LOOK Dine-in Cinemas Reston — Attraction in Reston

3rd time: Though we avoid this theater now due to all previously described, we unwisely decided ad hoc to see another movie here a few weeks ago. We figured this time we would avoid the drink and food service and just get a standard concession. Tried to order popcorn and water, but the theater was OUT OF POPCORN! Seriously?! This was on a weekend, and literally, we only saw one other couple (who left early) in our theater, and maybe two staff people in the entire theater. I can't wait for this theater to go down and be replaced. Consistently horrible in every way.

2nd time there. Experience each time is not good. The underlying order tracking and delivery system seemed flawed. 1st time got my alcoholic drinks 3/4 of way through movie after having to go to the lobby to request help. Servers can never see the full order, so are lost. Ancho Mama came without advertised spiciness or tagin.

2nd time, server came to deliver 2 of our 4 items and had no way to see the rest of the order (drinks and candyl to verify what was missing. Someone else arrived with extra of what was already provided. Then had to go to the lobby and again no one can see what has been ordered or served. When I pull up my order to show it, it has the full price but my missing drink and missing M&Ms aren't there, because it's only showing what has been served. There is no order confirmation of what was ordered anywhere. Have to get a manager, because staff is clueless re the order and helpless, literally. Manager gets my drink delivered. Also, had to instruct a server twice within the first 15 minutes of the movie to tell someone to turn off the glaring overhead spotlights, so we could watch the movie in normal dark lighting.

It's a stressful event to go to this theater. Somehow, only here can they not manage the basics that many other theaters have been doing for years. Whatever homegrown setup is going on here is a complete fail.

Lastly, this theater barely did a facelift and appears to have done it on the cheap. Seats look and feel cheap and are uncomfortable. I am 5'2" and my ankles and feet hang off the edge at a downward slope (leg lift doesn't go high enough) on these plasticy pleather seats. Btw, popcorn is somehow not good, and no theater should be allowed to call their artificially butter flavored oil as "butter", because it's not actually butter. Total bummer that this is what we waited for...

I have been waiting for months to come here. Following updates and news articles about the opening date. And now that it finally opened I went and here are my thoughts

GOOD: The staff was great. Especially one guy, who I am assuming was the manager. He asked what movie I was watching and showed me pictures of other people who were dressed up for the showing of the same movie. It was five nights at Freddy's, btw. Overall, there is a great atmosphere on the second level. I love the table and the recliner. The food was delicious too. I got the BBQ cheddar bacon burger, and it was fantastic.

BAD: When I got there, they didn’t even verify that I had a ticket. They just sent me up the stairs. I was a bit confused. But I was too excited to care. The biggest thing I noticed was that the escalators were not working. It was made obvious by a couple at the top waiting so they could go down. People took turns or just squeezed past each other on that escalator. I was surprised that the grand opening didn't have the escalators working. And compared to the second floor, the first floor is dark and empty. There is stuff, but it isn't as nice as the second floor. When it came time for the movie, I was a bit disappointed. The volume for my movie was quiet. I have never watched a movie and noticed that the volume was low. So I pointed it out to the staff. Also, halfway through the movie, I could hear audio from the Taylor Swift Eras tour movie right next door. The drums were bleeding through to my theater. While it was faint, it was very noticeable, and I wasn’t the only one to notice. And just a minor complaint about the food here. They didn’t have milkshakes and ran out of loaded fries. It was not a big deal because they had other great options to choose from. But all of this on opening day?

TAKEAWAY: While I feel I have written a lot of bad instead of good, I am hopeful. This was the opening, so a lot of issues were to be expected, so I can overlook that. And in the coming days, they will most likely fix these issues and be better. But also, it makes me wonder if they should have delayed the opening to avoid these issues. I will be coming back in the coming months to see if they have improved. I recommend coming and giving it a try to form your own opinion. Especially on Tuesdays, since they offer...

One of my earliest memories is visiting the theatre where Look Cinemas now lives — so to be greeted by a place that looks like it has thinly painted over the walls of Reston’s once cherished attraction was nothing short of unsettling. After entering the beautifully lit exterior of the building, I was unsure if I was visiting a state-of-the-art, luxury theatre or the ghost of a Bow Tie Cinemas location.

Upon entrance, you are made aware of the shadow of Bow Tie’s old concession stand, and a non-functional escalator to the true heart of Look — equipped with several theaters, a bar, and a kitchen.

Perhaps the most visually upsetting thing I witnessed, was the American abstract art on the second level, somewhat reminiscent of prints left in the clearance section of a HomeGoods in 2011.

The mixture of outdated, misplaced art and an unfinished interior, makes you feel as if you have entered a liminal space — a place once familiar and warm, is now uncanny, and a foreigner to its own self. I didn’t feel as if I had stepped inside the future of cinema, rather, an attraction that is stuck in a time and place that doesn’t exist within our timeline.

As for the cinematic visual experience I had, it was average. The sound quality was terrible — I would expect one of the most important renovations for a premium theatre to be the immediate addition of brand new speakers — not attempting to work with old and near obsolete technologies as the movie progresses. This loses immersive value, the one thing an audience should never encounter at a theatre. I would argue that sound is even more important to the movie-going experience than the size of the screen and theatre you are viewing said movie in.

Everything I have mentioned during this review can be summarized into a single sentence: Look was not ready to open.

Now, all of this being said, my complaints have nothing to do with the staff or the service I received — they are aimed directly at the Look franchise. I was welcomed in kindly, and felt taken care of during my movie experience — this is no easy feat. I wish the absolute best for the amazing crew at Look Cinemas, and hope that the issues I encountered are...