Oh Cinetopia! How I love you and hate you at the same time!
I'd been wanting to see a movie there for quite some time, but it's not exactly near by, nor are we serious movie-goers. We're Netflix kind of people. The movies come to us. Both Cinetopia locations are a bit of a drive from us, so it was definitely going to be "an event" when we made it happen.
There'd been a Groupon for Cinetopia, so I snatched it up as a little incentive to get us there. When the Liam Neeson movie, The Grey, came out, we were excited to see it because we are big Liam fans. Sadly, we were not "The Grey" fans, but I'll keep this about Cinetopia and not the movie.
It was a Saturday night, so we headed up to Cinetopia early, which they recommend. We went to the Vancouver location, although the Beaverton one is just as far from our house. The Groupon worked perfectly, and we got our tickets and our popcorn voucher, but when we went to go to the theater, we were apparently way too early, because they weren't even letting people into the theater yet.
I have to say the whole experience was a bit of a let down. I felt so rushed the whole time. I felt rushed to get there, rushed to get in line to get a good seat. Then, inside the theater, I felt rushed to order, and rushed to eat. I know you are supposed to be able to order and then enjoy your food during the movie, but I ordered a burger that ended up being pretty messy, so felt rushed to finish it before the movie started so I could go wash my hands and get back to my seat for the previews
Another thing I thought was odd was that they didn't serve people's meals, drinks, etc in order. Dan and I were one of the first couples/groups to order but we didn't get our food first. It was odd to me. Then, again, I felt rushed when we had to settle the bill before the movie started.
The only other thing that I didn't like, and I guess I should have known better, was that it is ridiculously expensive. I was shocked at the prices of food. The portions were small, and it wasn't that great. But then again, I should have known, because when is food/candy at a movie theater not expensive?
Things I did like... the seating! Hello comfy couches & foot rests!
Don't mind if I do spread out and pretend I'm at home! And I loved the seating level tiers so that you didn't have the people's heads in front of you. It was like stadium seating on steroids!
And the live music before the movie was cool too. Unnecessary, but cool.
I just think there are some kinks that need to be worked out. It has all the potential for a very fun experience, but I think the first time was hard because neither of us really knew how it worked or what to do. Now I kind of know and would likely be more comfortable.
Update: Since my first time to Cinetopia in February, I visited again, this time to Beaverton with my girl Kelsey to see Hunger Games. Much better experience, still way overpriced, but we didn't eat a full meal there, just had popcorn & drinks. Learned about the popcorn flavors and I highly recommend the garlic one. Yum! Still, we were two of the first to order, didn't get our food right away, and then had to settle our bills during the opening scenes of the movie. So, much better than the first time, overall, but still plenty of room for improvement.
all photos from cinetopia.com unless otherwise noted
I am just catching up on my blog reading......read this and had to let you know WE FELT THE SAME WAY. My husband and I just went there this spring too. It was not the best experience. I think it's more of a place to go and order a bottle of wine and relax during the movie. NOT A PLACE TO EAT and watch a movie!! We found our food was cold too, yuck. We never got our drinks till after we were done eating and asked three times. And yes we were not served in order. We observed that people around us did not order dinner, just drinks and apps....hummmm wonder why? KG
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