Las Islas Marias

I’ve been here a handful of times now, each time I get something different and it never disappoints. Some dishes could use a little more spice for me, but otherwise, it’s a great place! The service is average, nothing special.
Camarones a la Diabla Shrimp Diablow — Whoa, the sauce on this is spicy, just the way I like it.
Camarones al Ajo — Light and crispy, perfect for lunch.
Camarones Huichol (I might have the name mixed up) — In a spicy sauce WITH the skin on and fried to perfection.
With every mean you get a side of rice and a piece of buttery garlic-​y bread. #win Next time I visit, I plan on ordering a margarita with a corona in it. Can you guys believe I’ve never EVER tried one of those things?
Is it lunch time yet?

I’m a huge seafood fan and also Mexican. Which makes me a mariscos fanatic. I come to Islas so often and never leave disappointed. Warning to all of you thinking this is a quick Friday dinner… The wait can be long and the bill can get expensive. I’m telling you though, it’s worth it. I recommend the langostinos and agua chile. Ah. Maz. Ing. This location is the best out of all the Islas (don’t be fooled the one in Berwyn/​Cicero doesn’t compare).

Let me start by saying that I’ve eaten here many times with my family and friends at their regular location, and the food was always made fresh, was fast and good customer service. Since they moved a couple blocks down, the wait was 30 minutes which isn’t that bad but then they started seating people who came after us. Then they didn’t have any booths left so we sat at a tiny table in the middle which was very busy with people coming in and out. The table rocked back and forth so I had to lean on it while I ate so it wouldn’t move. My sister and I started off with just water and it took about 10 min. After, my sister ordered a Margarita that looked like it was water with some green food coloring. I tried it and it was pretty much water and juice and ice. Not worth the 6bucks. Then our ceviche came which I always look forward to. As I put my tostada chip in to pick up some ceviche on it, I see stuff hanging down the chip which happend to be a long black hair. It was mixed in with the ceviche. I already lost my appetite. We waived down our waitress and told her there was a hair in our ceviche and if she can get us another one. she wasn’t apologetic at all. And she seemed annoyed. Overall it was just not worth the 25 $ I spent. It was chaotic with customers waiting around all over the place. They allowed some kid who sat in the table next to us to put 2 chairs together and literally lay in the middle of the whole floor. I think their old location was much better and they had a better staff with better customer service.

If you go here. You should definitely ask not to be served by Lupita. The food was okay but the service was definitely terrible. I took my family here for a get together and we ordered the appetizers and drinks. The drinks came but the appetizers were not to be found. Then she came to get the order. We ordered our food and after a very significant and tedious wait she came out and said that the food was coming soon. Well, the appetizers hadn’t come yet so I commented that we didn’t want the appetizers with the actual order. Then she came out with the food, now the appetizers were here. So I just took them, I really didn’t want to argue. Then she comes out with the wrong food for my dad. She had the audacity to comment that he should eat the food that she brought instead of bringing him the order that he wanted to begin with. After what we thought was the end of the ordeal, we ordered more drinks and after a half hour she didn’t bring them we had to ask again and she said shit and then came out with them. We waited for the bill and the bill never came, then we asked for it again and she came with the bill. Here is the kicker, she added her own gratuity charge instead of us being able to add it. I figure that she knew we would probably short her because of the service she provided. I’m sure it has happened to others. If you come here, definitely avoid this waitress. All of my sisters are waitresses and this would be embarrassing if they provided the service she had given us tonight.

First time here jan 9, 2016, and the fish ceviche was delicious. I ordered medium fish ceviche and shrimp ceviche. The serving was huge. The molcajete cora was d e l i c i o u s… wow well worth the money and the service was great!

Stopped in for some food for carry out and although 99% of clientele was Hispanic people, the staff barely spoke English…
So I can’t really say service was absolutely terrible, but the vibe I got from the staff was not all that friendly…
The food was pretty good but the portions seemed very inconsistent.

They’ve recently moved further East on North. I actually like their head-​on shrimp more than their langostines.
The plethora of Mexican Seafood places in the area is one of the things about Chicago that few people actually know about.
A ton of the dishes are about the same with the same sauce. X seafood with a certain amount of sauce and do you want it mixed in rice, or not?
That’s about it.
Either way, you really can’t go wrong with this place.

I really enjoy this place! There seems to be a few of them out there but their not the same. The food is spicy and delicious. It’s pricey but all seafood is pricey. Wish they had a bigger lunch menu, I would go on lunch too if my wallet allowed it! The cantarito drinks here are addictive. They have live entertainment, good service, friendly staff and best of all… delicious seafood! One of my favorite places to eat seafood besides El Barco in Chicago.

Went here after my friend found this gem on Unilocal.They offer ceviche and this super spicy jalapeño salsa to start accompanied by tostada chips and saltine crackers. The jalapeño salsa was too spicy for me but my companions could not get enough of it. The fish? ceviche was really good but could use a little bit of a kick. I ordered the mixed steak, chicken and shrimp fajitas which were delicious. It came with a side of beans and rice which is always a plus. The chicken was really surprisingly good but the steak was slightly chewy. The shrimp was good. I sampled the diablo shrimp which tasted like a sauce made heavily with chili powder and hot sauce, not my favorite. The paella de mar was really good! It was creamy and had too much seafood believe it or not but was overly salty. I’d probably order the chicken fajitas or the paella de mar next time. The service was really good and they had a live mariachi band!

