Hard Surfaces

Wood

Metal

Glass

If you look around at the relatively new breakfast establishment First Watch, you will see these materials abound. Wood, metal, glass. It’s a look. It’s a feel, a kind of ambiance.

It’s really, really loud. Lots and lots of hard surfaces and nothing soft to absorb sound. I wouldn’t recommend First Watch to folks intent on conversation. If you and your table mates mostly like to sit companionably and read the paper or look at your phones, then this is the place. 

And yet the place was full with folks waiting for tables, so, what do I know? 

An interesting twist: they take your cell phone number for the wait list. No more buzzing coasters for them. My daughter wondered what they would do if no one in the party had a phone. I wondered if I’d be getting follow up promotions now that they had my number.

Getting seated was an efficiently run process. Our waitress got us set up with chilled water and coffee promptly, and took our order. And then we sat, and sat, and sat. No subsequent check ins from the waitress, and no food. At the twenty five minute mark I started trying to find our waitress or any member of the wait staff to find out what was up, it took a full five minutes of trying to make eye contact with numerous employees before I got a response.

They must be trained: never make eye contact.

Our waitress then apologized for the wait. About five minutes after that she returned with our food. Most of it. Half of my daughter’s order wasn’t done yet. It came in about another five to ten minutes.

The food is good. The coffee is just okay. The pancake syrup is mediocre, but, never fear: they have it in a special container that controls the flow so you won’t get much anyway. I adored having a carafe of chilled water on the table. I drink a lot of water.

All in all it was good enough that I’d probably give it another try before writing it off. The noise level is problematic, though.

Funny thing: it wasn’t our intent to go to First Watch. We tried to go to Rise but the line was out the door. The reason we hadn’t been to First Watch before was that, when it first opened, their line was out the door.  

We love eating out in this town, don’t we?