First Watch - Oakleaf — Restaurant in Jacksonville

I would give 0 stars if I could. My boyfriend and I have attempted to eat here twice. First time we went around 8am, the floor was about 50% capacity at the time. Took about 20 min to seat us (this is fine). We sit down, waiter was super nice and helpful, but we waited for exactly 1 hour to see our food( keep in mind the restaurant was hardly half full) We had gone through two coffees each by the time the food came, and when it did his egg (over easy) looked like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for hours. I had to send that back 🥴 Portions were small but adequate. My dish was good, I got a breakfast skillet, but it ended up being luke warm by the time I got it. We were there for a total of two and a half hours. Far too long and not by choice. Second time we tried to eat here was today. We signed up to get in line on the website. When we got to the restaurant we called them to let them know we were in line. The nice lady even took our name and number down. Assuming we’d get a text or call because we signed up online, we waited. While we waited we did some shopping around in the Oakleaf area expecting a call or text. 1, 2 and even 3 hours go by and nothing. We ended up eating somewhere else far more adequate. I called and spoke to Lauren at first watch to ask how the online “get in line” works. She informed me that she didn’t know. She went to ask and came back to tell me that we had to download the app? Even though the website works just fine. She then informed me that we had to let them know that we had arrived at the restaurant (which we did at the time) but never received the call.

Advice for the website: maybe add in the details that once you sign up on the website, you have to physically be there to tell them that you are at the restaurant (but then I don’t see a point in even signing in online) just doesn’t make sense.

Advice for management: you need to be there. You need to help your employees. This includes the owner. Having a restaurant like first watch should give you PRIDE because of the good reputation behind it but you are absolutely running this place into the ground and it hasn’t even been open for three months. The true lack of good management and ownership truly SHOWS through your wait and kitchen staff. Your poor wait staff are doing the absolute best that they can in absence of truly good leadership. You need to focus more on your organization and customer service and maybe this restaurant will be saved, but your biggest mistake as an owner is to underestimate your customer base. Your customers are the ones who determine whether you stay open or not. They will make or break you and whether you like it or not poor reviews and poor survey responses WILL close your business.

I give this location a year before it closes. UNLESS there is a positive change in management. There is absolutely no excuse for the poor customer service and disorganized restaurant other than poor ownership and management.

Online orders: sloppy and cold

In person line: wait is WAY to long. I mean come on guys, it’s breakfast food.

Online “get in line” option: the wait even EVEN longer, you might as well just go in person.

Waitstaff: very friendly but you can tell they are under way too much stress. They are doing the best they can under the lack of leadership.

Food: takes at the least an hour to get to your table. Probably has been sitting under a heat lamp for that full hour. Absolutely disgraceful to the first watch name. But again, kitchen staff are doing the best they can under the lack of leadership.

Customer service: nice but they are clueless, can’t even answer simple questions...

Very frustrating place! I've written to the company first with my issues but they never reached back out to me so I'll post publicly now... We have been to the Riverside location a few times and each time was great. When they first opened at the Oakleaf location we were very excited because this area (where we live) needs more breakfast type restaurants. The place was extremely popular when it opened and getting a table was impossible. We tried at least 5 times to eat there with no success. At first we tried just driving up and getting a table. Nope. Each time we were told it would be at least 45 minutes. Well, after waiting outside in our car for over an hour we just gave up and left. Then, we tried calling ahead and getting on the waiting list. They texted us and told us to arrive in 45 minutes. So 45 minutes later we arrived and were told it would be another 45 minutes. What a joke! So a version of that happened 5 to 6 times and then we finally just stopped trying with that place. Until today... We were celebrating my husband's birthday so we decided, after a few months, to give them one last chance. When we arrived at 10:15 we were shocked that we were seated immediately! First time ever that we actually got to sit down. Well that is where the good news ends. The staff seemed stressed out the whole time. No smiles, no friendly attitudes. We could even hear them complaining to each other about other tables. So our waiter took our order and then we waiting and had coffee. After about 25 minutes he returned and told us we was sorry it was taking so long but the kitchen was very backed up. The restaurant was not even half full at the time. When it got to be 11:15 (1 hour after arriving) and there was still no sign of our food, we decided to just ask them to prepare it to go for us. We had an appointment at noon and there was no way we were going to be able to eat, drive and make our appointment. Who would have thought arriving at 10:15 to have breakfast was not going to be enough time for this place so that we could make an appointment at noon. So about 5 minutes later they bring our food in a bag and we pay at the front. $40 in total plus a $5 tip so that we can take home and microwave food that I could have made myself at home anyway. What a lovely birthday breakfast for my husband. Then we left to go to our meeting without having eaten anything. Thanks First Watch. Get your...

First, excellent wait staff and a spotless restaurant. The kitchen staff however denied my dreams of an epic breakfast making them thieves of breakfast joy. Almost an hour to be seated, understandable but still frustrating on a Sunday during Covid 19. Then an hour or so for the food to arrive. What should have been breakfast became a lunch of two eggs, a massive waffle and two sausages with a "million dollar" plate of bacon. What hit the table an hour or so after ordering was something else entirely. One and a half eggs and a cold oversized eggo finally arrived. After pouring hot syrup over the entire thing it still tasted like sweetened cardboard. A cold waffle just isn't going to taste good. At that point I tried the egg. The three bites of egg were warmish.. Then the sausage and bacon finally arrived. The sausage was almost burned. Blackened all the way around but edible. And thankfully hot. The million dollar bacon however was not and more closely resembled jerky than bacon. At a price of more than half the main dish I think it should've been a plate full of bacon and not four pieces of what looks like two pieces of bacon from home cut in half, sprinkled with pepper, a little syrup, and brought to the table cold. That said the busboy was getting a plate with over half the "meal" headed for a trashcan. If not for the excellent wait staff comping the meal and the fact that it was extremely clean inside, two stars would be a stretch. A McGriddle and hash brown would've been the better bet and far less...