AMC DINE-IN Tech Ridge 10 — Attraction in Austin

The theater itself is OK, but the staff seems like they don't know what's going on at all. I had a movie at 10:45pm. I worked a 12 hour shift and got off earlier than expected, so I got there around 9pm something.

The AMC app prompted me to confirm my ticket and when I did, then it popped up to "order your food ahead, so it's ready when you get there!" I figured yeah, just order now and then be able to go to my seat, right? So I ordered around 9:30pm probably. I sat in my car a while, then went and sat in the lobby a while longer. Probably around 10pm, I noticed what I ordered was out of stock on the menu, so I go ask, "hey, I ordered that half an hour ago, is mine still good?" and they say, "oh, no we're out of part of it, we'll give you a refund for that, you'll get the rest though" and I was OK with that, so I got the refund and waited again.

I sat my order to deliver to my seat at 10:25pm, 20 minutes early, so I could eat my food and be done mostly and just munch on popcorn when the movie started. So I go wait by the door for them to clean it. They're done cleaning right at 10:25, so I run in and sit down to make sure I'm in my spot for the food. Maybe 10 minutes go by and a guy comes to my seat to tell me about part of my order being out of stock, I say I know, he asks what I want to substitute it with, I tell him, he says "I'll go tell the kitchen, it'll be right out" and I wait again.

Come 11pm, the movie is about to start and I still have no food. So I run down to ask where it is. Mind you, there's probably 3 people at the counter any time I go there to ask something, I know multiple people heard me. A guy asks another what happened to the order, comes back and says, "it's about to be delivered, do you want me to find it now?" and gestures to the large counter with orders all ready along it. I say, "no, I just wanted to make sure it's still coming, thanks" and run back before I miss too much of the movie.

I can't hardly enjoy the part of the movie I see because this is supposed to be my dinner after my shift, I'm hungry. But then I realize it's been ANOTHER 30 minutes and still no food. I've seen other people in my theater get food, so I decide again to go see what happened. The kitchen is all closed and being wiped down now. I say "it's been an hour since my food was meant to be delivered, where is it?" and they all look around like deer in headlights a moment. Some kind of shift lead or something says we don't have anything else, the kitchen has been closed 30 minutes (so around the first time I came and asked). She asks, you didn't get any part of it? I go no, I didn't even get the drink and popcorn I ordered with the other hot food. She says she doesn't know what happened, I'll get a refund and some vouchers. I didn't bring my card back down with me the 2nd time, so I said I'd get it after the movie was over.

She said ordering ahead acted weird sometimes and they don't know which seat it is, but I tell her that first guy who asked me what I wanted to substitute found me, so clearly it wasn't that. Just multiple links in the chain failed completely. At the end of the night, I go up to the supposed manager who I had seen throughout the night, he was the one the other guy asked what happened to my food that first time I went to ask about it at 11pm even. He refunds me and gives me some food vouchers, that aren't enough to cover the meal I had, by the way. My meal was $16 and the vouchers are like $12.

So overall, this was the worst experience I've ever had at an AMC. I'm A-list and usually like them and have a good time. But I can't believe how many people must have overlooked me for this to have happened. Clearly they're not training right or...

Update 3 years later:

I had to leave a review after today's experience and lower my rating. They just missed the mark on everything. We came for a Dolby showing and ordered some chicken tenders and an ICEE. We have AMC A List so we've basically been watching Dolby showings and ordering tenders and ICEEs for the last 3 years and know what the experience should be like. Today was not it. The food was inedible. The drink was melted. The auditorium was hot and humid (again). The sound was not properly calibrated and was insanely loud with the seat vibrations on max power to where it was punching the back of our heads.

The attendant who took our order just stood there after we ordered until I said "...that's all". Usually someone asks "is that all" if they can't tell I'm done ordering. He also forgot my drink cup that came with the meal so I had to come back for it.

The ICEE machine said the flavor was ready to serve but it wasn't spinning and you could see through the window it was not fully frozen. It came out runny and melted in minutes. The soda fountain was dripping brown syrup into my sprite.

When our order arrived I couldn't believe the workers put that on a plate and thought "yep this is acceptable". The tenders were less than half the size as they have been and they were clearly frozen tenders. These had a thin breading instead of the thick batter we've had for years so it was clearly a different product, and the breading had this wrinkliness to it that you see in cheap school tenders. One of them was CRUNCHY chicken meat. The other 2 could not be bitten through and had to be pulled apart. They were inedible. Lucky for them I hate dealing with customer service and sending food back but any other customer would've demanded a refund.

The projector was much darker than usual, even the previews, so it wasn't just the movie. I could barely see what was happening. The sound was the unbearable part. Me and my gf both said it was hurting our ears. Not just explosions but some of the dialogue was piercing. The explosions were rattling the walls which is not how it should be when calibrated properly. The chair vibrations were alarming and aggressive. Some explosions felt like a kid kicking the back of your airplane seat.

We ended up leaving after 15-20min because it was just not enjoyable and a complete waste of our time and money.

Original review:

Overall ok. As a theater, it's better than the other AMCs just because of location, new build, heated seats, etc. Although the rotating tables are small and a little in the way. As a dine in, it's dumb. The food isn't any better than a standard AMC but is ridiculously 2-3x the price. They even have the kitchen displayed as part of the design, which only reveals all the heat lamps, unskilled "cooks", prepared foods, etc. I'd rather get the overpriced $8 chicken strips from a standard AMC than the $17 chicken strips here. It's not freshly cooked food like at Alamo or Flix. Also all they do is bring it to you but you order at the concessions? So not a full dine in experience, just simply an expanded menu and a food runner. Also I could hear the neighboring movie during my movie. I'll simply return because I have the AList subscription and it's the closest AMC. No other reason. I'll actually spend less money here than at the other locations because everything is marked up to such a...

It seems that AMC only noted the benefit of being able to eat meals and drink alcohol in a dine-in movie theatre and nothing else.

When we first walked in we were given a paper menu and told to place our order for food at the front. So we did. The person that took our order did not ask us if we were seeing a movie and did not give us any direction. We had to ask the person handing out the menus on how our order would be handled. So what was supposed to happen was the person taking our order should have asked for our movie time and seat numbers so they can bring it to us.

After we ordered the overpriced food and ordered our drinks, we went to sit down. The reclining seats were very comfortable and there was a lot of leg room. The seat warmer is a nice touch. Each seat has a very small "table" that is about the size of a college desk, if not smaller. The door to our showing was in desperate need of some oil or WD-40. It squeaked through the whole movie and was very distracting. Our food came out timely. I got the Western BBQ burger which was good, no complaints. The fries were great. The nachos that my wife got was a decent size, but some of the chips were stale. The little desks were just barely big enough to hold our food. We did not have any room to place the popcorn so we put it on the arm rests between us.

If you needed to order anything while the movie was going on you would have to go back out to the front desk to order. There is no way to place an order at your seat like most other dine-in movie theaters.

I give this place two stars only because the recliner is comfortable and the sound system is very good. Otherwise, this AMC is only worthy of 1 star.

TLDR: The seats were comfy. Ordering food and drinks is clumsy and feels like it was an afterthought. The premium price is not worth it. I felt robbed after spending $90 on 2 movie tickets, 2 alcoholic drinks, 2 entrees, and a small popcorn. I will...