Took way too long for the waitress to visit our table after getting seated. Took way too long for the drinks to come and to be able to place our order. Ladies room was out of toilet paper. Food took way too long and the waitress never checked on us while we waited. Waitress replied with a snarky comment once we finally got her attention and asked for refills. Eggs Benedict were over cooked for a place that has so many eggs Benedict options. read more

I've been here three times. First time I ate in and everything was greats pancakes were superb and their kale drinks are awesome. Second time I got my good to go (avocado toast). I had never seen anything so horrible looking in my life. I had to drive back up there but they immediately fixed it and the manager was awesome about it. I don't mind screw ups sometimes. It's all about the recovery. They recovered well which is why I went back a third time ordering the avocado toast- which was done right. read more

We left without eating after we sent our order back. My food was cold and on hard cold tortillas. My companion's Benedict was delivered with runny, raw egg whites oozing all over the rest of the dish. Inedible. I tried to at least eat the potatoes, that I ordered extra crispy, but they too, were cold and undercooked. We won't be back. The wait is too long for overhyped food. It's too bad because we were excited to eat here. Shame they advertise such an amazing menu but fail to execute simple culinary tasks, like cook the eggs and serve the food warm, much less hot. read more

Wait list if you are planning to go. Seated immediately over a number of Walk ups. Food good but serve slow

Two stars is generous. We have been here a couple times before without issue and had a decent breakfast which is the only reason this isn't 1 Star. It took an 1 hr and 25 minutes to get our food AFTER we ordered. A long wait for a table on a Saturday morning is to be expected. Waiting over an hour for food for 3 people?? One waffle, one potato scramble and one biscuits and gravy. Then half of the food was stone cold and the waffle came out 10 minutes after everything else. The entire restaurant floor was full of tables waiting for food so we understood it wasn't just us. Something was going disastrously wrong in the kitchen. read more

Ok to start off, the food is amazing! The juices are great. Prices are great and being in Smyrna is even better, we just moved here and love it. Our server, Angela, on the other hand, was not quite as friendly. Mostly in a passive aggressive way but made the meal slightly awkward. The rest of the staff we interacted with was great. Will return and hopefully a different server the next visit. read more

Cafe feel. Good coffee. Sorta loud with all the tables close together. Good outside eating area that can be cooled with fans or heated.

We visited on Saturday. First time here. We were seated accordingly. Was offered coffee within a few minutes. Put in order for food & specialty juices. Meantime everyone around us has water on the table. A table seated after us immediately received water. We had to beg for water & then told " Give me a minute." 5 minutes later water was delivered. Again, table seated after us, received their specialty juices. Finally, another server brings our food. Still no juice. My food was cold. We asked another sever to please let our sever know. We were leaving without food or juice. Our sever finally shows up. Asks, is there a problem? He then disappears. Shows up with to go juices. No thank you, just the check please. After continuing to calmly refuse juices (too little too late) & requesting the check, the server then says forget it, I got it & walked away with major attitude. Said he was busy. It was a terrible experience. Ended up at Paces & Vine where we received exemplary service. read more

Beth is the BEST waitress ever! Great food, great services and wonderful overall experience!

Long story short, I'm not going to go back. It wasn't an awful experience, but there are a ton of better breakfast places in the area. If the service is inattentive and the food is mediocre, there's no reason to go again. If mine was the only bad experience I would just assume it was an isolated incident and give it another try. The other reviews lead me to believe this is not the case. The details. Just got back from my first time at First Watch. The food is okay. I've seen the reviewers commenting on the "freshness" and organic quality of the food. It was fine, but ordinary with a few issues: the Coffee is weak. the cappuccino tasted like it came out of one of those gas station machines, my eggs Benedict came out cold and my daughter's bacon tasted like it had been microwaved (slightly cold when arrived, tough instead of crispy). That may sound like a lot of bad, but those are all very fixable things. My big issue was with the service. The other reviewers talking about inattentive servers were spot on. He stopped by three times: drink order, drink arrival/food order, and food arrival. We were seated for awhile before he first stopped by to take our drink order. I had to call after him to get him to leave menus. He stood nearby when the food arrived but didn't do anything. We had to ask for silverware, but the food delivery person went running to get it. He didn't stop by again so I had to go searching for our check. And here's where it started to make sense. There weren't very many servers in the place. The server is supposed to leave your check with you and then you pay at the front. My guess is this is intended to free servers up to serve instead of running cards, but the reality is they just hired less servers. The checkout process is a hassle because the pay station is the hostess station. The result is that there's just a large crowd/long line standing at the front half of whom just want to get their name on the list and the other half who are trying to pay and leave. I'm sure they will do well based upon their location. I just don't think I'll be back. read more

