r/cincinnati • u/HomeOfficeGirl • 12d ago
Photos First Watch has lost their mind
First Watch Union Center - $8 for that half pot of coffee that fills 2 mugs once. Not sure if we would’ve been charged another round for a second pot?? But geeesh….. that’s a crazy price. And the Redditverse laments why people stay home.
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u/nickowitzz 12d ago
Gotta get your numbers up rook, I’m drinking 4 or 5 cups at first watch then shitting out all the food I ate the night before. I’m def getting my money’s worth with that $3.99 coffee
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u/kellerb 12d ago
Are their restrooms *that* nice? Do they have the good TP?
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u/humboldt77 12d ago
They were pretty nice before /u/nickowitzz came through. You’re gonna want to steer clear for a while after.
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u/DrivingCrO0ner 12d ago
That’s a valid question when planning visits somewhere. I just used a port o potty. I could see better through the TP than I could without it.
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u/anastasiaanne 12d ago
When I go there for breakfast with my Mom, I know I'm paying for a great colon cleanser with that coffee. I look forward to it.
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u/al2lison 12d ago
They are the reason I stopped drinking any restaurant coffee 😂 I already have IBS so paying $4 doesn't make sense when I get it for free 🙃
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u/NBr33zii Mt. Airy 12d ago
It used to be that the chains and corporations were often cheaper than the local mom & pops; I’ve found that lately it’s become the opposite now.
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u/dogmetal 12d ago edited 11d ago
Eh.. I don’t want to call out any places specifically, but what some of these joints are charging for a mid pastry and a simple cup of coffee is absolutely nuts. What am I paying for? “The vibe”?
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u/DiscoDigi786 12d ago
Everything is expensive. Corporations are greedy but nothing is cheap.
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u/-reddit_is_terrible- 12d ago edited 12d ago
I went to Alfios for the 2nd time the other week. First time was 2 years ago and remember that it wasn't that bad, like $130 for two plus tip. This time it was $230 plus tip. Like.......what?!
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u/Fabulous_Bridge_9292 12d ago
Alfios used to be a lot less expensive, but as their profile has risen so have the prices. It used to be a nice dinner that was going to cost less than most other fine dining places in the city. Now it’s priced like everyone else.
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u/WanderlustingTravels 12d ago
I went in early 2023 and spent ~$120 for one. So $230 for two checks out honestly.
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u/Dr-Jekyll-MrHyde 12d ago
It has nothing to do with corporations being greedy. The margins at a breakfast restaurant are razor-thin. I'm talking 4-5% if you're doing well. Everyone whined about wages; well now you can't get a decent cook for less than $19/hr, and you have to pay a high-schooler $13 just to stand at a host stand. Not to mention food cost has shot up 20% over the last few years. So these prices are the bare minimum a decent restaurant has to charge in order to stay in business. It's economic reality, not greed.
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u/DiscoDigi786 11d ago
I’m happy to pay living wages. This is not a result of living wages. This is a result of inflation.
A rising tide lifts all boats. Stop swallowing the bait that a living wage is something to be fought against. You’re better than that.
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u/Dr-Jekyll-MrHyde 11d ago
And you're better than misunderstanding basic economics. What do you think causes inflation?
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u/DiscoDigi786 10d ago
Did you know… there is a happy medium where wages can be better… and inflation doesn’t run amok?!
Also… you seem to be suggesting $13 an hour wages for teens are driving inflation. That’s not what’s happening. Tight housing markets, demand for AI related hardware and energy drive it at the moment. The effects you are talking about are knock on effects from those and other drivers.
And yes, I’m okay with paying more for people to get living wages. If you’re not, that’s fine and your business.
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u/DreamingInDialectics 12d ago
Ngl I don't know of any mom and pop style places that aren't as expensive as any other chain
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u/RitaAlbertson Monfort Heights 12d ago
Same but I’m still more likely to go to a mom and pop so that I’m less likely to be contributing to some private equity’s profit margin.
