First Watch

I joined the email club for First Watch and received a BOGO entrée, so I hit it up at lunch last week during the work week.
I order the 2 for you lunch combo, with a side order of soup. That included a half sandwich and salad. The portions are fairly generous here, especially if you don’t eat a lot like me. I ate half the sandwich and half the salad, then I was able to eat half the salad and the soup for a meal, my other half sandwich and half salad for another meal, and the soup for another meal for a total of 4 meals for roughly $ 17, or $ 4.25 per meal. (Mind you, this was with the additional purchase of soup.)
THE PARKING:
It was a little confusing to find, at first, because GPS directions take you to the general area of Dunwoody village. It shares a parking lot with Marlow’s Tavern, and is almost directly across from Mellow Mushroom. The parking lot was practically full, though when I went inside to eat I noticed that there were only a few occupied tables. I guess the other diners were at Marlow’s?
THE SERVICE:
There were only a few occupied tables when I came here for lunch, but the waitress was very amicable and polite. I was given my own carafe of water, which I appreciated because the glass was on the smaller side. She checked up on me several times, and I wish I could remember her name because she was very nice.
THE FOOD:
Yes, it’s your typical sandwich/​soup place, but the food was still good and made with quality ingredients. The bread was crisp without being dry, the meat was seasoned well without being bland, and the accompanying lettuce/​tomato/​etc. were fresh without making the sandwich soggy. Even when I ate leftovers the next day, the sandwich still tasted good and wasn’t soggy. As someone who isn’t a fan of salads, I was impressed that real bacon and chicken were used, not the pre-​cooked crap.
2-​For-​You, around $ 8
Sandwich: Beefeater — roast beef, tomato, cheedar and Monterey cheese on grilled Parmesan-​crusted sourdough.
Salad: Santa Fe — Spring mix with chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes, avocado, ciabatta croutons, and cheddar and Monterey jack cheese.
2-​For-​You, around $ 8
Sandwich: Monterey Club — turkey, bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato, Monterey jack on multigrain.
Salad: Cobb — Spring mix with turkey, bacon, avocado, tomatoes, egg, and bleu cheese.
THE VERDICT:
Lovely brunch/​sandwich place tucked away in the Dunwoody Village smörgåsbord shopping area. Great service, with food that is fresh, well-​seasoned, and tasty. I even told my co-​workers about this spot, since it’s fairly close to where we work. I don’t imagine I’ll ever have a chance to try the breakfast since it’s too out of the way, but I would definitely come back to try the sandwiches again.

My go to local brunch spot. Always busy on the weekends but the wait is never really long. The service is quick and professional not a diner feel at all. The employees are all very nice, I have eaten here numerous times and everybody works well together and is more than happy to help with whatever you may need. The atmosphere is fresh and bright with clean lines and comfy furniture to settle in and have a nice leisurely brunch. Coffee is decent and plentiful and the food is always great. I love the quinoa bowls, very healthy and filling. The chicken salad is good but I love the French toast, it’s killer. Soft yet crispy on the edges with real maple syrup upon request. I would recommend to anyone.

Love the French toast, very good. The buckwheat pancakes are just okay.
Service is slow. I have been here twice, I will be back, it might be a while.

Pleasant, simple décor. Food was awesome! Highly recommend!

Very solid meals, great coffee, fantastic staff, great location and facility. You should check it out and see if the foods are for you.

Excellent food choices.
I had the egg whites with spinach and ham steak.
I also had the buckwheat pancakes. Man these are good!
A carafe of coffee placed at your table too.

All I need to say is bacon, egg, avocado and tomato sandwich. Yay! Gooey, crunchy, salty and one of the only foods that can keep me happy all day. Please have your chef come to my house on the weekends and make it happen. Thanks!

Today was my first time visiting First Watch. I will definitely visit again. The wait wasn’t long and our waiter was very patient with us undecided first timers.
I ordered the Chicken Pesto Quinoa Bowl. It was relicious (really delicious). The quinoa was cooked perfectly, not dry and not to mushy. The roasted tomatoes were really fresh and added a nice taste to the dish. The chicken was seasoned well and perfectly cut to make eating easy. The pesto sauce put the dish over the top with added flavor.
It was very filling and I have enough for dinner. Yay!
My husband ordered the Belgian Waffle with mixed berry compote and The Works Omelet. He enjoyed his food so much he didn’t talk much between bites and he finished it all. His eggs were light and fluffy and the omelet had plenty of meat in it. He said he would definitely order it again.
The prices are very reasonable and the food is great. If you haven’t been, get to one soon, you won’t be disappointed.

