Critic's Review
First Watch opened in Hollywood in the old Mama Fu's / Voodoo BBQ location, and I had a $2 coupon. A recipe for a visit. They officially close at 2:30, which is highly annoying, so I made an effort to get here earlier than my usual lunch time.
I walked in at 1:45 to a big crowd in the front area. The register was 3 deep.
I iniitlally thought "They close at 2:30, there's no way I'm waiting here for a table". But the shit show was caused by the fact that you pay at the register as you leave, so the people at the register were waiting to pay. A guy came over with an iPad and took my name and told me it would be 5 minutes for a table.
They have this community table in this chaotic front waiting area; I was thinking they'd better not seat me here. Why would anyone want to sit at this table?
I was seated 9 minutes later. They have NOTHING I want on this menu of mismatched items, but I was having breakfast, so I ordered coffee. They give you the whole pot, a big cup and the coffee is piping hot. Decent coffee too.
Notice my server didn't remove the other setting on this miniature table. More on that later. The specials here are all trash; they give you a specials menu or you can read them on the blackboard, which is kind of a signature thing.
None of the recipes are correct here; not even the classic items. What they call "Classic" Eggs Benedict has tomato, ciabatta bread and smoked ham, none of which are correct. But it would have to do.
They have an open Wifi that puts you through some annoying disclaimers and then directs you to the First Watch web site (why?), but I was able to catch up on the day's sport news. I noticed the scary ketchup, which indicated to me that this is a bring your own Heinz venue.
Note to restaurants: Nobody wants any ketchup other than Heinz. Seriously.
My server came by a few times to tell me my order would be ready soon. Tick, Tock.
At the 22 minute mark I was wondering if I'd get any food before they closed. It was becoming an annoying.
Even other servers were chiming in "Your order will be out soon" as they passed. My server offered me a juice while I waited. "No Thanks". The dining room was really loud; the table next to me has an obnoxious server who thought she was being funny or cool; but she was just annoying.
Finally the food arrived; just 30 miinutes for Eggs Benedict.
A pretty sad rendition of Hollandaise sauce. At least the eggs weren't cooked hard, but the entire point of eggs Benedict is the Hollandaise Sauce, so you can't just drip a bit onto the eggs.
Overall this wasn't terrible, but the proportions were off. Too much ham, tiny eggs, not enough hollandaise. Too much bread. You get the idea.
It took me much less time to eat this than it did to get it; not a bad low carb meal if you avoid the bread.
Before I was done my server left the check; notice that garbage and other stuff on the table was of no concern to him.
This is the norm in South Florida. I'm pretty used to it by now.
Even with my $2 discount, this was $14.
Conclusion
First Watch is bad food made by people who don't know much about food, but they've tapped into a niche down here where the alternatives are eating in a bad diner or getting $25 eggs and toast at a hotel. They've tried to pretend that their food is healthy by incorporating avocados and tomatoes into the dishes, but almost all of the recipes are ill conceived.
This particular location is a real mess; partly because it's still new but also because of the ill-conceived front desk which is too small to accommodate both people paying their bills and people waiting for tables. Comfort be damned; we need another table.
