First Watch - East Sunshine — Restaurant in Springfield

Sad to see a good idea fail! Every restaurant can have a bad day. It's how you handle your mistakes and promptly take care of problems that makes a reputation. I sent the following email, along with the attached picture to Amanda L. at First Watch corporate. Waited a week for her response before posting this review. Still awaiting her response to my email: "My wife and I go out to breakfast quite often. Before Corona, once or twice a week. For years we would go to Village Inn, which was consistently good. When First Watch came to Springfield, we tried it, and liked it for several reasons. Food quality was superior, service was better, and the overall atmosphere was more "upscale". Recently, however, we have witnessed a dramatic downward trend. I'm not sure if it Corona related, poor management related, or something else.

A couple of weeks ago, the first strike was poor service. The waiter was inattentive, and negligent in in his service (forgot several items, and never did bring them to our table until we were getting ready to leave).

The most recent issue, and the "last straw" which has caused me to reach out to you, was our visit to the East Sunshine location a few days ago (05-10-20). I ordered my regular breakfast, which included bacon. I specifically asked for the bacon to be cooked (not raw) as it had been served the last few times. Despite my request, it was served "raw". I'm not sure how the waitress could miss that, but she did. When I drew that to her attention, she said she would bring me another order, which she did, totally incinerated and inedible (see picture showing incinerated and raw bacon on a plate).

In the meantime, we have resumed going to Village Inn for breakfast. I can't tell you how disappointing it is seeing a great idea of a restaurant go downhill...

We used the First Watch app to order curbside takeout today. After placing our order it said "Please call when you arrive so we can bring your order out to you." When we got there we called, but no answer. We tried calling for 15 minutes and nobody would pick up the phone. Also, its worth noting the restaurant was filled to 100% capacity, and the lobby/waiting area was packed, when the Springfield, MO city ordinance is currently set to 50% max due to the pandemic. And none of the staff were wearing masks. (This restaurant is floor to ceiling windows so everything is clearly visible from outside.) So we asked a customer that was waiting outside if they could let the host stand know we are out here waiting for our takeout order. A few minutes later a VISIBLY UPSET employee came out with our food. She said they no longer offer curbside pickup and was EXTREMELY RUDE. My wife asked why nobody answered the phone, and she said they were way too busy for that. Today is Father's Day and it seems their management decided to go for it and just ignore the local laws, and their staff couldn't handle the rush of customers. Obviously we will never go to First Watch again after being treated so rudely. If they stopped offering curbside pickup... then someone forgot to update their app. We didn't deserve to be yelled at for their mistake. Also, its disappointing to see they not asking their employees to wear masks. Oh, and on top of all that we realized when we got home they didn't include our...

This was not a great experience. My wife and I had dined at the location on S National and been so impressed that when this new location opened, we brought our kids. We waited nearly 15 minutes for a waitress, after being seated, in a half empty restaurant. I got coffee and no one else got anything, because the waitress didn't ask for any other drink orders. When she returned several minutes later to take our orders, we had to add waters, because she again didn't ask about drinks. When at last we got our food, the kitchen was evidently also having an off day as 2 of the 4 meals weren't not as described on the menu. My youngest had the chickichanga, which was served as a loose pile of food rather than wrapped in a tortilla and fried to earn its namesake, and my wife's frittata was clearly on omelet. Also, our chef apparently wasn't taught salt and pepper in culinary school. All four dishes were basically unseasoned.

I might well go back and try this place again, see if maybe this was an off day or just too green a crew, but I was negatively impressed by this experience and given the great options in town open to me, I won't be back here anytime soon. If you really want First Watch, make the trek to their busier, better...