First Watch ~ national chain : Colorado Springs, Colorado

Latest visit: Mar 2022 (Colorado Springs - Chapel Hills)

First visit: Mar 2021 (Colorado Springs - Chapel Hills)

Time for our annual review, and happy to say First Watch passes with flying colors. For this visit I was joined by an old friend and former boss from the Castle Pines area. I'm sure I named him somewhere down the line, but Old Boss will have to do. I had the same thing as below. I could tell Old Boss enjoyed his meal as well. In addition to this visit, Mrs. RJG and I went to their Scottsdale, Arizona location last October while there for one of our Official Niece's wedding. We had 6 family members go, and we all enjoyed it!

As of June 2021, First watch has 420 locations in 28 states. They have 10 Denver area restaurants and only this one locale in CoS.

Rude Dante adds his thoughts from his recent Cincinnati venture: "A regional chain that seeks to out-hip Le Peep - and generally succeeds. Enjoyed a home-rolled omelet with fruit & sourdough toast, coffee, stunning waitress. Why was I even thinking about Bob Evans?"

---original 3/8/21 review

To celebrate the RJG's new freedom, both at work and the pandemic easing, we've decided that Monday morning breakfast's are in order. This follows from the success in Prescott Valley for similar. With any luck at all, this routine will continue for some time. Or it may need to be another day, but for now, Mr. RJG's work has free Monday mornings. And having Monday morning free seems like I'm on vacation even though I'm not.

For our first venture, the place we wanted to try had to unexpectedly close for the day, so we'll be back as soon as we can. On the way home, we decided First Watch would be our new destination. Prior to the pandemic, and probably still the case on weekends, this place was always super crowded. And there's good reason for that...

First Watch is part of a new wave of trendy breakfast houses. Better ingredients, everything is organic (cage free eggs, locally grown products, etc...) - and they have prices to match. IHOP and Denny's this ain't. They're a chain started in Florida and have experienced rapid growth in recent years. Apparently they bought out the Colorado Egg & I outlets as well. This is our first encounter with First Watch.

Walking in, it's a large place and very comfortable. Here's a place that understands how to allocate seating with limitations. We took them up on the coffee, which is excellent BTW (yes, they have flavored creamers). Mrs RJG went for the traditional breakfast that included well done scrambled eggs, toast, and seasoned potatoes. I tried the ham and gruyere omelet which also came with toast. Right from the first bite, I knew this was a cut above. It's tempting to say eggs are just eggs, but this clearly was much better tasting than I'm usually accustomed to. And of course, gruyere cheese is a winning concept any way you look at it. The ham is a high quality Black Forest deli-styled cut, and really adds the perfect smoky balance. I also tried Mrs. RJG's bacon, which was delicious as well. And speaking of Mrs. RJG, she's enjoying every second of her meal too. The only downside was the bread, which seemed to come straight out of the bag and wasn't toasted (much). A small gripe on an otherwise excellent meal. 

First Watch is one of those rare places where the large crowds makes sense.

3/8/21 (new entry); 10/30/21; 3/5/22

Colorado Springs; Scottsdale, AZ;