Well, for Halloween, a friend of mine decided to dedicate the back of his costume (he was a large notepad) to a petition for bringing back Red’s Richmond. As all of my normal readers know, there has been a huge lapse since the last post. Well, I couldn’t let a good petition go to waste. Henceforth, Red’s Richmond is back (at least until I get bored with it or way too busy again).
Any major changes in my life since my last post? Well let’s see. I got a dog, a girlfriend, and a couple promotions at work. Perhaps you can see why my amount of time to post went down dramatically. Honestly work has been the only thing that has slowed me down on posts and now that things are slowly getting back into a groove, I think you’ll see some more regular updates.
What does this have to do with Cinebistro? Oh, absolutely nothing. Excuse me for acting like maybe you care about my life. I’m not sure what I was thinking.
A couple weeks ago I received an email from a friend saying that we should all get tickets to Cinebistro for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows midnight premiere. Clearly I was planning on seeing this movie as the Harry Potter saga has been a cultural phenomenon for several different generations of people over the past few years. However, I was a bit confused by what this “Cinebistro” was that she was talking about.
I consulted with the “all-knowing,” a.k.a. Google, and quickly determined that Cinebistro was one of those theaters I had heard about that actually serves dinner and drinks during the movie. Now the last time I heard rumors like this is was of Bowtie Cinema’s Movieland over on Boulevard. Now, don’t get me wrong, Movieland is by far my favorite traditional theater in the Richmond area, but I was under the impression that I would be able to consume alcoholic beverages with my friends as I enjoyed the movie. Wrong wrong wrong. So to say that I was a bit apprehensive of this “Cinebistro” would have been an understatement.
Regardless of if I could drink and eat at the theater, I went ahead and bought tickets. It was during the purchasing process that I realized that this movie theater was indeed something different. After several confirmation and customer information pages, the website asked me to choose my seats. CHOOSE MY SEATS?! How does this work? Are you telling me that I don’t have to get there super early to fight for a decent seat? Are you telling me that I have the piece of mind to be able to walk into the theater and know that THAT seat right there, A5, is MY seat? Brilliant. Why hasn’t this phenomenon occurred in other theaters yet?
After my excitement died down and I remembered I only had a limited amount of time to complete this transaction, I was suddenly a bit concerned again. I wanted to sit next to my friends who had already purchased tickets, however, they had chosen front row seats. Now there are some great times to get front row seats which include professional sports events, Broadway plays, and concerts. Watching a movie is not one of these times. I bit the bullet and grabbed two seats next to each other and emailed my friends to let them know I was going.
So last night magically arrived way quicker than I thought that it was going to and I was suddenly excited again. My next dilemma was determining where the heck this place was at. The address on their website very generically listed the addressed for Stony Point Fashion Park. Thanks. Good thing that’s not a mall with a bunch of stores. Otherwise I’d have completely no idea where it would be. Even then, I go to Stony Point fairly often and I didn’t recall seeing this place in the mall so I was questioning if it was even there or if it was on a nearby road. Finally I found some information that said that it’s near Dillard’s and to park accordingly. That explained a lot. Who goes to Stony Point to go to Dillard’s?
We arrived around 11:15 p.m. and used their snazzy little machine to print out our tickets (note for the future, you do not need your confirmation email). To your right, when you walk in, there is a bar and dining area. My friends were already there so we walked over to the bar to join them before they started seating for the show. After a few brief moments they started seating. Instead of rushing over to the line to be seated, we stood there and chatted for a minute since we knew that our seats were reserved. What a great feeling!
As we walked into the theater they checked tickets and seated much like a concert or play. After being led to our seats, our waiter was there to explain how everything works as far as ordering, when we get our food, etc. I took a brief glance at the menu, but, as I am prone to do, had already checked it out online beforehand and knew what I wanted. Prices were semi-reasonable for some things and absurd for others. Popcorn at seven dollars? Sure that’s robbery but that’s pretty close to par for the course at any theater. Cheese steak and fries for fifteen dollars? A bit expensive for the caliber of the food, but still, not awful. Four dollars for a bottle of water? At home I drink tap water. However, I’ll admit that when I do buy water I am a bit of a water snob and typically reach for the Fiji. This was Acqua Panna which was excellent also. Four dollars wasn’t awful there. However, six dollars for a bottle Guiness? Okay… This wouldn’t have bothered me so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that their pitchers of domestics were around twelve to fifteen dollars. So you say, just get the pitcher? Apparently our outdated ABC laws will not allow the theater to sell pitchers at a midnight showing because all alcohol must be cleared out by 1:30 a.m. and ABC doesn’t deem that two people can finish a pitcher in 90 minutes. To steal a line from Andre on The League, “Child please!”
Previews started and the food came. My cheese steak was adequate. It certainly wasn’t anything to get excited about. In the future, I will most likely only get desert and drinks here and eat at a real restaurant before I come. The concept is very cool though and some of their other entrees may have been delicious. Who knows. I wouldn’t discount it.
My experience as a whole was great though. The wait staff was more than attentive (at least to me, my friends had some issues getting their popcorn). The seats were over-sized leather seats and were ridiculously comfortable. The viewing angle from the front row was better than expected. I would still recommend sitting two or three rows back. Will I go again? Absolutely. However, I will most likely reserve this place for movies that I know that I WANT to see and not movies that I am going to just to see how they are. I will still be headed to Movieland on Boulevard on Tuesday nights for their great six dollar deal when it comes to those.
Go check this place out! I’d love to hear your comments on it!
