THis review is about the costumer service for Island! The food is good too and their beer is excellent. But back to the customer service. THis place really has it down! I have only been there twice and both time I was impressed. Last night even more so. We were there for a school function (restaurant donates 20% of purchase). When we got there at 6:30pm, the place was packed and there was a 40 minute wait. It was ok, because it was all school friends. WE waited and finally were seated. When we sat down, we ordered quickly but it did take a long time for the food to come. WE did not complain because we knew the place was packed and we were enjoying ourselves. WE never once complained, but half way through the meal the manager (Jacob, I think) came to our table and apologized for our long wait! He was very nice and offered to take 50% off the tab. We said that we were ok and he did not have to do that. But he did it anyways! I would like to mention again, that we NEVER complained, so he came on his own to apologize. I thought that was great costumer service.
And PS the Tortilla Soup is great as well as the chicken wings!!! And did I mention the yummy beer??
This "Islands", just like every other "Islands" location is just Meh. The food is ok, the service is ok, and the ambiance is ok. Â I never have a DESIRE to go to Islands, we'll just end up there. There isn't a huge variety of food or beer. Overall, there is no other way to describe it other than meh. I wish that I could give it 2 1/2 stars since it isn't really 2 and it really isn't 3!
Review Source:I will start off by saying that I have been dining in Island's restaurants since the mid nineties. I have been to locations in Irvine, Simi, Agoura and here in Newbury Park/Thousand Oaks. The food is pretty consistent as expected in a chain. On Tuesdays kids eat free with a paying adult and since we have three kids, my wife and I do like to go there on Tuesday nights.
Tonight, we gave it a shot on a Saturday night. We got there about 7. We were told the wait would be 15-20 minutes, but we were seated within 10 minutes. It took our waitress a while to get to our table, but she eventually got there and was initially friendly. We ordered and settled in watching the game and just relaxing.
The food took over thirty minutes to get to the table. It was busy so I understood and didn't say a word. I took a bite of my burger and it was blood raw on the inside. Like I said, I have eaten at Islands for a long time. I know their medium is pretty pink, but this burger was simply not cooked through. It took me several minutes to get the waitress' attention and when I showed her, I expected to hear 'Sorry, let me get that fixed for you..." Instead what I got was "that is our medium and that is how you ordered it." I told her that I know what "Islands medium is and thats not it." She then picked it up and said she would get it fixed. About five minutes later the manager came over. He simply said "I hear your food was undercooked. We will make you another one. Do you want fries to snack on while you wait?" I declined assuming it would just take a few minutes. WRONG. It took over twenty minutes for them to return with a new one. It was good, but my kids and wife had been done for over ten minutes by then.
After I finished, and by then most of the customers were gone from our area, I still had to hunt the waitress down to get the check. The entire experience was frustrating. When the check came, it looked like they may have comped one of the shirley temples for one of my kids, but they made no other effort to even acknowledge what a bad experience I had.
On the one hand, this is a burger joint, but on the other hand burgers are over 10 bucks each. They als charge almost 3 dollars for small sodas that are filled with ice (refills are free though). So at 15 bucks a person, I expect decent service and that is not what I got at all.
I will likely go back on Tuesdays when the kids eat free, but I won't be back again paying full price for everyone. The service just does not merit 15 a person. The manager was clueless how to handle the situation. The service in there is never great, but when the kids are eating free, you tolerate it.
I think Islands has overpriced burgers. Â I used to eat there a lot more when burgers with fries was about $7. Â Now burgers are $10+ but the meat is smaller and the buns are larger. Â And they mask it with all you can eat fries. Â Not my idea of a good value. Â The burger or I should say 75% burger tastes good but not for $10. Â
Decor is fine and the help is OK but I can't get over paying $10 for a burger. Â My wife likes to go but only if its a kids eat free night. Â The kids like the tortilla soup and my wife likes the spicy turkey burger. Â I recommend the maui (guacamole).
Went there for lunch today and was the victim of great service by their manager whose name I did not catch. Â Been eating at Islands weekly for YEARS and always order the same thing (what can I say, I'm a creature of habit). Â
Found some mold-like marking on my taco tortillas. Â First time ever seeing such a thing. Â When the manager stopped by to ask about our meal, I pointed it out to him. Â
Now, being an atypical eater (I eat everything inside the taco first then the tortilla - it's my yet-to-be-diagnosed OCD problem...but I digress), the only thing left on my plate were the tortillas. Â The manager could have been a jerk and said, "You ate most of the food, so I don't owe you anything other than a flippant, "oopsie!" but he did not.