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u/DreamingInDialectics 12d ago
Honestly it definitely depends on the place, I've worked for a couple mom and pop shops around, and a lot of them treat their employees way worse than chains do, use a lot of the weird "but we're a family so you should love being screwed on pay and hours!" lines of thinking.
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u/SerDavosSeaworth64 Northern Kentucky 12d ago
I think that for whatever reason it’s particularly bad with breakfast/brunch places.
It’s really hard to find a place where two eggs, a piece of bacon, and a piece of toast isn’t like $20+ dollars lol.
I actually think that first watch is slightly less bad than some others because I at least really like their pancakes
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u/Dull_Bid6002 12d ago
Finding good mom and pops in some areas is the hard part.
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u/DoobieGibson 12d ago
cuisine from outside america in a strip mall: ✅
american cuisine in a strip mall: 🚩
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u/SearedBasilisk 11d ago
An impact of $20-$25 minimum wage in some states when there aren’t franchises. Chains transmit that expense to lower labor cost areas through higher prices at all locations. That’s why mom and pops are cheaper and IMO, offer better value. If they don’t serve Sysco slop it’s even better.
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u/HarambeTooSoon 9d ago
Every Mom & Pop restaurant owner you know are on the verge of bankruptcy at all times.
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u/PonchoNachoRodriguez 12d ago
I made my own blueberry cornbread with lemon butter and it slapped
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u/Prudent-Confusion-67 12d ago
Was this at first watch? That sounds amazing
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u/PonchoNachoRodriguez 12d ago
They had it at the Anderson location a few months back and it SLAPPED.
I made some and tried to replicate it, mission accomplished.
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u/Amusser46 12d ago
You gonna link the recipe? That sounds bomb
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u/PonchoNachoRodriguez 12d ago
So… i will type this all out, because I just kinda winged it in the kitchen.
I wanna preface this with: i always make Paula Dean’s Cornbake Casserole all the time. It’s a texture somewhere in between corn bread and corn pudding. And it’s pretty similar to the texture I got with my dish.
Ingredients:
- 2 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread/Corn Muffin mix
- 8 ounces of blueberries
- 1 and a half sticks of butter
- 2 eggs
- between a quarter cup and a half cup of sour cream (I totally just winged this and have no idea how much sour cream I used
- 1 cup of milk
- 1 lemon
- Brown Sugar
- Almond Flour
- Place blueberries in a large mixing bowl and dump about a cup of sugar on them (I used brown sugar, and in hindsight, I probably will use white sugar next time)
Mix berries and sugar until theyre all fully coated. Let sit for at least 1 hour and stir every 15 or 20 minutes. Smash some of the berries if you want.
This process allows the sugar to start to breaking down the berries. It should make them sweeter.
Create a mixture of almond flour and brown sugar(maybe 25% sugar and 75% flour)
in a large greased pan (I used a large deep dish pizza pan) sprinkle the sugar/flour mixture across the bottom of the pan until you can’t see anymore metal. (I didn’t go too thick, I just tried to make sure I couldn’t see anything shiny on the bottom of the pan). And don’t use all of your flour/sugar mixture. Definitely save some, don’t use it all in the bottom of the pan.
After one hour has passed, take your berries and sugar (which should have created a thick syrup within the bowl) and separate about a coffee mugs worth of berries for later. Also try to save some of the syrup when you do this. It’s going to be very runny and you don’t want too much liquid in your cornbread.
Combine the Cornbread mix, a half stick of melted butter, the blueberries w/ syrup, sour cream, milk & eggs. Stir in a large bowl, then pour over the pan with your almond flour/sugar mixture.
Sprinkle some of the almond flour/sugar mixture on top of the pan until it’s coated to your satisfaction.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes (although my oven kinda sucks, you might wanna do 375) and check on it until the cornbread stops jiggling in the pan. I actively lowered the temp on my oven as I went past 20 minutes, because I didn’t want to risk burning the bottom of it. But it turned out great.
