourselves from under the table umbrella but didn't think the servers should have to get wet to serve us). After being on the waitlist and texted that a table was ready (not a long wait, only 10 min instead of their estimated 15 min), I pointed out to the (manager? owner?) person who was seating us that the sky looked pretty clear, and she then said it wasn't because of weather at all, but because they were short-staffed that she would not allow anyone else to be seated at the outdoor tables (there were still a few customers at the outdoor tables already from before I arrived). If they had mentioned that upfront when I first came in, instead of lying about the weather, we would have found another restaurant with outdoor seating because finding one with a roof over the outdoor seating wouldn't be a factor. Aside from that lie (either on her part or the hostesses, I don't know) she was pleasant enough and even stopped at our table later to chat for a minute. Our server was also fine and was not involved in the weather/outdoor tables communication with us, so I had no issue with her. So moral of the story, if you want outdoor seating there (a reasonable request in this pandemic) and they say it is unavailable due to weather warnings, get confirmation from them and/or actual local weather forecasts before deciding to dine there indoors instead of choosing another restaurant with outdoor seating that...

I love first watch! I've been to every location in the Indy area. Even the new one in greenwood. But this location was the worst experience of them all. Went in for breakfast, service started out great. A friendly greet. I got the small biscuit and gravy, but the biscuit was burnt. Not just slightly overly cooked, but burnt. Ok, whatever, it happens. I let the server know about it, she didn't apologize for the mistake just took the whole plate away. Then the manager came out and just gave me another biscuit... No gravy. 😂 He corrected it. Didn't apologize for the mix up. Never saw my server again after that interaction. Didn't check in, no water refills, didn't even bring my check to me... nothing. I was there for another hour, just being patient and waiting.... During that hour wait, there was toilet paper (about 4-5 squares long) just sitting on the floor right outside the entry way to the bathroom! My friend and I lost our appetite. We watched as servers / hosts, trainers, and the manager all simply ignored it! Actively walking around it to serve other booths near that area.

That was disgusting.

Finally I let another server know how horrible our service has been, and that I was ready to pay and leave. The manager came out, gave me the check and said " I took some money off your bill"......... And just looked at me.... Internally, I was appalled. I didn't care about the price. I cared about the horrendous service, and the LACK of empathy he and his staff had towards their guests! Not one time did ANYONE simply say " I apologize for...." Or " I'm sorry we didn't meet your expectation...." Nothing..... it was the worst service I've received all year. I won't EVER be back to...

All reviews on here are so positive, but my experience was nothing but. Maybe I went there at their worst time possible? The moment after I arrived a short queue of people waiting to be seated formed at the door, although the place had plenty available tables and greeting / waiting staff standing around. It took them 25 mins to take our order. After the waitress took ours she also took the orders of two other tables next to us. After 10 mins wait someone came to tell us the drink we ordered (orange juice) was not available. After another 5 mins our food came, but they forgot about the bread (which wasn’t an extra thing, a standard element of the frittata plate). 7 mins later she came back to check on us and I asked about the bread. It took her another full 10 mins to bring it, when I already finished my food. She offered to bring us a check and this took - again - 7 mins, only after we drew our attention to her. The waitress thanked us for our patience (but no explanations or apologies) and joked around a little in hope of a tip - which at that point obviously made her look disingenuous / arrogant. As we were getting ready to go, I overheard one of the other two tables that ordered at the same time as us comment that they haven’t received their food yet and we were already going… Either the place is very understaffed or it is managed really poorly. Or both. The food is alright, nothing to write home about: fresh ingredients, decent quality, nicely presented, but overall not something to rave about. But the whole experience is undermined by these inexplicable waiting times and your inability to even talk to someone when...