My wife sent me a link to this joint when she was in Plaza Midwood a couple months ago. Ever since seeing the menu, I've been looking for an opportunity to give The Workingman's Friend a try and finally made it this past weekend to meet a friend up from Florida.
It's a nice, cozy space with dark wood and a fireplace at the end of the restaurant which was quite welcome on a 27 degree day. We went on a Sunday and they had both the regular daily menu and a small selection of brunch items. There is also a local/seasonal craft beer menu to go along with a relatively extensive overall list.
The service was mostly very good. In terms of quickly checking with us to get drink and then food orders and overall "paying attention to" it was just fine. The downside was how long it took for the food to come out so, more a kitchen issue than anything else. It was almost 30 minutes between order and food and we watched others around us experiencing the same issue. End of the day, I'm there to catch up with a friend so no biggie on that front but 30 min. is pretty long wait.
The food itself was great flavor-wise. I had the Working Man burger with bacon added. It came with chips (fries) that were small wedges of potato in a paper bag with both ketchup and a tasty malt vinegar aioli. They were hot and crispy and the aioli was a yummy dip. I asked for the burger to be medium and it came out beyond well done and as a result, was very dry. Again, nice flavor but nowhere close to the temp ordered. I had a Sunday dinner pork roast to get home to baste and since it initially took so long to get the food, I just let it slide vs. sending back.
I'll definitely be going again since my wife was jealous that I was getting there before she did since she found the place. Look forward to trying some different food and more good beers. Based on most of the other Yelper eviews, I would expect the few negatives from this visit to be a one time only thing.