Lure Fish House
60 South California Street
Ventura, CA 93001
Ventura was going to be our home for the next two days. We were going a little stir crazy at home and needed a quick getaway. We did not really have much planned for ourselves. Maybe a walk along the boardwalk, or a quick jaunt to see the San Buenaventura Mission, or even a few naps with an open sliding door so we could faintly hear the waves over the roar of passing trains. Food was, of course, going to play a big role in our weekend as well, and we decided our first meal would be at Lure Fish House.
It wasn't until I did a little research after we got back home that I realized that Lure Fish House has five locations, (Santa Barbara, Westlake Village, Camarillo, Scottsdale, and this one in downtown Ventura. This spot opened their doors in 2012, and in those eight years, they have amassed four and a half stars with over 2,100 reviews. Very impressive, especially when you consider how many cranky customers use that platform to complain.
We were visiting Ventura in late October and at that time they had blocked off their downtown area to vehicle traffic, so the restaurants could provide plenty of outside dining to their customers. We walked a couple of blocks from our hotel to Lure Fish House and were met with about a fifteen-minute wait on a Friday night. We made good use of the time by strolling around the area and looking in the shop windows. Right before the 15-minute estimate, we were alerted by text that our table was ready.
If you are not into seafood, you might want to keep on walking past Lure Fish House. They only have one thing on their dinner menu that does not include seafood, and that's their hamburger. I, however, love seafood and had a hard time narrowing down my choices. Their menu is pretty impressive, with lots of specialties, grilled options, pasta dishes, and fried fish plates available. Prices were pretty modest for a seafood restaurant, as most entrees were in the $20 range. Let's see if Lure Fish House will be a great opening meal for our weekend getaway in Ventura.
Since Katie was abstaining from carbs, this Bread Basket that came before our meal was all mine. I managed to scarf down two of these three well made sourdough rolls in record time. They were light and doughy on the inside, with a nice amount of softened whipped butter on the side. I'm always partial to whipped butter instead of the butter packets that almost every other restaurant uses.
Usually, it's me that gets a Caesar, but on this evening it was Katie. Changing things up a bit to keep you guessing. She started things off with this Half Caesar ($5.95). This was a pretty traditional version with chopped romaine, shaved parmesan cheese, sourdough croutons, and a housemade Caesar dressing. She loved the lightness of this salad, which did not sacrifice flavor. They used plenty of parmesan too, which helped out a bit.
On this slightly chilly evening, a Cup of New England Clam Chowder ($3.95) felt like it would hit the spot. It definitely did. This was a very creamy version, which was a tad light on the number of clams included, but the flavor of this made up for that. I detected maybe some smokiness in some bites, maybe from some chopped bacon? This went very good with my one remaining sourdough roll, which I used to sop up the remaining chowder before our entrees made their way out to us.
I don't remember what the other dish Katie was contemplating on getting this evening, but she was very pleased with her eventual selection, the Sesame Seared Ahi Tuna ($24). She liked the freshness of the ahi and the slight kick that the sesame added, but what really made this for her were the two sauces this came with. The contrast between the sesame ginger sauce and the Sriracha aioli kept her interested throughout her meal. For her two sides, she got Organic Brussels Sprouts and Pesto Cauliflower, both of which were a two-dollar upcharge over their usual sides. Both got raves from Katie, but she was partial to the big time flavor of the pesto and cauliflower.
I've only had sand dabs at King's Fish House, which I have enjoyed, but I wanted to see how Lure's version compared. These Sally's Sand Dabs ($23) was prepared similarly, with capers and a light lemon sauce. They were breaded a bit less, which allowed the natural flavor of the sand dab to show off a bit more. I had the Sauteed Spinach and Parmesan Potato Cake for my sides. The standout was the potato, which had a nice crunch to the outside and was creamy inside. Parmesan was found in each bite. The spinach was good also.
Even though I was not overly hungry when we visited Lure Fish House, due to a late lunch, I was pretty impressed with the food here. The seafood was pretty solid, and the sides were stellar. I thought for the price we paid, the portion sizes were generous. Service was excellent, as our server Taylor took great care of us, and even gave me some excellent recommendations for other restaurants in her hometown of Ventura. With our stomachs full, we walked the short distance back to our hotel and were perfectly content with our first meal on our mini vacay.
Out of five lima beans, (because Ventra was the first place outside of Peru to produce lima beans), five being best to zero being worst, Lure Fish House gets 3 solid lima beans.
For more information about Lure Fish House, head to their website here: https://www.lurefishhouse.com/
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