First Watch — Restaurant in Topeka

Frankly, it was quite disappointing. We will not be going back.

My wife has been wanting to try First Watch, so we went for Mother's Day.

We made sure to check in on the online waitline and arrived at the appropriate time but were still told we would have to wait 45 minutes. What is the point of an online check-in if it doesn't actually get you a table when it says it will? Either make it a real thing or don't have one at all.

Once we were seated, it took over 5 minutes for a server to come to the table, and that was to ask if we were going to get hot coffee or not. When I said no, she took the mugs and didn't come back for another 5 minutes.

When we finally ordered drinks, all arrived promptly except my wife's, which I had to ask about before it showed up.

Most egregiously, when the food was delivered to the table, my wife's was not. And it was not for a while because the server had forgotten to put hers in. When it was finally brought to the table, it was not good. Overwhelmingly lemony.

While the manager did comp her meal, the fact that there were multiple errors by the staff and they all affected her, on Mother's Day no less.

Also, the food is not good enough for the price. Needs to be 10-15% cheaper. Though the chocolate chip...

First Watch Brunch Experience

My family came to town for a visit, so we decided to try the new First Watch for brunch. We joined the waitlist, which initially estimated 20 minutes, but upon arrival, we were told it would be another 25 minutes. Since we had time, we walked over to the nearby farmers market and returned after about 30 minutes before finally being seated.

Given that it was Memorial Day weekend, the restaurant was understandably busy. We placed our orders—I went for the Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict, while my sister chose the BLT Eggs Benedict—and enjoyed some great conversation while waiting. Unfortunately, our food took another hour to arrive.

When it did, my eggs were very runny, while my sister’s were overcooked to hard-boiled. The chefs might need to refine their poaching technique for consistency. That said, I was so hungry by 2 PM that I ate it anyway and still enjoyed the flavors.

The juice bar was fantastic, and I loved the neat, modern atmosphere, including the outdoor seating. Once the staff settles into their groove, I think this location has the potential to be awesome. Would I return? Maybe—but likely on a less busy weekday to...

I went for breakfast and had a pretty disappointing experience. The wait time was what I expected for a weekend day and the lady managing the front door was very friendly. Once we were seated things went kind of downhill. Our server came quickly but wasn't able to answer questions about a potential allergen in a food item she recommended to us. I understand that it's hard to know what is in everything but surely there is someone in the restaurant that she could have asked.

We ended up with $6 iced coffee drinks that were just ok. The glass was 60% ice and absolutely not worth that price tag. Our entrees came out quickly but the food we were served ranged from undercooked to almost inedible due to being overcooked. Both of us had different styles of eggs that were cold and tasted like absolutely nothing. I had sausage links that were burnt and hard but cold. The pancake that accompanied this was burnt on the outside and still raw on the inside. The restaurant was incredibly loud and very very hot so rather than attempt to have any of this corrected (I really wasn't looking to stick around any longer at this point) we just paid our nearly $50 tab and got out of there. Definitely not worth the price for food that was...