First Watch — Restaurant in San Antonio

I will start with the PROS:

-Martika, our waitress for the morning, was extremely pleasant and thorough, she took great care of us.

-The atmosphere is extremely welcoming, the restaurant is decorated beautifully and the place is clean!

-Didn't take long to be seated, my party was actually seated quicker than they estimated, so we were excited about that.

-Reasonably priced meals, great for people on a budget

CONS:

The food here sucks, not going to lie. If i could give zero stars for food category I would.

1.We had a cinnamon roll from the "shareables" section of the holiday menu. It was almost as hard as a rock. we thought we could tough it out, but mid chew of the second bite my jaw got tired so I decided to head for the center (usually this is the best and softest part of a cinnamon roll) but it was equally as hard. On top of that, the flavor profile of it was not memorable and actually quite childish (topped with an overbearing amount of gold sprinkles and very little frosting)

The Carrot Cake Pecan Pancake was disappointing to say the least. Although it was visually appealing and cooked well, I was expecting something more on the sweeter side since cake was mentioned. Instead I was greeted by a bland pancake batter (definitely not cake like) and an overbearing amount of large pecans and carrots. Even the maple syrup could not help this pancake.

For my main entre, I ordered a parm skillet hash with fried eggs. The potatoes were over seasoned and I needed to add an overwhelming amount of ketchup in order to comfortably ingest it. I am African American, so I am no stranger to salt, but dang... guys this was WAY TOO MUCH! On the bright side , the potatoes were cooked well and very soft, with a nice crisp and color to it. Again, this meal was visually appealing.

My spouse got the Tri-Athlete omelet. You guys put all her salt on my potatoes and she got NONE! It wasn't under seasoned..... it was not seasoned AT ALL. Again, Visually appealing meal!

DRINKS:

Hot Chocolate: Why was it salty?

Coffee: Debatable depending on who you're talking to, but way too strong for my liking, and i'm a coffee drinker. I may have gotten a bad batch, I'll give them the benefit of doubt on this one.

Water: Didn't touch it because the glasses were filthy with finger prints, water spots from the dishwasher and random bubbles in it? I didn't order bubbly so I was confused.

DISCLAIMER: I am a foodie who has traveled the world. I have a very refined palette SOOO, take my review with a grain of salt!

NOTE to who ever is in charge of replying to reviews (FIRST WATCH CUSTOMER CARE):

I will not email you for a chance to make it right, your time to make it right was when I was seated in your restaurant for the very first time. The location was on 1604 off Bandera rd. I know you are sorry for the unsatisfactory experience, but I will not be...

Our family always loves First Watch! The Food is always fresh & we love the healthier options & their coffee! The tough thing about this location is service us always a hit or miss.. and I think it’s a reflection on Management. Other locations in my opinion have had better service!!

Today our server was Stephanie & she was awesome.. professional & attentive!! If we go back we will ask for her! I’d give her service 5stars!!

We notice there was a miscommunication on the hostess part.. I think she didn’t communicate with the server that she got sat. And all the other servers just walking around staring at us knowing we’ve been waiting for over 20 minutes to be helped. It was early not busy we came around 9am. That’s always the theme at this location too the severs don’t work as a team and help each other out. That’s not good for business because they’re all working for one establishment which is first watch so working together as a team shows a reflection of good management. If you see a table waiting you should take initiative as a hostess or team player even if it’s not your table! Greets us & figure out how you can help.

Also I noticed there was an elderly man with a cane waiting for his togo order. He was waiting for about 20 minutes.. a simple gesture of offering him a chair as he waited would of put their service over the Top!! Even if he declined. A hostess Job is to go the extra mile you see an elderly or a mom with a baby offer help. Take initiative to look around the place & look for opportunities to perform especially when ur not busy.

But I also believe this is just a poor reflection on management. It be nice to consider a new attitude @ this location to encourage teamwork, attentiveness, & going the extra mile. That would make the service more exceptional for a place like this.

But we enjoyed our food & will still keep coming & hopefully see some changes.

Management/hostess/ lack of...

I’ve eaten here before the food is good and the service is usually acceptable. However today 04/05/23 me and my mother went to visit and have brunch together. On our arrival we were not greeted or acknowledged by anyone, a server by the name of Mark had even been at the stand when we arrived and didn’t address us, my mother explained to him that we had made a reservation and in a the most disrespectful tone I have heard he said to her “well you don’t need it anyways because were slow” and left us at the host stand, but it just gets better, when they finally got us a table no host lead us to it, one of the employees bussing it pointed us over, no menus were given, we sat for about five minutes before I went back up to the host stand and waited (again) for someone to even acknowledge us low and behold our “favorite” server Mark showed up and I straight up told him I did not appreciate the way he addressed my mother and he responded with “why? Because I told her there was no wait” you can imagine at this point I’m furious, I walked back over to our table as he followed behind trying to put menus on our table (as if we were going to stay at that point) got my mother and walked out.

Now I’m a forgiving person I currently work in the service industry and I understand sometimes you’re just not feeling it and you don’t want to talk to people, but the fact that I addressed that Mark was being disrespectful and he decided to smart off to me is what really irks me. Maybe do some better consideration when it comes to the people you’re hiring to be the fore front of...