Some of the best mexican food I’ve had in the area. I got the paella de mar and my friends got the mixed fajitas and camarones a la diabla. Excluding the slight saltiness of the paella de mar (i know, i got a sea food plate so saltiness is expected) everything was amazing. There was a live mariachi band playing. From the outside it looks a little disappointing but I love everything about this place. Would definitely go again.

Love, love their garlic red snapper. This meal feeds two ppl. The rice is so tasty.

The food was sooooo good here. We enjoyed the ceviche so much we ordered more. The paella was flavorful and full of seafood. I got it mild because I wasn’t sure if I could handle it spicy. It was so tasty. We tried the shrimp empanadas also, the batter reminded me of corn dog breading, they were ok but I enjoyed the ceviche and paella so much more.

I have to admit the food is good. But there poor in higiene. i got hepatitis A from some langostinos that i ate there…
Tengo que admitir que la comida esta buena. Pero no tienen higiene. A mi me dio hepatitis A por comer unos langostinos ahi

Absolutely love this place! Food was fresh! The waitress was very friendly and helpful!

I don’t eat seafood, so this was not the place for me. I only give it three stars though because the seafood plates actually looked great in comparison to my sad enchiladas. The rice was good, and my husband said the free ceviche was ok. House salsa was very spicy. It was busy in a Sunday lunch and it seemed there was a large amount of staff standing by the kitchen. Despite this our service was extremely slow, we waited 10 minutes for a waitress to greet us and had to flag her down to get the check, then she have us back someone else’s credit card. Not the worst Mexican place in the area but probably won’t go back.

After my first experience at a different las islas I was certain all of them were terrrible. I was wrong! Came here for lunch yesterday with a couple of coworkers ans I’m glad I did.
The ceviche they start off with is really good. Wish they gave more.
The green sauce oh my word it is spicy! I wasn’t expecting such spiciness, but it was good. A lil went a long way.
We ordered the shrimp empanadas to start. They were really good with a combination of the green sauce and the dipping sauce they came with.
2 of us ordered the grilled shrimp in like a teriyaki garlic sauce. It was sooo good! Perfectly grilled ans flavored. The salad could have came with a dressing. I’m not a fan of plain salad. The rice was good. Not the typical rice I was expecting, but still good. Overall we were both really pleased with our lunches.
1 ordered the shrimp and octopus cocktail. Its her go to whenever she eats here so she enjoyed her lunch as well.
Can’t wait to stop in again! The service was great and the food was on point.
Our bill came out to about $ 73 which is pretty pricey for a lunch, but it was worth it.

It’s A Good Place, I Expected More From Everyone Talking About It, But Still A Great Place. Good Food And Drinks, Decent Prices, Great Atmosphere!

Had a good crowd for a Tuesday night. Place looks sketchy from the outside, but never judge a book by its cover /​exterior off north ave. Waitress was great. Food was amazing! Ordered their shrimp cocktail and shrimp enchiladas were awesome!!! So much other items I solve others eating looked amazing as well. I will be back for sure!

Came here with my daughter and bestie. We were craving ceviche so we said lets go to Islas Marias in Villa park since it was closer to home.
When we got there we were not acknowledged we were standing there a while until we just decided to go sit down ourselves. But of course when we started walking a guy came up to us and said you can sit wherever you want.
So we sit down after a long day at an expo. We were just starving! It took 10 minutes before they came to ask us what we wanted to drink. We were all upset about this. It then took about 5 minutes to get our drinks. As soon as we got them we asked can we just order now? (Who knows could have been another 10 minute’s before they came back)
After placing our order was the waiting game. Although I do have to say. For being a Sunday night there were an awful lot of little kids running around!
Anyways, food was great! We got the ceviche mixed of fish and shrimp. And the empanadas of shrimp. Simply amazing! Just upsetting there was so much waiting!!!
Overall food was 5 stars
Service would be 3 stars max. And that’s me being nice. There were alot of employees. They were just all huddled around the register talking. While customers waited.

We happened to have just stopped in here by chance — we decided we were hungry for Mexican and this was the first place we saw.
First of all, it’s BIG and BRIGHT and cheery and busy (we went around 7pm on a Saturday night in December — makes sense). And I, being a white blond girl, was very much in the minority. Anyway…
Well, at first glance at the menu — it looks like almost EVERYTHING contains, SHRIMP, imitation crabmeat (that doesn’t bother me in the least bit), mussels, and other sorts of seafood and MORE SHRIMP. The whole world could be like that as far as I am concerned. My friend pretty immediately pointed to La Reina Pina (or Reina Pina) — (I speak Spanish, so it’s all the same to me).
We ordered CORRECTLY! Out came a pretty impressive hollowed out and grilled half a pineapple filled with the seafood listed above, plus octopus, in a really nice coconut sauce. This is seriously something I will remember having my whole life. I love pineapple. I love seafood — shrimp, crab, octopus. I love anything coconut. Can Le Colonial make a thai version of this for me???
I ordered a Jarritos Tamarind soda — I order it because I know what it is and I like it. It’s basically a fruit punch/​soda.
We also ordered a tamale or two and was really unimpressed. By reading the other’s reviews — don’t bother coming here for anything not containing seafood.
BUT DO COME HERE AND PIG OUT AND LOVE THE SEAFOOD! It Rocks!