He not only apologized for the less-than-mouthwatering marks on the tortillas, he also went into the kitchen to investigate. Â Then, he comp'ed me my meal. Â (I wasn't expecting it; was hoping that he'd confirm or deny the existence of mold on my food -- thankfully it wasn't. Â
So, if you are reading this, Mr. Manager, thank you again so much for your great service! Â I really appreciate it!
Great burgers and great beer, need I say more? Really the selection of burgers is fantastic plus the option of swapping in a turkey burger instead. Their sweet potato fries are great though I have to say you don't get many onion rings when you order them. Their in-house beers are not the best in the world but still hold their own.
Review Source:Aloha! Â Islands is a solid 3.5 stars.
I've been to three Islands stores, Woodland Hills, Agoura, and Newbury Park, and they are certainly all consistent in ambience, food and overall experience. Â If you've been to one location, essentially you've been to them all. Â This is the kind of place you bring the kids to on the weeknights or after the little league baseball game. Â Relaxed. Â Informal. Â With food that's always good enough.
All of the burgers are very good. Â The salads are ok. Tacos are underwhelming, though the fish tacos are my favorite. Â The endless bowl of tortilla soup is a reason in itself to go to Islands along with the tasty, endless side order of fries. Â Onion rings are pretty excellent, too.
The wait staff is generally young, full of energy and typically unpolished. Â The place is ok like that, though. Â Kinda like a SoCal-local version of Chili's except there are no baby back ribs, just Mahalo.
Off we went for Lunch--just my wife and me. Â Haven't been to Islands in six or seven months and couldn't remember why. It was around 3 and we thought we would get great food and service. Â
My wife ordered fish tacos and I went for the burger with fries. Nothing complicated! Hamburger arrived hot; fries ice cold. Fish tacos were over sauced and swimming between tortillas. Â
Now I remember why we  hadn't gone in 6 months.  Waste of money.
PS:
7/24/12
The area manager and the corporate office have both made contact with me. I got sincere apologies and the promise that the area manager would review my concerns with the managers, wait staff, and kitchen workers. While my review stands, to be totally fair, I wanted to let you know how concerned the corporate management  was and how quickly they responded.
My favorite sit down and eat restaurant for dining with kids. Â Best burgers and Mai Tai's around. Â Love the spinach and artichoke dip as an appetizer. Â Try the protein platters if you are on low carb diet. Â They have chicken, burgers, or combo of both and they are off the menu so you have to ask for them. Â Always good service and manager will usually stop by the table to make sure all is well. Â I have had a couple of visits where the burger was not cooked enough. Â They took it back no problem and the manager stopped by to apologize. Â Great place to take the family for dinner. Â I like this location as it doesn't get the crowds that other locations get. Â Kids eat free on Tuesday is also a great deal.
Review Source:Gross, You'll Want to READ from Behind the Scenes..!!
I worked at the "Islands restaurant" ..doing Food Prep & Dishwashing...LOL...what a joke & how gross what goes on behind the scenes, as they expect you to RUSH the dishes to attempt to get them clean, and most if not all.. dishes, even after coming out of the out-of-date-dishwasher still had gunk, grease and food left on the plates, silverware and pots & pans.
I always tried to make sure to get the ramekins (sauce/ketchup holders) and dishes clean by rinsing and scrubbing them before putting them in the washer, then got written up for taking too long.......I suppose I should learn a lesson and cut corners and just throw everything in the dish-loader and not care if there are left-overs still present on them!
That place is Gross!! And us same people who wash your dishes and mop the floors and clean the toilets..are the same who almost at the same-time cut and cook your fries etc. Not to mention I've noticed how the help who cleans the bathrooms before the 11:00am opening...will use one rag to polish the toilets/urinals then the sinks, mirrors paper-towel dispenser and the door handle. eEEk!!! (O:)"
I had a cup of tortilla soup which was delicious. Accompanied by the big wave burger, (just as great) , and some fries. I tried the sunset margarita or something, Â at first it was really strong (which is a good thing right?) Â then I just squeezed the juices out of the lemon and lime in my glass and it was fantastic. Great service and super cute decor. Try islands if you have not. I don't care if this is a chain but they have some really great food and a tortilla soup that's hard to top. Believe me, I've tried. :)
Review Source:I had the nachos that were O.K. but they had almost 2,000 calories in them. The definitely weren't worth eating because of the calories. The service wasn't amazing but it was relatively fast considering there was an elementary school fundraiser there that night. It was good enough that I don't regret going but I won't be going again anytime soon.
Review Source:This is one of the very few places I have come across that substitutes ground turkey for their burgers. And the ground turkey burger doesn't have any less flavor than a regular burger - just enough of a difference to tell that you're eating turkey and not beef.
