Category: Mission Valley

Mary, Multiple Locations, Mission Valley, San Diego County

beach bowls, kona pies and girly drinks at islands restaurant

I’ve been to Islands quite a few times. Those skin-on french fries they are are highly addicting. But they’ve got other stuff, too! You know burgers, whatever. And sandwiches! And tacos! And also new things, like paradise mai tai’s and chicken beach bowls.

I’ve sure you’ve been here before, too. Let’s keep this short and sweet, yes? (See emphasis on the sweet at the end…)

[Maker’s Wedge and Paradise’s Mai Tai]

Jake and I both opted to try one of their new drinks – I chose the Maker’s Wedge (right – maker’s mark, ginger liqueur, pine juice, lime and agave nectar) and he went for the Paradise’s Mai Tai (which had Bacardi rum, Myer’s Rum, lime juice with a tropical mix). There was also a drink with Jagermeister… but yeah, no, thanks. Not going there.

Someone other than our server took our orders, so the most amusing part was when our server put the mai tai in front of me and the whiskey drink in from of him.

Heh heh heh.

I teased him about his girlier drink while we waited on food to arrive.

[Islands Beach Bowl with grilled chicken]

Island’s newest Beach Bowl is chock full of veggies with your choice of either grilled chicken or mahi mahi and includes fresh grilled pineapple, red bell peppers, snow peas, water chestnuts, red onion, broccoli & diced scallions in a hoisin sauce and all of that served over brown rice. This bowl screams “I’m good for you and low in calories” (just under 576 calories) and you might just want to opt for this one after viewing the calorie intake of the burgers on their menu.

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Mary, Mission Valley, San Diego County

dave and buster’s – mission valley / san diego, ca

I hadn’t been to a Dave & Buster’s in years, but I was recently invited to swing on by and to check it out again. I was looking forward to taking Jake, Chris and T for a night out to try out Dave & Buster’s newest menu items and to try out some of their fun, new games this summer!

Let’s get crackin’. There’s a lot of food to cover.

Looking at all of these photos makes me feel the fullness again. Oof.

We were greeted by some of the assistant managers who took very good care of us that evening. He had everything under control – ordering the food and drinks for us, asking if there was anything else we wanted and catering to our needs. I wish I could dine like this all of the time. Totally, totally spoiled. Oy.

[The Lawnmower Salad – layered using fresh romaine and green leaf lettuces, grilled chicken, diced garden vegetables, boiled eggs, bacon bits and bleu cheese crumbles]

We started the dinner off with a salad – a salad unlike any other I have seen before. They call it the “Lawnmower Salad” and it comes on a huge plate with all of the veggies and greens layered out in pretty little rows. The nice part about this is you get to kind of build the salad the way you want it – grabbing the veggies you like and scooping them onto your own plate. The lettuces are underneath all of the toppings, so as you grab some, you also get the lettuce underneath.

By the time you scoop what you want onto your own little plate, it manages to get all tossed and mixed up and ready for your waiting mouth… don’t read into that.

You get your choice of dressing on the side to pour over your own mini salad. Perfect for sharing with a crowd!

[The 5:15 – Comes with 5 Buffalo Wings with your choice of Ranch or Bleu Cheese dressing; 5 Chicken Quesadilla Wedges with salsa; 5  Pretzel Dogs; and 5 Crispy Fried Shrimp with spicy habanero sauce; complete with a stack of fresh BBQ potato chips]

Next we had the “5:15” appetizer platter brought out to us – this is geared towards the “after work” crowd who’s ready to get the evening started after a long day at work. It comes with a little mix of everything – wings, quesadilla wedges, pretzel dogs, fried shrimp and plenty of freshly made BBQ potato chips.

I got to eat all of the shrimp, because boys are weird.

Well, at least the ones I know are. Who cares though – more shrimp for ME!

The shrimp is a basic fried shrimp, but the spicy habanero sauce gives it a hefty kick to the seat of your pants, if you like that kind of thing. The pretzel dogs were my next favorite item – they were encased in a soft pretzel dough which paired nicely with the dogs. The boys were all seriously digging the potato chips which had Dave & Buster’s own BBQ seasoning dusted over all of the chips. They had a good crunch and flavor – though not my favorite, simply because I don’t dig BBQ chips all that much.

Maybe I’m just a weird girl.

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