When Workshop opened up on Roncesvalles, I was pretty excited. The street has been undergoing a pretty rapid change over the past few months and this restaurant seemed to have a fresher look than its previous occupant, Fat Cat Wine Bar. My family was in town and we wanted to grab a light dinner on a Saturday night. After checking out the local standbys (The Ace, Barque, etc.) we decided on here because the restaurant seemed quiet and had plenty of available tables.
Immediately after sitting down, the waitress mentioned that the owners of Fat Cat still owned this spot which I was less than enthused about. (That's another review though...) The second thing she mentioned was that the food was all "shareable" tapas food. Nowhere on the menu was this mentioned. I HATE when restaurants do this! It might not have been a huge deal except the food itself is not exactly made for sharing. The lamb burger was delicious but stacked way too tall for three people to properly split it without making a mess. The potatoes we ordered were pretty dull and the panini was tiny after being split up.
Not ready to pass final judgment, we order some charcuterie. There's no description on the menu but the waitress promised us a selection of fine cheese and meat. When the food arrived, we received no explanation on what any of the meat or cheese was and there was no bread/crostini to be found. We asked for some bread and were told we could purchase baguette for an additional cost. After an uncomfortable silence, we asked for some crostini and received 4 small pieces for our table of 3.
Overall, I'd say this is a restaurant to skip. The food isn't bad but it's definitely not "easily shareable" or well-priced for what you get. The service was hit and miss, very friendly at first but less interested after we chose to not order more to drink than a single glass of wine. My main problem with the restaurant was that they didn't advertise as tapas - nowhere outside, on the menu or their website. Super irritating.