Dinner and a Movie

Friends of ours found a deal on Groupon for the Movie Tavern so we said we would all go together. It paid for the tickets, then you just have to buy the food when you get there. Well, they expire today so we decided to use them last night. The bummer is the our friends couldn't find a babysitter, so the hubs and I were on our own. If you know us at all, you'd know that we don't like going into situations where we don't know what we're doing, so yea, this should be fun.

If you've never heard of the Movie Tavern, basically it's dinner and a movie all in on. You show up about 30 minutes before the start of the movie and order something to eat. If you need a drink refill or something during the show, you just press a little red button and your server will come help you. Pretty genius, right? I was excited about this. Brandon, as usual, not so much.

We got there, got seated and looked over the menu. We already knew what we wanted because we scoped it all out on their website beforehand. Here's where it gets a little sketchy. You go in and pick your own spot at long bar-like tables with office chairs for seats. You have a number in front of you, which, as you'll hear in a minute is totally pointless. You know the sticky floors at movie theaters? Well, picture that as a tabletop you're supposed to eat on. Yep, sticky mess that a simple wet rag would have taken care of. Napkins from the person before were on the floor, but at least it wasn't sticky.

We figured out pretty quickly that the folks in the top half of the theater got served first. No big deal, just letting you know in case you ever go. Sit back further. When our server finally got down to us, we ordered. Against our better judgement, we decided to get milkshakes. For $4.50 each. We asked for them to come out with our food so we didn't finish them before we even ate. The server responded with "um, they'll probably come out before your food, is that ok?". Really, Steve. I just said I would like it with my food, so my answer is going to be no, but sure, this is your gig and I don't want you to spit in it. We ordered water too. Brandon never did get his.

The food came out pretty quickly actually, which was surprising after how long it took to order it. Still no sign of our milkshakes though. I finally had to stop another server and ask about them. 10 minutes later, we were served warm milkshakes. Mmmm. The glasses were really small for $4.50, too. Remember how I said the numbers in front of you turned out to be pointless? Here's what happened. They brought out food to people and were walking around trying to wisper "did you have the nachos?" etc to everyone around you. Shouldn't you know what seat you're taking the food to? It's all numbered, how hard could it be? The meals were bar-food at best. I ordered the buffalo chicken wrap and it came sorta deep fried with chicken and cheese only. I expected a flour tourtilla with lettuce and such. Not the case. Their fries were good though. All in all, I doubt we'll go back. Our food bill came to about $35 and for that we could have gone somewhere nicer for dinner, then to a movie. 

I'm glad we tried it, and maybe you would have a different experience. It's possible. The concept is brilliant but we found the execution to be lacking. Oh and the movie we saw was Flight. I recommend it! Have you ever been to the Movie Tavern and had a better experience?