First Watch — Restaurant in Round Rock

I had my first experience at First Watch yesterday. My expectations were high as a result raving reviews from family and friends of their experiences at the Richmond, TX location.

Unfortunately, my experience was less than subpar. I went with a party of 5 adults and 6 children. We were split into two tables (which we were totally fine with). I discuss this with the host, and we were accommodated in a timely manner. The hostess was very professional and accommodating.

When we sat at the tables, two waitresses came to our table and abruptly the first question they asked was if we would be on one ticket or if the children would be on their own ticket because we were sitting in two different servers sections. While I completely understand this question and the need to clarify split tickets, the waitress was RUDE to say the least! There was no greeting, no introduction, and no beverage offer. it would have been totally acceptable for her to say, "Good morning! Welcome to First Watch, my name is __ and I will be one of your servers today. To get you started, how will we be splitting the checks today? You all are sitting in two different sections, so we want to ensure you get the best and most efficient service." Her training was lacking, her attitude was negative and she was so unprofessional that I asked for a different server.

When I requested a new server, she walked away and began talking with the manager in the front of the restaurant. This conversation should have been held in private. Instead, she and the manager talked about the encounter in front of other guests. This again is unprofessional and unacceptable.

I got up to describe the issue to the manager, and she simply said ok. There was no acknowledgment or apology.

Since we have waited for 45 mins to get seated, we ordered food. We waited an additional 1 hour and 20 minutes for our food to arrive. desperate the time that has lapsed and the manager and servers paying our tables to serve food to surrounding tables, no one checked in with us to provide a status of our food order. When the food finally came out, it was cold! Cold French toast is disgusting! The food was so cold that none of the butter melted!

I didn't bring this complaint to the manager because it was apparent that she was not going to rectify the issues we were having.

I am submitting this review to corporate in hopes that we can receive some type of rectification for this less than subpar experience!

This was a horrible experience and as much as I hate to judge an entire restaurant off one bad experience, if this is not attended to, I have no other choice but to let people know this is how we were treated in...

I had recommendations from co-workers that I try this place, so on a Sunday around 9 a.m. me and my wife decided to try it. We had no reservation and I knew it was a popular spot, so I came prepared to wait. As I walk through the front door to check in, and before I can speak, the host hastily and authoritatively tells me, "If your name wasn't called, you'll have to wait outside." Busy morning, no harm, no foul. I ask to be put on the list, he takes down my name and number, and tells me it'll be 45 minutes and that we would receive a text. We received a text saying we were in the queue and would be notified when it's our turn. An hour goes by, we weren't called and received no text. I go back in to inquire and there's now a different host. I tell him my name and show him the text message time. He checks the list and my name is somehow no longer there. He apologizes and moves me up to the next slot, which took another 10 minutes. We finally sit down in the dining room and meet our waiter. We order our drinks and food and wait. I notice an alarming number of antsy dine-in people with no food and an equally alarming number of staff focused on to-go orders as they are flying by every 3-5 minutes while patrons wait. I grew tired of waiting as it was 11:40 a.m. by this point and I was done with the experience. I ask my waiter to change box my order to go. Somehow it got to us in 5 minutes time. We take our food and pay. Not including tip, it was 52.78$ for an omelet with fruit, a blt with eggs, coffee, juice, and bacon appetizer. I'm hoping it's good. We get home (15 minutes drive) and the food is cold. I expected warm or maybe room temperature, but not cold. The blt had enough kale to completely hide the bread beneath it and enough dressing to still make the bread soggy. The omelet tasted great, even though it wasn't warm, but sadly what really put a bow on this present, and I wish I was joking, the side of fruit that came with my order was a black plastic condiment cup with a clear lid containing 4 pieces of fruit, each not much larger than a single die. The only thing that saved this from being a 1 star review was the second host who accommodated us and our waiter who was extremely polite and understanding of our frustration, and how good the omelet tasted...

Definitely expect a wait, but if you go around 10 AM, there are lots of shops nearby you can walk around at until they text you that they're ready. It's usually busy so if that's not your scene it's not for you. The place is well designed so even though it's busy it's not too crazy loud, compared to some places, so that's nice! Variety of seating, some booths, some padded chairs, some wooden - so comfort can vary a bit depending on what's available.

All that out of the way, this is a nice breakfast/brunch spot, with reasonably priced, tasty food, with reasonably big portions. Lots of options on the menu, though for sides they tend to specialize in diced potatoes, which are pretty good, but if you don't want carbs, you would usually get mixed greens, and I do find those a bit unimpressive, and they come out soggy. The one critique I would give to management is to consider implementing a couple more/different sides, and maybe revisit the mixed greens entirely - maybe there is room to improve there. If you aren't feeling the diced potatoes I sort of feel like you're out of luck - now maybe you can sub those potatoes for some other stuff if you ask, and if so, great!

If you like seasonal, especially sweet food, there is always something fun like pumpkin spice donuts to choose! Also lots of interesting juice blends which always taste great and a couple different iced coffees you can get, and or course hot coffee by the pot. Some nice cocktails for brunch too!

There are nice little touches they do that elevate things a bit, like if you get water, it comes in a glass pitcher that you can pour into small glasses yourself - I love that sort of attention to detail!

The service staff is always really kind and attentive even though they are busy. That takes some talent to manage, so kudos!

Food comes out in a timely manner too. Not lightning fast, but again, they're busy, that's totally normal. These folks do a solid job and make good food - conclusion, if you're comfortable with a bit of a wait, maybe wanting to walk around the shops for a bit, make a day of it, this is easily one of the best breakfast/brunch spots in town....