First Watch — Restaurant in Mesa

One of those experiences that’s so great, you gotta give credit where credit is due. Felt like we walked into a time machine, where people still knew the meaning of hospitality and joyful service. From the moment we walked in, (on a Saturday morning around 9:15–granted, we beat the crowds and a wait!), we were greeted by a bright smile at the host stand and this fellow happily walked us to our table and genuinely wished us a good meal. Not lip service, but genuine. It was so refreshing! Then, our waitress, Melissa, came over and was not only attentive, but beaming, enthusiastic personality — colorful recommendations, our foodie hearts united lol and perfect timing. Being a server for over 15 years and feeling like the art of genuine hospitality and care has all but been drained from so many dining experiences these days, found our visit to First Watch to be so refreshing. And it wasn’t just limited to the body and our server. The entire staff, no exaggeration, had a great attitude, from the server who delivered our food and watching other servers on the floor. You could tell someone was hiring the right people and knew what to look for. When I complimented our server and host, Melissa informed us that it was because of their great GM, Savannah, working the host stand at the front.

It’s rare to find this combination these days, and I had to compliment Savannah, who graciously took the time to listen to me in the midst of their crazy weekend brunch rush.

This place is already top notch — real butter and real maple syrup available, not to mention fresh mini pepper mills and salt grinders on each table & not one microwave in the kitchen! They pay attention to the small details, that a foodie from Chicago like me really appreciates. But they knock it out of the park with sourcing awesome, personable talent.

I brag that my kitchen is the best place to dine in all the land, but First Watch on Dobson, you make it worth getting out of bed in the morning! Keep doing what you’re doing! =)

Be blessed!

Hands down new brunch spot! (Oh! And while this was totally inspired by the peeps, who deserve all the praise, I must also rave about the BOH kitchen staff! Cuz everything from coffee to turmeric drink to PUMPKIN pancakes (trust, not normally my jam, but fluffy autumn goodness slathered in butter, didn’t even need the maple syrup — insider hack from our server: add chocolate chips!) & the smoked salmon frittata with chive herb drizzle were so good! Subbed house potatoes for greens & ordered the fruit cup, which usually goes untouched. But even the strawberries and pineapple were ripe to perfection!

Such a great start to the weekend! Happy bellies and maybe even our faith in humanity...

Long review: "Sorry, not sorry" So I've reviewed First Watch on Dobson Rd in Mesa before and I've given them 5 stars for good food & service. Now, it seems like they have disabled their review option- smart move as a business owner if your service is failing. I decided to edit my last one.

I was there just this last Sunday (2/20/22) and I couldn't have had a more worst experience dining out than I ever have at any restraunt. I wasn't the only one having issues with the poor service from the three gals that were seating people. Their lack of communication with each other made it so that my 20-25 minute wait was more like 45-50 minutes. Right! Double the time :/... Then, when I brought my wait time to their attention they made me feel like I was the one with the problem. I get and know some people will say 45-50 minute wait time is standard on a Sunday. Plus, I also understand that there are online reservations, which is fine, but then they should account for that when telling people what time you will be seated. Then it's on me & I can decide if I will wait or decide to leave.

Once we were finally seated & waiting to be served, we had about three people come out to us to serve food that didn't belong to us. When we finally got our food, we asked the waitress (different gal that took our order) for extra napkins her comment was, "okay it will be sometime though because now I have my tables to serve." I understand she was busy and I appreciated her helping & bringing out our food but when I asked for extra napkins then she could have responded, "absolutely let me let your waitress know."

As mentioned above, there was also another person waiting for their online to go order for some time as well. The standard answer was "sorry, we understand but there's nothing we can do about it." Perhaps this was a bad day for First Watch. Perhaps after this pandemic people are having difficulty getting back on track, but through all of this, "sorry" didn't feel like they were really sorry. It felt like it was just a word they were saying or told to say. So on that note, no management was ever around trying to help with smoothing things over and maybe figuring out why service was falling apart. Not a team player if they can't come out and help. From my perspective, yes people want good food but people LOVE great service. There was nothing to love about the service on Sunday at First Watch. Management needs to get it together. First Watch has great food still but First Watch better watch it because if they continue with this type of service, they will be the first to go down after this pandemic....

We usually come to this location for a weekend breakfast 1-2 times per month. Well today I can guarantee we will never be back at this location. We put our name in on the online waitlist. We walk in to the older gentleman at the host stand, give our name. He immediately sounds annoyed and like we inconvenienced his day by being there? He said “Well there’s about 5-6 people in front of you, we’ll do our best.” Umm, despite the odd greeting we politely said okay, and sat in our car. 40 minutes passed by, I walked inside very politely and patiently asked the gentleman “just wanted to check in and see how many people are ahead of us” He responds 7 people. I let him know we had checked in 40 minutes ago. He responds “Yep you sure did but people aren’t leaving I don’t have a table to sit you at” then dismisses me and helps the person behind me. So basically, not only did we not move up in line in the entire 40 mins but we did in fact get skipped by 1-2 other parties. He didn’t set a time expectation for us either. Had we known it would be over an hour until we got sat, we probably would not have stayed. Just baffled at how the situation was handled overall and I completely understand being busy and overwhelmed. But being that hostile and irritated at customers is unprofessional and bizarre. Needless to say, we did leave and go to a different location who sat us quickly, provided great service and the food was excellent. Will not ever be back to...