First Watch — Restaurant in Jefferson City

If you have to wait 30+ minutes for a table, be prepared to wait upwards of an hour to get your food because it seems like there’s a priority to get food prepared for to-go orders versus the people who elected to sit down at this establishment. By extension, if you are coming here with small children, which thank goodness we didn’t have our small children with us, you may as well go elsewhere if you suspect they won’t sit still for 1.5+ hours (table and food waiting time combined).

As far as more specifics are concerned, once we got to our table, we should’ve been warned right away there was a problem when a group of ladies to our immediate left wanted to speak to a manager regarding the lack of correspondence from their waitress and wait for food like us. Said manager seemed to also have what looked like a general disregard for their complaints, which should’ve been another red flag. Our waitress, and this was all waitresses it seemed, looked to have zero interest in being there let alone serving patrons. She came to check on us perhaps twice in a 45-minute span of time, and only apologized for the wait after we told her it took too long, almost as if no one there was cognizant as to everyone else’s wait times since several families around us, some of which there before us, were waiting just as long.

My wife and I surmised that the lengthy wait may have been attributed to the aforementioned precedence put on to-go orders. If you suspect things will become problematic with the in-seat patrons, perhaps prioritize said patrons before throwing together to-go boxes, especially when it was as busy as it was, or cutoff the to-go orders well ahead of time since we overheard one of the employees say as much. So, if you don’t mind waiting upwards of two hours to eat after seeing how busy it was (which it wasn’t terribly so when we put ourselves on the wait list, it was 25-35 minutes) then go for it as the food was good. It’s just a bit ridiculous when the wait is that long and you’re met with very little service from your waitress. The only reason we went in the first place is because we went to the Columbia location when it was less busy and were treated way better with a lot less wait on food and thoroughly enjoying it then. Because of all this, we’re hard pressed to consider coming back to this...

I ordered the Smoked Salmon Benedict. The waitress asked me which one I wanted, and I was confused when she mentioned "fatata." I assumed she was referring to the bread, so I pointed to the item on the menu that I desired. She confirmed, saying, "Good, the fatata." However, what arrived was unpalatable to me, regardless of the cook's skill. I do not like scrambled eggs, but I love Eggs Benedict. It took a while for the waitress to return, and she assured me that she had placed the correct order.I did have the cheese grits, and I must say they were the worst grits I have ever tasted in my lifetime. I would suggest either removing them from the menu or finding a different recipe. Whatever seasoning was used was off-putting, and the type of hard cheddar cheese was oily and gross, though still edible.When I finally received my correct order, the bread was hard and stale on the outside, and the eggs tasted like water. I decided to take it home. The salad, however, was exceptional—something I could become addicted to. Unfortunately, the bland, water-like eggs ruined the plate. Once home, I added salt, and it became quite good, though I would prefer a less chunky, higher-quality smoked salmon.I am sure this place has the potential for great food and service, but I did not experience it. We had a coupon for "buy one, get one free," and the waitress tried to appease us by comping my meal. However, with our coupon, it was already free, so we did not gain much. I am uncertain if I would return and will see how long they last. The ingredients for an amazing restaurant are present, but my experience failed to reflect...

I was really excited to try this new restaurant in town, but unfortunately, our experience was pretty disappointing. We had a table for two, and the place wasn’t very busy at all. Our first interaction with the host was underwhelming—she didn’t seem very friendly or welcoming. It took over 30 minutes for our food to arrive, and during that time, we only saw our server once—right after she dropped off our drinks and took our order. Someone else eventually brought our food out and said, “She said sorry for the wait,” but didn’t ask if we needed anything (which we did). At other restaurants, if there’s a delay, a server usually checks in to apologize or give an update, but we didn’t hear a word from anyone. The food itself was just okay, but we spent more time waiting than actually eating. When we finally flagged down our server to ask for the check, she didn’t ask how the food was, if we needed a box, or anything else. Even when we paid, the host didn’t ask how our meal was—she just took the receipt and rang us up. Overall, the customer service felt really off. I’m not sure what was going on, but I was genuinely bummed that our experience turned...