A few things to know about First Watch: First, don’t show up for dinner; it’s a daytime-only café, serving breakfast, brunch and lunch from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Also, it’s usually busy, so you may want to reserve your spot in line ahead of time on its website.
And be ready to make some hard decisions since its menu serves up everything from avocado toast to cinnamon rolls and egg dishes to salads and sandwiches.
The menu is so huge, in fact, that you may want to visit more than once to get a real feel for First Watch. That’s the happy position I found myself in, making a lunch date with friends Martha and Mary Anne and, later, a day date with my husband, Sean.
As it happens, I didn’t make reservations, but on that Tuesday at 11:45 a.m., I got right in (but note: two other days, when I tried at the same time and also at 10:15 a.m., the wait was about 45 minutes). First Watch is definitely known for its breakfast, but we were going to go out of the box and try lunch.
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Mary Anne’s husband had worked at a First Watch once upon a time ago in Ohio. It’s a franchise, which opened in 1983 in Pacific Grove, Calif., and now has more than 420 locations in 29 states. I love its daytime concept, especially when I learned that its founder wanted to ensure employees could leave work in time to pick up their children from school, play a round of golf or just enjoy the afternoon.
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I’d actually visited a First Watch in Chattanooga years ago and enjoyed it, but one new thing is its cocktail program. Our First Watch, like about half of the company’s restaurants so far, has a bar serving up bloody Marys and other signature and classic cocktails. For non-drinkers, there’s also a juice bar that juices daily with fresh ingredients (kale tonic, anyone?).
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We weren’t indulging today and went right to the lunch side of its menu. The 2 for You lunch special lets you try two of any combination of sandwiches, soups or salads, and Martha ordered the honey pecan salad on the advice of our waiter, with the soup of the day, which was potato, while Mary Anne chose the Cobb salad with soup. I’ve been hankering after burgers lately (my most recent was at the Willcox in Aiken, known as one of the best hotels in the world, and its burger was delectable, a thick patty topped with grilled mushrooms, garlic aioli and cheese), so that was my choice, adding the soup also as a side.
The food came super fast—in fact, we were in and out in just about an hour, from seating to checkout. First, the soup—it was warm and creamy, perfect for the cool day, and I especially loved that it was rich with herbs and other vegetables, like hearty carrots. According to its website, First Watch receives deliveries of fresh vegetables and fruits three times a week.
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The Baja turkey burger was moist (sometimes hard to achieve with turkey!), with nice flavor from the horseradish Havarti cheese and the buttery bun. Plenty of fresh greens were piled on, which helped cut the richness.
I was filled—with both great conversation and good food, but I was also oddly unsatisfied. There was so much more I wanted to try. So my husband and I went back on a Saturday morning a few weeks later.
I forgot to make reservations, but it was our lucky day: Two seats were open at its marble-topped bar. This time, I wanted the full breakfast experience and ordered a First Watch classic: the Tri-Fecta, choosing scrambled eggs, a multigrain pancake and pork sausage link. Meanwhile, Sean chose the Frittata Rustica, an Italian-style omelet with kale, Crimini mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and mozzarella and parmesan cheese. It comes with toast and a salad with lemon dressing, and he added cheesy grits and the million dollar bacon.
It was fun sitting at the bar, watching the bartender serve up juices and cocktails. He topped off glass bottles with bloody Marys, which were then served to diners, together with a glass of ice festooned with a strip of million dollar bacon, so they could pour it over themselves. Next to us, a young man ordered the Morning Meditation juice, all in sunrise colors of orange and yellow and red.
My plate was served first. I love giant pancakes, and First Watch’s was bigger than my head, with crisp edges, a tender interior, generous dabs of softened butter and served with a warm glass bottle of maple syrup. It was definitely the star of my plate. The eggs were cooked as I’d requested, and the sausage link was savory and tender.
I sampled Sean’s, too. I was eager to try the million dollar bacon, which is baked with brown sugar, pepper, cayenne and maple syrup drizzle. It surprised me, because I expected it to be more crispy and sweeter. The grits had a great texture, not too thick or too thin and were deliciously salty and cheesy. And I liked the tart lemony dressing on his salad. But the star of his plate was definitely the frittata with its bright Italian flavors. I tasted tomato, that lovely mix of pizza cheese and sweet roasted vegetables in every bite.
Still, there was more I wanted to try. And that’s one more thing to remember about First Watch: It offers plenty of variety to keep you coming back.
Make Your Reservation
First Watch
630 Crane Creek Dr., Suite 405
firstwatch.com
Open daily, 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., except for Thanksgiving and Christmas
Cost: $4.99 to $11.79
Danielle Wong Moores is a local freelance writer who’ll never turn down a shrimp cocktail, sushi or 
cheese dip. Her greatest food influences are her mom and writers MFK Fisher and Amanda Hesser. Her Dine and Dish column runs the second and fourth Fridays in The Augusta Press.
