Workshop Kitchen + Bar

My boyfriend and I came here last weekend. The place is beautiful and the drinks are good. But the food was awful and tasteless… We were not impressed at all. I wouldn’t go back for the food.

Last minute dinner turned into a great meal, cute restaurant tucked in a great space. Everything we tried tasted awesome. I tried the veggie enchiladas which were awesome! I’d recommend it for anyone to try, finding the front of the restaurant proved interesting because you walk through all the people eating outside to get to the front door, other than that great experience…

This is the second time we’ve been here. The first was to experience Workshop’s truly magnificent space (for which it won – deservedly – a James Beard Design Award, the first west coast restaurant to do so, we were told.) Service was good, food just ok. But good enough that we wanted to go with visiting friends who appreciate good design.
Maybe it’s because it was Modernism Week in PS or Valentine’s Day weekend, but service was almost comically tragic. Long waits for menus, food, the checks, a disappearing waiter (I finally gave up and handed the bill to the hostess to ring up, then went back a second time when we were given the checks… without pens.) Entrees were consistently given to the wrong person – truly, the service was more akin to an understaffed diner with a busload of hungry Little League players suddenly showing up post-​game.
Entrees ranged from reasonably good to so so, with small overpriced portions. Still, I would go back with friends just to see the space (and only at night, when it looks its best), but can’t really see becoming regulars. Too bad, it’s a truly sophisticated room typically seen in NY or SF than the desert.

Very disappointed. I might have given two stars since the food was ok, but it was the people that made this place terrible. From the moment of arrival things were bad. The host was cold, the water lady was rude, the waiter was checked out and not helpful at all (service = terrible). Our drinks came some time after the first course was served, we were never asked if we wanted another drink and the prix-​fix dinner portions were ridiculous for almost $ 90.00 per person. If you want to experience this place for the architecture or sitting outside, maybe. But I certainly would recommend going somewhere else.
Even the owner only talked to the people he knew and couldn’t care less about other visitors.
I had been here before, and liked it. So, we thought we would spend a special occasion here again. I am not sure what is going on with this place, but it has certainly gone down hill.
It’s people that make things great. This place doesn’t understand this concept.

Super cute and food was delicious. My friend and I shared the oxtail ragu, octopus, shaved brussel sprouts and the gratin. Thought the gratin was going to be potatoes but it was some root veg related to the parsnip. It was good but not my fave out of the 4. Our other friends loved their food too. Dessert was walnut ice cream that the restaurant comped because it was our friend’s birthday. Super nice! The ice cream was SO good. Tasted like coffee, hazelnut and vanilla all rolled into one delicious scoop. I would definitely go back the next time we’re in Palm Springs.