Health Hazzard I've visited this location many times going back to when it was J. Christopher's. As time passed I've noticed the quality of service has declined. That wasn't a real problem until my last two visits. My second to last visit, with my family, the waiter made several errors with my wife's order. No worries just try again with the correct order. The waiter brings out the correct order and this time there was hair in her food. Disgusting! They removed my wife's order from the ticket. Thanks. My last (and final) visit to this location was horrible. We, my wife and kid, ordered the usual. Everything was fine until later on that same morning. My child vomited everything she ate. We didn't think much of it as it was just one time and she was fine afterwards. However, less than an hour later both my wife and I started having stomach pains. I immediately took a probiotic and drank tons of water which helped. My wife on the other hand wasn't so lucky. She began vomiting and was in and out of the bathroom for most of the day. To answer your question, yes, this was breakfast and we haven't eaten anything prior to this or prior to getting sick. First Watch was one of our favorite restaurants, but after what happened to my family we will never go back again. I rarely take time or have time to post reviews but this bothered me so much that I had to post something. read more

The lady that checked me out when I ordered my takeout was a huge help. She even upgraded my coffee and gave it to me for free for the confusion. The food was great and warm still which I was pleased with since it was take out. Will be going back soon. read more

The restaurant is below average. Wait time was long even with tables open. Service was lousy and slow. Food was very good but overpriced. Took a long time to get refills and even our check. I shall not return read more

Sunday brunch was busy and we waited about 30 minutes. But totally worth it. Everything was tasty and coffee was great. We will definitely be back for brunch. Next time we're going to try their smoothies. read more

Excellent food and good selection. We had a large party and they did their best to accommodate us. Our server handled the large table very well! read more

Stopped here for breakfast on way home from the airport. Fantastic! We had the lemon curd ricotta pancakes, the coconut milk chia pudding breakfast bowl, and the chickichanga. The morning meditation juice was visually striking and refreshing. Everything was delicious. The coffee was good, hot, and you get a pot at your table so no waiting for refills. Our server, Jose, was pleasant, prompt, and attentive. Highly recommend. read more

Definitely an improvement from the J Christophers days. Service at First Watch is solid though I miss some of the old dishes that were available before. read more

Great service, very quick and friendly! We sat down within 5 minutes on a Sunday morning and had delicious food at a great price! We will definitely go back! read more

Great breakfast with fresh ingredients. My favorite breakfast place for the price and quality.

Heard a lot about this place so thought I'd try out. After waiting over 45 minutes for a table, another 15 minutes for a server, I've got too much time invested not to see this through. So placed our order & after 35 minutes I asked waitress if she could check on our order. She brought it back 10 minutes later. Well all food came out maybe room temperature. Had definitely sat under heat lamp a while. Well eggs Benedict should not be over cooked and hardened. Waffles should be hot enough to melt butter. Not. The food was so so but not really anything special to brag about. Most definitely not worth wasting this amount of time for it. The only thing that was enjoyable at First Watch was the interior decor. Their designer had a nice mix of country industrial look. In either case, our first time experience here does not justify a return trip. read more

Best breakfast in town! They buy fresh and local some of the freshest ingredients around from farmers market fantastic place to eat breakfast! read more

I remember first watch from when I was in Dayton, Ohio and was excited to see one opening here in Smyrna. I was not disappointed. My wife and I have gone their numerous times since they have opened. The service has been great and the food as good as I remember it being in Dayton. Lot of different things for everybody on the menu. Always liked their pancakes and their Omelets but the Quinoa power bowl is delicious. I know some are disappointed that this isn't J Christopher's anymore and may have marked it down because it isn't JChristophers but honestly, I like First Watch better. read more

I am not typically a wistful person...but...we miss J.Christopher's! We gave this place a chance on two different occasions and while it is ok...it's not great. There is not anything special about the dishes and the food is pretty bland. We felt sorry for the single older diners who were used to sitting at the counter (new owners removed it) and were asked to sit at the "communal" table where the bar/counter used to be. Weird. During the first week they were open, the transplanted corporate/mgmt seemed more concerned about the placement of the glasses/etc on our tables versus just simply providing great service. We ate at J.Christopher's almost weekly. We have now shifted our business to Another Broken Egg in Vinings. Much better!!! We lost a great place in Smyrna. Our old favorite brunch place was packed on the weekends (lined out the door)...now you drive by First Watch and there is rarely a wait. Others are also finding out that First Watch is just not that great. read more

Tried this place for the first time today and boy am I glad we did! We tried the fresh juices (all yum!) and I had a breakfast special item. Everything was really good and service was fast. I can't wait to go back and try other menu items. read more

I always like to start with positives, but I can't this time because of ANTS, ANTS, ANTS. Found a couple of ants crawling on the table. Not a big deal but just mentioned it to the waiter. He proceeded to tell me that a trail of ants was coming from a nearby table, so he offered to move me to the other side of the restaurant. (There were people eating at this table with a trail of ants.) The waiter must have noticed my concern because he said once that group of people left he was sure the manager would close the tables with ant trails. Well, the group left, and the staff continued to seat people at those tables!!! read more

