Jessica W.
Yelp
"Style over substance" is what immediately comes to mind about this place. Saw Thunderbolts here last night, and for context I'm a day 1 season pass holder at Alamo in Brooklyn so I'm used to the upscale dine in theater concept, and I'll be comparing them a lot because the Lower Manhattan location is just down the street from IPIC and I was just there 2 days ago. I decided to finally check out IPIC because of the strike. But it's very clear that it places inordinate importance on looking as fancy as possible while delivering an experience absolutely not commiserate with the obscene prices they charge. It's "fake premium", designed to *look* fancy while being inconvenient in practice.
There's a lot of little things wrong with this place and feel very poorly thought out. At Alamo if you purchase your ticket online you just walk straight to the theater. At IPIC they make you waste your time checking in at the front desk to get a ticket printed out. Fortunately it was empty when I arrived but it's an unnecessary step that wastes time when I have a digital ticket in my Apple wallet.
I will say the seat was the most comfortable one I've ever had in a theater. But finding it was an exercise in frustration because of how poorly laid out the theaters are. I've never seen one laid out this stupidly, with one way aisles that don't go all the way across, forcing you to backtrack and go in circles to get around the other side. When I finally made it to my seat I witnessed numerous other people having issues finding their seats. The blanket was a cute touch but again poorly thought out--why is there only one, not everyone comes to the movies with their SOs.
My server was nice, but they put a $75 hold on your card if you open a tab, which is frankly insane. Not an issue for me but very strange practice compared to other dine ins. The service itself was just really weird. My sweet potato fries inexplicably came out after my burger when it was clearly meant to go on the plate. My seat mate's nachos never even arrived and she was offered a refund. And it was incredibly intrusive compared to the Alamo. At several points during key moments in the movie they're walking around like it's a normal restaurant, taking orders, bringing food, totally distracting from it. No running like ninjas at the Alamo here. The order card setup at the Alamo is just vastly superior to this. The food itself was very mid btw, incredibly bland and undersalted. The burger's toppings did not hold up to the sauce, as what often happens when you try to get too fancy with burger toppings, and everything kind of fell apart. The equivalent one on Alamo's new menu is so much better, at a similar price point.
No stated phone policy at all, and my seat mate blinded me with hers a couple of times after the lights dimmed. I really felt like I made a mistake at this point. Fortunately the movie was great, but then to use the restroom after the post credits. It involved a labyrinthine trip up the escalators, through their fancy bar (likely to entice you to come back and spend). Even the bathrooms are laid out weird. And as far as I could tell no indicators that they're occupied.
The prices are obscene like I said. For the equivalent of Alamo service (being served at the seat), I paid more than my season pass there costs annually. Even my IMAX 70mm ticket at Lincoln Square for Sinners cost less. IPIC's subscription program gets you discounts on tickets and food, a free birthday ticket, but that's it. Even AMC A-List is a much better value by comparison.
At the end of the day, the real problem with IPIC is that this isn't suburban Missouri or wherever else they have their other chain locations. This is NYC and we have numerous dine in theater concepts in town, one literally within a 5-10 minute walk of this location. They have to bring their A game and this just ain't it. If you're going to be as pretentious and up your own ass as IPIC feels, you'd better deliver an actually premium experience. Now that things are back to normal at Alamo, I'm going back. Save your money and do the same. The food and service are far better down the street. There's a reason they're still the gold standard in this dine in movie going concept even post Sony takeover and things not being as good as pre-pandemic. IPIC feels like a glorified dine in AMC with less value.