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Enterprise Fish Company
225 State St, Santa Barbara
Phone: (805) 962-3313

  • Category: Seafood
  • Hours: Sun-Thu 11:30am-10pm, Fri-Sat 11:30am-11pm
  • Price: $10 - $20
  • Serving: Lunch, & Dinner
  • Reservations: Yes, recommended
  • Map
  • Web Site
  • Menu
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Reviews by the General Public

wonderful!, 10/14/2009
Reviewer: Jenny from Santa Barbara, CA
The staff is fun, friendly, knowledgeable and most importantly well timed. I was immediately welcomed by a smiling host, seated promptly and offered beverages and appetizers in a timely fashion. In addition to the staff, the food was delectable. I started off my meal with the SPICY calamari (very tasty) followed by the lobster special (only 30 bucks for a whole lobster)! The only downside to my night was the portions which are very generous, so go hungry! All in all my experience at Enterprise was superb and I would highly recommend it!
Extremely bad experience...Total Occassion ruiner!, 9/14/2009
Reviewer: Jigni from Santa Barbara, CA
I wish I had the option of giving negative stars for the service provided here. Me and my husband went there to celebrate his birthday (because he is very fond of sea food). The bill that we received had an error in it and we were overcharged. So we confronted the server and requested her to recheck the bill total for us. The attitude of the server and the manager was so humiliating that it ruined our entire occassion (that of celebrating my husband`s birthday). The server treated us like we were some cheap individuals. And the manager only supported her further instead of correcting the situation at hand. I have never seen such insensitivity and indifference in a service industry before. Whatever happened to the mantra of Customer is King.... it sure doesn t exist in this place. Hopefully they will read this review and stop being so indifferent about the service provided. Their mantra seems to be "Server is Queen." Please at least show some humanity to your guests who specially come there to celebrate a special occassion in their lives.
Waiting forever, 6/11/2009
Reviewer: Dr. Douglas S. Shearer from Santa Barbara, CA
I come to Santa Barbara for medical conferences. Another one the week of June 8th, 2009. I went to Enterprise at noon of of 11th,...and sat at the bar, for 45 minutes without even so much as a glass of water being offered!!! Apparently, an employee meeting was going on. If this was going to occupy a large segment of time, this establishment should have had the common courtesy to put a sign on the door stating "closed from noon until one." To make me sit there at the bar for that long is unacceptable! By the way, the midday menu has many of the same items at the supper menu,...but about 40%+ less! The service on a "normal" day...is less than great, but this latest insult to a customer (me) is "the last straw." I will no longer being going to Enterprise Fish Company for ANYTHING.
EXCELLENT FOOD!!!!!!!!!!, 5/25/2009
Reviewer: Dr. Yvon Araktingi from Santa Barbara, CA
May 25, 2009 We enjoyed the food. Our Fish tasted very fresh and was well prepared. The service was very good and friendly. We highly recommended this restaurant. Next, time we wil try the Santa Monica location. Dr. Yvon Araktingi
Good food, better with adults, 2/16/2009
Reviewer: Dylan from Goleta, CA
I frequent this restaurant. The food is always good, though the clam chowder varies in runniness. They are also very accomodating on making substitutions. My only problem with this place is the dramatic difference in service there is between visits with my UCSB friends and visits with my parents. They all but ignore my friends and I when we come in, almost acting as though we somehow matter less as customers. Management really should impress on their staff that young adults are customers too and won't be coming back later if they have repeated bad experiences with their younger friends.
excellent food and service, 2/14/2009
Reviewer: jane from miramar, fl
my husband and myself came here in september it was brilliant very enjoyable
Not Impressed, 1/28/2009
Reviewer: Donato from Hermosa Beach, CA
I just don't understand the hype about this place. I'm up here on business and I've eaten there twice in the past week. I don't think I'll go back since there are better seafood options nearby (Brophy Bros for one). The clam chowder looked and tasted like it was out of a can and the lobster bisque was as if it had been run through strainer...zero lobster. I had the grilled salmon and ravioli, and while the ravioli were very good, the salmon low grade...I felt like I could have gotten that at Sizzler. The servers and bartenders were great though.

