23-05-2025
The Bay Area's Hottest New Clubstaurant Is in This East Bay Strip Mall
Filipino restaurant Isla is a Bay Area favorite for dishes from the Pampangan region of the Philippines and across the archipelago. With locations in Newark and San Bruno, the restaurants regularly host large Filipino family gatherings, but the October 2024 flagship opening of Isla Grand Restaurant Bar & Banquet now brings live entertainment and a party atmosphere to the East Bay suburbs of Pleasant Hill.
Turn into the shared parking lot of Isla Grand and a neighboring Lamps Plus store on a Saturday night, and you'll most likely see cars circling and vying for space. Some drivers will resign themselves to park in an overflow lot at an adjacent strip mall, while families and couples mingle outside the restaurant, all waiting for a table. It's a busy scene, and the inside is even more buzzy, as customers take up space in two huge dining rooms. The main restaurant space is a typical one, with tables outfitted for parties of four or more, but walk past the host stand and you'll find that this is where the action is: This side is outfitted with a bar, a stage, dizzyingly rotating rainbow club lights, a makeshift dance space, and tables packed with parties of eight (or more) — this crowd comes to wild out. Here's the scene at Isla Grand on a Saturday evening in May.
The logistics: If you're looking to join the lively atmosphere, be smart or be prepared to wait. Rolling in to watch the live entertainment at 7 p.m. without a reservation means you'll wait. At this hour, the restaurant is packed to the gills, and the host quoted a two-hour seating time to get into the club, err, main room, and he meant it — glancing at a clipboard filled with names, there were plenty of others waiting to get in. The restaurant offers reservations the old-fashioned way, so be prepared to call in for a table ahead of time. You'll also most likely need to make reservations for groups over four, or to take part in their kamayan meal, also known as a boodle fight — a meal typically served over banana leaves and eaten by hand without utensils. And given that some of the restaurant's live entertainers hail from the Philippines (while others reside in the Bay Area), reserved seating can easily sell out depending on who's on the stage that day. Don't say you weren't warned.
The vibe: Did we mention this is a party? There's a reason for that: The room is filled with families, friend groups, birthday parties, and, since it is May, graduation parties. Tables accommodating parties of eight crowd the main area of the room as the aforementioned lights swirl and keep the atmosphere lively. On this night, the live band covered a parade of hits, including 'Superstition' by Stevie Wonder and 'Hotel California' by the Eagles, and the crowd loved it, singing along at various parts.
During a break for the band, a DJ took over and kept the music thumping with '90s and '00s club hits like 'Yeah,' by Usher and 'Too Close,' by Next, and those songs proved powerful enough to move groups to start dancing at their tables and the dance floor in front of the stage area. The volume made ordering a challenge, but the food seemed to make its way to the tables just fine. Meanwhile, TVs spread across the room played an assortment of sports and cartoons (most likely for the kids in the room), as well as a TV dedicated to advertising the dishes of the restaurant itself, with customers giving 'Tasty-monials' (as the screen declared) of their meals.
The menu: The selection of dishes at Isla is massive, a spiral-bound menu almost on par with the Cheesecake Factory bible. Sisig is a Pampangan specialty and a customer favorite, and it's often seen sizzling away on a cast-iron platter as it makes its way to tables. If you've ever been to a Filipino family party in the Bay, the restaurant has those classics, too: pork barbecue skewers, lumpia Shanghai, lechon, pancit, and different styles of adobo. Dig deeper and you're likely to find lesser-seen Filipino dishes, such as Gotong Batangas, a soup with beef and offal, or Bicol Pinakbet, an assortment of vegetables such as calabasa squash and eggplant simmered in coconut milk. With a group of friends, it's an excuse to try a variety of dishes in a family-style setting, with a pot of steaming white rice ready to soak up the sauces and flavors.
As for drinks, the bar definitely skews toward club hits: A printed menu boasts Jägerbombs, Singapore Slings, and Long Islands, while the AMF very coolly sidesteps the awkwardness of ordering an Adios Motherfucker aloud, while still getting that sweet, electric blue multi-liquor drink into your hands. There are also wines and beers available, with the latter available in 88-ounce beer towers, which could be seen delivered to several tables throughout the night. Cue the Vengaboys.
The verdict: Depending on how you view clubstaurants, and whether a raucous Filipino family party is your thing, there is a certain charm to Isla Grand. It has the vibes of drinking with your barkadas, pop hits playing in the background, with good food in a restaurant setting. And while that may not be for everyone, for this crowd, it sounds, tastes, and feels like home.
Isla Grand Restaurant Bar & Banquet (548 Contra Costa Boulevard, Suite M, Pleasant Hill) is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
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