Violet Crown Cinema

Reviews 3

JE

Jeanette H

So Ive lived in Austin for 5 years and never visited Violet Crown. Ive driven by it but never had a reason to go seeing as how I live in north Austin. A last minute decision to see a movie with friends on a Monday night landed me at VC. I didnt know what to expect. I knew that we had reserved seats on the front row (which I was against as I was thinking this was a traditional theater) and there was free parking. Upon arrival, after parking for the free in the attached garage, I entered the bright and open space of VC. Directly in front of me was the bar, a snack bar, and the lounge. To the left was what I later found out was the ticket counter but the signage was lacking nor was anyone stationed there. I sat at the bar in the lounge area to wait for friends. I browsed the menu as I was pretty hungry at this point. It started to get busy while I was sitting there so no one came to me right away which was fine. I was busy on my phone and deciding what to get. My friend arrived so we went to the snack bar counter to have our parking validated (this ensures that it is free up to 4 hours of parking) and to order food. I ended up ordering the chicken tahini wrap along with the crown fries (aka truffle fries). It was kind of pricey. $15 bucks for a wrap and fries and then I got a $4 soda. $20 later for a meal at a movie theater. Good thing I decided against having an adult beverage. The chicken wrap wasnt too bad. It seemed like a healthier option so I was good with it. The tahini sauce came on the side which I liked so I could monitor how much I used and it was pretty delicious. The truffle fries were amazing!!! Totally threw the healthiness out the window with these (moderation right?!). So our movie was in theater 3 and we had row A (front row) seats. These seats are handicap accessible but lucky for us there were only 3 others in the theater so we didnt have to give up the seats. The front row seats recline back and have an ottoman to prop your feet up. All I needed was a blanket. I was pretty darn comfortable. The screen was at an angle and the seat reclined at an angle so the combination of that made for good viewing pleasure. I liked that the movie started at 6:15pm with some previews and no crazy pre-show stuff and the actual movie was on an playing at 6:23pm. They were not playing around. It was somewhat annoying to have to order food at the counters outside, go back into the theater, and wait for the pager to go off. Once the pager went off you had to get up and go get your food which disrupts the experience for not only the person getting food but for others. Also, I didnt realize there were trays tucked into the seat which seem difficult to get out. Overall Id probably only come here if invited by friends, on a weeknight, and for a not new movie. I couldnt imagine enjoying the small theater if it was a full house. It just doesnt seem like a good viewing experience. Luckily it is priced the same as other theaters so I dont feel like I wasted any money but I was able to try a new place.

LE

Leila Rahil

So this was just a Sunday of disappointment... First time coming to Violet Crown and gotta say...again, I just dont get it...maybe I just have different standards, but why is this place rated as highly as it is? When we got there I thought it was going to be an Alamo DHouse sitch, but to my surprise, you order your food at the bar and get a pager to notify you when its ready? Again, might just be me, but if you are going to serve food at a movie theater, either limit that food consumption to your lounge area (the outdoor lounge balcony overlooking 2nd St is actually quite nice w/a gorgeous view) or have servers a la Alamo, but this "pick up your food at the bar and carry it in yourself" business is just awkward, inconvenient, and just downright perplexing! Seriously, carrying in a tray like 5mins before the start of a movie and trying to reach for my pre-purchased movie tix (which u pick up at a different counter) for the guy guarding the theater door, is just a pain in the ass. And the classroom style pullout quasi-tables are super intrusive since you pull them from the armrest of the person to your right, so if you have a beer and a banh-mi sandwich like I did, it is a feat fit for a Cirque du Soleil contortionist to try and get the table up and your stuff on it w/o spilling and/or dropping it! The other annoying part of the "self-serve" set up here is the absolutely annoyance and frustration of the buzzers of latecomers who are getting up to fetch their food orders and coming back, not only obstructing the screen each time they do so, but also either bumping the back of your seat or almost toppling your flimsy semi-table in the process! Adding insult to injury is the bussing of your plates/glass after the screening! Why there is even a tip section on the receipt at the bar is a complete mystery to me since you, rather than the staff here, are working hard for the money! Seriously, after losing half of my bahn-mi sandwich to the floor due to the non-stop onslaught of table and seat bumps, sitting w/the uncomfortable college style table out for the entire movie of 12yrs a Slave was an annoyance along w/being able to hear the garbled vibrations of the theater next to us while trying to not burst into sobs over the emotional turmoil onscreen and off; the whole experience at Violet Crown left me feeling much like Mr. Solomon Northup: wandering what I did to deserve such punishment and why me? Sadly, I do not see myself returning here. For the pricepoint I will endure the subpar food of Alamo than the "Do it Yourself" set up here.

MA

Matthew C. Newton

I really hate to give this place a negative review because the "pros" about the theater really make it sound like a great place: -movie starts on time without previews -reasonably priced theater considering no previews ($13 a ticket) -smaller, intimate theaters -comfortable seats with tray table for meals -bar with reasonably priced drinks (less than $10 for a mixed drink) -varied food menu with traditional move snacks and made to order food items Unfortunately, the set up causes way too many headaches mainly due to the food menu. Unlike iPic or Alamo Drafthouse, you order your food before entering the theater and you pick up the food outside of the theater. We learned the first time we saw a movie here that it takes a good 20+ minutes for food to be prepared. This time, we arrived at 7:10 pm for a 7:30 pm movie and finished ordering at 7:12 pm. The 2 out of 3 items were ready just after 7:30 pm and sat under a heat lamp until 7:42 when the last item was ready. I walked in to the theater for the first time almost 15 minutes after the movie started. And to top it off, since my pizza had been sitting under the heat lamp 10+ minutes, it was only marginally warm by the time I ate it. After I sat down, 5 other parties got up during next 25 minutes of the movie to get their meals. This would not be a huge deal but the buzzers to alert you that food is ready is incredibly loud and distracting. Additionally, if those individuals arent sitting on the end, everyone in the row has to move their legs so people can get their food (and again when they return). And since there isnt a good place to put the trays when you are done eating, some people get up to remove their trays causing even more of a distraction. The first 45 minutes of any movie is basically musical chairs. The kitchen should not take 30 minutes to prepare meals for a movie. After the first time I visited this theater, I learned to show up early and even 20 minutes early was not enough. I get that the kitchen is a made from scratch kitchen (at least I hope it is) but they need to hire more cooks, prep food ahead of time and learn to multi-task. Or maybe just scratch the kitchen all together and focus on popcorn and other movie snacks.

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