I have a four month old baby and I don't feel comfortable leaving her with the babysitter for extended periods of time. I like to think she would miss me too much or whatever. Gary on the other hand loves date night and he enjoys an outing sans kids. He especially loves to go to dinner and a movie. I love my husband but I'm not willing to leave my baby for 4+ hours. I told him he can pick dinner OR a movie. Anyone who knows Gary knows he likes to find the loopholes. He came to me and said "We're going to The Alamo so we're eating dinner and watching a movie at the same time". He won.
We read the Alamo's website before going and I'm glad we did! They are a little pretentious. If you don't show up before the show starts, you won't be seated. If you talk or have your cell phone out you'll get one warning before being kicked out. You better not even think about bringing your baby! They aren't allowed. Sounds extreme, right? It actually made for a really enjoyable movie experience! If you are a worried mom like me, leave the Alamo's phone number with your movie and showtime for the sitter. Then you wont worry you're missing a major catastrophe at home.
So we got there 30 minutes before our show started, just as the website states you should. We sat down and our waiter came over. He explained that you order by writing on the paper provided on your table. I suggest looking at the menu and figuring out what you want before the show starts. My husband and I knew we wanted to share a milk-shake mid show so we found the one we wanted and wrote it down on a paper and held onto it till the middle of the show. It was perfect! We ordered our dinners minutes after arriving. I think they prefer that. After reading so many reviews of people complaining that they didn't get their food till the show was ending, I was shocked to receive both our meals before the movie even started! I'm going to bet, if you show up late and order late you'll get your food really late.
We shared the Royale with Cheese. It's a burger made of 100% Angus Chuck topped with smoked bacon, red onion, lettuce, tomato and cheddar cheese. The burgers all come with a side of chunky fries. I recommend asking for extra ketchup. Gary thought the burger was the best of the things we tried. I thought it was okay.
We also shared a pizza found on their special/seasonal menu. It was a ranch based pizza topped with chicken and tomatoes... I forgot all the details (sorry). I really hate to be negative but the chicken was the driest chicken I think I've ever had. I found that taking it off and eating the pizza without it made for a pretty decent dish.
We splurged and ended our night by sharing a Chocolate Chip Cookie Shake. I am so glad we did! I loved that thing. It was so creamy and the crunchy little chunks of cookie were fun. The presentation was lovely. It was topped with whipped cream and a sprinkling of the cookie crumbs. The straw was the fattest straw I've ever seen which was perfect for sucking up cookie chunks.
So. Overall we loved our experience. What I thought was just pretentious non-sense ended up making for an enjoyable movie experience. I appreciated the quiet and the lack of bright cell phone screens. I was in heaven not worrying about silly teens giggling and kicking my seat behind me. I have no doubt that we'll come here for our movies from now on. Here's what I'll do next time though: I'll order their $6 refillable popcorn. They serve it in a metal bowl and you get refills. Their soda is about $4 and it too comes with free re-fills. For $10 you get endless popcorn and soda brought right to your seat? Yes please! If you drink, they offer beers and wines. They even have "adult milkshakes"! They also have snacks and salads. The selection is perfect!
One of my favorite things about the Alamo was the pre-show "previews". They weren't your typical previews. They actually were tidbits about the actors that are staring in your movie. It's awesome.
No phones = no photos this time...