server made the day, 1/22/2009
Reviewer: dimitri brown from Santa Barbara, CA
my wife and i ate at the restaurant and the food was quite good but the server, who's name was brett, absolutely made our evening. he was top notch.
Small portion of fish and chips
Reviewer: Leana from Santa Barbara, CA
About two weeks ago I went to Enterprise with three friends for drinks and to order food to go for a beach picnic. Luckily we went to the beach nearby because when we saw our portion size of the fish and chips we figured something was wrong with the order since there were 3 strips of about 3 inches long for the entire order. This would be fine if the fish and chips cost around $7, but it cost $17 at Enterprise. We went back and said that we thought there was a mistake with our order because there was no way it was supposed to be so small. Our original waitress helped us and gave us four more strips to split between the three of us who ordered fish and chips. We did not believe this was fair, but we weren't in the mood to continue with it. The waitress was very nice though. I would go again for drinks and I would just steer away from the fish and chips for fear of being ripped off again.
Enterprise has gone downhill
Reviewer: Trisha Smith from Santa Barbara, CA
My friend and I were in there for Happy Hour Appetizers the other night... We sat for about 15 minutes with no one paying any attention to us, even though the bartender kept making eye contact with me. She wasn't busy, she was cleaning bottles and I suppose that was too important and she couldn't get us menus. We ended up flagging down the manager for menus. Another 5 minutes passed and the busser brought us some water and bread. Keep in mind we hadn't seen our cocktail waitress at this point. She finally came by and just asked us what we wanted to eat, no greeting or anything. Our food took forever, probably 30 minutes for some apps, and the restaurant was not busy. She never checked back with us when the food finally came, and our drinks were empty half the time. Having waited tables myself for years, I can safely say this is some of the worst service I've ever had. Enterprise used to be so much better. They could do with a staff turnover.
A Pleasure
Reviewer: Cindy from San Diego, CA
We were happy with the food and service. Of course there is always some place better but we would go back the next time we are in Santa Barbara. Its very close to the Amtrak Station so we just happened to come across the place. When we entered we where sat right away and there was very good mellow, good old rock and roll playing. We had some oyster shooters, chips and salsa a glass of wine and a margarita. We where going from place to place in Santa Barbara to discover and explore on our first visit. The third day we went there to have a tuna sandwich before we departed on the Amtrak back to our long time home in San Diego. Both times we where there they put fresh hot bread with good butter on our table while we waited for our server. We will go back again to the Fish Company when we are in Santa Barbara.
Stay away!!
Reviewer: Nicole from Santa Barbara, CA
This place is just terrible! I have lived in Santa Barbara for 5 years and back when I moved here the place wasn't too bad. I went back last week and was incredibly disappointed. After waiting much longer than we were told, we sat at our table for 20 minutes until a waitress came over and told us they didn't have any more of their lobster special and left. In the meantime a busboy dropped off two waters and bread and butter. The butter tasted metallic and the bread was stale, like it had been in the warmer just a little bit too long. I was a waitress/hostess/busgirl for 3 years in a myriad of restaurants and I have never seen such uncaring, apathetic service. Disappointed my boyfriend and I moved to the bar area to try their happy hour menu. On our way down the stairs we passed the waitress who told us she was on her way to the table now but I politely informed her 20 min. was just way too long for us to wait. Enterprise has a decent happy hour menu but the prices on their website are not accurate!! The crab cake is the best buy. The seafood potstickers looked like they bought them frozen and they were very fishy tasting. The fried foods aren't that great and look like they were frozen about 10 minutes before they were served to you. The drinks are very overpriced as well. You would be better off at Brophy Bros., Bay Cafe or Moby Dick.
Food left me disappointed
Reviewer: Linda from Scottsdale, AZ
The only good feature of this restaurant is the short walk from the ocean front where we were staying. For a $24 entree, I do not expect a fishy-tasting and greasy seabass with cheese melted on top. This is a poor excuse for a seafood restaurant. The service was friendly, almost as though they had no idea how bad the food was. I could not mention this to the waiter because I did not want to hurt the feelings of my date. Atmosphere is pub-like.
CRAPPY HAPPY HOUR SERVICE
Reviewer: AMANDA from SANTA BARBARA
Ok so heres the deal, it was one of my good girlfriends birthday and there were about 8 of us there. We sat there with no service for about 15min, finally the waitress came over and barely took anyones order. I mean if you call it "HAPPY HOUR" wouldnt you think you should be happy with great service expecially on someones birthday. After some of my other friends order some apps the waitress waits about 10-15 min to come back and tell us the kitchen is closed. I mean here we were 8 people out for a great time turned into crappy service an being ignored to the point of no longer calling it HAPPY HOUR to changing it to CRAPPY HOUR.
Not worth it.
Reviewer: Elaina from Carpinteria, CA
We went to Enterprise last night after over a year of avoiding the place. We used to go for happy hour because the prices can't be beat, however, it is always super crowded and the service is poor. Having never actually eaten dinner there, we decided to give it another shot. I went and put my name in, and there was a considerable crowd. The host told me that there was "a bit of a wait". When I asked how long, he said 25 minutes, but that they were out of pagers. This should have been a BIG red flag to me, but we were hungry and not thinking clearly. Eventually I get a pager, and after about 35 minutes my husband checks in with the host. He claims he "never told us 25 minutes" and that there were still 4 parties ahead of us. Just a note, I don't mind waiting, I understand that restaurants are busy, however, don't lie to me when you tell me how long the wait is. It's pointless, and just serves to make people angry. We eventually get seated after a little over an hour. Our waitress was very attentive and prompt (5 stars for her, 0 stars for the host), but the food was lackluster. Average seafood you could get at any bargain chain. Not worth the prices and definitely not worth the wait.

