15927 Ventura Blvd bet Haskell and Hayvenhurst, Encino,
818/385-1200 Call for other locations
All Islands look the same: aluminum-rooved urban tiki huts with fake Bustamonte papier-mache parrots and giant palms, big comfy booths and tile-topped tables. Fresh-faced servers in Hawaiian shirts and shorts, who, by the by, have to learn all the orders as a rather challenging sequence of numbers (ask your server -- you will feel compelled to tip well after hearing the tale from your assigned clean, well bred college student).
Food? One word: yaki. As in, Teri-Yaki Chicken Soft Tacos. Yum! They're about 6 bucks and there are three giant gooey, cheese/chicken/lettuce/tomato/pineapple tacos to a basket. (Ilene used to eat two and take one for the Steven Rosenberg Lunch Fund - Steven used to annihilate all three every time). They make awesome french fries (for only $2.10!). If you get them you will eat them all, so bring a friend.
In fact, this is a popular place for large crowds and kids; the prices are not bad, the booths are HUGE, and the Dreyer's Ice Cream pie is both splittable with a person or your pants seam, take your pick. They make a greasy but decent hamburger, chicken burgers, and have a kid's menu with things kids actually will eat (like hot dogs). About 10 bucks a person including adults for lots of food, generally lots of noise (but not unbearable). It can get very crowded on weekends and is always busy at the lunch hour. A place where parents bring their kids after soccer games and teenagers go to split large orders of french fries and nachos. Don't fall for the valet parking nonsense. There's always street parking right outside or around the corner. I'm telling you, spend it on the Dreyer's pie and thank me later.
ADDENDUM: We just went back to Islands again since I've become more militant with this vegetarian nonsense, and found two new great things (well, I found this first one while Steven had a hamburger) -- It's a burger that tastes like the Yaki, but it's made with a garden burger! And the garden burger is actually good, topped with onions, lettuce tomatoes, pineapple and teriyaki sauce on a really really fresh huge bun (The Hawaiian, a deal at only $4.95). DESSERT: They have a new one called Hot Lava or something like that ($3.95) that is two scoops of ice cream over a big brownie with Hershey's syrup-type stuff and whipped cream and nuts. Sounds pretty normal, but we're pretty into it. Also, the number of cell-phone chatting/public phone using youths skulking around with backwards baseball caps and lots of plans for their immediate future made for some good people watching.