First Watch Announces Fall Menu

The First Watch restaurant in Mission Bay hosted a small event for area bloggers and social media mavens. Several of us gathered to review (and taste) the new menu and hear more, including two of us from West Boca News. Full disclosure: We were provided with free food and a gift bag – but we were already fans before this event so it should not affect our comments. We previously reviewed it in late July: First Watch in West Boca – Mission Bay.
First Watch has a broad breakfast and lunch menu with many healthy choices and reasonable prices. We’ve been there a few times before this and haven’t had a bad meal yet. The Mission Bay location seems to be doing very well and always seems to have a lot of customers.
Carly Sanders led the event and a few of the restaurant’s staff members assisted. In the photo below a manager brought out a dessert item for tasting. One of the guest, Craig Agranoff, looks on.

Here are the three big items on the fall menu, as described by the press release:

Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast
Pumpkin Pancakes are back. Two fresh eggs cooked any style plus one of First Watch’s signature spiced Pumpkin Pancakes and Aidells’ grilled, all-natural Chicken Apple Sausage.
Roasted Butternut Squash Quinoa Bowl
A seasonal favorite, this protein-packed quinoa dish is mixed with house-roasted butternut squash, dried cranberries, all-natural white meat chicken breast and herbed goat cheese. Topped with candied walnuts and drizzled with balsamic dressing.
Butternut Squash Soup
Rich and creamy, this butternut squash soup is sweetened with carrot and a touch of nutmeg – a delicious addition to that perfect fall day.

We both had the soup. It was good but not great. I’m not sure what was missing compared to the times we’ve had better. Maybe it was too smooth or just lacked something in character. Still, it was good and we would definitely order it again.

I also tasted the pumpkin pancake. This is something I wouldn’t normally order, so I can’t speak to it as a savant, but I did like it.

We didn’t try the butternut squash quinoa since we were already eating the soup. But I did order the new:

Pesto Chicken Quinoa Bowl
This protein-packed quinoa dish is mixed with kale, shredded carrots and house-roasted tomatoes. Topped with grilled all-natural lemon chicken breast, basil pesto sauce, feta crumbles and fresh herbs.

It was excellent, both delicious and healthy. The ingredients went well together and the roasted tomatoes had a unique look and great flavor.

The Cherry Chicken Quinoa Bowl from the summer menu has moved onto the permanent menu. The Bruleed Banana Waffle is no longer on the menu but you could try asking the wait staff to see if they can still do it.
And here’s the “Floridian French Toast”, which was also good:

First Watch is also now selling its granola by the bag. As part of a charity effort they are donating some of the revenue from kids meals and the granola to help feed underprivileged children – No Kid Hungry:

First Watch will donate 25 cents from every kid’s meal purchased for one year and 50 cents from each bag of its house-made granola sold in September. This is the first time ever that the granola is being offered for retail purchase.

And here’s the fall menu: