TV Restaurants

Is Santa Barbara Shellfish Company Still Open? Man v. Food Update

Man v. Food, Season 8 Santa Barbara, California

Current status

Open

As of October 2026, Santa Barbara Shellfish Company is open — confirmed via the restaurant's current website/social account, accessed 2026.

What the source shows: The restaurant's own site lists a current menu and posted hours; Yelp shows a heavily-reviewed, current listing dated through July 2026 at the same Stearns Wharf address. How we decide a status →

What happened after Man v. Food?

Casey Webb visited Santa Barbara Shellfish Company, a seafood restaurant at the end of Stearns Wharf, sampling from its fresh shellfish menu during the Santa Barbara episode, according to the episode. The business began in 1980 as a shellfish buying station and crab-selling stand before growing into a full-service restaurant, according to the restaurant's own account on its Stearns Wharf business-association listing. It remains one of Santa Barbara's longest-running wharf restaurants. In July 2026, Yelp showed an active, heavily reviewed listing for the same Stearns Wharf address, and the restaurant's official site, shellfishco.com, listed a current menu and posted hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. No closure, relocation, or ownership change has been reported for the business since the 2019 broadcast.

The episode Man v. Food, Season 8

Episode 13
Aired
What was featured: fresh shellfish menu at a wharf-side seafood shack
How Man v. Food restaurants have fared: 24% closed →

Also in Season 8 Man v. Food

Season 8: 70 of 93 still open · 8 renamed, moved or under new owners

All 32 Season 8 episodes →

Nearest restaurants By distance from 230 Stearns Wharf

All 892 TV restaurants in California →

Before you go: Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources we checked 4 references

  1. shellfishco.com https://shellfishco.com/menu
  2. stearnswharf.org https://stearnswharf.org/member/santa-barbara-shellfish-company/
  3. Yelp https://www.yelp.com/biz/santa-barbara-shellfish-company-santa-barbara
  4. imdb.com https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12312382/
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We work hard to keep every status accurate and dated, but restaurants change fast and our sources aren't perfect. If something here is wrong — a status, a name, an address, anything — tell us what you're seeing and where you saw it, and we'll check it.

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Record mvf-452 · checked by Cal Marchetti.