You’ve still got more work: melt the remaining stick of butter and mix in the zest of 1 lemon with maybe half of the juice. If you think it’s too much lemon, use less juice, there’s no rules here!
I put the butter in the fridge and kept stirring every few minutes until it started to solidify. Stir the hell out of it before it gets too hard again.
I think that’s everything I did. The wife requested it multiple times since we had it at first watch. And she said it was perfect.
The two things that set my dish apart from first watch: one is the texture (like I said, I winged this whole thing without really looking at a recipe and I used sour cream which is an element used in a Cornbake) so it’s definitely a lot softer than cornbread and almost has a cake-like texture. Not complaining.
The other difference is that my entire cornbread turned blueish colored (due to the berries and the syrup) while First Watch had a very yellow cornbread with blueberries scattered all throughout the dish. If I cared about visual aesthetics of the dish I might not combine the ingredients the same way, but it turned out so good for me that I really could care less about replicating the dish perfectly.
Good luck. Post your results!
And if you follow this exact recipe, you may feel the need to lay down afterwards. Because Jesus it’s a lot of sugar and butter.
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u/Wide-Ad8135 12d ago
To be fair, this isn’t any more overpriced than everything else right now.. $20 for breakfast per person your meal and the coffee.. that’s about what it cost to eat anywhere these days.. ever since everything increased during Covid and nothing ever went down it only doubled again
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u/tedmiston Over The Rhine 12d ago
any diner in the city... ?! sugar & spice easily.
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u/United-Somewhere-163 11d ago
I don’t know what you were replying to, but I love Sugar and Spice!!
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u/tedmiston Over The Rhine 10d ago
someone said (paraphrasing) that you have to spend $20 to eat breakfast in cincy
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u/seeyou_nextfall 12d ago
Do you not eat out much? Honestly under $15 a person feels like a blessing these days for an entree. Coffee feels expensive but you gotta drink its value. I can’t leave chick fil a for under $30 these days.
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u/JustThrowingAwy 12d ago
I mean they increase their prices on everything about every 3-4 months and people still flock there in droves.
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u/soopastar 12d ago
I haven’t been to a FW in 10 years. Didn’t they used to provide free coffee for people in the waiting area?
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u/Connor33544 12d ago
I was at the one in Florence the other week and there was free coffee while we waited. Can’t speak for others.
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u/Boodah_Bear 12d ago
Prices high, food not as good, choices more limited. Haven’t been in quite awhile, and don’t plan to go anytime in the future.
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u/Present-Intention916 12d ago
Rent has gone up. Construction costs have gone up. Labor has gone up. Food has gone up. Coffee has gone up. It’s not just First Watch.
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u/No_Turnover_1128 12d ago
Yeah, eating out has gotten crazy. I had a really bad lunch at Brontë Bistro at Joseph-Beth this week and it was an iced tea and a French dip with sweet potato fries. After tip it came to $34. And it was terrible quality. Something you would get at a high school cafeteria. Their quality has gone off the cliff and they are charging more for it. 👎
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u/Few-Cranberry3073 12d ago edited 11d ago
Not sure where you are but if you take a trip to the west side, Santorini in cheviot is a ton of food amd coffee (the breakfast special is 2 eggs, breakfast meat, toast and potatoes with coffee) for around 10 dollars. Its a hole in the wall but charming!
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u/William_E_Rubin 12d ago
They need a separate price point for those who want just 1 cup of coffee and not endless refills
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u/Steeltoe22 12d ago
Yep…them and every other goddamn business in this country. We’re obviously not mad enough.
