Update: It’s finally open, and man is it good! I know we have a lot of burrito places around Ventura, but don’t miss out on this one. I think it’s the best by far.
I don’t want to get too excited about this yet, but it appears that Freebirds World Burrito is coming to 
Ventura. They have joined the chamber of commerce and even list an address as 5682 Telephone (the corner of Victoria and Telephone). Once you have one of these burritos you’ll forget all about Chipotle, Baja Fresh, Sharky’s and the like. There’s just nothing like it.
The original is in Goleta, and then around 1990 it appears they licensed the idea to someone in Texas. They in turn opened the first restaurant outside of Goleta in College Station, Texas, of all places. I happened to be a sophomore at Texas A&M at the time and I was in love at first bite. After college I moved to Dallas, as most Aggies do, and spent years jonesing for a Freebirds before they finally opened a store there around 2002. Then I moved to Ventura in 2006, and even though I went to the Goleta store a couple times it’s just not the same. Now comes word that Freebirds has opened near USC in LA and are now coming to Ventura. Thank you Texas Freebirds! How I’ve missed you. BTW, I’m hoping to retire in Park City, Utah, so go ahead and start scouting locations, OK?
I love Freebirds. I wish I could make the F on my keyboard face left. They followed me, too… I went to UCSB, and then I lived in College Station, San Antonio, and Austin, Texas.
Are you absolutely sure they’re coming to Ventura? I’m going to have to wrap my lips around one of those!
Hi Mari,
I’m 99% sure it’s happening. There was a Facebook post about it that Freebirds re-posted on their wall so I think that’s a good sign. Also the Ventura Chamber of Commerce has them listed as a new business. It’s supposed to open in June but I’ll probably drive by the address they listed this weekend to see if any work has started.
It looks like they’re opening up where Spudnuts used to be. Any idea when the Grand Opening will be?
I’ve emailed them and posted on their Facebook page but they’re being really quiet about it. That’s a great location, especially with the county buildings across the street. If I find out the opening date I’ll post it here for sure.
The Ventura Freebirds was a HUGE disappointment. I used to eat there while at UCSB at least 2-3 times a week, but my wife and I just ate there last week and it was, by far, the worst burrito we have ever eaten from a restaurant. $16 for a drink, one regular and one small burrito (which were actually the same size). And they were both bland and soggy. We were told it was the “adult” version of the UCSB Freebirds. IF that is the case, then why did it taste like baby food? Up your game, guys. Won’t be going back until I hear that the food is spectacular — especially for the price.
Sorry to hear you had a bad bird… hopefully it was an anomaly and you’ll give them another try. However I will say that it is a different style than the original ones in Goleta. I grew up on the Texas style Freebirds so I kind of had the same reaction you had when I had my first one at the original spot.