Arlington Improv Comedy Club — Restaurant in Arlington

You know I have been coming to this club for several years now in Arlington, since the Club Hyena's closed in this area. Initially, I thought it was too cramped. I like the comedians that I pay to go see, I typically get their rice/salmon as other things are not that good to me... drinks vary as sometimes they r good, other times not too good or have had to ask for another one. HOWEVER, MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT IS SEATING PROCESS AND TABLES: I think the square tables SUCK, this makes it hard to see and in most cases you are looking side ways if you are in the back and even in the front, someone will be uncomfortable, depending on the angle they sit. In the old Hyena's they had ROUND tables which, to me makes a huge difference. The benches are good, except again if there are 4 people, two have to sit in the chairs, so now you have to have your back to the table and your friends + turn back and fwd if you are eating - HOW STUPID, this should be obvious that this is not the best way to sit people in a comedy club - if it were a restaurant that would be different!!!!!!!

Initially for the 1st show of the evening if you bought regular seats you could arrive about 45min - 1hr early to select the seating you wanted in the 2nd half of the room, this was ok b/c at least I could get a bench seat - NOW THESE PEOPLE (I TRY NOT TO CALL PPL NAMES, BUT THIS IS IDIOCRACY AT ITS HIGHEST) have created another process which makes it worse - the computer seats you according to the order in which your ticket was purchased as they already were doing that for the later shows, which is why I never went to those, but wanted to. This SUCKS for several reasons: 1- I don't know where I'm being seated, if you are going to do this, at least let the customer see where the seating chart is about to sit them, really to make more COMMON SENSE, (not even business sense), but COMMON, create a seating chart ONLINE and let people select their seats, sort of like the Verizon or even Studio movie grill; 2-if you are like me and don't won't to sit at the tables, then at least you could choose if there are bench seats available; 3-MOST OF ALL, they need round tables in the front and back and just lose the chairs that sit in front of the benches, WHY would you have people sitting at a comedy show with food/drinks and having to try and turn AWKWARDLY to see comedians... this again should be COMMON SENSE!!!!!!!

The only reason I still try to go is b/c I like some of the comedians they bring in and other than the other Improv in Addison or the Hyenas (which does not seem to have ppl I want to see now), there are no other small clubs I know of.... I know that Verizon brings them in, but its too large, pricier and too complicated with parking and thousands of ppl, this Arlington Improv could be great, but whoever is running it is making it WORSE AND WORSE.... I may not have entertainment and club experience, but ONE DAMN THING I CAN TELL YOU I HAVE SUPERIOR ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS AND I WOULD CHANGE THE LAYOUT AS FAR AS SEATING, ORDER TICKETS, AND BETTER CUSTOMER...

Compared to the Addison Improv, this place was great. Love the configuration of seats for the show and I will come back.

Things that can be improved: You get a ticket confirmation but still have to go to will call to get a ticket with that ticket? On the menu it would be great to actually list what type of beers they are next to the names. I had to Google almost every craft beer to see what it was and then when I thought one said it was an double IPA, I got the beer and it was a stout. But glad they had a wide selection of craft beers even though they didn't have 2 out of the 3 we ordered. Maybe it was an off night but no one came to take our order for about 20 minutes. And then it took about 15 minutes to get the drinks. Food. I ordered a chicken club with extra crispy bacon. What came out was a super greasy chicken burger with bacon that was so gooey I had to spit it out. At first I thought maybe it was just club on burger bread, but also the menu had burgers that could be beef or chicken; Maybe it was a wrong order? I hate complaining and the show had already started so I just sent it back instead of trying to figure out what it was (in the 10 years my husband and I have been together we could only think of 1 time I've sent something back). In the future I'll just have a couple drinks and a water. The meal was $17 and when I just swapped for a basket of fries that was $10 and that seemed off balance.

Overall, it's totally worth going, and the best venue layout I've seen for the intimate comedy...

My rating is on the Improv not the show nor the comedians. Arnez and Carmen were both amazing. I took my husband to this show on a date night, and he laughed the entire time.

However, we will never patronize the Improv again. Any organization that steals money from customers/supporters is egregious and unacceptable. I took my husband to Crown Block prior to the show and therefore we weren’t hungry. However; we intended to order a drink, but two item minimum per person was unacceptable. My wine was served in a cocktail glass. I was forced to purchase wings to go (which was terrible and flavorless) as my second item.

The check came with a $10 service charge and tip request. A service charge was included on the ticket purchase.

The daycare seating was terrible!! Four adults at a toddler table with a two item minimum per person. That’s potentially eight items on that little food tray. Not to mention the tables are so close together hardly giving any personal space and movement. Congested is an understatement. They clearly are not customer centered, but money hungry.

To top it off they allowed the comedians to sell their merchandise (attached to sad stories) essentially manipulating and hustling their customers/supporters…this too was egregious and unacceptable.

This was our first and last time at the Improv-Arlington. We’ll continue to patronize Texas...