First Watch — Restaurant in Johnson City

My family and I have come to this particular First Watch branch for the last 7 months now every Sunday. I may say with full confidence that every experience has been nothing short of exemplary. I have had the further pleasure of meeting and getting to know the staff. They are by far one of the most friendly, outgoing, and polite teams you'll ever have the chance of meeting, which I believe, should not be taken for granted. To make this point more rigorous, here are a few examples of such.

Every Sunday when we go to eat there my family and I are greeted by the same host and hostess ( Jeremy and Tanya if you are able to meet them )who usually work that area. At one point I had mentioned to them that I enjoyed reading the Wallstreet Journal and inquired if it was available. From that point on these same people have continuously made sure that the Wallstreet Journal is available. They did not have to do this, yet they chose to do so anyway. This, I think, stands as a noble and fine testament no only to the quality of the branch itself, but to the staff's overwhelmingly considerate and friendly nature

Here is another example of another experience I had there today. From the moment we entered we were greeted enthusiastically in the most friendly of manners, before being politely escorted to our table. Our waiter, Austin, was absolutely incredible, both polite and friendly, and attentive to our needs. Even going so far as to once ask the kitchen staff to make another dish because he did not feel that the first one was adequate enough ( which I might add, the second one was near perfection. )

While we were eating, that same day, one of the employees ( John, another brilliant waiter ) who had severed us previously ( and had a fantastic experience with also. Seeing a trend here? ) went out of his way to come up and greet us and make sure that everything was satisfactory. In the short conversation we had it was mentioned that today was my birthday. Upon hearing this he patted me on the shoulder and told me that he would work something out for me. A short while later he returned and informed me that he had given me his employee discount and wished me a happy birthday. Again, another act which he need not have done yet decided to do so anyway out of his own nature. Even had he not decided to give his employee discount the very fact that he decided to say hello to us and check on us brightened my day even further. Yet even still, the overwhelming amount of kindness which we received ( and have received over the months ) did not stop from there. When we were checking out and paying the guy ( who I kicked myself for not getting to know his name. An objective for next visit ) who was running the front decided to give the entire meal the employee discount, which for a family of 5 means a lot. Another example of their team's seemingly inherently generous and friendly nature. All of which happened all in one visit.

And while getting an employee discount may not happen every visit, there are constants which exist in the culture and framework of the staff. A cultivated ethos of friendly and outgoing natures and a seemingly ingrained attitude of politeness which many places fail to achieve. This restaurant and the people who toil every day to make it happen deserves the credit for the series of remarkable achievements it has reached. I would say, again with full confidence, that this is at least the finest First Watch in all of East Tennessee. If not that, all of Tennessee, or perhaps, and I would go even further and bolder to say, the entirety of the eastern part of the US. This may sound extravagant, but it highlights the profound amount of appreciation that I harbour towards this restaurant and its people. Thank you to the people who work here, and to the viewer who is reading this, I fully recommend this place if you're searching for something to eat. I personally prefer the BLTE with Tomato Basil soup, but then again,...

Sorry that I have to be the one to leave the bad review. It's just that every time we come to this restaurant, something goes wrong. I didn't leave a bad review the past few times hoping my time here would be better "next time" but sadly that is not the case...so ill just mention everything that has happened. Today my husband told the host it would be 3 of us plus a baby that needed to be seated. Okay so after about 20 minutes of waiting, we get a table and as soon as we ask for a highchair, we are told "oh we can't have a high chair next to this table" and I was like..well my husband told you there was a baby. (My son is 1yr old by the way) I say this because the host then goes on to say "well most people usually bring a car seat" hmm.... I did not know i should consider having to have a car seat in order to eat at this establishment, my son is not a newborn, and our car seat is not removable. Anyways, he said we had to wait for another table.

Next, we order our food and I get steak and hash plate which in the description it mentions it comes with steak AND CHORIZO. Look at my picture and see if you see any chorizo in there. So I tell my waitress and she gladly says she will get me some chorizo. But as she leaves, the host (the one that seated us) comes back for some reason because he heard there was a complaint about there not being chorizo in my food and instead of apologizing, he tries to justify that there are a few "balls" of chorizo in there. Um yea, not even a teaspoon dude. Like why did you even come out when our wonderful waitress has already helped with our problem? She is the only person I have no complaints about by the way. Kristen, you are awesome. This is the 2nd time you help us and you have great customer service skills. By the way, once I got my chorizo, she even said "now I can see the chorizo" lol im telling you, you couldn't see any... plus hardly any steak on my $15+ plate but I didn't complain about that. Also gave my tiny little shrivels of avocado to my 1year old to eat. Not even a tablespoon worth. Okay so this was all about today.

Last time that I didn't leave a review about...we ordered the iced coffee with the yummy cold foam on top (i believe it's salted caramel coffee..idk but it's delish) anyways, the waitress that day (not kristen) brings the drinks without the cold foam..doesn't even say anything, I guess she just hoped we didn't notice? Well we ALWAYS order this drink so i said where's the cold foam? And she responds "we ran out" ..oh I wish we knew that ahead of time so we could decide if we still wanted this drink. My husband literally orders this drink for that cold foam. Well 5 or 10 minutes later I guess she found the cold foam and brings us some in a cup.. Next thing that happens that same day, we all get plastic utensils. We thought that was odd... I look around and not a single person has plastic utensils but us. So I ask why we didn't get real utensils like everyone else? Just to be told, they ran out...again. that's strange, because no one else had plastic but us.

I don't think I can come back here again. Terrible customer service (except kristen) , really small food portions for what you pay, and honestly it feels like people are racist there to...

Edit from 2/22/25- Gave it a try again today after the last experience as I was ready to never go back. I would also like to say that the owner seems to truly care as he personally reach out to me after the last visit. We went in today, put myself in line before I left the house and drove over. We arrived and was promptly greeted and told we had one table to be seated ahead of us. We were seated within 5 minutes, and had water on the table within another 5. We placed outer order and it came out very timely which was surprising as they were pretty busy. The service today was great, I hope that it was a one off visit the last time, or that the situation was addressed. I was pleased today as it has been one of my wife and I favorite breakfast/brunch joints. I will give it another go in the future. I do truly wish they'd bring back that Bahn MI breakfast bowl with pork belly, because they'd have to beat me away with a stick.

Edit from 11/3/24- Came this morning looking forward to breakfast. Was sat almost immediately which was nice, but that's where it ended. I sat over 30 minutes at my table with nobody even checking on us. No water, no nothing. The table before us had their order taken, and two tables seated after us was waited on, so we got up and left. I am done and will now not reccomend this place to anyone. It used to be a go too, guess I'll ride to Eggs Up Grill now, and let them become my breakfast of choice. No stars isn't an option.

This was from a year or more ago. Been here multiple times that wpuld have had 5 stars, today it would have been pushing 3. Ordered the smoked salmon Benedict and when they were brought out, they ask us to cut our eggs and if they werent right, they'd remake them. Well, they were over to the point of almost boiled, but i was hungry and ate them. Might've been a new cook, so I can let it slide. My opinion, if you think they aren't right, remake them, dont serve them. Enough about that, the service today was lackluster. Waitress brought coffee to which we didn't want and had water. She brought water and took our order. Next time by soon after our food is brought out, she stopped by with the check and said pay up front and to flag her down if we needed anything. Would've been ok jad they been busy, yet the place might have been a quarter full. Oh well, guess I'll go back qhen they bring the Asian pork...