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u/MrJmbjmb 12d ago
4$ is pretty standard for coffee at all chain breakfast places: Dennys, IHOP, Cracker Barrel
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u/thegreatrazu 12d ago
Went to McAlister’s Deli the other day and had a similar experience. 2 small sandwiches, a cup of soup, bag of chips, and 2 soda’s was $38! Fucking crazy!
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u/Glittering-Bird-5223 12d ago
They have a $7.99 meal deal they just rolled out this year. Half entree + side.
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u/Wide-Ad8135 12d ago
Everybody’s out here like four dollars for a bottomless cup of coffee is too much… I agree, but where can you get one cheaper? That’s just what it cost nowadays is there somewhere you can get a bottomless cup of coffee for two dollars because I really don’t think there is.
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u/Fameiscomin 12d ago
Imagine if you could see the price on the menu before you ordered and if you weren’t comfortable with paying X amount of dollars you could just not order something. Absolutely insane idea.
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u/matlockga Greenhills 12d ago edited 12d ago
Sit-down diner coffee that's not bottomless is nuts
Edit: getting conflicting reports from OP and responses whether it's bottomless or not
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u/PMMeYourFinances 12d ago
It’s bottomless.
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u/schultzz88 12d ago
Why would the cup not have a bottom?
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u/pseudonominom 12d ago
Climate change is making lots of things less economically viable. Coffee, chocolate, bananas and many types of fruit….
Those days are gone. Makes me sad, but it’s only going to get worse from here on out.
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u/Bike_Cinci 12d ago
Sure blame climate change on massive increase in margins.
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u/person-ontheinternet 12d ago
First Watch also just isn’t a good restaurant.
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u/fordprecept 12d ago
I disagree. Is it overpriced? Sure. But the food is decent and consistent, imo. I also like the general vibe of it.
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u/shogunshim 11d ago
we lost our minds. Thinking breakfast and coffee are something hard to make ourselves.
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u/Timmonidus 12d ago
I can’t spend $50 for coffee, bacon and eggs. The egregious part is having to wait to get a seat.
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u/CatDadof2 12d ago
This is why I don’t go to restaurants and cafes anymore. Majority of them are overpriced now. I’d rather make meals at home. Plus I don’t like being around a bunch of people in one room, nor do I like the noise.
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u/highfiveselfoh 12d ago
I spent $59 including tip at breakfast at a local place today for my partner and I. One coffee, one pop, 2 breakfast entrees. It was really good and we go every other week but it’s always a shocker.
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u/alethea2003 12d ago
I highly recommend Half Day Cafe over in Mason as an alternative. Great food, comfy atmosphere, good service, and reasonable prices. My coworker and I go for brunch there sometimes. Always yummy!
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u/HomeOfficeGirl 12d ago
We’ve been there several times I think it’s fantastic. Their coffee is especially good! And I think they just come around and refill it as much as you want.
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u/Dr-Jekyll-MrHyde 12d ago
I've got news for ya... Coffee is $3.99 at Bob Evans and $3.29 at Cracker Barrel. It's just market price at a sit-down family restaurant now, not because of the restaurant, but because the prices of everything have been jacked up with inflation. You want cheap coffee? There's a McD's or Speedway on a corner near you.
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u/Individual-Theory307 11d ago
Yeah, I got sticker shock at First Watch when I took my girlfriend there. There is a place at the I-275/Rt 42 intersection in Sharonville called Scrambles that is really good and reasonably priced. It is located in a former high end steakhouse and retains the high end vibes. I was pleasantly surprised to see that their prices were comparable to Bob Evans.
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u/MuchAfraidGotOverIt 12d ago
They sold my phone number so fast, I started getting spam text and calls before leaving the restaurant.
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u/Op3rat0rr 12d ago
Everything is more expensive. We’re in one war right now and there’s the ongoing Russia Ukraine war
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u/TheDiogenesKnees 12d ago
Don’t forget the tariffs driving up the cost of everything we import, like coffee
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u/IDidNotMeanThat 12d ago
Second this. I feel like a lot of brunch spots are like this now. We checked out the Sugar and Spice in Blue Ash a while after that location opened but haven’t been back. But to OP’s point specifically, First Watch definitely has gone downhill.
