First Watch

This is my first visit to –this– location of First Watch and the third different location I’ve visited. The food is consistently good, no matter which location. Normally, I get a breakfast item, but today tried the Baha Turkey Burger. It was quite good, and I felt like I was eating healthy. I love that First Watch offers so many options that include avocados!
I’d give First Watch 5 out of 5 stars if only they would put Tabasco on the table in addition to Cholula. Fortunately, I had Tabasco with me in my pocket :-)

When my friend and I arrived at first watch in Crestview hills we were greeted and told us to would be 10 minutes. It gave us chance to catch up. Jan was great. She saw we were not in any hurry. When a had past we ordered. The food was fantastic. I found out later Jeff the manger was not only talking to patrons he was the person sweeping. Great team work!
Judy and Mark

The food is always great, and the employees here are wonderful! I consider myself a regular, and the high quality of food and service is consistent.
You will usually have a short wait, but it is worth it!

Excellent breakfast place. They get very busy and on weekends the wait is usually 45 min to an hour to be seated. But they send a text to your phone when your table is ready, so you are free to walk around and do some shopping as you wait. Or stay in the restaurant and have a complimentary cup of coffee.
Everything I’ve tried on the menu has been spot on. I particularly love the pesto chicken quinoa dish. So delicious you can’t tell you’re eating something healthy.

Like my experiences at other First Watch restaurants in OH and IN, this one in KY was of the same high quality service. On the weekend, the wait was typical.
The food is healthy and delicious. I had the power wrap with the cup of fruit.

First watch is a nice little breakfast spot! There is always a long wait so I’m sure the Florence location will have a lot of business too.
I ordered the bacado omlet with an iced coffee and my boyfriend got the chikichanga. We ordered a pumpkin spice pancake a la carte just to try it! Overall everything was very good. I was happily surprised by the sweetness of the iced coffee. I actually would’ve liked it black so I could’ve added some pumpkin spice creamer but that’s not a huge complaint. My boyfriend commented that his meal seemed a little small (he’s an eater), but topping it off with a shared pancake helped. The pumpkin pancake was also delicious.
Our waitress forgot to bring us syrup but again, this isn’t a huge complaint. I didn’t give ⁵⁄₅ stars simply because it wasn’t an over the top experience that I would give that high of a rating. It’s a cute breakfast place with healthy options but not the biggest portions. And there is always a wait.

Absolutely love this little spot! Perfect for breakfast and perfect for brunch. From their fresh juice bar to their amazing menu, everything is perfect. Staff is friendly and there is just such a variety of different meals to choose from. They’re fresh hash dishes are to die for. We cannot wait to come back and eat here.

After my last review, the manager sent me a $ 20 voucher and told me to give them another try. So my fiancé and I went down for breakfast on Sunday. Third strike, you’re out. Out of the 3 times I’ve been to this location, our experience has been horrible 3 times. For 2 people, it took 35 minutes to get our food. My order came out wrong and someone had to bring my eggs on a separate plate. My fiancé’s pancakes were dry and over cooked. (Again.) Upon checking out, we informed the manager our meal wasn’t up to par again. She offered to let us keep the voucher we were using but honestly, I wouldn’t come back here even for a free meal.
We never have these problems at the Covington location. We would go to the Covington First Watch every Sunday. We recently moved to Villa Hills and I’m sorry to say that our Sunday morning tradition is no more. If we have a First Watch craving, we won’t be going to the Crestview Hills location. We would make the drive to Covington where the food is fresh and the management actually cares about their repeat customers.

My favorite place to have breakfast with my dad on Sunday’s. If you’re not an early bird you will have to wait about 15 – 30 minutes. The wait is very worth it! The staff is always friendly and I haven’t had one dish that was subpar. Keep it up!

My husband and I have been back twice since the incident that prompted me to write the first review. It looks like they have upped their vigilance about allergies. I noticed on the check that it was written and rang in with the notice. So, that’s comforting. The food is okay. Not bad, not amazing. It’s not my favorite place, but it’s kind of become a tradition for my husband and I to go before heading to the Gorge every spring (hence, the two visits). I do appreciate healthier options than other breakfast places.

Good healthy food with fresh made orange juice, quinoa, and they have great omelets as well.

Friendly staff, clean resturant, delicious food, and always a wonderful experience. Just dont mind all the yuppies… its in the uppity area.

The food is good not great but expect to wait to get a seat. I personally don’t think it’s ever worth the wait.

Long time fan of First Watch. Great food. Great service. If you have not hit this place up than do it soon.
Of note, there is a new app available that allows you to sign up for the wait list before you leave home. It is well worth the investment. On a busy Sunday we only spent five minutes waiting for our table because we’d signed up for the wait before we left the house.
I don’t know how exactly to say this but you cannot go wrong here. I’d love to steer the reader to my «go to» dish but there is none. You can literally tell you server, «Bring me anything», and you WILL LOVE IT!
The only thing that keeps it from being five stars is the lack of specialty items. The kitchen here is more than good enough. They need to make a statement and own breakfast in Cincy. The menu is all the stuff they have everywhere else just done better. Make something new and creative and you go to THE spot for breakfast around here. There’s a place in Lebanon like that.

