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Something's Fishy
500 State St, Santa Barbara
Phone: (805) 966-6607
- Category: Japanese
- Hours: Mon-Thu 11:30am-9pm, Fri-Sat 11:30am-10pm, Sun 11:30am-9pm
- Price: $10 - $20
- Serving: Lunch & Dinner
- Map
- Write a review of this location!
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Reviews by the General Public
Good, but small, small rolls, 7/24/2010
Reviewer: Sam
from Santa Barbara, CA
This place is great for the budget minded, poor college student who loves sushi. Half-price is monday-thurs, but the rolls are micro-sized in comparison with other sushi places. I could easily eat 5-6 rolls here, where at other places 3 would fill me up. Rolls are generally 6 pieces where other places generally cut rolls into 8 pieces. That's why it's half-price I guess! Also, they add the tip on the final bill at full price. It's not really the best value in town, and fancy rolls like the rainbow rolls are excluded from half-price status.
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Terrible Server, 7/20/2010
Reviewer: Diane
from Santa Barbara, CA
Eight of us went here for my birthday. The hostess/manager was very nice, but our server was terrible to us! She spilled sake all over my friend, returned with a wet rag and handed it to him, without so much as an apology. She also rolled her eyes at us every time we requested something (this is only a small portion of how badly she treated us). The kitchen messed up our sushi order and made the wrong roll and the sushi was kind of fishy, but they did correct the order. The hibachi grill was fun though we had to wait a long time for the guy to come. The filet mignon and scallop combo was great and the grill master was friendly. At the end of the meal I asked for the manager who I complained to about the lousy server, she was very apologetic, but it would have been nice if she had discounted our bill (or the included gratuity) for the problems. Not the best situation for a birthday dinner.
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Great experience..., 7/15/2010
Reviewer: Jesse
from Santa Barbara, CA
I've gone to this Restaurant before and have sat at the sushi bar....but I was never impressed...that's until I sat down at the hibachi tables....it was amazing...if you know what to order. We got the Mexican roll=amazing! Lobster and filet mignon was cooked to perfection!(I've tried Holdren's and other places with no luck!) And nice laid back staff. And if you think this place is expensive...try going to other places in Santa Barbara.
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Can't call in for take out!, 7/12/2010
Reviewer: Jane
from Santa Barbara, CA
I am very dissapointed with this place, I called to place an order for take out and they would not do it for me, and the person at the desk didn't bother to give me an explanation. I even offer to give my credit card over the phone but they said I had to go there and order it in person, ridiculous! I might as well eat it there! The place isn't very appealing, and food is a bit pricey!
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good sushi, good price, awful management!, 7/10/2010
Reviewer: Lauren
from Santa Barbara, CA
I went here for my friends birthday and sat at one of the hibachi grills. There were six of us and the rest of the restaurant was empty. The waitress got upset when only 2 people ordered hibachi, she said it had to be 3 and her manager would not let her allow any less, which I highly doubt, since the place was completely empty. She proceeded to roll her eyes at us as we ordered and was extremely rude and disgruntled even though we eventually had another member of our party order hibachi. Moral of the story: rude and unprofessional waitress ruined the dining experience despite the food being pretty good. The hibachi chef, however, was talented, friendly, and entertaining.
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Rude Employees, 5/25/2010
Reviewer: Jackie Ferguson
from Santa Barbara, CA
I come here a lot with my friends and the food is amazing. Great deals on sushi and really good hibachi. The service however is not up to par. I called in earlier to see what time the restaurant would be open and they told me 9:30. When I arrived at 8:45 however they said they were closed. I then proceeded to tell them that I had spoken to someone on the phone earlier who told me they would be open later. The older hostess rolled her eyes at me and laughed as if I was an idiot. I felt completely offended, if she wants to be in the hospitality business she needs to learn her manners. I myself am a hostess and would never be rude to a paying customer, especially one who frequents that restaurant often.
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Great, but..., 5/25/2010
Reviewer: Jerry
from Santa Barbara, CA
Enjoyed a good hibachi dinner here recently with good service. While preparing our meal in front of us the chef asked "Would you like steamed rice or fried rice?" Unfortunately he didn't say "and fried rice will cost everyone an extra $1.95 each." This extra charge is not listed on their menu. Avoid the California roll. Tastes like mayonaise wrapped in rice.
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Fun place for a group, watch the bill, 4/19/2010
Reviewer: Glenn
from Buellton
This is a nice place to go for a Benihana type experience where the chefs do the whole cook at your table thing. Make sure and insist on separate checks at a table or you are going to have fun trying to figure things out between other guests. The tip is included in the bill though not explicitly said. The service was a bit slow so expect a wait, dine before 6pm on their early bird menu for some savings, expect to shell out some money. Food Ok.
