First Watch — Restaurant in Tredyffrin Township

Update: As of 12/28/23 I still haven’t heard back from First Watch concerning this matter (see below). I’ve been frequenting the First watch chain since 2008 in Ohio and Pennsylvania. I’ve known some of the staff at a location near Pittsburgh for all of these years and they still recognize me when I’m in town and stop to chat like old friends. Maybe some people don’t think the story that I shared below is that big of a deal. But I just will not be spending money at an establishment that condones bigotry. The merry Christmas/happy holidays thing is basically just a dog whistle for bigots. We have to endure that elsewhere. We shouldn’t have to endure it from waitstaff at First Watch as paying customers.

I know the happy holidays/merry Christmas thing is a hot-button issue these days; ridiculous as it is. I personally say happy holidays this time of year because as we all know, there’s Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Years, and a few others that all take place within weeks of one another. I have very close friends and family that celebrate Hanukkah. So, happy holidays is easy and all-encompassing. Why is that a problem to some people? Why is it that the only holiday that matters right now is Christmas? That being said, I was checking out and paying my bill at this First Watch about a week ago where I had a quick breakfast before a work meeting. My server was lovely and breakfast was very tasty. After giving a 25% tip, as I know this time of year can be extra stressful for those that work in the service industry, I thanked the woman helping me at the register, and very sincerely and nicely wished her happy holidays. She very rudely and sternly yelled at me, merry Christmas to you too!! How does she know if I celebrate Christmas or not? I wrote to First Watch corporate about this very offensive and needless experience but they never got back to me. I didn’t spend my money and time at First Watch (I’ve spent a lot of money at this chain over the years) to be rudely admonished by someone (who obviously watches too much Fox News) for sincerely wishing her to have happy holidays. Offensive, unnecessary, and...

The service has never gotten back to par since COVID lockdowns began in 2020, it’s very hit or miss. A lot of times they’re short on staff, like bus people, so the wait times will be very long as 4 or 5 tables remain empty and not cleared or cleaned. But the servers can be hit or miss too, even when they look to be properly staffed - most times I think it’s been newer servers, because I rarely recognize more than two servers during a visit. But this last visit the kitchen was off some how, as 2 of our 3 dishes came out (one dish was missing its side), and it was over 10 minutes until the 3rd dish came out. The server did give us a $4 coupon to use when we payed our bill, which was very nice, but also very odd… Why did the manager not remove the dish from our bill or apply a partial credit directly to our bill? Along with the kitchen being off with the timing of the dishes, the quality was also way off on one - the breakfast tacos were overcooked and the avocado on it was a joke, it was literally one small slice of half an avocado that was cut into thirds and each little third was placed on each taco. I’ve had this dish before, this is not how it is normally prepared. And the avocado had seen better days. Here’s hoping for future improvements as enough staff are hired and they get used to running...

Went on a Sunday at noon. Expected it to be busy but it was rather hectic and we were forgotten possibly before seating but definitely after being sat outside. We were already waiting at a table outside since there wasn’t enough wait seating so they left us there but didn’t switch our section or possibly forgot to inform the other server. I’ve worked in this industry and I’m pretty understanding. I also know if you don’t see a server within like 5-10mins you probably were forgotten so I went to let the host know.

An older woman came out finally and said she kept asking if anyone got us and then voluntarily took us. I told her we were on a time restraint also not to stress her but to expedite the process as we’d already been waiting. She was awesome! My 5 star service rating is for her. I wish I knew her name to give her a shoutout (just older with an accent is all I’ve got). She was very quick & got us out on time. The food was okay, my chicken sausage & partners potatoes were burnt, but we had plans after & didn’t care by that point, just needed something to eat & leave on time. The host gave me a meal comp for forgetting us.

As a side note: I’d recommend more benches for customers waiting to avoid having to wait at tables. That’s where some...