Do you want to queue up and wait an hour at Cheeky’s for a skillet scramble or have a sophisticated brunch at Workshop up the street? You decide.
The décor is straight outta Metropolis. Stark, granite, polished steel, pendant lights. It’s like eating on the set of Ex Machina. (Didn’t see that one? Drop what you’re doing and see it now), and yet restaurant is still warm and inviting. But, you came for the food didn’t you? Other Unilocalers have unfairly dissed this creative kitchen for inconsequential indiscretions. No lemon slice in the tap water, a curt hostess, and uninspired food. Boy, is that off the mark.
The water was icy cold and refreshing, the hostess was cute, not curt, and, most importantly, the food was inventive without being pretentious. The kitchen is forward thinking and the food was really, really interesting, delicious and different without being weird. Just plain good, it was. So there.
Dining at the bar was comfortable and fun. The mixologist was a hoot, friendly and talented. That girl could mix a libation with more glow than anything Madame Currie ever came up with.
Brunch began with a Bloody Mary as good as a B. M. can be. Cold, a spicy tingle, salty rim, and a premium vodka base. If Queen Mary of Scotland had two before she lost her head, she would have passed with a smile.
The Day Drinker had Amaro Nonino (a grape brandy infused with mountain herbs), Lemon Juice and Zest, St. Archer Pale Ale inside a salted rim. Sounded like the spittoon up ended, but is was great. An ideal concoction to forget the night before or remember that even though it’s 10:00 AM, it’s cocktail time somewhere on the planet. So, slurp up.
Instead of eggs al gusto it was the Reuben with house made pastrami (my personal weakness) with caramelized fennel and onion, house made whole grain mustard, and locally sourced artisan rye bread. Was it the equal of the monster at the Carnegie, the sacred temple of all things pastrami? No, but it was delicious and did not require 25,000 frequent flyer miles and a trudge through the snow to get there. It was a welcome break from a traditional breakfast.
The menu is varied and eclectic and everything is carefully prepared to please.
Next course: The DucK Confit Hash with breakfast potatoes, and a light Serrano chili cream sauce. It shows up as a side but could be a front and center. It was just ducky. Crisp confit done correctly with a slow simmer (instead of a flash fry) until it was as crisp as military sheets. Pair that with my other guilty pleasure, Black Pepper Bacon, thick as the promises made by the current crop of presidential candidates. Double yum.
The Vibe: Hip as a haute couture runway in Milan. Nice people dining and serving in a convivial atmosphere.
This is definitely high on the re-​do for dinner list. (One more Bloody Mary and I would have slumped over the bar until dinner service began).
The chef/​owner and staff want you to be happy you came, well fed and enjoy the experience. They succeeded.
My only knock was no dessert of any kind for brunch. Nope, not last night’s cookie, a scoop of something from the freezer, a line cook’s Reese’s Cup, a box of Sunkist raisins, nada, zip, nuthin’.
The bar tender took pity on me and skewered a few brandy soaked Luxardo cherries. Whew, that was close.
All considered, Workshop is not a work in progress. It has arrived.
Your choices for really good food in Palm Springs are limited even though there are many places to chose from.
Chose wisely. Choose this place.

The menu selections were good most dishes under $ 20, drinks nice many looked very refreshing. I found the food plate presentation out of wake giving this eatery to be trendy.
Food was piled on plates with either to much food or not enough kitchen experience in plating.

Service at this restaurant has been very good but the menu left a lot to be desired. Here for a corporate dinner but the food has little to no taste and the selections have been minimally varied. Many of the items are similar in composition and the prime rib and creamed kale were two of the best items of the night. If this were an option in the future I would decline. Not impressed and would not recommend. The staff is exceptional and I hope the food improves.

Cool little restaurant tucked away down a little alley with both indoor/​outdoor seating. The décor was very fresh and earthy with exposed lightbulbs, wood tables etc. We didn’t have a reservation and although the restaurant was pretty empty, the hostesses were a bit curt and suggested bar seating. We took a look at the bar and it was pretty packed. We then inquired about the long communal table and they hesitantly agreed as long as we left by a certain time. Given that it was a Mon evening and a lot of the restaurants we wanted to go to were closed, we decided to give this place a go.
Food was just ok. Kale salad for $ 13 was probably just a few bites of kale. We got the jidori chicken diavolo to share. The chicken was very well flavored. Although the menu described the chicken was deboned, our chicken definitely still had a lot of bones in it. Not a big deal but was just a bit surprised when the chicken arrived. The quinoa that came with the chicken was also undercooked. I also ordered a $ 14 glass of Barbera and it was just terrible.
This place definitely has a lot of potential. They seem to be taking a creative twist on their food, which is refreshing given that a lot of downtown Palm Springs is pretty old fashioned.

