AMC CLASSIC Mill Plain 8 — Local services in Vancouver

This is the 1st time my father and I have actually had a bad experience at this theater. All prior visits to this place were smooth. I saw the 7:30 showing of "Wonder Woman" and oh my god the service was abysmal.

The handling of fixing the movie screen, which went to green and pink colors like an infrared effect right before the movie started, makes it feel like these employees were improperly trained and did not care about their jobs. 10 minutes in, movie restarts, still green and pink colors. Another 5 minutes in, film restarts for the 2nd time and returns to normal. The whole movie goes normal from there, but do you think after all this time that the worst is over? Wrong. It kept going after the film ended.

When they restarted the film for the 2nd time, the operator said that they would give us free passes at the door after the movie ended. So after the film ended, nobody was at the door like I have first thought that they lied to us. The employees looked like they have absolutely no idea what is going on, until they finally opened up the box office so we can get our free passes, with no communication between employees and with the customers. The process was so slow and confusing for the employees, like how I think it was with all their other duties, it almost started an angry mob in the lobby.

Oh, and did I mention box office? Well, you can only get your movie tickets at the concession stand, which I think is one of the worst ideas ever since it would now take much longer to get your tickets when people buy their food at the same line. Want a faster line? How about go back to the TICKET BOOTH THAT IS BY THE FRONT DOORS AND NOT AT THE FREAKING CONCESSION STAND IN THE SAME LINE THAT YOU GET POPCORN AND ASK FOR HELP IN THE THEATERS. IT IS REALLY A MAJOR TIME CONSUMER FOR BOTH EAGER MOVIE GOERS AND PEOPLE WHO WANT POPCORN.

I remember when you can get your movie tickets at that ticket booth and that went smoothly. The experience tonight demonstrates what a horrible idea this was to have the movie tickets line in the same line for popcorn. My father, who came to pre-order tickets, waited in line and there were 4 PEOPLE in front. How long did it take him to get the tickets? 25 MINUTES. When he got in front, 2 people came to the counter in front of my father and asked the teller for certain things. The 1st was for a popcorn refill, and the 2nd was for a movie screen problem. So the teller went to fix the screen and he never came back. You think that the other tellers would notice the BIG LINE that is RIGHT NEXT to them. But what happens? They ignore the line, like the side of their eye is blind. Who the hell would do that. That is just plain savage to movie goers. So when they finally notice the line after a long time, they told everyone to move back to the other line that their eyes had on the most.

So what did I think of this? A movie theater that was once good but has gone downhill from the changes they've made to this place. Like dear god, who trained these people. They had no idea what is going on around them, are poorly trained to do important things like fixing the movie projector and handling the concession stand lines, and don't have a single care about their jobs. Manager of the theater, if you're reading this, train your employees properly to do their jobs right and make them care about their jobs. If there was an angry mob of complaints like I've described in my experience, you really need to take action upon your handling of your employees. Nobody wants to have a bad experience at this place that is once a nice place to go and work at.

As a fellow movie goer who has been to theaters in the last 14 years, as well as since this place opened, this is the worst experience I have ever had. Get employees who are trained and move the movie tickets line to the box office window so it wouldn't be in the SAME FREAKING LINE with the concession stand. If this list of cons still exist in my next 2 visits, I will never go to this place again. You can never let a nice popular place deteriorate into...

Note: This is a Brewtopia review, not Cinetopia. I've had mixed experiences in the theater, but overall were decent. I've included a summary at the bottom if you're not wanting to sift through a huge review.

Unfortunately this was an experiment gone terribly wrong. The Groupon ($36 for $72 off app/salad/dinner/dessert) ended up not being a 'value' at all due to slow service (our waitress was fantastic, it was the kitchen that caused delays), pretty bad food (my rare steak was tougher than many med rare cuts I've had) and overly high prices ($22 for a steak).

I'm fine paying for a good meal, but for my $100 (that's AFTER the 36 in Groupon savings) for a 2-person meal, I'd rather do Ringside and spend a little extra. I'd put my experience more alongside a very slow Applebee's but at 3x-4x the price. I will not be eating at Brewtopia again, and since the bar's only so-so, probably will skip pre-movie drinks too.