This First Watch was worth the trip. I have to thank Eleni Kouvatsos for convincing us to give First Watch another chance. Instead of going back to the Snellville location, we decided to visit the Dunwoody or the Alpharetta location (the area is known for exceptional service).
This location in Dunwoody was well organized and texted the customer when their table was ready. There was a friendliness and attention to detail from the wait and kitchen staff.
The food was exceptional, cooked to perfection and full of flavor.
We will most certainly be back and recommend this location to others.

I ate the Floridian French Toast, and it was amazing. I would definitely go back to eat there again. The service was very prompt and friendly. Also, free wifi!

I think Firstwatch is a really good example of good reviews being a bad thing. I say that because my expectations were pretty high going in. The coffee was good, but I’m not sure it was $ 3 per cup good, the service was good enough, and the bacon was meaty enough yet crisp. The really disappointing thing was my pecan pancake. I think the batter they’re using is too thin. Instead of a fluffy, pillowy pancake, I ended up with a thin, flat pancake that seemed to be more nut than cake. My experience wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t all that good either.

I really enjoyed my breakfast and will definitely be coming back. I’m a very health conscious person, and they have a wonderful healthy menu section. I had crepes with fresh fruit and yogurt filling, an awesome lemon poppy seed muffin, homemade granola, 4 links of sausage, hot tea, and a fresh squeezed juice (I was a little hungry lol). My bill came to $ 20 before tax. I was pleased with the quality of food with the prices. We were immediately seated, which is not common for Saturday breakfast hours in this area. They could work a little on the décor /​cleanliness. Other reviews have noted the cost. Again, I’ll say that I feel the cost was appropriate for the food quality, but perhaps they need to work on their appearance so that it looks like the same quality.

So fresh and good, I can eat all my three meals here! Great fresh squeezed juices! Service is fast and good. We came in for a weekday brunch. It was relatively busy but not full. We were seated right away. And coffee was served as we sat down. Everything on the menu sounds appetizing and it what We ordered was very very good! I had the avocado toast and my company had the quinoa pesto chicken bowl and the triathlete omelette. The portions are sufficient: not too big and not small at all. Perfect size. I honestly can’t think of anything that would have been bad. Great place! You would never know its a chain. It’s really fresh and people are very friendly. As if it’s a family owned business! Keep up the good work!

Located in Dunwoody Village with lots of parking. First Watch is a nice casual local brunch spot. The wait was not long, after they took our phone number to let us know when a table would be ready, with an adequate amount of seating. We were shown to our table which was kind of in close quarters and it appeared to be family oriented as there were lots of kids there and they had stuff to color with. And it looks like they have some community tables as well if you don’t mind sitting with strangers.
Our server got to us quickly and was pretty attentive throughout. At one point someone came out of the kitchen to verify how I wanted my eggs which I appreciate because it beats them guessing. I was happy with the customer service.
The menu definitely contained various breakfast and sandwich items which made it hard to choose, which I like because it does put in your mind, you need to go back or get a group to go to order different things! There is a large blackboard with the specials that sounded very good as well. We order French toast to share and I ordered the avocado, bacon and tomato hash with fried eggs. Overall the food was just okay. I definitely appreciated the variety in the plate but wanted more flavor. The French toast was okay but nothing about the meal stood out to me as being outstanding. I also ordered tea and they had a very nice selection and provided me with a few packets with a mini tea pot. I liked that so I didn’t have to keep asking for more.
Overall the service and food was good and definitely an option in the Dunwoody area especially for the family.

The food here is still really good (I love the Chickichanga in particular) but the service seems to be dwindling. The last three times I’ve dined here, it’s been so-​so. I know it can’t be perfect every visit, but … really? Our waiter today, Chris, was almost condescending and impatient with us. I took a friend for the first time and he seemed irritated with her for not knowing what she wanted to drink. She wanted to look at one of their fresh squeezed juices but ended up ordering a Coke as he hovered over her, impatiently. We had barely had a chance to look at our menus because we had literally just sat down. I told him it was her first time; he either didn’t hear me or didn’t feel like acknowledging my comment.
It just went downhill from there. He never ever refilled her drinks once and his tone was not friendly or welcoming as I had grown used to when visiting this restaurant. When he asked for my coffee cup so he could pour coffee, he was very gruff about it and I had to ask him to repeat himself. Not a single smile, nothing. When he put our bill on the table, he didn’t say a word. No Thank You, nothing. Just walked on by and dropped it as he went along. It’s just RUDE.
The cashier ringing me up was friendly and he asked how everything was as they usually do. I told him the food was great but the serviced left a lot to be desired. He tried to explain it was a busy Sunday. Ummm, no. That’s not good enough. I am paying for my food and my experience, and I get that Sundays are busy, but that’s no reason to justify crappy service. I deserve a drink refill or to be acknowledged when dropping off a bill or some patience as I decide on what I want to drink and eat. He said he would «take care of it» but I didn’t trust that, so I decided to leave a review instead.
It makes me think twice about going here again, which is unfortunate. The last two times I let it go but I was embarrassed today after recommending it to my friend. The food is delicious but they need to school their waiters on being polite, patient and attentive, no matter how busy it gets.