Good clean breakfast fare. Pretty straight forward: eggs, pancakes, fruit salad and sandwiches. Good service and clean food. And great alternative if you like J. Christopher's. Will return. read more

My wife and I were here earlier this morning, and the bad experience unfortunately outweighed the good. I ordered the express omelette (chorizo), and was very impressed. I went to college in Arizona, so I have high standards as well. Our server was also very professional, polite, and seemed to be genuinely helpful. However, there were many other factors which at the time made me believe that this is one of the most unprofessional places I have ever eaten at. My wife's egg benedict was over cooked. A good eggs benedict should have a runny yolk, like over-easy, and this was over-medium/cooked through. It's common sense to know how to make this if you're going to have a job cooking. Also, the description of the sides included with my meal are phrased incorrectly. Apparently the english muffin is only available with the potato side option, instead of with greens. With most menus, when the word "and" is listed after two or more options for sides, it typically means the side following "and" is available for any of those sides. Luckily, I asked the server if the english muffin comes with either side (because I wanted the greens), and he said "No, but I can allow it for you anyways." He was very polite about it. Our food is brought out to us by another person (appeared to be a manager), and I noticed I did not have my muffin. I asked him to bring it out when he had a chance and he cut me off and told me that it doesn't come with the greens, but he still can bring it out. He was very rude about it in his tone, and my wife and I told him that we clearly knew that because our server wouldn't have written it down in our order if we hadn't talked to him prior to the food preparation. However, the manager did not seem to be interested what we had to say because he quickly walked off, later on handing me the muffin without saying a word and with practically no eye contact. This on its own was very unprofessional, but it was far from the worst behavior witnessed today. Throughout the meal, there was constant yelling, screaming, VERY loud laughter, some cursing, singing/wailing, and just overall language/noises/behavior by many members of staff that indicated clowning around instead of focusing on their job. Since the reason they get paid is because of customers, one would think the attention would be on patrons instead of goofing off not giving a care in the world about appearance or negative perception. In addition, the above mentioned manager was seen several times openly flirting with several employees, including arm brushing and constant physical contact. While at times this may be innocent behavior, the physical factor showed it was clearly not. Regardless, it is extremely unprofessional to be acting like that in clear view of customers, especially given all the other behaviors exhibited by the staff. I was completely appalled by the lack of professionalism shown by this restaurant. It may very well be the worst place I have been at based on today. The food was incredible, and our server was very helpful and well-behaved. But all the other factors outweighed the positives from the meal. Hopefully, this is not a common occurrence and will not happen again, but in the meantime, both myself and my wife have no interest in returning anytime soon. read more

I'm from California where we don't have Waffle Houses (which btw I could eat everyday while i'm in Atlanta) but visited First Watch for breakfast. I thought it was a nice place with a good feel. I ordered the tri-fecta and was able to substitute the eggs for fruit since I don't eat eggs. No other place for four days there let me substitute anything for the eggs. The waffle was more than awesome so light and tasty. I was also pleased that there was non-dairy creamer available since I love coffee but can't have dairy products. (Another thing other breakfast places didn't have.) The service was really good we were offered coffee to go and the plates offered just the right amount of food. I will visit again when i'm in town. read more

I am giving First Watch 3 stars for the ridiculous large party rule. First I will say the food is wonderful. However I do admit I arrived this past Sunday with a large party. I do understand when you have a large party that it is highly likely that you may not be able to sit together. Usually the reason given makes much sense and is understandable. But for an establishment to automatically say no we will not sit you all together. The explanation being that the kitchen gets orders wrong whenever there is a large party. Seems to be you need to tighten up whoever is in charge of the kitchen to get the orders right and not blame the customer. With that being said our party agreed to split into 5 tables throughout the restaurant. Although at least part of our group could have at least sat within earshot of each other as there was a table directly behind us available. When we asked about the table we were very rudely told the table was unavailable. So now back to the food and the kitchen. We had a table of 6 that during the 2 1/2 hours we were there never received their food! As we were leaving my friends said the KITCHEN never made their order. The kitchen hurriedly prepared the order to go good thing is their meal was on the house. This was a Very Disappointing eating experience. I will also add the female hostess attitude was not a pleasant representation of the establishment. At the end we waited in line to check out for approximately 10-15 minutes to pay our bill. Our server who was extremely nice apologized and checked everyone out. While the hostess said "I'll be right back" but never returned. I do intend to visit again as stated before the food is always tasty. Hopefully the large party rule can be re-evaluated and this past experience will not be the experience of others in the future. read more

