| rev:text
| - This cinema is quite spectacular. Location, sheer size, concession quality, and picture quality all make the experience. Staff, however, needs some work.
Purchasing tickets online or from the self-kiosks seems to be the best. Normally I purchase from self-kiosks, but the area was roped off for a contractor who was trying to sell something (newspaper subscription maybe? Just kidding). Stood in line as a Premiere Stubs member, with the dedicated line. The window used for Premiere Stubs members had a customer who was unable to locate the account and taking awhile. You would think the other 4 windows could call our line over, but nope. The primary line went by 3x quicker than ours did, which was quite sad.
Purchased my ticket with no problem, but the staff member at the window was making it painfully obvious he was annoyed and tired with lots of sighs, a yawn, the raised eyebrows and "distant voice with a lean back" motion. He was polite which was the redeeming quality. Ticket taker however, was a different story. No greeting, nothing. I said hello, and he just stared at me then looked at my ticket, almost like I offended him. He then simply said "theater one" and pointed to the general direction, which was funny because he was pointing at the bar, not the theaters, but it was in the general direction.
Concession attendant had the hybrid demeanor of the box office and ticket taking attendant. He looked very tired, sounded annoyed, did not greet me in any way, and simply gave the totals and pickup instructions. I did not bother trying to engage in any small talk to pass some of the time. Did not seem I would have gotten anywhere with him.
I had the biggest concern with the freestyle machines and my interaction in reporting a problem. Of the 4 machines, only one had the raspberry syrup OR had the Nestea Iced Tea (I personally like this combination but 3 of the machines did not have one or the other). I simply let a staff member know that a lot of their machines had a concerning amount of greyed out options, and my response was "yeah, it is pretty busy tonight so someone will get to it when they can." He did not even ask me if I got the drink I had wanted. It felt like he blew me off. I did have my combination on one machine so I wasn't upset by this, just taken back.
Now, on to the good things (probably because they don't involve human interaction to be honest).
The quality of concessions is superior to me than local rivals, Cinemark (Century Theaters) and Regal Entertainment. A defining characteristic is the Coca-Cola freestyle machines and the un-salted/un-buttered popcorn. I personally like to customize the saltiness and amount of butter; but if you are one who enjoys the theaters that do it for you, then this isn't a concern. The freestyle machines are very important (minus my negative staff experience).
I watched a movie in their Theater 1, which happens to be the Dolby IMAX theater. The theater is quite spacious, very clean, simple blue LED lighting. The seats are luxury recliners, and even had lower back support (see pic attached), and all the seats were not too cramped together. They were grouped in 2's, and the next group was placed next to it, but not linked together like most other theaters.
Sound and picture quality was impressive. I do not agree with their side-by-side comparison to show you Dolby vs non-Dolby, but it's a cute little marketing trick. The "moving sound" they advertise does not just apply to the massive speakers with what seems to be endless quantity that "travels around the theater." It is so thumpingly loud you may feel like your brain flipped upside down. Personally I like that feeling, but be very careful if you watch any horror or suspenseful movie; jump scares may cause brain to pop out of the head.
OVERALL this theater chain is on its way to being a top performer in the industry. The downside here, as well as at previous locations I have visited in San Francisco, Emeryville, and Long Beach, seems to be the demeanor and quality of the team members working there. This is a field where I prefer Cinemark service, but at the same time you don't usually go to a theater for human interaction. If you do, my suggestion would be to save your time for a comedy club, Cirque Du Soleil show, or Broadway.
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