Isla Restaurant

I'm not Filipino so I can't chime in the way other Filipinos have in their myriad reviews. But my Filipino (Chinoy, but more Filipino than Chinese) boyfriend recommended this place and brought me here for dinner, so that's gotta say something. Came on a rainy Sunday evening for a dinner date. The restaurant was full of people, and we got seated instantly and we were immediately brought a pitcher of water.Food here is really good! I had one of their signature dishes, the ima litas tintang adobung pusit (I copied this from the menu), which is a black squid adobo. It went very well with rice and lumpia. We also had a dessert that reminded me of creme brûlée with its crunchy top. Definitely coming back here when I have Filipino cravings.

Overall, this place was okay, but I wouldn't go out of my way to satisfy a craving for Filipino food here. I feel there are better Filipino places out there, but if you're in the area then this will do the trick. We tried a few dishes, including a happy hour deal where you order three beers or wine and get free appetizer. We chose calamari.Calamari: It was just alright. The breading looked pale, almost undercooked, and lacked the crispiness you'd expect. It was a little soft and underwhelming. The sauce was fine, but I wouldn't order this again, especially at full price.Lechon: Decent overall. It was crispy and oily as expected, but a bit dry. Still, it's a classic dish that's worth trying.Pork Sisig: Flavorful, though slightly on the salty side. It was enjoyable but not standout.Beef Kare-Kare: The beef was tender but leaned on the fatty side. I wish there was more meat, but the sauce was good and made up for it.Chicken Adobo (not pictured): This was good! The chicken was tender, and I'd order this again. Normally, I'm not a huge adobo fan, but this one was enjoyable.Parking: Convenient! Free parking is available in the back of the plaza after 6 PM. For street parking, you'll need to pay until 10 PM from Monday to Saturday.Extras: Free white rice refills were a nice bonus. I came with three guys, and four protein dishes were more than enough to fill us up.

Large Filipino restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area.Delicious food. Authentic Filipino vibe.Service was fast, friendly and efficient.

This is my go-to HQ for all things lumpia shanghai! Whenever I go to house parties in the area I usually bring a few orders and it's gone pretty quickly! Other noteworthy dishes I like getting here are sinigang (it's just the right amount of sourness,) and pancit bihon! Dining in at the restaurant is a great experience too. They always play chill music and service is pretty quick on weekdays. Expect longer delays on weekends as a lot of families stop in on weekends!

Met with family and friends here on a Sunday. We were a party of five, and it was the first visit for a couple of us. Despite the crowd, we were seated immediately.The menu is extensive, which was overwhelming, but our server was incredibly helpful with recommendations, even suggesting options that offered a better value.We ordered the Pancit Bihon, Chicken Wings, Lumpia Silog, and Longsilog. Everything was flavorful and absolutely delicious! I found myself sampling from everyone's plate.Service was terrific. I wish I could remember our server's name, but he checked on us often and was so friendly, as were the rest of the staff. We felt completely at home here.I'm very much looking forward to returning. There's plenty of street parking as well as a small lot in the rear.

Came here for a big party birthday celebration, around 20 people on a Saturday at 12 pm. Restaurant was clean, roomy, and poppin with most tables filled with Titas and Titos. They have TV's on the ceiling, but didn't have anything on but advertisements. Service was a standout, with food coming fast after ordering along with the friendly server continually checking up on us. Everything was family style served in a metal pan. It's funny how for birthdays they place a birthday song on their speakers. Would definitely come back when craving Filipino food! Food was legit, coming from a third gen half-Filipino. All dishes that I tried had were freshly made and had awesome flavor. Noticed it was saltier than my moms home Filipino cooking, but that really is an given considering the restaurant needs to cater to the masses. Misua - 5/5 - simple, nourishing, and had just enough flavor. Appreciated that it was not salty, Chicken wings - 5/5 - no joke, these were so good. Crispy and juicy, up to par with Jollibee. Fried Prawns - 4/5 - clean prawns, not overly greasy, vinegar sauce with it hit. Palabok - 4/5 - generous portion with all the fixings. Textures were there and I found myself getting seconds, thirds. Shrimp Pinakbet - 5/5 - super fresh with a light coconut flavor. Green beans were perfect and shrimp was plump. Beeef Brisket Adobo - 4/5 - Generous portion with lots of sauce for everyone's rice. Served with potatos. Beef was flavorful and tender, served with pieces of fat. Pancit Bihun - 5/5 - loved how many vegetables were in this dish! Flavor was there and noodles were a good consistency. Cant go wrong. Pork Belly Kaldereta - 3/5 - Rich flavor, although pork did appear on the drier side.

Came here with some family recently and Isla never disappoints. During this visit the food was delicious. And you know Filipinos are picky when it comes to eating at Filipino restaurants because we cook this stuff at home. But my mom who was with us and the biggest critic insisted on coming here because of the food. We had the Sulit Bilao #3 and ala carte dishes of the pinakbet, sinigang Bangus belly, pancit Bihon. Sorry did not get any pics, but believe me it was on point. What we like is that the food is true to its flavors no fusion this with that. Keeping it real. Service is always good and staff always accommodating. The restaurant is also nice and clean and love the seating set up with the round tables. Great for groups and talking loud! Fun atmosphere. We'll be back!

I was craving so kare kare and my friend recommended me to try this place out. When we got there it was pretty packed. They had two big groups of 7 plus. They have a pretty in depth menu. But they did have a couple of pages saving discontinued. I wanted Kare kare with ox tail but they only had brisket or Pata. We opted for the brisket. We also ordered a side of Pata and bbq chicken.They offer a bucket of rice. The kare kare came with brisket, eggplant and string beans. They also offer a side of shrimp paste. The shrimp paste is different from the Asian type. Which is a bit more peach colored.The Pata was really crispy, fatty and not oily. Which was amazing. The bbq chicken was so delicious. It had just the right amount of sweetness. The staff are super friendly and nice. They checked on us here and there to make sure everything was OK.Will definitely come back in the future to try other items from their menu.

Amazing experience here, and perfect for family-style meals. We came for a friend's birthday celebration and got one of their a la carte dinner sets (5-6 dishes with meat, veggies, unlimited rice, 3 drinks and 2 desserts) and it was absolutely worth it. I think it saved about $30 too if you were to order items separately. Staff were incredibly accommodating and it really felt like a homemade Filipino dinner. We also had brought a cake that the staff were very kind about letting us cut and eat at the restaurant. Their fried pork belly dishes were to die for. Their brisket dishes were also incredible and so flavorful. Finished the meal off with a (free birthday) halo halo that was delicious.

Went here with a couple of family members and it was our first time trying a sit down Filipino restaurant here in the bay. It was good! Service was nice, it definitely hits the spot when you're craving Filipino food. I'm fortunately spoiled by my bf's mom and she is such an amazing cook that it's hard to compare - but it will hit the craving you're looking for. There is a lot of space and room and the tables are big so it can accommodate to larger parties!