AMC Grapevine Mills 24 — Attraction in Grapevine

This theater was remodeled since the last time I was here. Here's the wins and losses:

Bar We go to movie theaters to see movies and not to sit in bars but if we were the type, AMC Grapevine Mills DINE-IN Theaters seems to have a nice one as we walked by. Far larger than I would have anticipated. Looks great for meeting friends if you like drinks at movie theaters. We don't; just saying.

Weird Screen/Seating view In our theater, #2, the screen and seat layout was weird. The screen extended 20 ft to the left where there was no seating due to the entry ramp and stairs. Sitting a few chairs to the right put us way too far right. Worse design I've ever seen for a theater! Perhaps this was leftover space and there was nothing else to be done. Might be a great way for AMC to maximize profits but it's a poor experience for customers.

Good and Bad re Recliners If you see that beautiful red leather recliner shown on the AMC website (screen shot attached) and think that's what you'll be getting when you choose one of their theaters, you'll be sadly disappointed. They don't actually have recliners in their theaters. Wait, let me restate that. You'll never know if they have recliners in the theater YOU'RE going to because they won't tell you. You have to buy tickets and look for yourself.

I assumed since I was going to the newest in their line, the AMC DINE-IN, they would have recliners but no. I assumed that since I was not paying $6 per ticket but the TOP PRICE matching the other area theaters with recliners they would have recliners but no. I attached real cell phone pic since there is a debate whether they have recliners or not. Sorry for the darkness; I waited until the movie ended and lights were turned up, as well as turned my flash on, but it was still dark. I edited to lighten further but it's still hard to see what is NOT there compared to what is. There is NO RECLINER. That said, the chairs were red leather and comfortable. NO room for anyone to walk by in front of you but no long aisles either.

Menu items, ie Bright New Bites

I wanted to try the new menu items that their website displays so prominently and says are in theaters that are labeled DINE-IN. (see attached screen shot).

"Brighten up your trip to the movies with brand-new menu items from AMC DINE-IN. Dig into fresh new favorites inspired by the season."

No truth in advertising for AMC parent corp again. Their website is misleading since THESE ITEMS ARE NOT ON MENU at the theater I went to. They did have the same tired old menu items of hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, pizzas, etc. However these items are jazzed up with "fig leaves" instead of lettuce, brie instead of cheese, for hamburgers. Since everything is served COLD, I'd rather have had a plain old hamburger and fries that was HOT … especially for $12.99 (without drink, tax, tip).

More bad news We experienced the same SERVICE PROBLEMS as several others have been reporting for the last 4 months (or more): We had to call our server a few times to get the drinks we ordered. Not one of us got a drink with our meal; we received after we finished eating. Worse, we kept missing parts of the movie to constantly deal with the problem. Really ruined the movie watching experience.

Yet more bad news Everything looks pretty new but the smells in the common area by several theaters were noxious. Smells made a few people in our group stomach's lurch and we had to move 30-40 ft away to avoid becoming sick. This was not in the theater or in the bathroom. We stopped outside the theater after the movie, discussing the movie for a few minutes. Don't do that!

Worse news of all Total cost was apprx $100 for 3 people. SUBPAR experience for the cost. There are plenty of OTHER THEATERS MUCH BETTER so this will always be a last-minute, we-have-no-other-option theater. We'll never return ... at least not until the next remodel in 15 yrs when they might possible get things right.

PS I peeked in theater #6 and saw that it did NOT contain...

Power Outage cancelled our movie.

I understand they cannot control a power outage, which was odd as the rest of the mall did not seem to have this issue, but it's how they handled the situation which prompts my review.

We purchased our tickets on an app. When we arrived, there were no signs to alert us. All the doors were locked and we kept trying each one thinking maybe someone just forgot to unlock a set. Finally a young lady came to open the door, and told us they just lost power and wont open again until over an hour later. At this time the power was on, but I guess it takes them an hour to get the projectors running; I don't know.

Again, I understand she is probably a part time employee and couldn't do anything about that. What gets me is that someone with more information was clearly speaking to her through an ear piece, and feeding her information on what to tell us. Why wasn't that person at the door explaining the situation to us and the other families there? The young lady showed no sympathy whatsoever. There were no apologies and zero empathy. She simply said the refund was already sent, and if we want to watch the movie we'd have to purchase another time or go to another theatre. Seemed like she couldn't care less that everyone had planned their afternoon around this, and in our specific case, we had to pay for a babysitter. There was another guy that even asked if they could at least give us a voucher for a later showing if it cost more, or maybe on food. The young lady simply said No, then shut the door.

Things out of our control happen, but not having or showing any empathy makes the location come off as very useless. It really felt like she basically told us "sucks for you. oh well, not my problem. bye". The look on her face and her body language showed she really didn't care, and she was just there to collect a paycheck, not to help customers.

Again, this review is more about the company and location's employees' reaction to the group of customers effected, not about the power...

On a downhill trend... First issue, only one bartender at the bar. A major problem as dine-in theater orders had to be placed at the bar, in addition to other orders, both drinks and food. I felt bad because I ordered two drinks, one being a simple Old Fashioned, and it took the kid FOREVER to make it (and to his admission didn't make it properly because they didn't have bitters) and it held up the 6 people deep line like 10 minutes. Second issue, there were no waiters taking food orders in the dine-in theaters. Like I said, you had to walk over to the bar and place your order, along with the 15 other people in line. I didn't see this mentioned anywhere on their website. Had I known this, we would have just had dinner somewhere else and bought a regular movie ticket and saved a few bucks! Seems like they were trying to hide this limitation just to make a few more bucks!!! Third issue, the menu was VERY limited. Basically, it was half the menu it used to be. They do mention lack of product availability on the website, but they should have been much clearer and just said only half of the items (very basic items) are available. Fourth issue, the table arm on my seat didn't function properly and constantly swung open. I had to hold it down while I was eating. Plus, my wife's table arm and mine were filthy... greasy food stains all over! Last but not least, I've always had issues with the exorbitantly high prices for movie theater snacks, but I accepted it as part of the big screen 'experience'. Explain to me how you can justify an $8 small bag of popcorn and a $6 24oz bottled water based on the above conditions? AMC, Cinemark and others continue to follow the same old model with absolutely NO REGARD to the customer experience. Shame on you for tarnishing the movie going experience that we all knew and loved. Bottom line: Watch a movie at home, order out, and save lots of $$$. FYI, that's exactly what I did with Dune. Watched it on HBO Max the weekend after it was released and we had...