Texas Movie Bistro — Attraction in Lake Worth

My husband and I visited for the first time recently. We grabbed an 11:30am matinee on a Saturday and bought our tickets online ($5 per ticket + $1 fee per ticket, so $12 total).

The theater is smaller than I anticipated and parking was limited up front, but there is a quaint feel about the building.

I showed the email confirmation code to the friendly employee at the ticket counter and got our paper tickets. We walked inside and were greeting by two friendly employees behind the concessions calendar. They were patient as my husband and I decided on our order, and they offered a suggestion of ordering a burger & chili cheese fries for my husband, and a kid’s chicken strip meal for me so I would still have room for the small popcorn I wanted. We also ordered two large drinks. Our total was $36.

We got a glow in the dark number to take with us into the theater so they could deliver the food to us at the start of the movie.

The theater is older (slightly outdated speakers, small screen, older chairs). It was hard to see as we walked in as the lights were incredibly dim, and I don’t recall seeing lights on the floor to guide us to our seats. This wasn’t a huge issue as we used our phones to light up our path, but something to note.

There are two large side tables spaced out on each aisle in the place of a seat, which my husband and I found helpful to set our drinks (and food, later on). The chairs could use a good cleaning, but the floors didn’t feel sticky and I didn’t notice any trash. Good job, cleaning crew!

We received our food right after the previews ended (good timing!) and were pleasantly surprised by the quality! The burger was more restaurant quality than fast food. My husband described it as “A Five Guys burger, but a little drier.” His chili cheese fries were good but the chili tasted cheap/canned, although the fresh shredded cheese (not nacho cheese!) was “well worth the $1 to add”.

My kid’s chicken strip meal came with 3 full size strips and fries. For $5.50, it was a great deal! The tenders were fried perfectly and tasted great, and the fries were also good. The popcorn (add butter!) was perfect!

Although the sound system isn’t the most updated, we never noticed an issue or felt it was lacking during the movie. The small screen didn’t feel small once the movie started, and the quality of the video was great!

Concerning restrooms, there are a LOT of stalls in both men’s and women’s. They were clean, well kept, and I have no complaints.

Overall, we are happy with our visit! The price of the movie was appealing and the friendliness of the staff kept our spirits up. Our biggest negative is the price of food and drink.

If you’re looking for a bells and whistles place, Texas Movie Bistro isn’t the location for you. But if you want a friendly environment with an affordable movie, and good food, then give this...

Very poor experience with Texas Movie Bistro. My family and I arrived at the Texas Movie Bistro early enough so that we could order dinner and be first in line so that we could have our food and be able to pick the seats we wanted. First of all there were several items that we attempted to order from the menu and they were out. So we once we figured out what to order the four of us walked over and stood by the theater door. I asked one of the employees if we could go in and he said that we would need to wait because they were still cleaning out the theater. I specifically asked if I should wait here, which was next to the theater entrance. He said yes we could. At that time another family with 2 newborns and 3 school age kids came down the hallway and waited right behind us.

A few minutes goes by and my wife and I both notice a lady with a green dress in the hallway that asked another group of people that were standing by the area where the food is brought out if they were waiting for the next movie. They said no and walked back towards the lobby. The lady in green then looked down the hallway where the 4 of us and the even larger family with 5 kids right next to us were waiting to go into the theater. She smiled and then walked back to the lobby.

Five to ten minutes goes by and the lady in green comes back around and then asks us to move back to the lobby because that is where the line started. I asked here if we would have to go to the back of the line because we arrived early so that we would be first in line. She answered 'well it wouldn't be fair to others, so yes you will' I told her that is unacceptable and if we have to go to the end of the line then we wanted a refund. We had just spent $66.00 for food and $24.00 for tickets for a total of $90.00. She told us that we could get store credit for the tickets but would not be able to refund the money for the food. Keep in mind we had not received our food yet. I asked to speak to the GM and was told that she was not in and I would have to contact the GM the following day. After she spoke with the GM on the phone the Texas Movie Bistro did refund the $24.00 for the tickets but refused to refund the $60.00 for the food that we had not received. I was told that I need to contact the GM. To be fair we did receive some popcorn and drinks. I would have been glad to pay for those items but I just don't see how Texas Movie Bistro can justify charging for food not received. I will say that based on this experience I will never return and I will share my experience with many,...

There have been audio issues in theater 8 for over a year. Recently I saw Rogue One here and one of the rear right audio channels was missing causing sound effects and even some lines of dialog to be completely absent.

I then saw Lego Batman in this theater, and they seem to have 'addressed' the issue by only using the front speakers. I can't say if this was a stereo version of the movie or a higher channel count with all channels playing through the front. Unfortunate but better than missing channels.

Theater 2 (iirc) for John Wick 2 had some frequent issues with sound as well, with a low pitched quick tone at about 8hz throughout the movie.

I understand they charge far less than market rate for first run movies ($5, $4 on Tuesday I think) but they really need to do some upkeep.

The food is pretty bad, but could be worse. Worse than the food is the service - my companion always orders chips and queso with an extra cup of queso (a $2 extra charge), and in the 6+ times we've done this, not once has the extra queso been brought to us with the chips. I either need to push the issue with the food runner, or leave the theater to get it if we didn't notice.

And finally, they need to plan their start times more sensibly. Having 4 movies start at 7PM absolutely crushes the one or two cashiers they have available, and makes food times much worse. Staggering them even 10 minutes would help - and would also help make sure the theaters get cleaned. The theater for John Wick 2 never got fully cleaned and people waiting by the door became an issue. They eventually gave up and told us not to sit in the lower seats.

All of the above said, given the price of the tickets, I can understand the staffing and maintenance issues at least to a degree. The profit margin on the admissions has to be razor thin if not a loss leader for their relatively pricy concessions - it's not unusual for admission for two to be half or a third of the concession total for me and my companion. A large soda cost more than the admission!

A little more planning and attention to detail would help improve things considerably. It's not bad at all if you're on a tight budget and avoid the concessions - and walk away from any movie showing in theater 8. I think 8 is their biggest, as it's always showing the currently most popular movie, so it should be safe to go when the movie you want to see isn't the #1 or #2 box...