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Amazing Food!!, 3/27/2010
Reviewer: Susan
from Santa Barbara, CA
I have been here frequently since I moved to Santa Barbara. The food is amazing and is around $3 a roll on Sunday-Thursday. All of the sushi chefs are very nice and are fun to talk to. The person below me must not be able to read because on the bottom of the ordering sheet it states that gratuity is added. An amazing and fun place to go.
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Added gratuity not mentioned in advance, 3/24/2010
Reviewer: Ray
from Santa Barbara, CA
I've eaten here many times because it's cheap food Sunday-Thursday, but now they have taken to always adding a 15 percent gratuity for a single person at the sushi bar. It's legal to add the tip, but only if the patron is notified in advance. When I told the manager, she said, "If you don't like it, go someplace else." The best sushi in Santa Barbara is Ichiban on the Mesa, but it costs more.
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amazing!!!!!!!, 3/24/2010
Reviewer: nathan
from Santa Barbara, CA
loved it so much coming back any chance i have althought it is expensive i loved the food so much I would be glad to work there. THANK YOU for your outstanding service thang you again
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Umpolite staff, 3/6/2010
Reviewer: Thomas
from Santa Barbara, CA
Food was great but staff was rather umpolite. Because there was a problem regarding the way my friends and I were seated, and since it was not our fault, one of the members of the staff kept on answering back when we complained about this. Besides, one other member of the staff didn't take our order properly and we had to repeat the order several times, creating a big confusion.
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Great place!, 12/10/2009
Reviewer: Sofhie
from Santa Barbara, CA
Great sushi and great grill! A fun place to get together for a birthday dinner, gather your co-workers, yeah basically for all type of get togehters..
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Great find from fishin on the net
Reviewer: Crisper
from Santa Barbara, CA
Just rollin thru and happened to catch John's announcement of half price sushi...nice cold pitchers of beer, fresh fish and sweet and attentive waitress (Courtney). Enjoyed a little downtime off the road and a nice early dinner!
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Great value Japanese food
Reviewer: Nick Dove
from England
Have not eaten Japanese food for several years but have tried top priced venues in London and the far East and Something's Fishey is on par.This place does not look great when you first enter but who can fail to enjoy the "Show" and the fresh flavours. Service and ambience were great and made me happy to be reacquainted with a fantastic style of food and cooking.Would highly recommend it to everyone and we will be back.
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20 Years and still LOVE IT !!!
Reviewer: Donna
from Ventura, CA
We live in Ventura (Sushi place on every corner) and we drive to Santa Barbara just to eat at Somethings Fishy. Anyone can have an off day, but I have NEVER had a bad meal. Love the 1/2 off deal on the Sushi and yes I will agree the waitress's are a little slow at times but the food more than makes up for the service. Try it you will love it.
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A great deal when you go on the Half off days
Reviewer: Sid
from Goleta, CA
I bought a huge plate of sushi for a friend and me for a great price. The quality of the sushi is pretty good, however I have not tried the teppanyaki. Few places in the area can beat the half off sushi deal. All in all, pretty good food for a pretty good price!
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good affordable food but shitty service
Reviewer: micehlle
from Santa Barbara, CA
you go there when you have a friend that you havent seen in a long time, to get away and catch up not wanted to be interupted my others, because you dont get refills on your drink, they forget to give you soup sometimes, take a long time to serve you and if you want to sit at the hibachi the chef takes for ever to come out. Granted i like the show. I have been there many time over the years and i have good service and horrible service. I do hate the gratuities and think the concept is stupid. you do need to have better service and maybe if they didnt drink on the job might not forget things all the time.
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Misleading
Reviewer: Jennifer
from Santa Barbara, CA
The sushi was advertised as half-price.. which was true, however you also got half-size sushi rolls. the rolls were all mediocre at best, not the freshest or highest quality fish. To top everything off, the bill had a tip already included on it! This was a party of 2, not 8 or 10. The waitress barely had time to refill my iced tea, she didn't deserve the $8 she decided she earned.
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Check your bill
Reviewer: Nikolai Lambert
from Santa Barbara, CA
So I had half priced Sushi and 2 glasses of wine. I had the house wine at 6.00 a glass. I got my bill and looked it over. I noticed that the wine was 15.00 for 2 glasses. So I was billed 7.50 for each glass of wine. I brought it to their attention and they fixed it. But this mistake shows sloppy service.
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Times have changed.