We really enjoyed our evening at Workshop. We started at the bar which is in the back of the restaurant, small with just a few stools but Great drinks. They have some unique tequila cocktails as well as a couple gin ones that stood out. For dinner we sat at the communal table which I normally don’t love, but didn’t mind here. For starters we shared the shaved brussel sprout salad as well as the beet salad. Both were very good, but the brussel sprout salad was just a little bit better. For my entrée I had the burger which was delicious. The bun was perfect as was the burger itself. What really surprised me was the fennel and onion mustard which gave it a unique taste. Of course the fries were good too (they have a duck fat version, but we opted for the regular and they were tasty)…

With such an amazing look to the place — you would have thought that people would be there having dinner at 6:00pm on a Sunday night. Zero people. Not one single table anywhere, that is — until our group of 4 got there to get the party started! I am going to venture a guess that, given it was the night after the time change (fall back ¹¹⁄₁) — it was so empty?
To our advantage, the bar service was amazing — and the bartender made great suggestions/​drinks and even gave each of us small sample of a style of vodka for a drink we all ended up ordering at our table later on.
A lengthy, giant, polished cement table right down the center of the inside dining room obviously makes for a great space for a party of 20 — 25 that could be enjoying a very special occasion (rehearsal dinners, etc.) On either side of this large, possible communal table were 5 stylish booths with a black leather backing — (so 10 booths total roughly) — inspired design gives you a table that is practically a room of its own while still sharing the room with others.
The food was great — and it was nice to see that, later on the place filled up a bit after we got there. In fact — that polished cement table down the center seated a well-​dressed group of 15 or so that looked like they were dressed for something like a rehearsal dinner?
This place would be on the list of a more «special» dinner out when visiting the Palm Springs area — slightly on the pricier side, but the food was terrific and worth what we paid for.
I’d like to go back sometime and try out the Sunday brunch (that’s the only time they are open during the day). Outdoor seating as well if the weather is nice — which, it pretty much always is when you are in Palm Springs!

Ruined our Thanksgiving!
We are here our first night in town the day before Thanksgiving and had a nice time so we decided it would be the perfect spot for a great Thanksgiving dinner. We were wrong!
We arrived and were presented with a lovely prix fix menu for two and ordered our meal. Starters were nice but the turkey and gravy arrived at the table cold. We didn’t bother mentioning it and finished our meal and were ready to order the desert.
The waiter brought the menus back but they were different than the ones we first ordered from. We asked what happened to the menu but the waiter appeared confused and said it was the same. It was not. Everything was individually priced and we were confused. We just wanted to order the desert course from the menu we were originally presented.
So we had to get up and approach the hosts who pretended the other menu didn’t exist. When pressed further they admitted mistakenly giving us wrong menus. That we just had to order differently since it was a mistake.
This was 10 – 15 minutes after we originally wanted to order desert. They tried to convince us things were not confusing so we asked to speak to the manager and they said the same thing.
At this point we were upset and angry that it took 15 minutes to find out what was going on and skipped desert hoping to get out before encountering any more excuses from this restaurant. They were unprofessional and made fools of us in front of other diners. Not what you would anticipate from a restaurant with prices around $ 100/​person.
The funny thing about all this is that they could have easily solved the problem by presenting us with the menus that we originally ordered from.
We are not fussy but expect a kind and courteous dining experience. As a follow up a manager phoned us to try and further explain why what they did was justified.
Be warned! Avoid this place if you want to leave feeling happy and warm. You will leave feeling foolish and taken advantage of.

One thing my friends who weekend in Palm Springs on occasion tend to complain that there are no good restaurants to eat. Well, I think Workshop has changed that. The food here is creative and delicious. It’s on the pricier side, but it’s worth it. I particularly enjoyed eating at the bar, especially when Dave and Michelle are pouring. They’re very personable, and they make your dining experience a lot more enjoyable.
I met up with a friend who was passing through town on his way back to the OC on a Sunday evening a couple of weekends ago.
Foie Gras French Toast ($ 19). Nice seared thick slice of foie on top. Love the combination of sweet and savory.
Share the «Ha’s Honeycrisp apple; Port-​Salut pot-​de-​crème with truffle honey; fig mostarda; duck fat brioche toast points» with a friend, and the Port-​Salut pot-​de-​crème with truffle honey was amazing and addictive. After all the toast points were gone, I enjoyed just spooning the pot-​de-​crème into my mouth. It was that good.
For dessert, I took a couple of bites of my friend’s Drake’s Farm goat cheese cake, and peach compote with galangal and lemongrass. Sweet, creamy, and decadent. The galangal and lemongrass give it a nice different herbaceous flavor.
I can’t wait to come back and have a full sit down dinner here the next time I’m in Palm Springs.