Speed: We had 6:30 reservations, were seated around 6:40. Placed our appetizer and salad order at 6:50 (we were in a hurry to make an 8pm movie) and didn't receive the app until 7:30. Our main course was another 20-30+ minutes out.

Drinks: I ordered an Irish coffee and it tasted like coffee, whiskey, and non-dairy creamer (what?!). Ordered specifically coffee, whiskey, and Bailey's for drink #2 and while it tasted like it had Bailey's in it, it still tasted like coffee creamer.

Food: The appetizer (spinach & artichoke dip) wasn't anything special to rave about, but it was pretty decent. Comes with generic crunchy corn tortilla chips.

The spinach salad was interesting. The "Goat cheese" was odd; It had the taste of creme fraiche/cream cheese but looked like wet feta in big clumps. I liked it though, whatever it was. The salad also comes covered in tons of fresh cracked black pepper, so keep that in mind.

My dinner (steak) was ordered rare with mushrooms. I don't think I've had a tougher steak since my $6 steak from The Excalibur in Las Vegas. There was so much connective tissue that my first bite was an ordeal just to chew on and I was too polite to spit it out. Oh, and there were no mushrooms on delivery, so I mentioned it to the guy bringing out the entree. The potatoes were a little different too; I was expecting a traditional smashed/mashed potato but this came out tasting almost like a cheesy potato salad. I liked it though, so I went with it. The asparagus was a little underdone for my preference, but I like mine more done than average.

Her dinner (chicken parm) looked pretty sad. She scraped off most of the fried stuff which tasted a bit odd to me, and the sauce was pretty thin. She liked it though, so no complaints here.

I paced myself on eating dinner while waiting for my mushrooms wishfully thinking that I could have them with my steak. About 10-15min into my entree they finally arrived. They had a seasoning I couldn't identify, but they were sauteed in what I think was vegetable oil or they were covered in Pam cooking spray. Skip the mushrooms.

Our Groupon came with a dessert, but at our request they switched it out for a fruit bowl. It wasn't the biggest thing in the world, but the fruit was pretty decent and it was more than just cantaloupe, honeydew, and pineapple. Their flexibility was appreciated.

We ended up missing our 8pm movie by a mile (thankfully we never bought tickets) and went home frustrated with the whole experience.

Summary: Plan to spend 2 hours here if you're doing a full meal. Don't get the steak- it's tough, even when rare. Don't get the mushrooms they taste bad. Reservations only save you a little time and doesn't guarantee a table. Don't order an Irish coffee- it tastes like "Irish Creme" creamer + cheap whiskey Spinach salad is covered in course black pepper so keep that in mind if you don't like pepper

Super Short version: Don't eat here. You'd be much happier with the food court and can use the extra money to buy yourself...

8/23/2015

I've been going to Cinetopia Theaters since their inception. Normally we like to use the living room theater due to food service and a quieter atmosphere. Occasionally when we take our granddaughter to a movie we use the auditorium. We were appalled to see the condition of the seats in one of their auditorium theaters at Mill Plain 8. It brought me back to the days of $1 seats right as a movie theater was going to close and nobody cared about the condition of the establishment. The big difference here of course is that Cinetopia books itself as being a beautiful cutting edge theater bordering on the lines of luxury and its ticket prices certainly reflect that. Here's what truly amazed me. After that extremely disgusting experience at Cinetopia Mill Plain 8 for $11.50 apiece for tickets we later ended up at a Regal Cinema $3 per ticket theater. I went in expecting the worst and shockingly the theater was actually very nice. The carpets were new, the restrooms clean and the employees extremely polite and attentive to keeping the lobby picked up as well as checking the theater regularly. This is the second time I've written a review noting the run down condition of amenities in Cinetopia Mill Plain 8. I'm not sure what their logic is in not repairing or replacing worn out seats. One of my prior reviews was about their lobby rug at this same theater being bunching up and worn down. It was like an accident waiting to happen. As long as I've taken the time to write this review I'd also like to mention Cinetopia's practice of "short staffing". We've encountered many delays when they try to run a ticket booth and concessions all from "1" employee. Isn't premium service another of the big selling points of Cinetopia? Well this practice certainly doesn't...