First Watch — Restaurant in South Bradenton

Today at 1230p was our first visit to a First Watch restaurant. Very happy with our complete experience here, and would definitely return!! (we need one closer to the Parrish / Ellenton area where we live!)

The server Thomas was excellent! He was very pleasant and helpful, checking in frequently but not overdoing it, and always coming to our table with a smile. One of the other servers accidentally dropped a full plate and he cleaned the spill up for them. He definitely goes the extra mile! The inside of the restaurant was clean and nicely decorated. The prices were in perfect alignment with current restaurant breakfast prices - we were satisfied with the cost of our meals. The food was very good and presented beautifully. I had the turkey sausage gravy and biscuit breakfast, and my husband had the croque madame. For you potato lovers, the potato chunks were perfect - pan (griddle?) fried, and had super crispy edges with onion. I don't know if that's their standard, because my husband asked for well done potatoes, but I loved them as well. The croque madame sauce was really flavorful - kind of a slightly cheesy bearnaise sauce? My husband got his croque madame with potatoes instead of greens as offered. Two things I could suggest - the coffee tasted somewhat like coffee that has been sitting on a burner too long (even though it was in a carafe), and while the sausage gravy was pleasantly peppery, it needed a little more underlying savoriness (meat stock flavor). By the way - we started our day intending to try for the first time The Breakfast Company located a mile or two east on the same road. When we went to The Breakfast Company, we were told it was a 45 minute wait, even though there were a substantial number of vacant tables. I asked about that, and the hostess at The Breakfast Company they told me it's because they had an online wait list (she showed me a picture of about 20 names, but where were these people?). So happy we left there and chose First...

The service was good, but our otherwise congenial server didn't ask if we'd been there before (I had not) or offer to help us navigate the menu--until (pointing out my eventual choice) only after 10 minutes of not finding a sweet/savory option. He pointed out the two combos at the top I had managed to miss as he said, "...up here where everybody seems to miss it."

Note: Your purposely highlighted menu items do not stand out from the rest of the menu. Of course, this issue could have been avoided if my server (very pleasant guy) had initiated a convo about the menu at first visit.

The food arrived timely and well plated, except for the obviously broken/almost hard-fried "over easy" eggs i had ordered. My server didn't deliver them, so I couldn't fault him. I do fault the expo as no broken yolk (which, again, was evident by the hard yellow line across the yolk) could EVER pass for OE. I only had to wait about 3 minutes from the time i finished my tasty, large (not enormous) pancake until the new perfectly-cooked OE eggs arrived, so no biggie. However, it is not encouraging to hear from your server he had to help the kitchen understand what OE means. I slid the new eggs into my home fries bowl where i had already crumbled my side-order (2 pieces) of well-cooked bacon and broke the runny yolks over the mix. Tasty.

But, when I am paying $27/head for breakfast, I expect it to be PERFECT--which this was not. Another example: the silverware, though of nice quality, was water-spotted. If you are going to ask for all the money, you need to go the extra mile and polish your silverware. If I had ordered this to go, I would be livid based on the overdone eggs alone.

My $27/head included a 20% gratuity, which is the minimum I will tip w/o speaking to a manager. But the ridiculous base cost of food, the expectation for another 27-32% added for tax/tip, and the invariably-mediocre quality/delivery of the product leads me to cook for...

I thought this was going to be like a Panera or Chipotle style place, and it was totally not. I was pleasantly surprised walking into a cute cafe with indoor and outdoor seating. I ordered the Baja Chicken Bowl, and it was really good. Prices were very reasonable for the amount of food received. I'll be going back since they have a very healthy eating menu.

I have been back multiple times, and each time, the food is awesome. The sandwich not only looked good but was delicious. I also had the pumpkin pancake platter and couldn't take a pic since I had to try it..... So yummy! The garden harvest omelet delic.

10/6/21 had a late breakfast and as always one of my favorite places to stop in to for a healthy option meal.

To start, I had a morning meditation from the juice bar...... I am not a beet fan, but this is so refreshing. I also had a healthy turkey omlette. My husband ordered the two for you with the white chili soup and the ham and gruyere melt. We always finish everything 😀

It was pretty busy both inside and outside, but we were lucky enough to get a table with no wait. PRICES are always reasonable and staff attentive.

1/18/22 The superseed protein pancakes with fruit, yogurt, and maple almond butter toppings were so good! This may be a new favorite for me. Of course, I ordered morning meditation from the juice menu to go with it. Great meal!

8/29/22 it's been a long time since I've been back and oh how I missed it. Went with the fall menu today. Had the pumpkin pancake breakfast and it was pretty good! I also tried the pomegranate pear drink and it had a great flavor to it. My husband always gets the two for two with the salad or soup with half sandwhich. His salad looked exceptional and I was a little jealous......lol. please build a first watch...