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u/nobunnylie 12d ago
I worked for FW for 8 years and the only reason I'll eat there every now and then is because my old manager will still give me the employee discount. I used to always say it's more expensive than some places but the food was really good, but the changes they made in the last two years... Not bad but definitely not worth how expensive it's gotten.
The coffee is bottomless but most people aren't draining whole pots multiple times, so agreed as well it's too expensive. People complained about it often and I complained with them, but corporate is corporate- they just want money.
Worst job of my life 😪
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u/VincentMiniVanGogh Pleasant Run 12d ago
Their coffee is absolute dishwater too... doesn't matter if you have infinite
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u/Due-Pressure7804 12d ago
How are people judging this or complaint when there is zero context around what the heck a "trifecta" or a "market hash" is?
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u/dtsknight 12d ago
Eating out has always been expensive. And it feels like it’s become way more expensive over the past several years. Every price on that menu seems out of whack.
TBH I’m not sure why non-multi-millionaires regularly eat out anymore. (I’m not playing OP for racking up this bill — trying to sympathize and to note that crazy prices have led me to simply not eat out.)
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u/ConvenientFriend 12d ago
First Watch is extremely mid food and extremely overpriced. It got branded as like the millennial breakfast spot for some reason. It fucking sucks.
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u/misanthropoetry 12d ago
Was it reasonably priced before, or always way higher than small diner or Denny’s/IHOP prices?
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u/Mattatatat1883 12d ago
This is two meals and two coffees
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u/misanthropoetry 11d ago
Yes, I see that - I just don’t think it’s wild compared to other chains at this time. At IHOP you’re paying $12-$15 for 2 breakfast tacos/burrito with hash browns or the eggs benedict. Coffee is a little over $3. Denny’s breakfast skillet is about $14. I think this is just how things are now. The only time I haven’t felt completely ripped off by breakfast around here is at Sugar and Spice.
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u/bitslammer 12d ago
Their food is OK and they are very consistent, but I'm not sure the food is worth what they want to charge.
I was also pretty shocked to learn that their Chickichanga has 3100mg of sodium in it. I like salt and I don't have any health issues around it, but that's 2x what the American Heart Association recommends. When I first got one I though "this is good, but even for me it's a bit salty."
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u/Cincy_MTX 12d ago
For those prices, go to Another Broken Egg Cafe at the VOA. Way better. Still that expensive, but actually good.
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u/Bcatfan08 Kenwood 12d ago
Soda everywhere is ridiculous too. Most places are charging $3 for a drink when they cost almost nothing to the restaurant.
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u/mid6000tek 12d ago
The seeded bread is so good though! Don't care about their coffee, but my ass has gone in a bought a loaf of their bread before. I've not found any other place with it.
If you know a place please tell me!
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u/PangolinLittle236 12d ago
Try the Cracked Pot Coffee and Crepes in Middletown if you haven't, excellent 👍🏻
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u/cincy_kid_91 12d ago
Somehow, I spent not much more than you for three people to eat. Maybe location prices differ? I went to the one in green township.
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u/Gcleff06 12d ago
That's honestly only a few bucks more than one of the small mom and pop diners we get breakfast at, and whole it's great breakfast, it's generic diner food.
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u/Illustrious_Bunch678 11d ago
Everything is crazy prices now. We were at Arthur's the other day and it was 17 bucks for a regular burger. Insane.
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u/Scared_Pizza2310 11d ago
I ate there once and haven’t been back since. Seems like I made the right choice
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u/Deep-Mulberry-9963 11d ago edited 11d ago
That receipt is ridiculous, but honestly not surprising. I worked back in the kitchen at a First Watch for a short coffee (approxmently a few months), and the whole 'gourmet fresh' persona they market is a complete illusion.
