FIRST AWAKENINGS
ADDRESS: 300 David Avenue, Monterey, CA 93940
WEBSITE: https://firstawakenings.net/
It was the end of January and I was back up in northern California visiting my friends Nate and Ruby for their housewarming party one weekend. I ended up staying an extra day, so we took the opportunity to venture down into the Monterey area for the day, also joined by Ruby’s friend Amy. We all wanted to get in some good brunch before we stopped by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, so we stopped by at a very popular local spot, First Awakenings.
When I say popular, I’m talking “one hour plus wait time” popular if you’re going during weekend brunch. When we first originally showed up, the waitlist was about 25 parties deep. So pro tip: if you are on your way to the place, take a look at their Yelp waitlist to see if you should hop on there so you don’t have to wait as long once you arrive. The line itself actually started to pick up the pace after a little bit, so we got seated only after waiting for a little over 30 minutes when we were originally projected to wait about 75 minutes.
First Awakenings has large dining areas both indoor and outdoor. We opted to sit inside since the outdoor dining area looked like the sun was shining directly onto it. It’s definitely a pretty large operation overall, with the clientele that day consisting of a mix of families, groups of friends, or couples. Given how many people would be seated at one time, I could imagine that the kitchen had to really be on top of it to make sure everything is cranking out at a good pace.
The restaurant’s menu has two full pages’ worth of options for their breakfast alone. Omelettes, pancakes, French toast, skillets, eggs benedict, you name it. There was also another page dedicated to salads, sandwiches, and burgers, if you weren’t in the mood for breakfast food. I typically cycled between omelettes and eggs benedict when eating out for breakfast, and this time, the omelette choices sounded more intriguing. I was torn between the DC Verde and the Acapulco Express, which our waiter Kiley actually said were their two best omelette options, in his opinion. I ended up going with the Acapulco, and Nate decided to go with the DC Verde, so we agreed on a half-omelette trade so both of us could try the other one.
To our surprise, the kitchen was able to crank out all of our food in no time. In total, we had five plates of food to come out, and it was ready in about 10 minutes. At first when our waiter was coming over to our table with food, I was thinking that he was delivering it to the wrong table. Nope, that was our order all right. The omelettes were definitely hefty portions, with half of the plate taken up by the omelette and the other half with the homestyle potatoes. Add in the buttered and toasted English muffin and some salsa, and that was definitely a plate of food that would keep me full for quite some time.
The Acapulco Express omelette is loaded up with chorizo, avocado, green chiles, and onions on the inside. I substituted out the Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses with some feta cheese, along with doing away with the sour cream altogether. I thought that the chorizo had great flavor, working well with both the avocado and the feta cheese. I poured a little bit of salsa onto the omelette, and I thought that the acidity helped to contrast with the flavors a little bit as well. The homestyle potatoes were cooked to that consistency of crispy on the outside, yet soft on the inside, just the way I like them.
Truth be told, however, I actually enjoyed the DC Verde more than the Acapulco Express. They were similar omelettes, with the DC Verde swapping the chorizo for carnitas instead. Red onions and tomatoes were additional vegetables stuffed inside, but the key was the homemade salsa verde that they poured on top of the omelette itself. For me, I really liked the heat that the salsa verde brought to each bite, just enough to make my mouth notice the heat at a consistent level. The salsa verde also worked perfectly to bring more moisture to the carnitas inside the omelette as well.
The quality of the food definitely made the wait time worthwhile, with the hefty portions making the price of the dishes reasonable as well. There are so many different options to choose from on the menu that you’re bound to find something that’ll satisfy your appetite. The overall experience definitely made the wait worth it, and something that I’d be happy to do again. If you’re looking to start your day in Monterey off right, be sure to make First Awakenings a part of it.
Let’s now take a look at the First Awakenings Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** DC Verde Omelette **
Carnitas, green chiles, avocado, red onions, and tomatoes, topped with homemade salsa verde, Monterey Jack cheese, sour cream, and chives. Served with homestyle potatoes and English muffin.
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** Acapulco Express Omelette **
Chorizo, avocado, green chilis, and onions. Pictured with feta cheese instead of Monterey Jack and cheddar, without sour cream or chives. Served with homestyle potatoes, English muffin, and salsa.
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And finally, here are my rankings for First Awakenings:
Food: 4.75 / 5
Delicious food, hefty portions, and a wide variety of options to choose from. Everything tasted great and we all left feeling very satisfied.
Atmosphere: 4.25 / 5
The main indoor dining area was certainly nice and open, with high ceilings and an open floor area for tables and booths. The side area that we were seated in was primarily booth seating and still felt very comfortable in terms of spacing, despite there being a large number of people at the restaurant.
Service: 5 / 5
Our waiter, Kiley, was very attentive throughout our entire meal. He helped to answer a couple of our questions regarding the food and also checked in with us to make sure we had everything we needed. Definite shoutout to the kitchen as well for cranking out our food in record time.
Price: 4.75 / 5
The omelette plate pricing floated around $16 – $17, which was a very reasonable amount for the portions of food that I got. It’s certainly an amount that I would gladly pay again.
Overall:
18.75 / 20
(94%)
Categories: California, Restaurants
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