Good Food Worst Service
Reviewer: Bany Vargas from Santa Barbara
I've been to Enterprise several times. They have a good happy hour menu. They food is not the best, but it's good. The service though, it's awful. From the many times I've been there, only ONCE did I receive decent service. The wait staff always take a really long time for everything! The only reason I go back is because, in my opinion, they have the best spicy fried calamari in SB. If you don't mind waiting, I would give Enterprise a try.

loved it!!!!
Reviewer: Ciana from santa barbara
i read a lot of bad reviews on this place, and i have to disagree with them. i had the best experience here. as soon as we sat down we received our bread and drinks. throughout the entire meal our waiter always made sure our drinks were filled and that we had everything we needed. (his name was kevin by the way. great guy!)the food was amazing. i had the mixed seafood platter and my partner had the shrimp and scallops with fettuccine. please don't listen to the reviews on this place. everyone should try it at least once! you might love it!

Not so good...HIRE AN OYSTER SHUCKER!
Reviewer: Will Hall from SB
went in for some fresh seafood with a friend and was very disappointed with quality of food. as one of the only restaurants in town that serves fresh oysters daily you'd think they'd have the shucking thing down. our oysters were still attached to their shells and contained grit and broken shells. inedible. our steamed mussels, lobster and crab cake were dry and tasteless. not even the melted butter tasted good. dont expect more that a half caring college kid to bring you that cold beer in a timely matter. after all was said and done, nothing on the printed menu was charged correctly either. such a disappointment
mediocre food
Reviewer: Dana Alexander from Santa Barbara
Very disappointed in the food (lunch). I had fish tacos with very brown guacamole on top and fish that was small, mushy, and tasteless. The caesar salad was undistinguised and bland. The red clam chowder needed more clams! Service, on the other hand, was stellar.

Surprised
Reviewer: Christina from Santa Barbara, CA
Enterprise is an "you can always count on" place, the food is good, the happy hour exceptional, the service just fine. But I was very disappointed to go in on New Year's Day for lunch at 1:15 and be given a dinner menu. I thought there was a mistake, so I asked the hostess for the lunch menu to be told that they were serving dinner all day because it was New Year's Day. Not New Year's Eve, but New Year's Day. The difference in the prices are astronomical, which is why we usually go for lunch. This is a local's spot, and I don't think tourists would even find it. It has always been that way. The trouble I have with their doing that is when you walked up to the front door, the had their menu displayed with a "lunch specials" even posted. There was no mention of just serving dinner all day. If you are going to just serve the same thing you do for lunch but at dinner prices, which I have never understood what a HUGE difference they have in prices for the same EXACT thing, at least post it outside and don't forget to remove your "lunch specials" menu only to be seated to find out you will have to pay twice as much, new year's day or not. That's so LA.

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