AMC Center Valley 16 — Attraction in Upper Saucon

I am a film lover and have been an A-List/Stubs member and frequent visitor to AMC for over 12 years. I'm also a former cinema general manager and am well aware of the profit margins and challenges. I truly want to see cinemas thrive again, but after several visits I've come to the conclusion this location seems to have given up and is just waiting to get closed.

Last week I attended the Dolby showing of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. When I arrived I ordered chicken tenders, a drink, and fries. Now, we all know cinema food is pricey and $24 is what it is. Honestly I intentionally buy concessions because I know that's where the cinema makes its money. But if you're going to charge that price, you've got to deliver on quality and value.

In the pictures I'm including you'll see what I was given - 4 inconsistently sized tenders and literally a handful of fries. Restaurants have notoriously low profit margins and yet there is a Red Robin directly outside this cinema and I could get 4 tenders and fries for $14 and a drink for $3. So why would I donate $7 extra to this cinema when this is the quality I can expect? And if you want a more apples-to-apples comparison you can look at the menu of Movie Tavern in Trexlertown where tenders and fries are only $16 (and delivered to your seat!).

I did look at these before I went into the auditorium and asked the concessionist about the portion and she said it was right. I then found a manager and asked him. His response was yes, they're only supposed to be 4 ounces. I told him no way was this 4 ounces and told him I'd have to get a refund. It was only at this point (after asking for a refund) he offered to fix the problem. They made me a fresh fry, he refunded my original fry so this was free. This is an adequate solution.

HOWEVER - a customer shouldn't have to demand a refund to get someone to admit a mistake. Especially if that someone is a manager who trains staff on portioning and customer service. And while I did get a free fry of acceptable portion in the end, I was not offered an apology for the inconvenience. Not once. The manager even busted out a scale and found that my fries weren't even 1 ounce and then started weighing the rest.

So if you want to charge these prices, find a better vendor for your tenders who can actually deliver consistency. Just because the tenders are at or above a certain weight, doesn't mean they're equal. Smaller "nuggets" are basically all breading. And seriously consider ditching the portioning of fries. THEY'RE FRIES. A 4-pound bag of Ore Ida curly fries RETAIL is only $16 - that's SIXTEEN portions. When you pinch the pennies you're being penny wise and pound foolish. Customers would more eagerly hand over their money if there's VALUE there.

Moving past food issues, we get to projection quality. I came here a few weeks ago and watched Boys in the Boat in #11, one of the non-Dolby screens on the right side of the cinema. Despite the scenes being filmed almost entirely in daylight, the entire film was dark and gray and you often couldn't make out facial expressions. When I came out at the end of the film I caught the manager (same manager as this Ghostbusters food incident) and told him the bulb probably needs replacing and explained the problem.

His answer was to tell me "all the screens on that side don't look good, that's why we put the older movies over there." To me, this represents a complete failure in standards, training, and upper management's ability to inspire excellence in their managers. It doesn't matter if I'm A-List or the movie has been out for a couple weeks. If you're charging for a ticket, your presentation should be a quality one. This is another reason people are staying home and streaming - why pay more than $10/person to end up in a less comfortable seat with poor image and sound quality?

Well, I thought maybe I caught that manager on a bad day & decided after a few weeks to give the other auditoriums another shot. I watched Arthur the King in #13 and lo-and-behold, exactly the same...

I never went here when it was Carmike. Definitely first as it being AMC. Since Catasauqua road is much closer to my house than the Promenade shops location. The reason we Decided to go there is that on Sunday Promenade AMC had 1020am showing of the Avengers End Game. Catasauqua road did not have any until 1250pm. I was quite impressed that the main lobby was some much larger than Catasauqua road there are windows that bring in sunlight into the lobby instead of nasty fluorescent lighting. Nice little arcade area, photo booth and coming soon movie cardboard cut out displays. Entry was easy to get in. Expect for the employee that was the greeter told us to go into the A-list line instead of the Premier line. First time there I was depending on her to guide us. As we were in line and it was a long line waiting 10minutes . I questioned that since At Catasauqua road the Premier is so much quicker. Until we got the ticket and Concession counter. I had seen a person taken before us . I then said to employee who was very helpful and pleasant willing to serve us,about that he said that line is for premier. I replied that the greeter told us to go to that line. And we're premier, I was nice about it it was very Annoyed that person suppose to be customer guide at the door was not doing her job As it should be. I love the multi self service drink machines. Quite the varady of drinks and is awesome. I dont usually eat popcorn it was really good I ate half the tub. Entire lobby, hallways, the theater was clean, spotless and they have staff lurking in the shadows to clean up a spill. That great thing to see! Men's Restroom was clean, spotless, stocked off paper products. The one thing I thought that was Bizarre that the whole restroom was in bright Orange. That is not a color for a public restroom. Unless your at a crayola store. Like the Catasauqua road AMC this one doesn't have the Reclining big red chairs yet.. We were told that their location and Promenade AMC won't have those chairs right now. All thou they both are on list to get them. They have other theaters that are being converted before...

Clean. Screens are fantastic along with the stadium seating in every theater so you never have to worry bc you'll always have a phenomenal view& to top it off the sound experience really bolsters the entire event expertly.They have a plethora of finger foods, drinks, not just popcorn& soda & candy. Oh no! Variety galore! The movie prices are up there& the mark up on the concession stand is too rich for my blood. There are games, a photo booth,etc. to keep people of all ages occupied while you wait for companions or the movie to start . They have different club options you can join to offset the prices . It's even surrounded by The Promenade Shops so you have entertainment from vehicle parking which is free,& plentiful to walking to the theater to the actual viewing then back again.Plenty of theaters with as many movies & genres to choose from so there's something for just about any &everyone possible. There was an issue with a disruptive group of relentless attention seeking early teens(ish???) being offensive, absolutely inappropriate & talking at a volume like they were just hanging out in their living room & not in public where many growing angry people who spent quite a bit to enjoy this experience were just about to blow a fuse bc of their behavior. Just in time an Usher/Manager(?) came in& saved the day with 1 warning & thankfully nipped it in the bud bf it got out of hand. Crisis averted by some very professional employees. Hats off to you Sir! Overall a well above average night out with no lack of choices for all categories, all tastes, all kinds for all kinds:) I'd recommend it to anyone without a second thought or hesitation Plus the night wasn't even over bc we got to window shop&enjoy the creative& beautiful lighting& scenery on the stroll to the car& even though it was quite chilly they have outdoor heaters & I didnt see the fireplace going in the center area that evening even though I'm pretty sure it's there during the cooler weather seasons....