Roosevelt Theatre — Local services in Town of Hyde Park

The Smell of Urine Throughout the Theater.

A really disappointing experience at Hyde Park theaters during an attempt to see a film on Saturday, February 11th with tremendously surprising poor service by staff that didn't seem to be trained well.

A groups of friends and I arrived for a 930pm showing and after purchasing tickets entered our theater to find a proverbial punch in the face with the horrible smell of urine. I'm talking New York Subway type smell. This theater was drenched in it. I couldn't believe there was anyone still seated. It was unbearable. People were walking out, being unable to stand it.

We stepped out immediately and I asked "Donna" for a refund because the theater smelled like urine. She informed me, "OUR theater does not smell like urine. We have a customer in the theater who smells like urine."...

Ummm what? Apparently the staff was aware of this and I wasn't the first person to tell them. I had exchanged a pass for the ticket, having purchased a book of 10, as I had attempted to support the local business. The Hyde Park theater isn't anything fancy, but it is usually at least semi clean.

Donna was not prepared to give me a refund as she pointed to a piece of paper serving as a sign that said no cash refunds. I hadn't used cash, instead used a pass. Though she informed me she counted that as the same... Okay...

I asked if she was the manager. No. I asked if the manager was there and she began YELLING full volume across the registers/lobby, "Nicole this customer wants a refund... Okay, now. Not necessary.

I thought something was off when I asked to speak to the manager and Nicole referenced herself as the "active manger on duty". I reminded the women Nicole I was asking for a refund because their theater smelled like urine. Again, Donna interjected, "No OUR theater doesn't smell like urine. We have a customer who smells like urine."

Really bizarre. This place had otherwise been decently clean. I'm not sure if the staff didn't care enough or weren't trained properly on how to handle the situation. Donna scribbled her name on the back of my receipt, saying that was good for a free ticket. Getting my pass back wasn't going to happen apparently.

Most amazing of all, neither Donna nor Nicole seemed to care, or even be surprised that their theater reeked of human urine. As a business owner that seemed so incredibly foreign to me, to keep nearly 100 customers forced to either sit in extreme discomfort or have to haggle with staff and then given a pass so to come back and maybe deal with more urine soaked theater seats.

I've otherwise felt fine coming to this theater and enjoyed supporting a small local business. But after the poor display here and the apparent lack of desire to correct a major problem that was affecting everyone in the theater, it seems highly unlikely I will return or at least not return without wearing a rain coat and bringing air fresheners.

I will reach out to the owners/managers and hopefully they will correct the problem with their staff so future patrons can come here without being forced to smell urine throughout their films or who may be afraid to speak out like I did.

Donna clearly seemed like she was trying to make a scene, trying to embarrass me for speaking out and not taking her excuse at face value. That was unnecessary. No one should be forced to either remain quiet and sit through that, or have to worry about being called...

Went to the movies today September 7th, to see Beetlejuice we came about 20 minutes early just because we wanted to make sure we get seats I had complimentary tickets that I won from a radio station when I walked in we waited about a minute until someone asked us what we wanted I think she was the manager and she's literally said what do you want I said I'm here to see Beetlejuice from the 9:15 showing I showed her my complimentary ticket and she literally huffed at me and went behind the counter and literally told me pick your seats out with an attitude I've never been treated or disrespected like this and an establishment that I thought had a good reputation me and my fiance I decide just to leave because we have never been treated with such disrespect , and the ticket I gave her was four tickets within one and she literally ripped it up never gave me my two of the tickets back so that being said I lost two movie tickets that I could have given to someone else or go to another theater with a friend or so to see it with this whole overall experience of very disappointed with the way we were treated I haven't been to movie theater probably within years and was super excited about going and this is the way I was treated I definitely wouldn't recommend doing business with them Go to Red Hook it's worth the drive at least you'll be treated with respect and it smells like urine in the halls and...

I have being going here since I was a child... The theatre was desperately looking for business during the pandemic and I made sure I bought refreshments from them, and when they were able to show movies again, I made sure to go and support them. It's great that they now have heated reclining seats like NCR and you can book online. The customer service is surprisingly bad. The people at the ticket booth and concession stand do not make eye contact. They will not say hello and they will not say thank you. Perhaps they forgot that they were begging patrons to return once Governor Cuomo allowed moviegoers again. The last time we went, a staff member came into the theatre during the movie and started screaming at people who had moved seats. Patrons asked the clerk to stop the movie because we had literally just missed 5 minutes of a crucial part due to her tirade. She would not stop the movue and she would not rewind the movie. The employees at this theatre have turned into miserable robots and it's unfortunate, especially when I was a loyal customer, eager to support this independent cinema. From now on, we will go to NCR in Kingston or to Regal in Poughkeepsie. I go to the movies to be happy, get some entertainment and to enjoy a bucket of popcorn. The nonsense that has been going on at the Roosevelt the past few times is...