Islands Restaurant

Never impressed with the Barranca location, (I’ll confess) we were not excited about this addition to the Irvine Marketplace. Out of convenience, we decided to give it a try for Happy Hour, and were pleasantly surprised. Reasonable (and strong) well drinks (vodka and soda, $ 3.55!), flavorful and plentiful basket of hot fries, decent burger (for the price), and very nice staff. They are just short on staff; having arrived shortly after 4:00 one weekday afternoon, one poor bartender was tending to the entire (busy) bar all on her own; impressively, she remained calm, professional, and friendly.

Never again will I even visit this location. I’ve sat here and waited for my check for like 20 minutes. And on top of that the food was OKAY. And my tasted like they had been re dropped they were rock solid. Thanks for taking my money!

Sever Brielle was great just wish she would of told me I would be charged a whole extra shot to make it a double I am a bartender at another restaurant and we don’t ever charge for a whole extra shot we charge a few extra bucks to make it a double. So I had a $ 16 Margarita. That alone probably won’t bring me back knowing I can go anywhere else and have a double for a lot less.

Onion rings… Yum.
Sweet potato fries… Yum.
Room temperature burger… Um. Not so good.
A member of our party gave me one if their fish tacos. It was just that. Fish in a corn tortilla. Nothing unique. Average.
My wife got the bonsai bowl. I asked her how it was, and she just said «it’s food».
Average.

I ate at this Islands restaurant today. Our server, Maritza, was exceptional! The restaurant was slammed and we still never had any issue with immediate service. A server by the name of Brielle worked together with Maritza, and it was nice seeing that other servers actually care about the general patrons and their experience! Way to go, girls, and I wish I could give you twice the stars!

Nice ambiance. I did not like that my boyfriend asked the server what they have on tap and her replied it was on the menu but when the gentleman at the table behind next to us asked her verbally told him everything they had. Moving on. If it was based on the strawberry daiquiri and wings I’d give it another star because the wings are delicious and the daiquiri was just as good (although the presentation of the drink could use some improvement). The cheddar fries, however, I did not like. Cheddar fries. $ 8.29
The cheese doesn’t exactly cooperate with you. And when you break off a fry the cheese stays behind. It’s like a plastic layer up top which doesn’t touch the middle and bottom fries. I won’t be ordering those again. Leaving a full plate of fries behind.

Chill ambiance, refreshing drinks, good eats, and friendly service. I ordered the teriyaki chicken wings and a skinny margarita and I enjoyed both. The wings were sticky, juicy, salty and sweet, and a very generous portion in my opinion — perfect for a meal, not just an appetizer. Other people at the table ordered the quesadilla, chips and salsa, burger, and of course, their famous fries.
Service, although friendly, seemed a bit confused. We started off with one waitress and ended up with another during a shift change, and we received a few wrong things to the table, but not that big of a deal.
Everyone enjoyed their food and I wouldn’t hesitate to come back.

So I don’t typically like Islands but this location is the best! Every time my fiancé and I get the same thing: buffalo wings, nachos, and fries and every time the quality is amazing. We have a favorite server, Hector who always gives us the best service. We even will wait just to be seated in his section so I definitely recommend him although all of the servers are good. The managers are also very friendly and responsive to your feedback. Definitely suggest you visit this location.
*4 stars for the food but 5 stars for the service*

Been to this location a few tines now and I have never had a problem!
I love that this is so much closer than the wood bridge location!
Sometimes I order a kids meal just cause its less food and cheaper for the broke college student budget and it still is the same great taste :) and they always give the most fries (a weakness of mine) love the islands fries here!

My review is for Happy Hour only. The deals are great! 3.5 stars
I had a mangorita for $ 5 and it was absolutely delicious. All the other apps are not particularly great tasting but for the price, it is still a great deal.
The cheese fries were probably my favorite. The chips and salsa tasted bad — salsa probably came straight out of a jar from Albertsons. The steak quesadilla was drippy so that made eating it very messy and difficult.
If you sit by the bar, though, you will have good service and great view of sports games that are on TV.

Burger wars are pretty fierce these days, everyone is getting into the market of gourmet burgers. I feel like islands was one of the first places back in the day that established themselves as the place to go to get a good burger, something more than just your typical fast food ones. I think thats why im still kind of loyal to islands and red robins becuase i feel like they serve a good burger and you get fries with it for about $ 10 bucks. Some of the other places these days like umami and gburger, its gonna cost you about $ 15 for about the same quality. My favorite off the lunch menu is the shorebird which is just a chicken sandwich with fries, not fancy but health and good. Overall i dont think you can go wrong with this place, thats why they have managed to stay in business for such a long time.

I think the best thing about Islands are the french fries. They are fresh cut fries that actually taste like the potatoe, wierd concept I know.
I went in at lunch time with my son and was glad to see they offer lunch specials. On the regular menu they have a bikini menu section for those watching their waistline or just wanting something healthier from a chain restaurant.
I ordered the chicken breast sandwich lettuce wrapped with tomatoe, onion and cheese. I was impressed with the moistness of the chicken breast, it was flavorful and a really good sized portion. My son ordered the chicken sandwich as well but on white bread with guacamole.
It was pretty busy during lunch time but service was still good and everyone was friendly.

Ambiance 5 star (clean, spacious, good music)
Location 5 star (nearby a movie theater)
Service 4 star
Food 3 star
We ordered Malibu and Kilauea burgers. They were average. Fries were too salty. We didn’t know there were bottomless fries; we could have more if we knew.

