Finney's Crafthouse in Camarillo opens to a packed house
Since it opened Monday, Finney’s Crafthouse in Camarillo has been packed.
Brad Finefrock, co-partner of the family-owned restaurant chain based in Ventura County, said the turnout from the community was a surprise.
“We were kind of blown away on our first day,” Finefrock said. “The community is supporting us and is responding well to our concept.”
The Camarillo branch is the eighth location. Finney's is based in Westlake Village, where the original restaurant opened, and has local eateries in Ventura and Santa Barbara. The gastropub carries 30 local craft beers and serves more than 50 appetizers and entrees made from scratch.
The new Camarillo site is at 580 Ventura Blvd., next to the Cracker Barrel at the Camarillo Premium Outlets. The Finney's website notes the Finefrock family's last name is pronounced "finney-frock."
In Camarillo, customers have been drawn to the carnitas nachos and jalapeño burgers, Brad Finefrock said. They typically wash it down with a vodka cocktail called the Raspberry Smash.
Plans for the new location were set in motion three years ago, but supply and worker shortages slowed the $5 million project. The small chain continued to feel the effects of the pandemic in the fall as continued shortages pushed the grand opening from October to January, Finefrock said.
With indoor and outdoor dining, the 6,700-square-foot restaurant is the first Finney's to be built from the ground up. Finney’s typically opens restaurants in older, existing buildings.
The Ventura location opened on Main Street in June 2019 in the Erle Stanley Gardner Building, a former bank built in 1926 where Gardner, an attorney who wrote the popular Perry Mason novels, had his office.
Finney’s was founded by Greg Finefrock in 2016 and has locations in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange counties. New spots in Laguna Beach and in Redlands, in San Bernardino County, are also in the works.
Brian J. Varela covers Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Camarillo. He can be reached at brian.varela@vcstar.com or 805-477-8014. You can also find him on Twitter @BrianVarela805.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Finney's Crafthouse in Camarillo opens to a packed house