Terrible management especially Mark who is very rude. I invited friends over and when it came to paying, the waitress came back in front of everyone and said that card was declined! I said there got be a mistake and called the credit card company and they said that there is no issue and they don’t see any authorization at all! 3 more credit cards and all declined! then my friend used his and same thing. We called all credit cards and all the same answer no issues and no authorization coming through. Witness did not have any manner to handle this in a discrete way without making it obvious in front all? and manager said that we don’t have any issues with our machine! I asked if anyone else had the same problem and manager was very illusional? then he asked him what do I want and that he will hang up the phone! same day they have a sign in the front indicating that they apologize for not accepting the gift card due to technical difficulties!!! A ll I asked for was for them to handle it discretely and admit to a problem (things happen) and not embarrass me, but Mark was so sure that it is all our credit cards! we used all three of them right after we left just to check, no Problem at all, Mark it is your terrible service and lack of manner, not our credit cards

Firstwatch has been a «goto» for me and my family for years now. This is quite simply the best breakfast restaurant I have found. The food is quite simply amazing. Some of the menu items may not be my tastes, however it is a great place, for me at least, to try something new.
Yes, there almost always is a wait to get a table, because the place is that good. If waiting to eat isn’t your thing, well I’m sure there’s a Denny’s or a Bob Evans somewhere. However if you care about the quality of the food you eat this is the place and the ¹⁵⁄₂₀ minute wait isn’t that big of a deal. Take a stroll around the mall while you wait, plenty of window shopping around and you’ll get a great meal!

***First Watch is a very popular regional chain (you can expect a 30-​minute wait on weekends) that specializes in breakfast and brunch made with fresh ingredients; service at this Kentucky location was very friendly and good; their food is decent***
This was my first ever visit to a First Watch. I remember first reading about First Watch in Consumer Reports a few years ago where it was listed as one of the best chains in the United States. It is still a relatively young chain and many chains do struggle with consistency and quality when they expand quickly to meet demand.
The menu at First Watch lists up the many advantages of this chain. There is a focus on fresh ingredients and they also offer a fair number of healthy options. Each table also gets their own freshly brewed kettle of coffee and free Wi-​Fi is available.
First Watch’s menu consists of a lot of traditional breakfast items like Eggs Benedict, pancakes, French toast, omelets, and hashes. Other items (not as easily found) include crepes, frittatas and several Mexican cuisine or inspired dishes. For lunch, they offer a few salads and several sandwiches.
I went with one of their signature items – the chickichanga. It was scrambled eggs, onions, chicken breast, melted cheese, chorizo, avocado, and green chilies all rolled in a tortilla. The outside was not deep fried, but it was crispy from the searing on a flat top. The concoction was topped with a slightly spicy Latin cream sauce and sour cream.
The flavor of the chickichanga was pretty good. I liked the chorizo and the melted cheese. The green chilies also gave the dish a spiciness you do not often get at a chain breakfast spot. The crispiness of the tortilla was also pleasing. The only bad flavor in the dish was the chicken. It was not dry, but it had been marinated in something that made the flavor of the marinade stand out too much.
The chickichanga was served with a side of sauteed potatoes. The potatoes were not good. They had no color on them and they were not seasoned that well; they were quite bland. They were also unevenly cooked – some were soft, some were slightly undone and some were very undercooked and quite crisp (like water chestnuts). There was also a side of fresh fruit that featured popular choices like watermelon, pineapple and grapes.
I felt prices were good. I think most of their breakfast items were below $ 10 and the portions were generous.
Service was very good. The hostess and manager were very friendly, welcoming and polite. It was the kind of good service that makes people want to be regulars and there seems to be a lot of regulars here. My server was Mrs. Miller and she displayed similar strengths as the hostess and manager – friendly and attentive. The food came out quickly.
The atmosphere is pretty simple. It feels like a chain café, but the room is also very clean, well maintained and comfortable.
I thought the food at First Watch was decent though not spectacular. There might be some good breakfast items here, but I personally prefer Bob Evans based on this one experience (to be fair, Bob Evans has some just average breakfast dishes and sides too). The service is very good though and so is the value. I think if you live in this area and have not yet visited this chain for breakfast, it is definitely worth a try.
First Watch is located in a huge shopping and restaurant plaza that has its own free parking lot. It is easy finding an open space though you might not be able to find a spot near the restaurant’s entrance.

The last couple of times I was in Kentucky, I wanted to try this breakfast/​brunch place. It gets so crowded on weekends that I never got around to it. We went on a weekday for brunch and there was still a bit of a wait, but nothing compared to the weekends.
We were seated and given our menus. We were offered coffee, which was served piping hot and smelled amazing. We ordered the farmhouse chicken hash and bacon and onion hash. They were served with fruit on the side and heavily buttered English muffins, yum! The food was good, right amount of flavor and cooked the right way. The service here was great as well. I’m glad I finally got to try this place!

Good Breakfast food for lunch. Waffles, eggs, and bacon… mmm
Quick friendly service. Reasonable price.
The place was packed, which is a good sign… and we didn’t have to wait = perfect combination.

Went Sunday for brunch with my family. There was about a 3 min wait, but all the tables were filled. The staff is friendly, and the interior is very clean and crisp.
I got the triathlete which is just egg whites mushrooms, onion, and green chili’s. It was light and exactly what I wanted. It came with fruit and a biscuit. The fruit was fresh, the biscuit I took one bite out of. So safe to say, I wasn’t a huge fan. My dad and I did share a carrot cake pancake. I was expecting sweet and indulgent. Which it wasn’t at all. There were actual carrot pieces in it. I like the fact it was over indulgent. But I was disappointed that there also wasn’t a lot of carrot taste to it.
My mom got the sourdough french toast, I only had a small bite, but wasn’t bad but nothing great. My dad got a special omelette which was quite good, though it wasn’t off the «healthy menu». The sauce was rich, I don’t know if I would have liked it after another 4 bites. One was plenty for me.
This place is decent. Good place to come to relax have a nice breakfast with family to employers. Probably the best place to get something if your on a tight diet, compare to most brunch places around here.