If I could give this place less than one star I would. It was my wife’s birthday and they would not seat us for 2 hours because they were «to busy» but had 25+ open seats. They said that we needed to put a credit card on file in advance for $ 25 dollars per person. Sorry our money wasn’t good enough for you. Now that I know how big of pieces of shits you are I wouldn’t eat here if it was free.
After Michaels spirited response to my one star review I figured I would update my review :)
After reading many of the other reviews from various Unilocalers I can see why your restaurant has 3.5 stars. So many people have had a similar awful experience with your staff and with Michael. I am astonished that you are still in business and am sad that my wife even wanted to go to such an awful establishment with low ratings. Hopefully more people read reviews like mine and other one star reviews and stop giving you their money.
Maybe running a McDonald’s would be better suited for Michael :)

First of all, this restaurant is gorgeous. The design is beautiful even if it’s not comfortable. We had a booth and it was killing my back. I think the courtyard was really nice and it might have been nicer to sit out there.
The food was good. Not great. And not enough of it. The drinks were good. Nice selection. The service was great. The server offered to make a special pizza for my son as this is NOT a kid’s restaurant. We started with the pizza, tomato salad, and the fries. I had the scallops and my husband the swordfish. We were still hungry. My scallops entrée was THREE scallops and a baby zucchini. So $ 200 later, we all were still hungry.
It was worth trying. It would be perfect to have drinks at the bar and maybe a snack. Not dinner.

This is a beautiful restaurant. It was amazing both inside & outside.
Staff was fairly attentive with as busy as they were. I liked seeing the team work.
We ordered all the options for the small plates with our party of 5. The octopus carpaccio was so good we had 2 orders of it. Simple food, but it was all flavorful & delicious. The almond cake was amazing.
We were there to celebrate a birthday, total $ 500 for 5 peeps including 2 bottles of wine.
Out of all the restaurants we visited, this is the only one I would go back to again.

This was my first stop after a FOUR HOUR DRIVE from L.A. (Friday rush hour, what was I thinking?!), and I needed a martini sooooo bad at that point. Well, I couldn’t have asked for a better martini. With smile and grace I was served a perfect, icy cold Tito’s vodka martini, dirty, extra dry, with Sicilian olives. Aaaaahhhh
I later had a «Palm Springer» due to the popularity and appearance, and it was delicious.
The entire staff behind the bar were extremely cordial and service oriented. They were quick to answer any and all questions I had. They were an example of great customer service.
For a snack I had the house-​cured gravlax tartine ($ 15?): grilled rye bread, horseradish cream, quail egg, dill, meyer lemon zest. Best piece of toast with lox on it I’ve ever had. The quail egg really did it. The price? eh, that didn’t really do it for me. (But um try $ 95 for a CA Bass and this looks like a bargain! lol) (true story)(see menu)
BONUS POINTS:
Ice cubes by which every bar should model their ice cubes: huge, and dense.
Whiskey and Mezcal collection. (although like every bar in PS, the Scotch collection was weak)
All the beautiful people were here.
Amazing looking menu. I want the pizza, but it’s the «market selection», which varies daily.
Recipient of a James Beard Award for Best Restaurant Design in North America! Yes, very chic looking.
SEASONAL cocktail menu. So you get some variety.
There are some reasonable beers at $ 5-​$ 7
EH:
Now I must mention, it was almost impossible for me to find this place. No sign? Small sign? Through a courtyard where some other company used to be? Just look for a clapboard on a sidewalk by this courtyard.
Cocktails are the same price as Beverly Hills (but less than some places in Hollywood!) at $ 15
Where the hell DID I finally park? Oh yah, blocks away on some dark side street — no valet.
Parting notes:
I would most definitely come back, and I would wait for a table, no matter how long, before I would ever sit on that patio in the summer. And hey beautiful people, show some class and put some nice clothes on to come here. And maybe greet people as they wander aimlessly through the courtyard looking for an unmarked door… or when they enter said door. But I really did like the place, and I really enjoyed the bar staff and my cocktails.
Cheers!

