First Watch — Restaurant in Lakeland

No pictures are necessary to communicate the quality of the food and service in this restaurant. I want to give some commendations to the staff who deserve it! My wife and I were in for breakfast (June 11, 2021) having visited other First Watch locations and being convinced of the great quality of the food and service. Shortly after ordering our waitress informed us that the kitchen was slow, due to some staffing issues. We assured her that this was no problem and that we were fine to wait. Our food came out in a reasonable amount of time and was well prepared. Many restaurants are having staffing issues and we are so happy that our waitress explained the slowdown to us - it was very appreciated. At a nearby table, there was another customer that obviously came anticipating issues. He constantly was spraying his table with a strong noxious alcohol spray. (PS - if you don't think that the restaurant is a safe place - why bother coming...) He also was upset that his waitress did not get his syrup to him quickly enough and he marched to the kitchen to get it, and than made a dramatic show of the syrup to everyone - as if he had just won a prize... He then flipped and flopped his food around on his plate and further complained to the waitress - almost reducing her to tears. No doubt he entered the restaurant looking for issues, and IMO he should be banned from coming again. I did my best to encourage that waitress, including giving her a well deserved tip - knowing that the man she waited on did not likely leave her anything. Folks - restaurants are struggling to get staff. If you go to a place like First Watch, this is by its very nature a busy spot, please be patient with your staff. They are serving you but are also working in difficult situations. If you are going to complain about everything, please just stay home and boil...

First watch has a comfortable atmosphere and a nice clean look to it. When we arrived we were seated immediately. Our server walked up to our table almost instantly, asked if we wanted coffee, we said no and she took the coffee cups that were on the table and left. 20 minutes later she returned to take our order. We almost left while waiting. We ordered the 2eggs over medium and I clarified I wanted the whites done and yolks runny, crispy bacon, and a waffle. When our food came, the eggs were very greasy, covered in chives (which wasn’t necessary or anywhere in the description) whites were very runny, bacon was delicious and the waffle while good, looked like someone smashed it. I sent the eggs back and she came back out and said “I told them to do the eggs over medium/hard so they’d be done”. I didn’t want them over medium/hard because as I figured when she said that, the yolks would be hard when they were done, and they were. The waitress then informed us she would have the manager come talk to us. Well, as they have an open concept, we witnessed the conversation, though we could not hear, the manager definitely did not want to come talk to us and So he didn’t, his body language, while watching said conversation, was very off putting. They gave us a $2 discount, while nice, we were told the manager was going to speak to us. Unfortunately the staff is full of younger people and they like to stand and talk a lot. They congregated by the hostess stand and they congregated In the open concept kitchen so you can watch them chatting while you wait extremely long times to...

My family and I have been to First Watch on many occasions we love the food and atmosphere. This morning we went in its busy of coarse its a Saturday at noon. Im standing at the podium waiting for about 5 minutes with no one even acknowledging our presence. A few servers make eye contact, but are busy and thats not their responsibility apparently, the manager or some sort of lead person is clearing things and cashing someone out. Finally someone is going to acknowledge us right? Wrong not only does he ignore us but, because a big buff man walked in with his son and commands attention he sat him and his family and then tried to sneak away to the kitchen like he didn't know what he had just done. He made eye contact with me and my husband several times before he did that but we were politely giving him time because we could see they were very busy. I approached the kitchen to inform this lead or manager that me and my family had been patiently waiting but I guess because Im not a big buff man I guess me and my family dont matter. He said he didn't see me but its a bright full of light building and im standing there in all black? If he had come straight back and sat us and apologized it would have been fine but you snuck away to the kitchen, and your supposed to be a leader or manager. Great example sir 👍 I knew we should have...