The only redeeming quality about this place was the fact that they had the same friendly waitstaff as J. Christopher's. Our eggs were cold, breakfast potatoes were overcooked, and the portions were tiny. We were bummed that J. Christopher's was gone, but we were very hopeful about FirstWatch. We may give it one more try, but I was very disappointed with our first visit. read more

I frequent this First Watch location and I always receive great service! The restaurant offers indoor dining, an outdoor patio, and a community seating area where customers may sit on a first come first serve basis without having to be placed on the wait list. The community table seats about 8 people and there are always individual customers sporadically sitting at the table, so I wouldn't rely on the community table as an option for a party large than 2 or 3 people. If you have to wait for a table, there is complimentary coffee and mints available that you may help yourself to. The restaurant and restroom are always kept clean. First Watch offers a variety of hearty and healthy breakfast and lunch options. They also have a list of seasonal specials that will be listed on a card on your table or on the chalkboard at the waiters stand. All of the servers that I have encountered have always been personable, easy to work with and willing to accommodate you. The food is always hot and tasty, and if you are a coffee drinker you will appreciate the bottomless coffee option! The food is moderately priced and First Watch does offer several combo style meals (main course and sides), but there are a fair share of items on the menu that come a la carte. read more

Good service. Good menu options. A lot of healthy options. Food is good, atmosphere was good. Coffee is good, a little darker than normal but good. read more

Good food and service. The host seemed stressed but other then that is was a solid experience. The coffee held its own and the seasonal food we got hit the spot. My wife and I had a nice brunch! read more

Cute little brunch spot. About a 20-minute wait at 11:30 on a Sunday - not bad. I ordered a traditional breakfast: eggs, bacon, roasted potatoes, and an English muffin. It was tasty enough, but the potatoes were already getting cold by the time I received my dish. My iced coffee was just okay, and it was already sweetened - great if you like super sweet coffee, but for people such as myself who prefer coffee sans sugar, not so much. The server was efficient and pleasant enough, although his sense of humor teetered on the edge of rude at times. Prices are very reasonable, decent parking, wide variety on the menu, and they use a text message system to alert you when your table is ready - loved that. All in all, a pretty good brunch experience. Thanks! read more

This place was super. The dining room is nicely decorated and clean. I'm not a health nut, but I loved the menu. Not many places offer this many healthy options that aren't second tier items. I had their big omelette with everything, I think they called it, "The Works". Lots of options for sides- I got and loved the cheese grits. I like my food to come out a little bit hotter than this did, but taste was still excellent. Did I mention the coffee? Fabulous! Loved having the option of flavored creamers. Also- when I asked for water, they brought me a cute little bottle with plenty to last through the meal. How did they know that I'm a water hound? :) Not terribly crowded, but the crowd grew as the morning went by. Fast, friendly, attentive service. If you haven't been yet, check it out! read more

Here's an idea - if you're going to use Nowait/Yelp to allow people to save themselves a place in line and not have to wait in line with slobs, maybe actually USE it. We arrived expecting no line, yet we find a big group of boorish locals and a 20-minute wait. It was a cold morning, so hanging outside wasn't an option, so things just became more and more crowded and less and less comfortable. Again, this could have been avoided if we'd been able to check-in through the app before we left our house. Technology only works if you implement it, so give that a shot, as other customers might appreciate it. On top of the unacceptable wait, our food took forever (i.e. more than half an hour) to arrive. Really, really crappy experience in every way. We will never be back. Pro tip: South City Kitchen is across the parking lot, and it has better food, better service, drinks, and I've never had to wait for a table! Bye-bye, First Watch! read more

My wife and I were looking forward to trying this new restaurant. We had always enjoyed J. Christophers and hoped this new restaurant would be just as good. HOWEVER, after waiting 10 minutes and not even getting a glass of water we decided to leave. The restaurant was only half full, as it was 9:00 am. On my way out I was going to say something to the hostess but she didn't even ask how our meal was or say have a good day! read more

Pining for J Christopher's. Tried its replacement today, but probably won't be back

I have tried this breakfast place three times and I can promise you I will not go back! It is truly unfortunate when a breakfast place can't seem to cook eggs correctly. Three times I ordered eggs over well and three times they got it wrong. The potatoes are always over done and the "caramelized" onions are just burnt. It seems as if the new owners saw an opportunity to open a restaurant but just don't know about good food. The only reason that this place received one star is from the ambiance and the friendly waitstaff. read more

My husband and I love supporting new local businesses, so we were excited to give this place a try. The waitstaff was very welcoming and friendly from beginning to end. We also were excited to see the variety in the menu choices including the healthy vegetarian options. Unfortunately our meal overall was utterly underwhelming and the coffee was just not good. We used to frequent J. Christopher's, and as disappointed as we were to see it go we understand that things change and life moves on. We truly were excited about this place and came into it with an open mind; however, we will be finding a new breakfast place from here on out. read more