First Watch — Restaurant in Maryland

I used to chef at First Watch! But even before I worked there, I ate there many times. Even when I worked there, I still go in for breakfast/lunch/brunch. I brought my wife and her sister and they love it! A little bit healthier plating on the menu. But still had much of the comforting that you find in a good breakfast joint. And when I told some friends and other people, I’ve met along the way about First Watch they came to eat. My faves were the whole-grain pancakes just about any egg dish, waffles, and the egg sandwiches were top notch. And since it’s a very very busy restaurant on the weekends, you have to plan out ahead to get seating. I would suggest going during the week earlier in the morning And shortly before they close at 2:30. If you want to go in on the weekends, I would get there before they open. You can always use the app to get your place in line before you even drive. Then you won’t have to wait as long. But sometimes the app doesn’t work as well as you hope so there’s that. But I will say as far as a breakfast, brunch and lunch joint First Watch is one of the better options. As they provide a variety, some healthy choices and pretty much some thing for everyone. First watch is all over the country… 100 plus in Florida alone. And here in Maryland, there are a few, three within about a 30-40 min. drive of each other. If you’re looking for something unique and good portions, try it, you just might like it. Not only that they have a bar and conserve you up some awesome drinks! One of my favorites is the kale tonic. But as in any restaurant, if your first experience isn’t what you expect, don’t give up just yet… Tell the manager about your experience let them correct it for you. Come back and enjoy...

First time visit, solo, Sunday Jan 29. 2 hour wait: unacceptable. Was told after waiting an hour that it would likely be another hour before being seated because the kitchen was backed up and they were not seating anyone else for 20 min. By the time I was seated the restaurant appeared to be half empty. Saw dozens of people walk in and walk.out when told about the wait. How about providing tea, coffee to people if the wait is going to be this long? And a $5.00 gift certificate for anyone waiting 2 hours or longer?? Food: nice to have nutritional info listed beside each item on the website menu. As a diabetic, I wish every eatery would do this. Allowed me to decide what would meet my dietary needs in advance so I would be ready to order on arrival. I had the BLT eggs benedict which was delightful, came smothered in arugula and a mesclun salad to boot, lightly dressed in a delicious lemon vinagrette. So different from the usual "lead bomb" benedict. Kudos on that. Tomato bisque was average- like Panera's. How about elevating it with some Parmesan like at Whole Foods. Fruit cup- ho hum. Take a cue from Evelyn's. Decaf- definitely under par. Thin, without body or flavor. Hard to beat the decaf at Grunp's- best in Annapolis. Check it out. I will come again, but will try mid week and make an on line reservation in advance next time, to see if this reduces the wait. Management: if you have a seating capacity for 100, but the kitchen can only handle 50, you have to either increase kitchen capacity or reduce the seating capacity of the dining room. All the best in...

We've been to other First Watch locations and enjoyed them. We were going to go shopping in Annapolis, so we decided to go to that location (we had never been there before). My wife saw that the wait was 25-30 minutes, so we went ahead and put ourselves on the wait list to make sure we didn't have to wait too long when we arrived. It took us a little over 20 minutes to get there. The parking lot is awful, and the spots seem a little narrow. I know that's not First Watch's fault, but it was still uncomfortable. As we walked up, we noticed that a TON of people were waiting to get in. We checked in and still had to wait another 20 minutes. So it's been over 40 minutes just to get in. Also, the gentlemen at the host station was pretty abrasive dealing with people as they approached the desk. When we finally got seated, we found out why people were waiting so long. At least a quarter of the tables needed to be bussed. It took about 10 minutes before our drink orders were taken, so we went ahead and ordered our food at the same time. It took about 20 minutes to get our food (which is not bad), but in the 30 minutes we sat there, none of those tables got bussed, and people were still waiting. It wasn't until I took a picture of the table below and a server happened to see me, suddenly the tables got bussed and cleaned. Food was GREAT as always, but the dining area management was horrendous. We may give this place a chance in the future, but definitely not anytime soon. Even though we loved our food, the overall experience...