Islands Restaurant

I had the worst service tonight at this Islands in seal Beach. The waitress took our order. We had to keep begging for drink refills before our food arrived. I had to beg for silverware so I can eat my meal. Of course when the food came half of the meals came out wrong. We brought it to the managers attention. That went on deaf ears. The service only got worse. After most of us were done eating they brought out the last plate. That person got to eat alone as we watched her eat. For some reason the manager or the waitress were too good to get us drink refills and made some poor busboy get them for us. I paid the bill I left. I took a picture of the bill and I’m going to post it to prove I was there. By the way the french fry sucks so bad I’d rather eat garbage. Save your money eat at Santa Fe importers next store. No atmosphere but better food.

Went to Island Burgers it was late around 9 pm on June 19^th, almost closing time. The service was awesome from the hostess to the waiter they were courteous and kept checking to make sure everything was alright and never felt rushed. Ordered the mushroom burger and it was perfect, hot fresh and delicious. Tried their Hula IPA on tap and it was also spot on. Thanks to the staff at Island Burgers for a great dining experience!

Service was timely, courteous, and kept checking to make sure all was well. Food was delicious, well prepared, and filling. Location was very clean.

Me and my family have been coming here for many years since it opened for occasions and just because! We’ve never had an issue before up until tonight. Tonight was not busy, we were greeted and sat right away, our waitress took our order right away since we are creatures of habit and the food came out within a reasonable time and everything tasted good, topped off our drinks, no complaints. Then before the bill came, I had asked if I can get my refill of my endless tortilla soup to go since I got the ENDLESS bowl of the tortilla soup; never before has it been a problem and the server even has offered it before I have the opportunity to ask, but this time she said NO… I can only have a refill at the table. So I’m sitting there dumbfounded and I didn’t want to be rude so I said okay. In my brain I really wanted to say: «then can you bring another to the table along with a to go bowl and I’ll pour it myself and just create more dishes for you guys?» Then she didn’t ask for dessert (usually we say no anyway but it’s my birthday month and I get a free dessert [wait, maybe I only would’ve had to enjoy that only at the table instead of the comfort of my own home]). If it is the ENDLESS soup not the SMALL soup option, how can you deny the customer a refill regardless if it is enjoyed in the restaurant or to go? YOU ARE PAYING MORE FOR THE OPTION OF A REFILL. She MUST have been new or did not think to explain a change in policy. So besides the extremely salty fries, that situation left a bad taste in my mouth and I don’t think I will voluntarily go back to that location.

I’m a fan of Islands. Great menu and reasonable prices. My only complaint is the service can be hit or miss.

Disappointing food and disappointed service. French fries were cold and stale and the Greek salad I order was not good at all.

We love this place consistently good food and burgers. Great happy hour. We are sad that our favorite bartender is leaving us to travel the world. However, we will continue to partake.

Service was slow, when you looked around all you can see is everyone talking to each other or on their phones, except for one girl that was waiting on us, I felt bad for because she seemed to be the only one concerned that there were hungry customers waiting for service on a Saturday afternoon

Great service from Asya! Food was good came quickly and we were seated quickly on a busy day. Asya was very attentive and polite. Been here multiple times and I’ll request to be seated in Asyas section

Came here on Sunday night ¹⁄₃₁ .I believe Kelsey was our waitress? She was very attentive and nice! Food came out fast, no issues. Refills were great and without asked. My family and I enjoyed ourselves! Will come back to this particular location!

This place used to be really good.
I just came from there, after having ordered two orders to-​go.
I ordered guacamole on the burgers. Then they gave me a big bag and I was on my way.
Arrived home and didn’t find the guacamole.
I shouldn’t have to open the bag and check my burgers. I didn’t go back because my wife and I want to eat and run a few errands.
Check your orders before you leave. Or better yet, don’t go to this one.
Another thing was I ordered my burgers medium. And the were super rare. PINK. Ended putting the burgers on the stove. Who the hell wants PINK burgers?
Will be staying from this place for a long while.
It looks like this place started to rely on their brand instead of service and quality.
Disappointed.

I stopped coming here years ago because the food went down hill and the portions did too. Why oh why did I visit again yesterday. Because I really really wanted a veggie burger and fries and I’m a glutton for punishment :(
The burger was flavorless and soggy. I paid 1.20 for avocado instead of mayo and cheese and received a sad little piece of avocado. My side of fries, was a small portion of little burnt pieces.
The only good thing about this place is I’ve always had good customer service.
Seriously this time was absolutely my last time.

Lots going on with many regulars at Happy Hour and TVs all over the place. Great atmosphere. Overall the service was good. Friendly and attentive at the right times.
The food was ‘okay’. I had the jalapeño burger but they seemed to miss the jalapeño side of the flavour profile. I was quickly provided a dish of some extra jalapennies, but should they do that in the kitchen? The fries were nothing special.
Overall not a bad meal but not a good one.

Long wait, so I sat at the bar. Better service here too. Had the Baja Tacos, which is like getting pre-​made fajitas. Great flavor. Could have used more salsa & beans.

Typically I am not the biggest fan of chain restaurants, and Islands isn’t my number one choice for a burger, either. HOWEVER, every once in a while you find a place where the food is decent, the prices are good, and the service is superlative! THIS is one of those places. The bar is fantastic with some good brews on tap at fair prices, with the bar manned by some great tenders, most notably Tom. The guy is a class act and always is friendly and cheerful above and beyond, which is what I look for when I want a beer after a long day at work. There are other places I could go, but I come here for the friendly faces.