I’d go with 3.5 for First Watch…
There were two standout things:
1. The avocado toast… omg. JUST ORDER IT. It was phenomenal.
2. Their fresh juices. I tried two different kinds and they were both fantastic.
I ordered a breakfast wrap with fruit on the side. The wrap was pretty bland and I didn’t eat much of it. I also didn’t love the salsa/​pico that came with it. Wasn’t impressed with my entrée at all.
Service was decent, she forgot my juice order but remembered before I had to ask for it. Not bad, but not stand out minus that toast!!!

First Watch is the latest contender in the brunch game that is slowly taking over Dunwoody.
I am a huge fan of their protein quinoa bowls. There is a new bowl on the weekly specials menu but I always stick with the original, pesto chicken. The bowl has grilled chicken slices, quinoa, sun dried tomatoes, pesto and spinach. The portion they serve can feed 2 people but I never finish it because I always order a pancake.
The pancakes at First Watch are the size of the plate and I am not exaggerating! I can never finish one let alone a stack of them. The flavor menu was a surprise to me. Forget your typical buttermilk you can have any fruit baked in to your pancake with granola and cashews too! I stick with blueberry granola and it makes for an excellent left over for dinner too.
This location is always busy but even with a full restaurant the staff is very attentive and personal. I never feel rushed and always leave full.

After living in Dunwoody for 2 years, I figured I had tried most of what I have wanted to try in the area, food-​wise. However, my friend and I were still able to scrounge up this brunch place that neither of us had been to.
Parking is mostly straightforward; the entrance was confusing to me, but plenty of parking is available in First Watch’s private lot. We got there around 1, but there was plenty of seating. Early brunch rush must have been over by then, seeing as they close at 2:30.
Our server didn’t rush us as we ordered our coffees and decided on our food. We finally settled on the Eggs Benedict — Florentine for me and the Bacon and Onion Hash for my friend. Both were delicious! Thank goodness both Benedicts were cooked perfectly; if I’m going to pay for a poached egg, it better be done right. The hash was seasoned well, although the ingredients were very similar to what I already had on my plate (potatoes and eggs) although that bacon was thick and smokey. The fruit cup was a nice touch, too!
Our server was friendly and didn’t come back too often but that was nice since we ended up staying in the restaurant until 3 (closing time is 2:30) and didn’t bother us once about it. Yay for great service and refillable coffee!

I’m still a little shocked at how good this place is …
We have had two separate weekend brunches here and both times were very good. The interior is attractive and the food is high quality (which means pricey of course, and the portions tend to be on the small side, but it’s not a deal breaker.)
We found both of our visits here to be pleasant and that’s important, particularly after the ear splitting din of certain brunch establishments (one of which is right across the street — ahem.)
Service is competent and efficient. Their house coffee is excellent and house jam (for english muffins) is top notch.
I had been familiar with First Watch from Florida but that was over 10 years and had been hesitant to try it here. Don’t be hesitant yourself. Give them a try and be pleasantly surprised.

First Watch is located in the Dunwoody Village near the Walgreens!
GPS will lead you to the plaza, which is huge but look for the Walgreens and Starbucks and it’s right there.
First Watch is a brunch restaurant open until 2pm.
A wide selection of food from savory to sweet breakfast items.
SERVICE:
There was only 1 waitress working every table. She was awesome. She had occasional help from the kitchen when bringing food out to customers. She was very attentive and checked up on us several times on top of keeping up with like 5 – 6 other tables.
FOOD
–TriFecta: I ordered this because I was told it’s popular. It comes with choice of egg, choice of pancake or waffle, and choice of meat. I chose over medium eggs, blueberry crunch pancake (huge), and turkey bacon. All in all, delicious. The pancakes were crisp and soft. Perfect.
–My friend ordered the French Toast Monte Cristo. Pretty much a french toast sandwich with ham, turkey, swiss cheese, and creamy Dijonnaise. My friend said it tasted good, but wish the french toast were crispier.
Overall, not a bad experience. The food was good. Service was great. On that note, I had left my glasses exiting and was heading back in to get them when the waitress ran out and handed me my glasses in the freezing weather with her short sleeve on. Kudos!