First Watch — Restaurant in Oviedo

Moved to the area recently and had been to other First Watches on trips to Florida so I was excited to have one close by.

A few weeks ago, we decided to to try this one out the morning I was being induced with my second kid.

Labor with the first had been bad, painful and long, so I wanted to eat something filling, that tasted great and had as many nutrients as possible.

In general, I love the food at First Watch. It could be thrown at me while being yelled at and I’d probably still go. I really can’t say enough good things about it, but that’s not what got me to post here today.

Anyhow, I’m 40 weeks pregnant, and there are six of us that arrive at First Watch (both sets of parents, husband and me). We take two cars as we know husband and I will go from First Watch directly to the hospital. So for me, it felt like a last meal of sorts.

We end up running a little bit late. I really wasn’t worried though because the service has always been good at the First Watches I had been to and honestly, I was really dreading being induced. So as much as I didn’t want to be late to something as important as an induction, I also, really really didn’t want to go.

My mom, however (without me knowing) asks our waiter if husband and my’s food can come out quickly as we need to head to the hospital soon, and she explains our situation.

I was super surprised when only what seemed like minutes after ordering, our waiter gets our whole tables food out. She wishes my husband and me good luck and says the two of our orders are on the house and that they all hope everything goes well for me today.

Okay, i have never had a restaurant comp my meal before, and maybe it was because I was pregnant, but my lord I was overwhelmed by her kindness.

I almost cried because of how thoughtful and caring these people were being. I nodded thank you as I pushed back tears. I did not expect this sort of thing from a chain restaurant that is so busy and popular.

After husband and I ate, and were walking out, more staff were nodding and smiling at us, wishing us good luck, almost cheering.

it felt like a cheesy hallmark movie, and I was all for it. I kept it together in the restaurant but started bawling the moment we got into the car.

I had been really scared that whole morning and our waiter and the staff really made me feel special and supported. I can’t thank them enough.

What could have been just a bite to eat the morning of, has become a part of the story of the birth of of my second kid.

Thank you First Watch for hiring such great people. They really made the...

First Watch is by far the best chain restaurant in terms of atmosphere, menu choices, quality of food, and taste of food. The Oviedo location, however, has the absolute worst service. The servers and table bussers are never in a hurry or move with any sort of urgency. There are always dirty tables even when the restaurant is not busy (it’s not that the busser is busy doing other things. He literally moves at a snail’s pace like no one is waiting for a table). It also always takes 5+ minutes to get a server to the table initially and then they rarely return to check on you. There has also been at least one part of our order incorrect every time we come in. When we tell the server they have no remorse and just say something to the effect of “oops let me get you another.” This totally ruins the experience of enjoying a meal with another person. Not to mention the food is never hot when it arrives. Most recently, I came in by myself, sat at the community table. It took someone 10 minutes to come to the table. No one even looked at me. Someone finally came over and I ordered coffee, water, and my entree all in one shot because I know how it is. Coffee came, which was great. No water for another ten minutes or so and that was only because another server saw that I was trying to get someone’s attention. The whole time I sat there no one looked at me or checked to see if I needed anything. Food arrived shortly after the water and it was room temp at best. A few minutes later my server finally brought a jug of water and walked away like it was normal to bring drinks after the food was delivered. A simple, “so sorry I forgot to bring this earlier” would have sufficed. I come in for breakfast every couple of weeks on weekdays or on weekends and it is always the same. If another location wasn’t so far away, I’d go...

I visited this First Watch for a Mother’s Day brunch with a group of 10 people. It was also my first time at any First Watch. It was very busy and we did have a wait which was to be expected with it being a holiday. The wait wasn’t terribly long though since one of the members of our party put our name in the queue online in advance. They were working hard to move everyone through.

Our server, Shatia, was very friendly and attentive especially considering how busy it was. The restaurant handed out chocolates to all of the moms in the group which was a really sweet touch (literally, haha.) The menu was a little limited for Mother’s Day, but there were still plenty of options.

I decided on the chickichanga, which had egg, chicken chorizo sausage, chiles, and cheese topped with a tasty sauce and sour cream. I thought it was really yummy and a great option for people like me that don’t really enjoy traditional breakfast food. My one gripe is that I asked for the chickichanga without onions. They did not put onions in it, but I would have appreciated a heads up at that point that they cook their potatoes with onions. I didn’t end up eating the potatoes because of the onions in them and also because they were pretty burned. I know now for the future so I can specify or swap the potatoes for something different.

Overall, this seems like a good breakfast/brunch spot and I would...