Reviewer: Tom
from Santa Barbara, CA
First eaten here some 20 years ago. Times have changed and their food/service and the owners have, too, it seems. Not good any more. Today, the chef came out wearing a headband with the Chinese Character "Japan (Ni-Pon)" upside down. Well, no one understood Japanese at this "Japanese" restaurant? Chef did not say a word during the whole time cooking in front. Only because this is the only "Benihana" style restaurant in SB, this one may continue to survive, maybe next 20 years? I heard even the real Benihana is not the same as before any more. So, maybe I should not complain.
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OMG...why even take reservations?!?
Reviewer: Cam
from Santa Barbara, CA
I called to make reservations at 7 PM five days prior to eating there. The guy on the phone said they only have a 8 person table left as the big ones were taken so don't bring more than 8. No problem...reservation was made for 8. We show up and was told our table was being set up. Half an hour goes by when we asked about our table and we get the same response, "We're getting your table set up. It will be a few more minutes." 8 PM rolls arounnd(an hour past our reservation time) and we were about to leave when they bring out some beers for that we didn't order. Complimentary for making us wait so long, right?? We were seated around 8:30 PM at one of the big tables with another group...so we did not get our own table for 8 as told on the phone and could have brought extra guests. The hibachi chef didn't come to our table until well after 9 PM, AND we were charged for those beers. The food was okay, but unbelieveably HORRIBLE service! Too bad there isn't a Benihana's in town to put these guys out!
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Omg it was wonderful!!!
Reviewer: Alma
from Santa Barbara, CA
Well I've got to admit I was a little ify about having dinner here....I had read some of the reviews and wasn't exactly sure what to expect we did have to wait about 35 minutes to be seated but ended up taking a walk on State Street and coming back are waitress was very attentive everytime I needed a refill she was there with more pepsi the food is not only prepared right in front of you but it is delicious!! I have tfe filet mignon and chicken while my boyfriend had it with the sprimp I would recommend it to everyone I will definately be coming back
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too bad the service is terrible.
Reviewer: britney
from Santa Barbara, CA
I have been going to Something's Fishy four over 9 years now, I usually go to the location in LA, but having relocated here so I started to go to this one. There is quite a difference. The service that I used to know and love is lackluster at this restaurant, I have endured it a number of times because it is the only Teppan grill restaurant in the area. The staff as a whole is generally rude, especially management. They lack people skills, orginization in seating (including those WHO DO make reservations), and take advantage the guests when it comes to adding gratuity and extraneous charges.
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Stay Away, go to Edomasa
Reviewer: Nicole
from Santa Barbara, CA
I have to believe the only reason Something's Fishy is still around is their location, they have a killer spot on a very busy and well traveled corner. However, of the 3 times I've been there service has been poor to terrible and their food has been lackluster. I've sat at the sushi bar once and the teppen tables twice. I am Korean and went with a predominantly Asian group. Our chef was Latino and spoke to the other chefs in Spanish. I guess he assumed we couldn't understand him but 2 of my friends were born and raised in Argentina and I am a double major in Spanish and Biology. The things they said to each other were highly inappropriate and I alerted the staff immediately. The waitress kind of chuckled and neglected to say anything to him so I told him myself as politely as possible. After that, he was understandably cold and our terrible service only deteriorated from there as the waitstaff glared at us and pointed. Another time I was there, there was a group doing sake bombs and the waitress joined in. Unprofessional to drink on the job! Plus, the boy of the hour was being loud and vulgar a table away from a very red faced family. I will not be back due to poor service and mediocre food.
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My favorite place
Reviewer: Jessica Santos
from Santa Barbara, CA
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Pretty great!
Reviewer: kris
from Santa Barbara, CA
I go here often. The food was perfect! And so was service!
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Not satisfied...
Reviewer: Anna
from Santa Barbara, CA
I have been to Something's Fishey twice now. The first time I attended, I had the "experience" - where the chef does his performance with the food. I have to say the fried rice and vegetables were delicious - i chose the chicken though which was unfortunately gristle-y and not too good.
Yesterday, however, I had a negative experience. I went for half price sushi and the host and the waitress were very upfront with the gratuity already being included. ***BUT*** they neglected to tell us that the gratuity is based on the full price of the meal. As in, they only allowed us (a group of 6) to have one bill and they cut the total in half (for the half priced sushi) at the end... But charged the tip based on full price total. So the bill would have normally been $40 but it was $20 but they STILL included an $8 tip - that's a 40% tip! Completely unnecessary and ridiculous. The sushi rolls were small as well, very skimpy. Very disappointed.
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