Islands holds a special place in my heart. I’ve been going to Islands since the late 90’s when I was a child. When I was little, the décor always reminded me of Hawaii and a real luau. Now that I’ve been to Islands and Hawaii and have gotten older since then, the décor just reminds me of the luau section of any party supplier store. It’s nothing reminiscent of Hawaii. They had once played surfing and skating footage on all of the TVs so that every seat had a view of the TV and the sports. I haven’t noticed that at this Islands location.
When a restaurant gets a specific order right, I’m impressed. Like really impressed. A lot of restaurants gets the order lost in translation from the customer to the server to the cooks to the runner and back to the customer. I ordered a Hawaiian burger cooked default medium rare with a wheat bun, no cheese, mayonnaise on the side with a side of fries extra crispy. My order came out exactly like that.
The burgers are gourmet. Burgers are priced at $ 10 upwards. When you want to splurge on a burger, this is the place. Service at this location has gotten progressively better over the years.
PS Fries are unlimited when they come with the burger, so finish your fries and get as many servings as you want :)

This Islands is cool. They are good to the community, offering fundraising nights to the local schools and non profit groups. That goes a long way for me.
We come to this location for said fundraising nights but also when we feel like having one of those family of four (1 boy and 1 girl with a bow in her hair) gag-​me-​with-​a-​pitch-​fork perfect family outings.
I love their burgers, but you have to close your eyes and not look at the calories. The tropical ice tea is delicious.
My kids love their children’s menu, there are many choices and they usually work on that little activity book until the food comes. The staff is always great, this is usually one of those guaranteed, everyone is happy, family meals.

Islands is one establishment that I have loved over the years, but my desire for it has drifted off. I used to love going here all the time, especially when one of my friends worked at one of the locations and service was wonderful. Even when he was not there service was still pretty good.
As the years went by the visits became less frequent at any location, and menu items changed. My lovely Sunset burger disappeared and I was very sad. The last two times I had the Bleunami burger, both as take out and dine in. It’s good but not the same. One positive note is that fries now come with the burger.
We went and ventured off, not close to home, to use a Groupon that was expiring at another business. Part of the issue is that we either forgot about it, or plans changed, and it kept getting put off. I had heard that there was adequate parking and not too busy. I guess I should have gone on a lunch, preferably on a weekday (which is hard for me to come by). We went and everyone and their mother was there. No parking anywhere, and it was pitch black outside. It was now 8:30 and even though we had a late lunch, it was becoming late for dinner. We didn’t bother driving back the next day to use it on its last day so I ate that. I will have what I paid for in the future, just not the deal.
Surprisingly many places were already closed at 9pm for a Saturday. We headed back and tried two other local destinations and they were both closed. We looked at their neighbors. Closed. I pulled up my Unilocal app and noticed that this Islands location was nearby, so we went.
Surprisingly it wasn’t slow at all, even at this time. We were seated but our waiter seemed to be MIA for a bit. It took him quite some time to show up. He took our drink orders. We waited for those for a long time too. My husband’s coke turned into root beer.
Our food came fairly quickly luckily. However I just did not enjoy it the way that I used to even though the food was good. I will have to see if I can find other options that I like just as much as the Sunset burger. (RIP). Luckily our waiter did offer refills as this has been lacking at many places. Well, sort of. He did bring my husband a refill and when he tried to remember what he ordered he told him what happened so he was kind and brought him one of each drink, and he drank both. I wasn’t offered one yet as I still had iced tea, but when I ran out I never was offered one, and by then it was getting late so I didn’t bother. I may as well order water in the future because I am getting tired of paying $ 2.50-$ 3.00 for one iced tea with no refills. Even Starbucks is cheaper than that with bigger portions.
All in all an okay experience.

Of all the Islands locations this has to be my favorite. What sets this particular one apart from the others are the employees who work hard to please their customers. Yesterday our waitress was Amanda, and she was so caring and polite. My wife and I brought our 2 year old and new born and Amanda completely took care of us! Recommendations, prompt service, and actual real kindness. I truly hope her manager reads this and realizes that they have an outstanding employee in Amanda.
On to the food. While waiting for your order I strongly recommend the cheese fries. Hawaiian and Bluenami burgers are my favorites here, but you can’t go wrong with an Islands burger. The food and atmosphere sets Islands at 3 ½ stars on my rating scale, but the service bumps it up to a strong 4. I would definitely come back with the family.

Often hostesses are glum or indifferent; to the customer they are just a means to get to a table. Reviewers rarely write about the hostess. Yet she is the first person you meet when you walk through the door of a restaurant and makes the first impression of a place when you get inside. A happy, smiling hostess who is able to make a quick personal connection with the customer is invaluable. Asya, the hostess here, has those qualities and gets a star for being so radiant and helpful.
This place was packed and apparently is usually very busy. I got a Big Wave burger with cheese. It was huge and delicious as I’ve come to expect from Islands. The big disappointment was the fries. I normally love Islands’ fries. But this time I got the «nubs»: the small scraps of potatoes that are cooked to a hard crunchy-​crisp. I had a couple dozen of these nubs amongst my normal fries. Really, they shouldn’t have come out of the kitchen and been served like that.
A 3-​star experience plus a bonus hostess star.
***Update July 2015***
On a return visit my server was Asya, the same young woman who was such a great hostess on my earlier visit and now promoted. She was even more upbeat and efficient as before — really added to making my dining experience a positive one.