First Watch — Restaurant in Suffolk

Bad First Experience only at this location!

I always use yelp but have never until today created an account. My experience today was so bad I felt it was necessary to put a review. I am a big fan of First Watch. I am a frequent customer at the Newport News location since it’s close to my residence. Today my wife and our 2 year daughter went in for breakfast. We were seated by the manager with maybe 6 other tables with customers. We did as we usually do ordered our daughter her breakfast and an order of million dollar bacon first. We ordered water, coffee, apple juice and tea followed by our order shorty after. After being there about 20 mins we realized they started getting really busy. We are use to this because we go to the Newport News location and it a common thing. Our daughters breakfast and the bacon was received quickly within about 10-15 mins which was fast since at the time there weren’t many customers in. We received the water, apple juice and coffee never the tea. After our order was taken we never spoke with the waitress again except the two times I flagged her down. After 30 mins of drinking coffee and water and our bacon I flagged down the waitress ask for the tea that had never arrived at the table. The waitress had tables adjacent to use that she was also servicing. After about 45 mins I flagged the waitress again and asked if there might had been a delay in our meals as tables surrounding us of customers whom had just arrived 15-20 mins prior too had already received their meals. I was told “sorry it’s really busy right now”. After we had been sitting at the table for over hour closer to an hour and 15 mins we decided to leave. I spoke with the manager about us leaving and she personally remembered seating us and even she was surprised to why we hadn’t received our meals. If the meals were never placed to be made and it was a mistake that maybe the waitress had not or forgotten to place our order I could have understood and we most likely would have stayed and enjoyed our meals. Yet when I was asking about our meals and was told “it’s busy right now” when we arrived prior to the rush just seemed as if we were being blown off. We literally sat there drinking coffee and water for over an hour without atleast a follow up of hey I checked on your order they are cooking it now or it should come out shortly. The whole service provided today was horrible and my experience of eating at this location (technically we didn’t get to eat) was just awful. I always recommend first watch locations to friends and family. Even in July at the Newport News location I had family come in from out of state. I took them all to first watch in Newport News. They had nothing but things about the food and service.

Just from this one experience I will not recommend or return to this location I will return to the Newport News location. I can’t comment much on the food except the million dollar bacon and coffee I had which was good.

In case your wondering what we ordered: Pancakes Grits Biscuits and...

I’ve been going to First Watch in Hampton Va for awhile and I’ve always had the best experience. Today I visited the First Watch in Suffolk’s Harbor View area. First let me say this review has nothing to do with my meal or the manager, My meal was delicious and when I spoke with the manager about my issue today she was so apologetic. I appreciated the time she took to listen. We arrived at the restaurant and the wait time was very short , when we were seated the table was still very wet and it had a single cup on it. Our waitress Alexis ( young lady with tattoos looked like roses on left arm couldn’t see the tattoos on right arm) came to table and I asked could we get napkins to wipe off table. She comes back with the napkins and ask are we ready to order. My friend and I both order and we are both getting coffee. When Alexis came back to the table she came with one coffee cup, so I asked her could I get another cup and she looks at the cup that’s been sitting on the table before we were seated and says I can use that one. I asked again for another cup and she’s arguing with me about the cup that was sitting on the table before I was seated. Now I know my tone isn’t the best but now I’m irritated and I tell her I don’t care when this cup was put there I want another cup. Alexis brings new cup directs conversation to my friend and a few minutes later brings out our order. Now during the time we are eating she comes back a few times but still only directs conversation to my friend and when it’s time for the check someone else brings it to table. As this young lady is walking up to the table Alexis is walking beside her looks me in my face a ROLLS HER EYES . Now maybe she was having a bad morning and maybe she was irritated because I’m the customer and I asked for a different cup but I’ve never gone into a restaurant and had a member of the staff not only be disrespectful when coming to the table and only addressing one person but I’ve never had one roll eyes. Although the manager was very understanding I’m sure I’ll continue to go to the Hampton Location that’s 20 minutes from my home. Food was...

My experience during today’s visit to First Watch was quite disappointing. When I requested coffee, a pot was brought to the table without any spoons or Half-and-Half cream. I informed the server about the missing items, but it took her about 15 minutes to get the cream. By that time, I had asked for two creams at a different table. The waitress appeared much later with cream, but the spoon never arrived.

After waiting over 20 minutes for our order, the food arrived cold rather than hot, and we still had not received any silverware. As I waited for silverware, the food continued to cool. Therefore, I decided I could not wait any longer, so I walked to the kitchen area to get silverware myself. Upon reaching the entrance of the kitchen, I noticed our waitress was ready to serve food to another table, yet our table still lacked silverware. This was particularly disappointing because it meant I would have had to wait even longer to eat my cold meal if I hadn't taken the initiative to retrieve the silverware myself.

Initially, I intended to leave the food behind and exit the restaurant; however, I ultimately decided to stay due to the time of day. As a result, I ended up eating my meal cold, which left me feeling quite disappointed. This experience underscores the importance of effective management rather than attributing blame to the employee. Management must address this issue by providing staff with training in customer service. Ensuring that napkins, silverware, cream, coffee stirrers, and other essentials are readily available when serving coffee and the customer's complete order.

It's important for management to pay attention to these issues. I don't want to mention any names in this review because my intention is not to harm the waitress but to bring this issue to management's attention so they can train their staff to provide complete service...