I have tried several of their burgers and a few of their salads. But my all-time favorite is the Kilauea burger. It's spicy, but not TOO spicy. It's so good. So good that my mouth is watering now just thinking about it and I had lunch only a couple of hours ago (see my other review for Zyzzx cafe).
The atmosphere is pretty cool and the staff, even though I visit this place infrequently, is always on par. Prices are pretty average for food quality.
Love Islands. Â The servers are always friendly, service is fast and food is consistantly good. Â It is great for families so there is generally lots of kids.....if that's a problem you should go elsewhere.
Pricing is a little steeper than I'd like but I am willing to pay it for the quality of food and service. Â The burgers and chicken sandwiches are excellent. Â My favorite burger is the Hawaiin Turkey Burger on a wheat bun. Â The entire family loves the spinich and artichoke dip.
I don't like to review the chain places but either really good or really bad I have to. Â This Islands was not good at all. Â I want to say our server "Jody" (I think) was great. Â The manager was also great, the food was less than quality and in turn over priced. Â The food took forever and they have endless fries but you have to have endless time to eat them because ordering a second round took like 20 minutes...and you know they weren't cutting the potatoes up! Â I've eaten at Islands before and I admit its been awhile but I know it was better than that. Â I wish we went across the parking lot to the Habit. Â Way better burger for half the price and 3/4 less time.
Review Source:As far as chaindom goes, this place is good. I'm not huge on chains just because there are so many amazing independent places, but occasionally we are too lazy/tired to step outside the box.
I have only had burgers here, and I've loved them all - The Hula w/ mushrooms is delish. The Rincon w/ guac is fantastic. The Malibu - w/ applewood smoked bacon is to die for. And The Mavericks - w/ crispy reds and BBQ sauce is just unreal. The cook them medium, and its divine. I love a place that doesn't turn your meat to show leather even if you ask for something else.
The fries are bottomless, and only once have they not been super crispy and blazing hot. It's an easy 5 mins from us, and a pretty sure bet for a tasty burger.
The staff is friendly and attentive and the rest rooms are clean. (I know, its weird, but I judge chain restaurants on the cleanliness of the restrooms!)
Islands, used to be a fun fast serviced place to grab a bite with friends back when I lived in San Diego County. Needless to say residing in Ventura, I don't frequent it as much, actually I think yesterday was my first time to even bother with them since I moved up here.
I think I was more lost in its nostalgia, which might have made me kind of blinded by everything else. I do have to say the host that greeted us was very kind and friendly, quickly seated us. Our server who was equally pleasant followed quickly not far behind to take our drink orders. I still love the atmosphere and decor of this chain.
We ordered the Spinach & Artichoke Dip with Chips and it came with a small butter dish (no kidding on the small part) side of salsa. I have to say that all I could taste was the Alfredo sauce that was used in the mixture of the dip which was disappointing being a huge fan of spinach and artichokes. We both ordered the Kilauea burger on wheat bun, comes with a chipotle mayo (hold that please and thanks) and pepper jack cheese topped with fried red onions, side of fries included. The burger was good, I've never been disappointed with their burgers, but what was this deep fried pile of sticks next to my burger. I literally after inspecting it know I had gotten the bottom of the deep-fry basket of fries. I could have made a small bonfire out of some of my fries with how overly "fried" they were. The lingering at the bottom of the basket, who knows how many times they were dipped in the heated grease that robbed them of all their life and texture and taste. Ketchup couldn't even help these poor guys out!
Regardless of the food presentation flop, or rush? The service was excellent, hats off to the two girls that waited on us, probably would have given it less stars had it not been for them, sadly service isn't everything.
I didn't used to be a fan of this chain and hadn't been in years, but have visited this one twice in two months and I have to say for what it is, it's terrific. Â You can order your burger medium rare, which means they are using a higher-quality cleaner meat than places that insist they cook it medium well.
Being a fan of the medium rare burger, this was a good start. Â The bacon on the bacon burger was thick, crisp and tasty. Â Fries now come with the burgers instead of their old habit of making you order a basket for the table.
If you're in the mood for a good burger, this is a great place to go... Lots of booths that fit up to six people.
Out of all the Islands I've been to this is the worst one with respect to service. Â Their management needs to do something about the service.
I've been here two separate times and both times service sucked. Â The first time the servers / wait staff took forever to clean up dishes from booths / tables, which sat. Â The second occasion was no different - I came here on a Sunday for lunch thinking it would be busy but it was actually dead. Â When I walked in, there were maybe 2-3 booths occupied with people. Â After they left their dirty dishes sat and sat and sat. Â I ended up having to eat around dirty dishes. Â Their waitstaff stood around talking and didn't bother to clean up. Â After I left, the dirty dishes were still there and it was still empty. Â I wonder why customers don't show up and now I know.
