First Awakenings — Restaurant in Salinas

We had the banana French toast special, orange juice, coffee and a banana wheat germ pancake. One scrambled egg for each of us as well.

Huge portions, was afraid a single pancake wouldn't be enough, but it certainly was. The banana wheat germ pancake was not incredibly flavorful but the fluffiness and texture was fantastic. Would probably recommend ordering the pancake with the additional whipped cream and fruit.

They also put a whole carafe of coffee right on the table which I definitely appreciated. Prices were fair and the servers were all very nice.

Editing this review because we actually ate at this restaurant four days in a row while we were staying in Salinas. Had a great meal every time. In addition to our first meals we also tried the eggs Benedict with carnitas, eggs Benedict with ham and avocado, blueberry wheat germ pancakes, raspberry coconut and granola pancakes and apple cinnamon oatmeal chocolate chip pancakes.

Each meal was fantastic and each time the servers were friendly. I do recommend getting the strawberries and whip cream on any of the pancakes.

The wheat germ pancakes taste the best, but the blueberry pancakes have more flavor than the banana pancakes and come with a blueberry syrup while the banana wheat germ is a bit bland...

It was a busy restaurant, but we still managed to get seated within a few minutes. Which is good because as it was, I found myself standing with the door, open to the slight breeze, pressed against my back as the host desk is very close to the entrance.

I will say that the food is quite expensive. Our dishes ranging from $15 to $18 dollars. My dish was the two eggs, two bacon and two slices of cinnamon toast and while I have no problems with the taste, other than the slightly bland cinnamon toast... I still found myself disappointed. I'm unsure if I'm greedy, but I expected a little more. Fatter slices of bacon? Thicker slices of cinnamon toast? Either way, I found myself wishing I had chosen a different dish for the extra $3 it would have cost.

The service was quick. I might even say a little too quick as it was mere minutes after ordering that the dish was being placed at the table. Impressive but I'm too skeptical to think that 4 dishes could be prepared at the same time in less than five minutes.

Overall, would I return? Maybe. If the family wanted to, I could see myself returning to try a different dish. If it were for a cheeky lunch by myself before a long day, I don't think I'd waste my money. I feel you can get more for less at...

Excellent service I got seated right away. I got helped right away and they made sure to pay close attention and give me anything I needed whenever I wanted it. I ordered the oatmeal with vegetarian sausage patties and it’s probably the best vegetarian sausage patties I’ve ever had in my life. The oatmeal was five stars for sure came with raisins and brown sugar and milk, which I didn’t use.

I also had a cup of coffee and water and both of them were premium sometimes coffee makes my stomach hurt, but not at this place.

The oatmeal was so good It didn’t need milk, plus people don’t realize how disgusting milk actually taste. The only reason why it taste good is because they load it with so much sugar. It’s more sugar than soda. I prefer oat milk for that reason it has a lot less sugar in it so much less you could drink chocolate oat milk and it still has half the sugar at regular cow milk has. However, plant-based milk is not an option here yet. Didn’t...