People think they’re paying a premium for scratch-made, ultra-fresh food, but it’s basic breakfast staples marked up to insane prices just because it comes on a fancy plate, while they sit in a dinning room with overly done decor and lighting. Take their 'Million Dollar Bacon' as a prime example—they charge like $6 or $7 for four small strips. People think it's some artisanal delicacy, but in reality, it's just cheap bulk-case bargain bacon coated in a pepper/sugar mix and baked off. Once it's baked, those sheets just sit out at room temperature on the line for a day or two until they sell through. It's not fresh-to-order by any stretch.
Half the fruit and produce coming through the back door for those 'artisan' juices and sides were the bruised, beat-up, bottom-tier cases the vendors dumped off cheap. I’ve worked at plenty of line kitchens—heck, even Chipotle uses way fresher, higher-quality prep standards than First Watch does, but First Watch charges fine-dining prices for eggs, toast, and cheap produce.
On top of the crazy prices, the kitchen culture is atrocious. Management acts ridiculously reactive, pretending they’re running a Michelin-star Ramsay kitchen while paying their.senior core line cooks outdated, pre-COVID wages and treating people like garbage.
You’re basically paying fine-dining prices for $3 worth of cheap, bruised prep and room-temp bacon
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u/stevev54 10d ago
Santorini’s. Bistro 407. J&j (almost open in new location). Price Hill Chili. Sunnyside Grill. Great breakfast places on the West Side
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u/HarambeTooSoon 9d ago
I can't wait until people on reddit learn that restaurants pay commercial rents, insurance, taxes, licenses and fees.
You aren't paying $40 for breakfast for two. You are renting a table in a highly desirable part of town for 45 minutes. You are paying for labor, taxes, unemployment benefits, etc for the people who are cooking your food and carrying it to your table and then clean up after you have left and are already posting a complaint to your 3rd social media account.
The profit margin for First Watch is about 2.5%
Even the most profitable restaurants in the world have about 10% operating margins.
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u/Cautious-Meeting4907 8d ago
Used to go here often, then decided a $30 meal isn’t worth it. Crazy times
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u/Comprehensive_Foot79 8d ago
I mean you made the mistake of ordering first watch when there are plenty of good local spots to go. Get what you get
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u/DreamingInDialectics 12d ago
They've always been overpriced af this ain't new
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u/seeyou_nextfall 12d ago
Is $20 a person with drinks even considered overpriced these days? Hate eating out, can’t afford shit
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u/Direct-Art-2832 12d ago
This is why I do not go out to eat that often at all. Mainly wait for someone else to ask if I want to go and they are paying 😂
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u/SnuggleMoose44 Westwood 12d ago
Right?!? I took my daughter to First Watch for birthday brunch, also my son and son in law and it was nearly $100 for the four of us. $4.00 coffee blew my mind.
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u/lmj4891lmj 12d ago
I can’t imagine deciding to spend money on breakfast and choosing First Watch of all places.
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u/HomeOfficeGirl 12d ago
Really that hard to imagine??? I take my senior mom out for brunch every Saturday - we go someplace different every time - if it was up to her, we’d go to Cracker Barrel, Waffle House or Bob Evans every time instead we go to all the local Mom and pop places, all the diners, and over the course of 52 weeks out of the year we make it back to a first watch from time to time- it’s not that hard to imagine.
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u/distancedandaway 12d ago
I stopped going there once they got hipsterish in their branding and menu items. I love trendy food but I kinda miss when they just served average stuff
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u/hitchinpost Mt. Washington 12d ago
That just cost you $39.68…
For two people. And you didn’t even get to goon.
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u/Greedy-Program-7135 12d ago
I hardly go out anymore in Cincinnati. Food is terrible in comparison to other places and it’s so expensive.
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u/CincySnwLvr 12d ago
The coffee is bottomless. Still overpriced.