Citadel Stadium 16 — Local services in Charleston

Let me begin by saying that I watch 1-2 movies a week out at a cinema with one of those being at this theater. That being said... here's my breakdown:

Pricing- one word: matinees! Great way to catch a flick at a decent price, though their pricing otherwise isn't terrible compared to other cities I've visited.

Rewards- the rewards program is nice with a free ticket every 100 points earned (aka dollars spent). Make sure to grab a little red card when you visit!

Set Up- I love that they have put the refill fountain accessible to the customers so you can pop out of the theater, grab your refill & return without missing much of the movie. Would love to see new options offered for concessions, but I'm not certain that is doable. The lack of diversity at the snack bar is made up for by the addition of reserved seating with reclining seats, which is (imo) fantastic!

Climate- they do tend to be more reserved on their climate control allowing the theater to remain too hot or cold and it takes a while to cool or heat up to accommodate comfortably, especially for sold out showings.

Maintenance- The IMAX is one of the best places to watch a movie in town based on sound and format of picture. But, they again don't maintain this quite as well as say a theater in a larger city might. Cases in point, the last two movies I saw there: How to Train Your Dragon 3- the screen projector was off, out of focus. I questioned if it were supposed to be in 3-D as it was that noticable, especially the lettering. Captain Marvel- there are many dark scenes where you couldn't tell what was going on because the projector bulbs weren't turned up enough. As an avid moviegoer I know what some of those dark scenes should look like due to previews with levels of blackness and dark colors, so you can imagine the disappointment when this can't be seen for a movie you're paying for.

Staff- There is a nice selection of movies available for viewing and the staff handle crowds fairly well. Though, for opening weekends it can get a bit hectic, especially if you want concessions. I'm not sure about management, but it doesn't appear that the majority of the staff enjoy being there. The other theater we frequent employees individuals with great attitudes; sure everyone has a bad day but its typical to try to leave that at home and not burden others with personal issues.

Cleanliness- sometimes it's a hit or miss. I've been in showings where it was immaculate. Now, I wouldn't say that it ever smells particularly "clean," but at least looks tidy. I have been on several showings though where it was obvious that there were kids who were allowed to dump handfuls of popcorn all over without parents who could/would curbing the situation.

Meeting Room- on the topic of children, there's even a room if you want to have a special event (say, a child's birthday party) there so that you can have food, party and then go catch a flick!

All in all the location and pricing along with the seating outweighs the former issues. However, it does become bothersome when the movie that is being watched is impacted due to lack of up keep. Because of the inconsistency in quality, I have to stick with a 3...

To: The General Manager of Citadel 16

My family and I live in North Alabama. We also have a place in Hollywood where we vacation with our children during their school’s summer break. Each time we visit, we ask our children what movie they would like to see. And we always visit your theater. We have NEVER had a poor experience there and have ALWAYS left with great memories and photos in front of the movie poster for the movie our kids have chose. Unfortunately I can not echo those sentiments on our visit with you this year. Our experience wasn’t, “poor” it was, “bad”.

After purchasing our tickets we were making our way to the restroom and concessions when a female security guard yelled for us, “Hey, you! Stop!” We weren’t sure who she was yelling at until she said, “Yeah, you all. Come over here!” Concerned and taken aback we walked back across the room to find out what was wrong. She then told us that we couldn’t bring in our daughter’s left over Chinese takeout and that we could either throw it away or take it back to our vehicle. I didn’t think to much about tossing it in the trash. (I wasn’t happy about the way she went about it or throwing it out but we did.) But when she made an additional scene by speaking louder than necessary, she ordered my wife to open her small lounge fly Disney purse. When I asked her why she was telling her to do that, she said, “Because I can.” Her tone was rude and sarcastic. My wife began unzipping her bag for the security guard and still the guard continued with rude remarks saying, “Ya’ll think ya’ll are just gonna come up in here sneaking snacks into our theater. And we’re not going to allow that!”

We had no idea what she was talking about. And when she seen nothing more than my wife’s wallet and makeup, she said at a lower volume, “Well ya’ll might not have anything but people do that and we ain’t letting that happen” she then went back to speaking loudly saying, “If you want snacks you buy them here. We don’t let outside snacks and drinks come in.”

We were so embarrassed we would have just left if our girls hadn’t been waiting for this movie during our trip. Absolutely none of what this security guard said to us was appropriate, tactful, or necessary. While we appreciate a security service that keeps a watchful eye for safety and the public good, we condemn those who use their positions of trust to belittle, degrade, and disrespect those they were entrusted to help. My wife has been a nurse for over 20 years, and I have been a law enforcement officer for nearly 20 years. I can say without a doubt that this security guard has no idea what it means to work in service. I wasn’t wearing my glasses at the time and I thought she was a police officer (which shocked me). It wasn’t until I could see the back of her vest that I realized she was not law enforcement but rather security.

Regardless, we are in fact hurt, embarrassed, and angry with the manner in which we were treated and are concerned about the treatment of others (both before and after our encounter with your security team). Thank you for taking the time...

Last night was probably one of the worst movie going experiences I've ever had, all due to the manager on staff. This is going to be a long review. I hope the business owners read this.

After sitting down to watch a subtitled movie, I realized that the protective screen or whatever it is did not pull back far enough, causing about 1/8th of the screen to be covered on the top and bottom. I went outside and informed the staff working the desk about it and his response amounted to "It's a known issue with that screen and there's really nothing we can do about it right now and there's nothing we're going to do." My question is, if you knew about the issue why would you have a SUBTITLED movie currently playing in that theatre? You made a movie where you NEED to be able to see the bottom of the screen basically unwatchable.

One of my friends I was viewing the movie with decided to complain to the manager on staff, and he offered us some free movie passes as compensation. He handed them to me after I showed him my Fandango tickets. I bought six tickets, he gave me three passes. What wasn't made clear to me was these three complimentary passes were meant to act as a full refund, to a movie the manager himself told me won't be playing again. Every other showing will be the english dubbed version, which I did not prefer to watch. It wasn't in any way made clear to me or my friend that I needed to leave after receiving these tickets, so I went back to finish what is my LAST chance to see this movie in this form in theaters. After I went back inside, my friend was informed that we needed to leave the theatre. She told the manager that we would give the free passes back afterwards, which I would have. I didn't want a refund, I just wanted my movie I paid over $60 for to be watch-able.

Five minutes later the manager comes back in and shines a flashlight in our faces and tells us we need to leave in the sternest, disappointed dad voice he could muster. I handed over the three passes and he left us alone to watch the movie that we were now 40 minutes into.

Also another note, another friend of mine tried to buy some popcorn and they were already scooping it into trash bags for the evening. The staff attempted to scoop the pop corn BACK OUT OF THE TRASH BAG to sale to my friend. Citadel Mall Stadium 16 tried to sell us trash bag popcorn.

Also ANOTHER note, after complaining my friend tried to buy a slushie and they tried to give her the smaller cup that obviously is not used for slushies. At this point it's just petty and immature.

I'm a manager at a local store. I understand the frustration that comes with dealing with complaining customers, but that is part of the job and you have to be prepared to handle it when it happens. We were having a sub-par movie watching experience and were treated like absolute nuisances in return when we tried to bring it up.

It's extremely obvious the manager on duty on the night of March 1st does not care about his job and had no intention of doing it correctly. As such I feel like I wasted $60. Comfortable seats will only...