First Watch — Restaurant in Westminster

I wish as a society we could return to a different era of restaurant design that accounts for conversation. So many corporate casual restaurants these days have the same noise level and sense of intimacy as a Costco food court (the only thing missing is the tire smell and unreasonably cheap price of a hotdog and soda combo).

Then we have the issue of a set menu designed around whatever Sysco or UNFI or other middle man distributor has in their pre-prepared inventory. Its the very reason independent restaurants retire or close down and replacements never start or flourish. Nobody can compete with private equity money mediocrity either on the business capitalization side or the overpriced hidden costs of cookie cutter commercial real estate.

If one were to cast their sightline across and up the space is indistinguishable from a Chipotle. Yet louder because there are so many more people and hard dishes and groups of people actually dining in.

The service was acceptable. Unfortunately the totally uninspired menu which is too large and scattered across genres leave little room for your server to feel some excitement and engage in any sort of meaningful exchange over your dining experience. A good suggestion would be to have about 5 core dishes that set the bar high and are exceptional as a standalone dish then riff off of those in a lightly customizable way. I had the roast beef sandwich with a side of tomato soup. The beef was deli sliced Arby's and the caramelized onions were just wilted yellow onions that were oily. No caramelization was developed nor was butter used as the fat. The soup seemed as if it was poured out of a tetra pack and not taste tested because it was under seasoned and was unusually acidic for a prepared soup dish.

Some sound deadening panels hanging in the ceiling space and on the wall and break up the warehouse sound and sightlines that are dressed up aesthetically and some attention to detail for the little things like not rushing the breakfast potatoes as half of them are undercooked in the middle and taste testing the soup for roundness and palatability and caramelizing onions properly would go a LONG way. Even a quick wipe of the silverware before bundling as all of my silverware looked dirty and unwashed before I wiped it with the single napkin I received for a hands-on sandwich meal. The little things folks! It might justify the $20 cost of a single soft drink and...

ABSOLUTELY AWFUL!! 😡 I was having a fantastic morning and was excited for a simple breakfast. The server came over, and we were very polite when ordering our easy breakfast: a traditional breakfast with over-medium eggs, cheese, and sausage as my meat choice, along with the maple bacon croissant sandwich. During this time, I noticed she was “extremely confident” in taking our order with a cocky attitude and wasn’t taking any notes of our order. However, as someone in customer service myself , I understand that some people are just blessed with that kind of memory, so I said nothing. (Trying to give the benefit of the doubt)

When our order arrived, WHAT DO YOU KNOW!?!?!? It was wrong! I got bacon instead of sausage, there was no cheese on the eggs, and they were HARD. When I confronted the server about the issue, she insisted that the blame lay with the kitchen. However, when I received the bill, it was clear that the order just wasn’t entered correctly.

AND NOT ONLY THAT!!! When I finally got my new eggs, yes, they did have cheese and were cooked well, but… they had eggshells in them! I would love some extra calcium in my diet, but not like that.

So, if you’re wondering why I didn’t leave you a tip, NATASHA, it’s because maybe you should get a notepad to write things down and not blame your coworkers for...

My girlfriend and I drove by many times. So we decided to try it. I was not disappointed. The hostess was friendly and seated us right away. About 930 am on a Saturday. Our server came over right away and took our drink order. She came back quickly with a big carafe of coffee. Loved it. No waiting for refills. Being our first time there, I wish she had told us about featured items or her own favorites. We ordered eggs Benedict which had a hint of lemon to it. Not what I'm use to but very nice flavoring. Ham was sliced thin and very juicy. Full of flavor. My girlfriend had the classic breakfast. Eggs scrambled, sausage and hash browns. Cooked perfectly. My only complaint would be that I got a side of arugula salad with mine. I was expecting hash browns. It's not a diner ( which I love) so expect to pay a bit more for breakfast. About $40 for 2 breakfast meals. They have 4 individual bathrooms which are unisex. Which unfortunately means ladies go in after some guy pee'd all over the seat. I'd suggest putting up signs that make each bathroom exclusive to one gender. Men are disgusting sometimes. Ladies shouldn't have to go in after a man. Over all a nice place. Definitely a California yuppy vibe but the...