McMenamins Kennedy School Theater — Attraction in Portland

Dont host an event here. Stingy is the best descriptor i can think of for McMenamins for our large group event (60 people). Paid $40 each and we got a spring sslad, penne pasta, chivken lasagna type pasta dish and garlic bread. Served buffet style. When we ran out of bread the waitress said "sorry, thats all we have". We ran out of the chicken lasagna so the last few people only got vegetarian penne (and it didnt have many veggies in it. Only for looks), again the waitress said "sorry, when its gone, its gone". Our group leader then ordered 2 large pizzas on top of our original order because people were still hungry. I guess the manager got word of that because surprise!--they suddenly came up with more garlic bread and penne pasta. The desserts were sample size..about 3 bites per dessert. The whole thing was very stingy. Oh, the best part..the gluten free option was plain sticky rice shaped into a square with 2 roasted carrots on top. That was an entree worth a $40 ticket? Not to mention it was vegan. It only had to be gluten free, not vegan. They went totally cheap with the whole thing....

When a group of us ordered food at the Science Pub at 6:15 PM, we were advised that the kitchen was backed up and there would be a wait. At 7:30 I stopped by just to check that our order hadn't been lost. I was informed that a number of kitchen staff just didn't show up and the kitchen was still working on orders. About 40 minutes later and10 minutes before the end of the lecture, the server delivered our food. Without an apology. My burger and fries were barely warm.

So, knowing that they were WAY understaffed, why didn't McMenamins post a limited menu that they could actually deliver on? I would have been disappointed, but would have understood the reason. Or, why not offer a drink coupon or meal coupon or a discount to customers who had to wait 2 hours to get served? I can't believe that McMenamins hadn't had to deal with a serious staffing shortage before or that this won't occur in the future. Is this the best...

I would have given a 5 star review except for the food. McMenimans gets the ambience just right, it’s funky, artistic, historical, and homey. The price was great, the movie could be viewed at home since it wasn’t a first run, but it’s so fun to go to the theater to see a movie. Again so much right, comfy & clean living room furniture, excellent sound system, impeccable decor with unique touches, chilly but they let you know to bring your warmies, so no problem there. The food, we ordered simple movie fare: burger, tots, and popcorn. The burger meat was dry and overcooked, the tots (usually a McMenimans standout) cold, not cold really, but as if they sat out for 30 minutes after they were cooked-so what’s that, room temp tots? The popcorn, I mean how in the world do you mess up popcorn? It was chewy and they charge 7-8 bucks for it. Will I go back? You bet! Will I...