Jake is here to give us the scoop about Islands Restaurants. We were invited again. I told him he had to write the review this time. So he did.
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Well I am writing my first “official” blog this week for Mary (my awesome girlfriend!) We were invited to Islands for the third time. Mary didn’t want to go again, she would rather track down another sure fire delicious restaurant to entice you readers about. I had different plans. I decided to use the Jedi Mind Trick on her (yes, I like Star Wars in case you didn’t know) and write the post this time. Yay free food! It is usually a good thing.
We were invited to the Islands restaurant in Mission Valley (next to Costco) to try their new Beach Break Tuesday Happy hour menu. When we got there we we were immediately escorted to our bar side table. Once we had a chance to peruse the menu the manager on duty came over to welcome us and once again thanking us for coming to the restaurant. Joey was very nice. He remembered us from before. He briefly explained some of the menu changes and items that they had added since our last visit.
[happy hour offerings]
[islands beach break tuesdays menu]
[paradise’s mai tai]
First thing’s first! Time to wet our whistles. I ordered a Paradise’s Mai-Tai. It was made with Bacardi Rum, Myers Rum, pineapple and orange juices, sweet n sour and grenadine.. The best part of this tasty concoction is that it is only 140 calories. Hellz yeah!
[beach shandy]
In the meantime, Mary ordered a Beach Shandy made up of Islands Golden Ale, lemonade, and mango juice. She got a lil tipsy (tee hee – shh, don’t tell!). We also enjoyed another drink called the Shipwreck. Made up of Coconut Rum, fresh squeezed lime juice, Midori, orange and pineapple juices with a hint of grenadine. Shiver me timbers, it was good to the last drop.
[free chips and salsa on tuesday’s]
As we got our drinks, we also received chips and salsa. They are free on Tuesdays during happy hour in the bar seats only. The chips were good. They were warm and crispy but needed a little more salt. The salsa had a nice balance of spiciness to it, however it needed something else in it, since it was rather bland. But we are talking free here, so what the hey. We gobbled them up. 🙂
[onion rings]
[editor’s note – Jake forgot we ordered these. They were yum! end editor’s note]
[beachside sliders]
Shortly thereafter we moved onto our appetizer. Beach side sliders consisting of caramelized onions, ketchup, pickles, cheese and Island Reds (french fried red onions). We choose Gruyere cheese, one of Mary’s favorites. We ordered them medium rare, which is our favorite style. They were pretty simple sliders yet very tasty. A good start to a good meal.
[china coast salad – grilled & chilled chicken breast, lettuce, carrots, snow peas, water chestnuts, fried noodles, sesame seeds, mandarin oranges & scallions w/sesame dressing]
As we were finishing these delicious sliders, they dropped off our entrees. Mary ordered a China Coast Salad. Served with Islands tropical mix salad, chilled chicken breast, mandarin oranges, snow peas, water chestnuts, carrots, fried crispy noodles, sesame seeds, scallions and wonderful tasting sesame dressing. Nom nom. Mary and I both agree that this dish was very tasty. However it needed some more crispy noodles. Nevertheless we enjoyed this salad. I even ate the water chestnuts.
[mary, eating salad]
[kilauea burger – jalapeño & black pepper crusted burger w/pepper jack cheese, chipotle aioli, lettuce, tomato & Island Reds™]
Onto my burger. I really liked this burger. It definitely brought the heat! The Kilauea burger was ordered medium rare and is deliciousness on a bun. It is a jalapeno, pepper crusted patty with pepper jack cheese (personally my favorite cheese), blended with tasty Island reds, green leaf lettuce, and a spicy chipotle aioli.. The burger was so big that I took half of it home to share with my son. I would definitely order this item again.
[jake hard at work taking notes]
[dessert for one – ice cream sundae]
Last up were the desserts. Mary’s a sucker for desserts and I am a sucker for Mary so I caved in and we shared some. Starting off we had a mini ice cream sundae. Nothing complicated here. Very straight forward. Two scoops of vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup diced almonds and a cherry on top. We were battling spoons to get to the bottom. Mary won and I settled for the cherry. Score one for me. Mary does not like cherries. Batting clean up was the mini chocolate brownie. Nice and warm topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, chopped almonds, and another cherry. Yay me again. That’s two cherries for me. I like cherries. Now I have to say that I’m not really a dessert person and not really a chocolate person in general. However this was one good brownie, especially topped with delicious ice cream.
[dessert for one – fudge brownie + ice cream]
Overall the food was very tasty. We enjoyed our experience and left with a belly full of Islands Beach Break Tuesday goodness and some dessert. All in all this is what I would call a good food night! Lord knows that we’ve had our fair share of bad ones. Plus we had some leftovers for the boys. Thank you, Islands, for having us again.
Islands Restaurants
Multiple Locations
Disclaimer: We were invited to Islands for a complimentary meal. All opinions contained in this review are that of the reviewer (Jake!). No compensation was given for this review.
