I always enjoy going to Islands. In my opinion they have some of the best sit down restaurant chain hamburgers around. Heck I usually order mine a gardenburger because they have really great flavor and honestly once you get a bunch of stuff on the burger the meat is just filler that adds some consistency to the burger. And then you have to get their french fries along with some BBQ sauce to complete the meal. But today isn’t about burgers it’s about their other main item on the menu…. TACOS!
Last Friday night Kelly and I didn’t feel like cooking dinner and she suggested Islands because she wanted some of their Northshore tacos. So we got there around 7:00 PM and the hostess notified us it was bout to be about a 15 minute wait, so we went to the bar to get ourselves some refreshing beverages. Kelly ordered a strawberry daiquiri which was made to order by the bartended and she thought was good, with just enough alcohol taste to it. I ordered a Kona Brewing Company Pipeline Porter, which was a coffee infused porter that I was extremely impressed with. It was dark but wasn’t really bitter at all, it sort of tasted like an iced coffee with some beer added to it. I was so enthralled in the porter I ordered another one for my dinner.
After about 15 minutes our name was called and we were seated and we quickly ordered since we already knew what we were going to get. Northshore tacos for Kelly and Island Fish tacos for me, and we also both ordered guacamole on the side. After about 10 minutes our tacos came out, three each piled high with just the right amount of meat and the appropriate fixings for the tacos we ordered. The Northshore comes with spicy chicken topped with lettuce and cheese, served with some salsa on the side. Kelly didn’t want the salsa so I used it. My Island fish tacos had a nice sized piece of fried fish, topped with cilantro, some type of white sauce, and cabbage. The guacamole is ok, it’s not the best I’ve had, I’m not sure if it’s fresh or packaged, but it does the job. They make great fish tacos, probably one of my top five on my best fish taco list (as you will find out I love me fish tacos, it’s my go to meal when I’m in stuck on what to order). With a total of three tacos each we were stuffed once we finished out meal. But they are too good not to eat them all!
The restaurant was clean and it’s your typical Islands look, sort of dark, but nice bright lights on your table. Our waitress was nice and checked it on us a couple times to make sure everything was fine.
Lastly, is this cutting edge culinary perfection? No it isn’t. But it is a chain restaurant that does a good job at what they do.
[xrr rating=4/5]
Visit 04/04/08
Islands
550 N Tustin St
Orange, CA 92867
(714) 997-4085