We came here for a bachelorette weekend and Workshop worked with one of the girls to organize the dinner and had a set menu for all of us. it is on the pricy side, but the food was worth it.
5– service
5– décor
4– food
My favorite things (I would order again)
— Crispy local goat cheese. I mean, c’mon yum
–Taylor Farm’s Baby Kale Salad (had pecan, peaches, brussels) very good
–Mesquite Grilled Iron House Ranch Flat Iron Steak
–Shaved Brussel Sprout Salad
Everything was good but those above were just my favorite of the bunch.
We also had duck fat fries, the little gem caesar, jidori chicken, and for dessert we had the local goat cheesecake (my least favorite thing of the night) and the flourless chocolate cake with peanut butter ice cream, which was delish.
Super hip place to go. Love the décor. will go back.

Eating here made clear why Workshop recently won a James Beard award (the equivalent of an Oscar in the restaurant industry). Workshop won the well-​deserved award for its interior design (see the attached pic). Apart from its cool, urban aesthetic this place has a lot gong for it. Here’s what we liked:
1. Cool location: Workshop is in the up-​and-​coming arts district in downtown Palm Springs. It’s a great area to walk around.
2. Interesting, delicious dishes with high quality ingredients —
Appetizers: These days, it seems like duck and duck fat is a pretty popular ingredient, and Workshop has seized on that trend. Their fries, cooked in duck fat and served with aoili and ketchup, are an indulgence, but a delicious one. Their avocado topped with goat cheese and drizzled in honey is a stroke of genius — a simple dish where the flavors and textures compliment each other perfectly. However, at $ 8, it’s expensive.
Entrees: Their Reuben (not on their online menu, but on the restaurant’s regular menu, see photo) was spectacular — the meat sliced so thin, and the mixing with the cheese so creamy, that it virtually melts in your mouth. The jidori friend chicken and waffles — a fairly hip and unusual dish — was good as well. I ordered the duck egg huevos rancheros, which felt healthy and tasted good, but it wasn’t as good as the jidori chicken and waffles or the Reuben.
3. Good service: Our waiter was a cheerful, candid guy named Jordan. I say candid because Jordan told us which dishes he liked most, and which he wasn’t as keen on. I vastly prefer that to some waiters, who blankly say that everything on the menu is good.
Overall, this is one of the best restaurants I have eaten at in the Palm Springs area, and I highly recommend it.

I had heard this place was amazing, so I had something of a high expectation. I wouldn’t say it was amazing, but being the jaded foodie I am, I was generally pleased. I had a good time, enjoyed the wine list and especially the duck fat fries, which we had to have taken away because the order was large and we wouldn’t have eaten them all, which would have been bad in the best way possible.
We sat at the communal table and chatted with people, so that was really fun. The service was great and our waiter was very personable. I can’t and won’t fault him for being less than attentive, it was a very busy Friday night and he was hustling.
One thing that really impressed me was that for a concrete structure, they really managed to construct the space so the noise was contained and not bouncing all over the place. In most places designed like this, you cannot hear the person sitting right across from you and it’s one big cacophony. Happily this was far from the case. :) Aesthetically, I find it to be a sparsely beautiful space with some great touches that warm it up.
When I’m in town I would most likely come back.