First Watch — Restaurant in Oxford

The art of serving hot food has not been discovered yet at this relatively new Oxford Breakfast and Brunch spot on S. Lamar next to the old Baptist Hospital. I was always taught to start with something nice, so I can say the ambiance of the location is appealing. The décor is enjoyable and the layout in general is set up well and flows well. The waitress was pleasant albeit a little bit preoccupied with talking and laughing with a few coworkers to be bothered to much with checking on my food once it was served. So that covers the nice. I ordered the Classic Eggs Benedict with a side of potato's and a side of smoked bacon. Bland is a word that best describes the results. The bacon was good, but it's bacon, relatively hard to screw up bacon. The potato's lacked any flavor or seasoning and were warm at best. There was nothing classic about the Classic Eggs Benedict, but it sounded promising in its description. It was served on a toasted ciabatta instead of the traditional English Muffin. They then use a bland smoked ham instead of Canadian bacon. They add a tomato, which sounds like a nice touch, but again was so devoid of flavor that it added very little to the dish. The poached eggs were a testimony to inconsistency. One was well done and one was overly runny. Even the Hollandaise didn't add much. It was served cold and under seasoned and with very little thought to flavor. The entire thing was a well conceived but was a horribly executed incomplete symphony of bland, under seasoned, cold, thrown together ingredients with no display of finesse or talent. When I asked for the check there was still 2/3 of my breakfast on the plate. When the server asked if I enjoyed my meal I stated clearly, "no, it was cold and bland and not very good at all." She did a slight double take and said she was sorry and left the table. I waited a few minutes thinking maybe a manager would come visit me but I waited in vain. So I got up and walked to the register to pay the 21 dollar bill (for a cold bland breakfast with coffee for one) and was asked again if I enjoyed my breakfast by the server manning the register. I repeated, "no, it was cold and bland and not very good." She then asked me if I told anyone and I responded, "yes, but no one did anything about it." She then responded with, "ok." That was it, I paid my 21 dollars and added my 20% tip and signed the receipt and was allowed to leave without so much as the slightest effort to make amends for my unpleasant breakfast. So, in short, and by way of summary statement, my experience with First Watch is that it is an overpriced, bland, cold, underwhelming breakfast with a complete lack of concern for my unpleasant experience. I would recommend avoiding this place for now. I would recommend Big Bad Breakfast instead, unless flavor is...

Really disappointing. My first time coming was impeccable, my second time awful. I decided to take someone that I have been raving to about this restaurant. And it’s truly disappointing seeing that the restaurant I raved so much about turned out to be a disappointment. So, my companion and I get to the restaurant, when we walk in the host places us at a booth table. Everything seems fine at first, we start looking around and notice that everyone else is getting served and refills except this couple across from us that have the the same thing in common with us, they are black. For a while they sit there seeming to wait for a refill, but when they keep seeing their waiter walk past them they just decide to go to the front and ask for their ticket. My companion and I have been waiting for around 7 minutes at this point, two white women gets seated, a waiter comes to them immediately. Okay, maybe the waiter thought they got there first, understandable. The waiter looks at us and goes to another table and gives them refills. We still waiting, looking around, a bus boy starts walking to the table behind us to start cleaning. The person I brought gets the bus boy’s attention, she asks him when would a waiter come for us, he told us verbatim “The waiters get to choose who they want to serve, but I will go check to see who y’all waiter is.” Another couple of people gets seated, two white women, another waiter immediately comes out with two classes of water and a coffee pitcher. After she serves them she glances at us and moves on. One waiter had shoulder length brunette hair, and the other waiter had a very short haircut, both of these women were white. After seeing that we will not be served, we got up and left. I’ll just call it what it is, outright racism. It is a certain way business is suppose to be run, and I hate to say this is not the right way. All staff members represents the business and if staff members already have biases and hate in their hearts, they will never be a good look for your company. I have never experienced racism so out in the open before, and I wish to never again experience this. It was hurtful and...

This is a great spot for breakfast in Oxford, Mississippi. The servers are very friendly, and the atmosphere is very welcoming. The restaurant is clean. As far as the food, it’s great. I always have the biscuit and gravy, fried potatoes, and coffee. They bring you and entire pot of coffee and leave it at your table. The potatoes are fried with onions, and the biscuit is large and fluffy. The gravy is great on the biscuit and on the potatoes as well. All of this runs me around $14, but it’s well worth it. Check them out if you want a great breakfast. They also have some other nontraditional breakfast items that look amazing. And yes, I give it 5 stars because I always have a 5 star experience here. 😀

My son and I went back today. He got the steak and bacon burrito with Hollandaise sauce. Stuffed with steak, black beans, potatoes, bell peppers 🫑, onions 🧅, and avocado 🥑. He also had the chocolate chip pancake 🥞. The food was just as delicious today. I added a scrambled egg with cheese to mine today. I’m not a big egg fan, so I was not wowed by the eggs. Check them out next time your in Oxford.

I returned today, May 3,2025, after a recent time away. I ordered the biscuit and gravy and the fried potatoes. The food was great and the waitress was very friendly and attentive. She definitely was one of the more pleasant waitresses I’ve had there. She was very personable and talked some. This is what I have been looking for around here, but it’s just hard to find. Service like that makes it seem like an old school diner. The coffee and food was great. Today I was seated at the long table upon entry. Gordon was sitting there at one end, and another guy came in a little later. This long community style table is great. The conversation was a nice touch as we were all three eating solo. Definitely always pleased here, and the waitress, Cotina, made this visit much better...