FINNEY’S CRAFTHOUSE
ADDRESS: 580 Ventura Boulevard, Camarillo, CA 93010
WEBSITE: https://www.finneyscrafthouse.com/
As “the last supper” before my brother Kevin and sister-in-law Alina moved away from California, I gave them the option of choosing where to eat for dinner as I was hanging out with them last month. We cycled through a few different food options, including sushi, burgers, sandwiches, or barbecue, but we eventually settled on some American food at the newly opened Finney’s Crafthouse that was nearby their apartment.
I was a little surprised at how jam-packed the restaurant was for a Sunday night. We were quoted over an hour wait time, but since we weren’t in a hurry, we ended up agreeing to wait it out. The vibe of the restaurant reminded me a bit of places like Yard House or BJ’s, where there is a pretty substantial selection of drinks, along with a food selection that seemed more centric to American dishes.
From an interior standpoint, I definitely liked the modern urban feel of the place, with décor elements of wood and brick. There are an array of seating options available: high-tops, long tables, booths, and the bar itself. The entire area was also really well lit, with a number of different types of lamps positioned overhead.
The menu offerings spanned across salads, sandwiches, burgers, pizzas, tacos, and wings, along with an accompaniment of different appetizers. While the food leaned more on American flavors, there was certainly no shortage of options to choose from. Our waiter Pauli came over to the table to introduce himself and we went ahead to place our food orders. After the hour wait for our table, we were in a bit of a hungry mood, so we decided to go with the Poke Nachos and the Onion Ring Tower appetizers. For my entrée, the Yuzu Buffalo Wings were really sounding good, so I went with those.
Like I mentioned above, there were definitely parallels that I could draw from the atmosphere of the restaurant to places like Yard House or BJ’s. I think that the bustling crowd, coupled with a prominent bar area, along with a number of TV’s placed around the restaurant, made it a very casual spot to come and stop by, whether that meant you were looking to catch a game, hang out with some friends or family, or unwind after a day of work.
Our appetizers arrived out to the table pretty quickly, and I decided to dig into the Poke Nachos first. On first glance, I will say that I was a bit disappointed with the amount of fish that came with the plate. There were only ten cubes of ahi tuna as part of the poke portion, which I definitely thought was on the light side. The nachos also had a wasabi aioli drizzle, pico de gallo, edamame, and Fresno chiles, all served on top of wonton chips. The grouping of all of the ingredients into one bite definitely made for a nice combination, but the off-balance ratio of the ahi tuna to the wonton chips was certainly noticeable. There were still about half the wonton chips by the time that we finished all the ahi tuna, leaving just the veggie toppings left.
The onion rings were a solid option, with them being fried just crispy enough and not over-battered at all. The breading also adhered to the onion really well, so you didn’t get that annoying situation where you might pull the entire onion ring out of the breading while you were eating it. The onion rings had shredded Parmesan cheese sprinkled on them and were served with three dipping sauces, but they were good enough just to eat on their own.
After we had polished off both of our appetizers, our main courses made their way out of the kitchen. I had high hopes after the initial look at the wings, hoping that there would be a good flavor combination between the yuzu and the tartness of buffalo sauce, but those hopes started to fade after taking a few bites. The wings had definitely been tossed and sitting for a little while, since the sauce had softened the breading of the wings quite a bit, which is not the texture you want when eating fried wings. The temperature of the wings was also only slightly warm, which reinforced the thought that they had been sitting for a quite some time.
I ended up not being satisfied at all after finishing off the plate of wings, so I opted to order a Chipotle Chicken sandwich to help supplement my meal. Grilled chicken breast was served on a brioche bun, along with crispy jalapeños, lettuce, grilled red onions, and chipotle BBQ aioli. The spicy elements from the chipotle seasoning, jalapeños, and chipotle BBQ aioli I think really helped to give the sandwich a nice heat level that slowly built as you ate more of the sandwich. Getting the sandwich definitely helped to salvage what otherwise would have been a pretty poor way to finish off the meal as a whole.
After the overall impression from the food quality, I would honestly have a hard time justifying an hour wait for a table here. Even though there were a large number of options on the menu that sounded good by description, my trust in that falters a bit after the experience with the wings (which had also sounded good by description). Maybe it just so happens that this location isn’t as good as the other ones, but nonetheless, I’d probably go visit Yard House or BJ’s before stopping by a Finney’s Crafthouse again.
Let’s now take a look at the Finney’s Crafthouse Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
Poke Nachos
Wonton chips topped with ahi tuna, wasabi aioli, pico de gallo, edamame, and Fresno chiles.
~><~
** Onion Ring Tower **
Battered onion rings sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.
~><~
Yuzu Buffalo Wings
Fried chicken wings tossed in yuzu buffalo sauce.
~><~
** Chipotle Chicken Sandwich **
Grilled chicken breast with crispy jalapeños, lettuce, grilled red onions, and chipotle BBQ aioli, served on a brioche bun.
~><~
And finally, here are my rankings for Finney’s Crafthouse:
Food: 3.25 / 5
It’s tough to get over the soft texture of the chicken wings. That, along with the fact they seemed like they had been sitting for a little while, really drove down this rating. Even though the variety on the menu for the food seems really good, the quality of the food could end up being hit or miss.
Atmosphere: 4.25 / 5
The interior of the restaurant definitely had a modern feel to it, with a urban décor theme in some of the elements that comprised inside. All of the seating had plenty of space and the dining area felt pretty open, despite the restaurant being really packed.
Service: 4 / 5
Our waiter Pauli did a good job to take care of us, stopping by pretty regularly at our table to check in and see how things were going. I also thought that the food came out to us in pretty good time, even though the restaurant was pretty packed.
Price: 3.75 / 5
The two items that I didn’t think were worth the price tag were the poke nachos at $14 (due to the quantity of actual ahi tuna poke on the nachos) and the fried wings at $14 (based on the soft texture of the fried wings, along with them seemingly like they sat for a little while). The onion rings and the chicken sandwich, on the other hand, I thought ended up being a pretty good price point for what you got.
Overall:
15.25 / 20
(76%)
Categories: California, Restaurants
Chu On This 