I'm not the type of person to complain but I did write a formal email to Islands management. Â They did attempt to contact me about my concerns but it was pretty much spelled out in my email. Â The management needs to get a clue of what's going on.
Oh well, I won't be coming back anytime soon to this location.
Delicious fries. Nice bbq chicken breast sandwich. More importantly, though, kids eat free on Tuesday nights. No purchase necessary.
I went at 5 PM with my sister and my two girls. We were seated immediately and out of there in under an hour. When we left, the place was PACKED. Tables were full and there were tons of people waiting.
The moral of this story: GET THERE EARLY ON TUESDAY.
Good times are always to had at Islands NP.
If I'm local on a weekday I always go in for the great $7.95 lunch specials. The CA Flier and the Soup/Salad combo are my favorites. Oh a by-the-way, Islands has THE BEST tortilla soup. Disagree? "I KILL YOU!"
More often than lunch, I hit up the 4-7pm weekday happy hour in the bar. There's usually always an open seat and the appetizers are great - not t o mention cheap. Buffalo wings, sliders, tiki tenders. All yummy! If your a beer drinker, have the Longboard Lager - its the only beer I ever order there.
The outdoor patio is nice for lunch in the summer, but can get cold a quiet. I've never had issues with any of the servers. They're all pretty cool and attentive. The one time we had a minor order mishap, Â the manager was quick to jump in and make it right.
The service is okay depending on who you get that day of course. I had someone that kept asking us what WE Were having today & how do WE like our food it was annoying. Also I remembered the endless bowl of tortilla soup tasting so good but last time it was just okay Not as good as California Pizza Kitchen.
Review Source:Note that this story does not rate the food because we actually didn't eat food here. We were never served.
We had lunch here this afternoon and our waiter put in our order about 15 minutes late and after 30 minutes had gone by he denied that this was the case. He told us we really had only been waiting 15 minutes. It doesn't take a genius to know it was his fault.
The manager came out to offer us to comp our meal. We were advised it would only be a couple more minutes and it wasn't. Â
So we walked out.
We went next door to Chipotle and were eating our lunch within a couple minutes.
The manager responded very well and actually agreed with us that it was the server's fault. As good as the manager is finding this out means something went wrong.
We've actually eaten here before and the food is good, but I'd rather eat Mc Donalds than to be taken for granted.
So unless you have time to kill, are not that hungry for a good (albeit overpriced) burger, don't eat here.
Customer service is horrible!!
My husband and I went to eat a late dinner. Â It wasn't too crowded for Sunday night.
I ordered the tortilla soup, husb ordered hamburger  Got our drinks and appettizer quick.  Waited 45 minutes for our food, I flagged the manager since he was near our table.  I told him I couldn't find our waitress and we had put in our orders over 45 minutes ago.
He told me that he will go find our waitress. Â It took another 15 minutes until she came back to retake our order.
We told her never mind and cancel our order and we would like the check for the bill. Â The manager never came back to check with us.
We left with digust. Â Don't waste your time and money with Islands. Â If you really would like to eat a hamburger, go to the Habit.
They are always nice and friendly there and they never leave you hanging without getting your food. Â I'd rather give the Habit employees the better tip that Islands.
Want to feel like you are in Hawaii? Â Come to Islands and get the Hawaiian Hamburger! Â With a juicy grilled pineapple ring, grilled onions, teriyaki sauce, lettuce, and a slice of tomato I was in heaven during my lunch break!
Nothing special here, very casual, but it's comfortable and the staff was nice.
On a side note, I met the original owner during a training class once. Â She had long ago sold the restaurant.. Â I wonder what she thinks of it now...
"The chicken" will be a running joke in my office. Four of us went here for lunch. 2 ordered the Toucan chicken sandwich and the other 2 ordered the fish tacos. To hold us over we ordered a basket of fries, which were just OK. Â After a 40 minute wait, the waiter brought out 2 platters of rotisserie chickens and 1 order of fish tacos. Â We said that we did not order the rotisserie chickens, but rather the Toucan sandwich. Â The waiter replied, "Oh, I thought you said you wanted THE CHICKEN." Â First off, wouldn't you want to clarify the order if someone ordered "The Chicken" given the fact that there's about 7 chicken meals on the menu?
After waiting another 20 minutes, the Toucan sandwiches came out with the other taco dish. Now, the sour cream was warm and curdled. Totally inedible! They said it was because it was sitting under the heat light too long. Â Just one thing after another kept happening.
After complaining to the manager, our meal was comp'd and he gave a complimentary card for $30. Needless to say, we went to the Agoura location thereafter. Â
To die for is the Kilauea burger! It's big enough you don't need to order fries on the side. The fish tacos were really, really good! And the rotisserie chicken looked very appetizing as well.
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