First Watch

I don't usually like chains but this is a very good one. It is bright and light inside and food and service are consistently good. I have been to both Naperville locations and always had a good experience. Ingredients taste fresh and they have gluten free options which I need.

We had brunch at First Watch this Sunday around 1 PM, right about the time their morning rush was dying down. We did call ahead seating and then waited another 10 minutes once we got to the restaurant. The feel of the restaurant is bright and airy. The people at the front desk were friendly. Unfortunately, our server was one of the worst servers we’ve had in the last several years of dining out. She was not kind or welcoming. She gave the impression that she was annoyed to be at work. When placing our orders, I asked to replace my toast with gluten-free toast, to which she said “I don’t think we can do that”. I showed her where it clearly states on the menu that there is no up charge for substituting for gluten-free toast (which is great, most places do have an up charge). She said “Maybe you’re right, but I think I’ll have to get a manager to do it”. I told her I really appreciated her time and that I could not eat regular toast because I would get sick. The substitution for gluten-free toast was the only modification that we asked for to any of our meals. Our food was delivered by a food runner, not our server. When our food came out, my plate came with the same toast that was on everyone else’s plates, and clearly was not gluten-free toast. And the toast was laying on the main part of my entrée, cross contaminating. Unfortunately, we never saw our server again. She never came back to check on our table, which felt crazy because we have never had a server not come check on how we were doing after the food was delivered (and it didn’t seem like she had any other tables that were keeping her busy). After eating what we could, I eventually walked up to the front desk and told them that we had not seen our server and that we were ready to leave, but didn’t have a check. I asked them if there was anyway for them to look it up. The guy at the front was really helpful, was able to pull up our ticket, and we paid and left never seeing our server again. We aren’t sure where she was, hopefully she didn’t have some sort of emergency, but it was an extremely odd experience. I definitely wouldn’t dine there again if I had to have the same server. As far as the food: 1 out of 3 people at our table loved their meal, the other 2 said their meals were only so-so. One of the people at our table had been there three times and said her other experiences were better and the food had been really good the other times, so maybe it was just a bad day for the restaurant. We will be looking somewhere else for our next brunch.