Yummmmz. First time at Islands. The restaurant filled up fast for lunch over the weekend! The staff are really friendly. I like the ambience, which is kind of like a Chili’s but better.
I had the Hawaiian burger with a veggie patty, and T had the Kilauea burger, which had a kick to it because of the jalapeño. With my burger, I couldn’t really taste the veggie patty… it was as if it wasn’t even there. Other than that, we both really enjoyed our burgers. I had sweet potato fries, and T had the onion rings, which they give you 4 of at a time. Both were really crispy and fresh. Just the way they should be. It doesn’t say on the menu, but thanks to fellow Unilocalers, I knew they were bottomless! :)
It is a bit pricier than your average burger joint, but you do get a bigger burger that’s pretty loaded! «I don’t love it. I like it.»

Kind of a smaller Islands. Very friendly staff. Same great food as other Islands. Super great bar and outdoor seating… although gets very crowded because of its size.
Great happy hour. I love their chips and salsa.
Great salads. Kiddos love the burgers. :)

I’ve been to Islands fewer times than I can count the fingers on one hand. And each time, the food has just been meh. The ambiance, however, is great. There are booths of different sizes for different sized parties.
[[Onion Rings]] Crispy and delicious! I love how these onion rings are extremely crispy and not mushy at all. The onion rings are served with a side of ranch.
[[Big Wave Burger w/​Cheese]] The burger itself is just alright, nothing special. It comes with lettuce, tomatoes, white (un-​grilled) onions, pickles, and mustard. I ordered it with a wheat bun, and I feel like it sort of took a way from the taste of the entire burger itself. I should’ve gone with the white bun. The burger (well, all burgers) comes with a side of fries, and they were not amazing. Tasted like fries anywhere else, nothing out of this world.
There’s a full bar here, if you want to come for after work drinks or anything. There is also plenty of parking outside, so no need to worry about not finding a parking spot.

Pretty good burgers here. Don’t come here to eat healthy, come eat burgers and loaded fries. Go ahead and add bacon or fried onions to your entrée. The burgers were cooked well, service was nice, and food was tasty. I also tried the craft beer flight and was pretty happy with the variety. I recommend adding the «Island Reds» which is the fried onions to your burger. Spinach Artichoke dip comes with salsa as well so you get multiple dipping options.
The layout is good also if you want to sit at the bar or view some games here, there are good tv’s laid out for your viewing pleasure. I enjoyed myself here so will be back when I’m in the mood for burgers and beer for a fair price.

Met a few friends for dinner. The food was edible but not good. And the service was horrible!
Food: I got the cobb salad and it was blah. The bacon tasted hard and not flavorful and I found myself thinking this must be what those dog food bacon bites taste like. There was a whimpy amount of avocado on the salad and the avocado that was there wasn’t all that flavorful anyway. The lettuce and the rest of the veggies did not taste fresh. The chicken was plain and in huge pieces that were way too big for a salad. Overall the meal was tasteless and not fresh tasting.
Service: SO slow and the restaurant was not crowded at all! It took the waitress like 15min to even take our order. After the food came we asked for some knives to cut the ridiculously large pieces of chicken in our salad, that took at least 10min. My friend ordered the bottomless chicken tortilla soup and the waitress never checked on our table to see if she wanted more. We had to wave her down and then after we asked for more soup we waited around for like 15min and no soup came out. We waved her down again and reminded her that we had asked for more soup and she gave us attitude and said «yea I know»!
The only good thing about this place is its fairly good price for a sit down restaurant but I think similar burger type joints have much higher quality food and faster friendlier service. Don’t waste your time or money here, you’ll leave disappointed.
They do have a separate gluten free menu. Its very small but I’m glad at least I didn’t have to worry about a gluten exposure on top of the disappointing experience. I might come here again in a bind for that reason alone.

I’m almost ashamed to say I ate here and that I was very impressed with the burgers. Not bad for a chain.
PARKING: It’s on the right side of the marketplace when you’re coming down Jamboree towards east Irvine/​Tustin and is before Bryan, I believe. It may seem like a dead plaza but there are people inside.
ATMOSPHERE: It’s called a sports bar because they have TVs and a bar, which is nice for people who wan to watch sports or drink. There are also booths available and in the bar area high stools. I can see tons of families coming here with their kids and big groups who want somewhere fast, easy and decent to eat.
FOOD: I got the Point Break burger, which has gruyère and bleu cheese, caramelized onions and bacon spread, lettuce and tomato. Each burger comes with fries but you can opt to get onion rings, salad etc. Only the sweet potato fries are extra.
Get the white bun! Every other time I came here I got the wheat bun but the white bun almost reminded me of in n out. It’s toasted on the bottom and slightly buttery with a soft and fluffy top. SO GOOD!
The meat itself wasn’t bad, they call it pink throughout but it’s really more on the done side, but still juicy.
My burger was overall pretty good with the flavor I wanted.
Fries are disappointing, they are kind of like wannabe steak fries with the skin still on them. Slightly crunchy but nothing to get excited over. They are bottomless though!
Overall, their burgers are slightly expensive $ 12 but I guess you are paying for bottomless fries and you definitely will not leave hungry as the burger is a good size.

Not the best burger. The bread taste like it’s been sitting around in a plastic bag for a month. The veggies are fresh but the bacon… man it was a sad pair of bacon, almost the same as the bacon they use at Mc Donalds. Two little thin, ribbon-​like strips of sad pork stuff… it shouldn’t even be allowed to be called bacon.
Actually, there are fast food burger joints I would hit up before coming back here again. I mean this was a decent burger 10 years ago but they really need to up their game.
Good onion rings and cold beer is not enough to bring me back. Until they make a better burger, I won’t be back.