Islands Restaurant

I don't know if I've changed or Islands has changed, but we don't get along like we use to. The atmosphere seems fake and the food that I loved in the past seems mediocre now. Went there for happy hour with some friends. Shared some cheese fries and wings. Our food took a while to come out, although we were like the only people at the bar area and the rest of the restaurant was dead. Fries were fine, but our no salt request wasn't heeded; but at this point, I was so hungry I had to eat. The wings were the saving grace with the experience. I just wished the overall was better. It left me feeling unsatisfied and thinking that I should have gone elsewhere... Sadness.

I don't know what has happened to Islands, but whatever it is, it's not a good thing. No longer do I enjoy their burgers or the fake island atmosphere, or the fries that once captured my heart. Those days are over. Gone. Everything about Islands to me is below average, starting with the burgers, all the way down to the fries and the tacos.

My recent visit may be my last one. I was there with some friends, a group of 6 guys, and I ordered the shorebird which is the chicken burger with sauteed mushrooms and swiss cheese. The chicken tasted like it was under cooked. I had to work and chew harder on that chicken burger than any other I've eaten in my life. The cheese looked like it was microwaved on the patty rather than grilled, and the mushrooms were pretty tasteless. We also repeatedly had to remind our waiter about fries that we were waiting on. Ever since Islands moved to this bottomless fries thing, they've been skimping out on the fries, so you're constantly asking your server for more fries until you finally forget about them. On one occasion it looked like there were 14 fries on the basket, 2 for each of us. Gee, thanks for the unlimited fries guys! Really going out of your way there.

Anyway, there are so many other better restaurant to spend my money and where I can get quality food in return. I never thought I would say this because of my fondness of Islands as a kid, but I don't think I'll ever eat here again.

I do declare.

My friend and I tried the Hula burger (sauteed mushrooms, swiss, lettuce, tomato & mayo) and the Kilauea burger (Jalapeno & black pepper-crusted burger w/pepper jack cheese, island reds, chipotle aioli, lettuce & tomato).  Both were good, but I did not really like the fries that came with our meals.  It tasted plain and healthy; it kind of reminded me of the fries from In&Out.  Not sure if they had bottomless fries, but if they did, we weren't told anything.  My friend said they did though.

After barely receiving our food, which took forever to come, we had to leave due to an emergency.  We waived down our waiter for the check, telling him we had to leave ASAP but he didn't even care to rush.  I thought that was lame.  If you ask for your check saying you need to go ASAP because of an emergency and you ask for a box to pack your food that was barely touched, you don't just take your sweet time to do things.  The other staff understood the situation and were helpful; our waiter was definitely not and he was slow.  Luckily for him, it was not my emergency...