Alhambra Theatre & Dining — Attraction in Jacksonville

Very mixed-bag. Worth going to a show or two, especially if it's a show you are particularly fond of, but it seems to be mostly a night-life option "for the retired people" in our community. If that's not you, then this probably isn't your bag.

Their greatest negative is their online reservation system coupled with strange and confusing policies. We purchased tickets from the Black Friday sale, but the fine print is worth a read. It says "Reservations using this certificate may not be booked any sooner than 90 days in advance of the requested performance date". At first, I took this to mean that I needed to book AT LEAST 90 days in advance, but upon attempting to make a reservation online, I figured out that yes, it actually means "more than 90 days in advance". The wording could be clearer. Part of why this was so confusing is that shows apparently sell out as they become exactly 90 days in the future, because that's when people can use their Black Friday certificates. In both cases, I was choosing among the last ~8 seats available for that date, and suffice it to say they aren't great seats. Anyway, the online reservation system is archaic and you are unable to modify a reservation without calling the box office and paying a fee, even if you made your reservation less than an hour prior. Cool.

We recently attended our first show, West Side Story. Based on other reviews here, as well as their 2025 show calendar, that's about as culturally diverse as the shows get. As another reviewer mentioned, I don't expect they will ever put on a show like The Color Purple- though it is worth noting that, per their web page showing past shows, they do seem to be putting on a lot of shows that Ron DeSantis would not allow in schools, so kudos for that.

The audience was ~90% elderly and I would say around 95% white (ourselves included), so their show calendar makes sense- shows like Tusk (Fleetwood Mac tribute) and Beautiful: The Carole King Story are obvious hits with the "Caucasians over 60" demographic.

Their tables seat either four or six, meaning that if you are going with just your significant other or a friend, you will be sitting with strangers (probably an elderly couple).

With that in mind, the food also seemed to pander to this demographic. It was good, but in an "upscale retirement community restaurant" kind of way- meaning the menu was very vanilla and the portions were below-average. Options for starters were a single soup or a single salad, main courses were steak, a pasta Bolognese, Cod, or fettuccine. Dessert options were NY cheesecake or Tres Leches cake- on-theme for West Side Story. They also had a drink menu with a few drinks they seemed to create and name just for West Side Story. I think that's neat, and the fact that their menu changes with each show makes the limited choices forgivable.

The service was outstanding, as others have mentioned. No complaints there at all. My steak came out rare, but the waitress gladly replaced it and didn't charge me for it. My only guess is they were in a rush to get the orders out before the show started so they tried to get away with cooking the steaks for as little as possible. That said, my replacement steak was well done... so I personally will not be ordering the steak again from Alhambra.

Visibility of the show was excellent considering we were seated stage left and in the middle of the tables, and I did not feel like I missed out compared to the people sitting directly in front of the stage. All of the actors and actresses had excellent singing voices, but this was offset somewhat by their wireless microphones cutting out occasionally. There seemed to be a "dead zone" near the center of the stage where the mics would cut out for whoever was standing there, for just a second at a time, but I've been to high school plays where that...

August 28, 2025: ✨ PERFECTION ✨ Just went to the Alhambra Dinner Theater to see Come From Away and WOW 🤩 … what an experience! 🍴 The food was AMAZING, I highly recommend the Peach Crumble for dessert, matter of fact, I'll eat that every day. 🙌 The service was flawless – our server Elona made sure everything was perfect. She treats us like best friends every time we come in. And the dining room manager John, is always on top of things and love to see him there. 🎭 The show was incredible – Come From Away was moving, uplifting, and performed with such heart. This was one of the greatest performances I've seen. Period. Not just at Alhambra. James was great as the mayors, and the entire cast just put such feeling into this show, by the end you are completely caught up in their lives and their stories, crying with them and laughing with them. The show even has an amazing live band for the music that absolutely killed it! The professionalism of the entire staff – from the servers to the performers – was on another level.

If you’re looking for a night out that checks all the boxes – delicious food, next-level service, and a Broadway-quality show – the Alhambra is THE place. Already counting down to my next visit! 🎉

March, 2022: Just came home from an amazing performance of Rock of Ages. How good was it? I just finished buying tickets to go again in two weeks. The cast was amazing. The food was great. Thank you Chef. Conrad provided his usual great service! If you haven't been, you are...

We've been going to Alhambra since we moved to Jax, nearly 25 years ago. This week our family of four went to see Beauty and the Beast, and the experience was definitely less then stellar. I believe we were seated at the worst table in the theater, where we were parallel with the rear of the stage. Anything that happened on the rear of the stage was completely out of view, and everything in the front of the stage we were viewing from behind. To make matters worse, there were several occasions where the actors would stand directly in front of us, completely blocking the view of everything on the stage. Imagine an actor dressed like a giant teapot planted directly in front of our field of view and that's the experience we had. Being our tickets cost the same as all the other patrons, I feel that this poor seating location should not even be an option.

And then there was the food. This was even more disappointing than the seats. The food was nearly inedible. Between the four of us, we had all of the options with the exception of the vegetarian offering. I don't believe anyone took more than a couple of bites, as the dry, overcooked, flavor-lacking food was a true disappointment.

If not for the horrible seats and terrible food, the show was enjoyable. The performers do an outstanding job and we were all impressed with their...