Last week we tried a new restaurant. It had me sold at their tagline “fine burgers and drinks.” When you have 3 young children, the extent of our fine dining consists of a drive-thru and not getting out of our car. Please don’t peek in our car windows. About 35 miles away from home in beautiful Monterey, you’ll find Islands Restaurant at the Del Monte Shopping Center. I checked out their menu online and it was perfect for our family, children’s menu to boot. A chain that has restaurants in Arizona, Colorado, Las Vegas, NV, and mostly in Southern California, your first impression is that it’s a place you can relax, yet get top quality food!
The Service
We were greeted with a smile, the host seated us and gave us the name of the waiter (Frank) who’d be serving us. Frank showed up within seconds and let us know he was going to take care of us. Throughout the night he was always checking in, even other servers and the host stopped by to make sure we were enjoying our dinner. It was a weeknight, though the place was pretty crowded, so we were impressed!
The Atmosphere
The restaurant curved around a neatly designed bar area, but it wasn’t loud. Televisions hung around the bar and from two angles from our table and again, not loud or intrusive. Basketball was playing as well as surfing documentaries, so it was visually active. The walls contained the coolest photographic art of beach activities and it was a really comfortable space.
We started with a quesadilla appetizer. There were enough slices for 4 people with a side of chunky pico de gallo and sour cream. It wasn’t too much so that we’re full before our meal comes. My youngest daughter used most of it as her dinner, she eats like a bird! We were happy to see a kids menu which includes a drink and choice of fries or applesauce and carrots as the side dishes along with all the kid favorites.
For the main course I chose the Baja tacos which are filled with fajita-marinated chicken, peppers and onions. They were amazing. Chicken fajitas are one of my absolute favorites, and the seasoning was perfect. I love the flavor or onions, but I did pull them out of the taco, leaving the meat and the bell peppers in the taco. On the side I had mildly seasoned beans that I stuck right into the taco and added the salsa. I couldn’t eat those fast enough. Choice to get 2 or 3. Two was perfect for me.
My husband got the basic burger, Big Wave with Cheese and it came with fries. It was a man-size burger and it was cooked medium well and he said it was “better than Mission Burger!” which is huge! That’s the place where we had found the best burger locally…until now!! I’ll definitely have to test that claim next time we go. My son had the Jr. Tiki Tenders from the “Gremmie” Menu (little surfer) and he said they were delicious!
There’s a small but delicious menu of desserts and smoothies available if your stomach can take it after all that great food! The prices were right for the ice cream sundae ($2.99) and the brownie sundae ($1.99) so we couldn’t pass up ordering one of each. I was in 7th heaven when I took the first taste of the brownie, it was WARM and the contrast of that and the cold vanilla ice cream was divine.
The kids shared the ice cream sundae with 2 scoops of ice cream, chocolate syrup, nuts and a cherry. It was a perfect ending to a fabulous dinner. I was thrilled to learn that our meal was price at just $44 for the four of us (my oldest daughter had dance class). It was reasonable and often our drive-thru meals can cost us up to $30 for the five of us, for low quality food and service.
Next time we’ll remember this place for date night as Monterey is somewhere we go regularly. I’d love to sit in the bar and sip a few cocktails, enjoy a new appetizer and make it a different type of night. Check out their great menu, friend them on Facebook, and find a location near you!
We were given gift cards to pay for our meal. The opinions expressed are our honest tried and true experience.
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