Village Cinema — Attraction in Meridian

My family and I made the mistake of going to see a movie here on Christmas Day. I know that this is the biggest movie day of the year, and I have never worked in a movie theater, or in that industry at all.

We all went a couple of days before to check the place out, and to make reservations. My mother bought five tickets to the dinner/movie combo, which was not cheap. We told the gentleman assisting us that my uncle would be bringing my nephew, who happens to be 17...There was no response to this statement...

Fast-forward to today, and we all arrived for our Christmas day movie....on the biggest movie day of the year. We had our tickets, went upstairs to watch the movie, and were immediately told that my cousin wasn't allowed in because he was under 21. This is the first time we were told that we needed to be 21. This isn't a bar, this isn't a club, this is a movie that serves food and alcohol. Applebee's serves alcohol, too, but you can be six years old and get a table whenever you like. Although this bothered us, he said it wasn't time to cut our losses, and that he'd just watch the movie downstairs. Fine.

We get to our seats, minus one party member, and order our food... and this theater, in Idaho, on the biggest movie day of the year, is out of french fries. Out of sliced POTATOES in IDAHO on THE BIGGEST MOVIE DAY OF THE YEAR. I guess the manager has never worked Christmas before, or just doesn't understand that a place that is "known for its good burgers" might want to keep fries stocked. And this wasn't even a night showing...they were out by 3pm. And before I forget, they had run out of mustard. A condiment. For burgers. On the biggest movie day of the year.

However, when the food arrived, we were pleased to find out that it was sub-standard as well. My 15 dollar burger (with a $2.50 up charge for cheese and bacon) was over cooked, dry, and somehow cold. The salad that I got in lieu of fries was soggy, and tasted like the lettuce had spoiled. Nobody in our party finished our meal due to the low quality. They also charged us for two of an item, but were kind enough to remove that from our bill.

The sign we should have seen to how our evening would go was the service we received from Becky... she is the one who initially told us that my cousin wouldn't be allowed in. We told her our situation, and that nobody had told us this would be the case. The only thing she offered was a clearly forced "sorry" with a smirk on her face. When my uncle went downstairs to make sure my cousin could get a seat in the downstairs of the portion, we asked if we could wait in the bar area for him to return. Becky said that they would be closing that soon, and we weren't allowed in for that reason. I couldn't help but laugh at this point. As we went to sit on a bench to wait for my uncle, I had the pleasure of overhearing Becky make some snarky comments to a couple high-school aged girls who were also working the area. They had a laugh at our expense, and I kept my mouth shut for the sake of my mother. We should have asked for our money back and left, but these were the plans my family made for Christmas night. Never again.

The service was terrible, the food -that they still had- was awful, and the prices were too high. I am embarrassed that we didn't walk out of there.

Not only will neither me or my family ever be a patron of this disappointing theater, but I plan on creating a Yelp profile to warn more people of the dreadful experience they could end up paying for. This is my first negative review for an establishment, and definitely my first 1-Star. It took a special kind of crappy place to make me write this.

Just......

First few times were good but over the last couple of visits My wife and I have decided to boycott and not use this theater anymore. The first issue we had was being "double booked" with our seating with another couple, we used the online app paid for out tickets a day in advance and choose seating in the VIP section but when we arrived a couple was sitting in our seats, after asking them to move they flashed tickets at us saying these were their seats. We got an usher and they took a quick glance and said they have these seats and of course all the seats were taken around. After talking to a manager they refunded our tickets but put to waste the $40 in concessions we blew in there. No movie. The second time My wife and I rushed to the theater after getting a babysitter. We show up and grab our tickets from the kiosk because we bought the ticket online of course we choose our seats in VIP and hear upstairs, I am dreading someone sitting in our seats but I say to myself it could not happen twice. Well we never got that far, we were stopped by the ticket person requesting my I.D. not I have gone to this theater prob 20 total times since it opened and always sit in the Vip section because it is nice and the seats are larger and I have NEVER been carded. I laugh at the ticket person and say that we are seeing Star wars and it is rated pg 13 and I know I look older than that. they state that because they sere alcohol from the bar upstairs everyone has to be carded. I don't even have my wallet because my wife drove and I don't drink at the theater and NEVER been carded before. I joke again and say I will not be drinking and know I look way over 21 and they person agreed, asked I assume a manager that walked by if they could let us in because the movie was started the lady looks me up and down and states no and walks off. I am irate this time and ask to see the manager, they send me down to the popcorn stand and tell e they will radio the manager over. I go over and stand for about 5 min for a guy dressed in a suit chatting with employees to tell me to go the box office and they would help me we get there and wait another 5 min for them to explain what happened for him to say oh we have signs posted and give me my ticket money back. again no concessions refunded. I showed the manager there are no signs posted coming in the door, the kiosk or elevator we took to get upstairs or online telling us when we bought the tickets, He states that usually there is a sign that is posted on kiosk someone must have removed it...

Every time I go to this theatre it is one disaster after another. In November my wife and I were booted out of Hunger Games for a plumbing issues/leak. In September my brother and I had to watch staff fight with a family that brought a baby to a showing of The Visit. Staff was trying to ask a family to leave for reasons I don't fully understand; all I know is that the ordeal was very distracting, over a baby that was not even being a nuisance. The staff interrupted my viewing experience more than the family. Finally, on Christmas night I took my family and relatives to see Star Wars. We arrived an hour and a half early to eat at the cafe upstairs we got a table after about 35 minutes, it took almost 15 minutes to be visited by a waitress, who promptly explained that it would be 30 to 40 minutes to fulfill our order. We left the cafe and went down to concessions to order pizzas. The counter was literally covered in butter and I found that out because I set my arm in it. My kid also slipped on butter in front of the counter on the floor. After taking our seats for the showing a rude staff member came in and said that the food would not be delivered because a power surge broke the ovens. The staff member then asked me how I wanted the issue to be handled as though I was arguing with him. I hadn't really said anything to that point other then options for a refund. The movie had started by the time they had finally decided they would give a refund for just the pizza. A huge hassle for something that was not my fault. Talking to the staff you would have thought it was my fault. As we were leaving the ticket taker overheard me explain the situation to my brother and made it a point to interject himself into my conversation. The staff member expressed his dissatisfaction with my conversation and said it's Christmas and we should just be glad we're at the movies. I am simply done with this theatre, they are trying to be and do too much and it shows in their facilities and in their staff. Plus almost every movie I've ever attended here has started late because staff is trying to wait on the VIP section on...