Took the family out to this Islands for our Friday night dinner. A little back story I grew up in San Diego and went a few times to the Islands in Carmel Mountain Ranch. The wifey lived in Rancho Bernardo for years and went to that particular location also. That place was almost always busy but we always got at least decent service. So now I was craving Islands and decided to check this location out. We live in Henderson so it's a good 30 minute drive. We walk in and the place is basically dead. I could see at least 6 vacant tables. The first worker sees us and walks over and says he'll be right back. A good 5 minutes later another guy comes over and say he'll be with us shortly. He walks to their little podium and starts writing. Then the phone rings and he motions with his hand another minute or so. So finally he seats us. Of course they put us in the noisy area next to some lady who can't shut the fuck up. It wouldn't bother me so much that she couldn't stop talking it was how loud she had to talk. My wife and I talked about how some places like to seat us with other families with kids. We agree it's a common practice. It does take awhile for our server to get to us but finally we get the ball rolling. She orders the kids meals then we order our meals. We both want burgers but the odd thing is our server asks immediately \"Is medium okay\"? We're both cool with that since that's what we usually order anyway but found it odd that she was pushing the medium so hard. This is where it gets interesting but not really. We get the food in literally 2 minutes. I couldn't believe how fast we got our food. I've never gotten it that fast not even at a fast food restaurant. But when we started eating we realized how they were able to cook our food that fast. MY burger and the wifey's burger were basically raw. They barely seared the outside of the patties so it was all pink inside. After that we never saw our server again until after the meal. Oh by the way I was hit with a spray of Ranch dressing while I was eating my burger. A server at another table was clearing the table and dropped a full container of Ranch dressing. It shot everywhere but of course it only hit me. Got me in the shirt and the face. I was looking down so when I got hit it felt like someone spit in my face. I semi yelled \"WTF! who spit on me\"? Two servers came over and asked if I was okay. They kept asking me but that was it. So we finished our meal and we had finished our ice teas halfway through the meal but nobody ever came by to refill our drinks. We didnt see our server until she brought the check out. The whole time once we sat down we felt like they wanted us to eat fast and leave fast. We felt very rushed and we couldn't figure out why because for the time we were there the place didn't fill up. I would guess this is a management decision. Get them in and out as fast as you can. At least that's what it felt like. It sucks for the servers because they aren't gonna get any tips that way :) Just a theory of mine though. So make sure to order the burger the way you want it. The fries were good if you like crispy and don't expect to get a refill on your tea. We won't be going back to this location ever. We have a ton of burger places in our immediate area so theirs no reason to drive this far for mediocre service and food. Plus we hate leaving a restaurant parched.
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