On Sunday we went to the Iron Horse movie bistro in downtown Scranton. I was going to write a review but Joe Evans of NEPA Scene has already hit most points that I would cover.
All of the follow quotes are from his review. Be sure to head to their site to read it.
The first thing that stood out to me was how simple it was to buy tickets. Being able to reserve and select exactly what seat you want is fantastic. Knowing that you’re going to have exactly what seat you want is awesome. You don’t need to worry about fighting through a packed theater with your date, hoping for two seats together that still have a decent view of the screen.
We bought tickets through the Fandango app. Reserving specific seating is fantastic. I had zero anxiety about “where will we sit?” and that changes the movie-going experience pretty dramatically.
When you finally reserve a seat, the theater recommends arriving about 30-45 minutes early to grab a bite to eat and a drink in the theater’s lobby bar.
Evans made this bit a little confusing for me. In reality, they want you to order your food and drinks when you’re in the theatre not at the bar. At least, that was the direction we were given. Perhaps you can do both? By getting there 30 minutes prior to the show this gives the waiters plenty of time to take your order, get you the food, and pay your bill before the movie starts. I recommend aiming for 40 minutes before so that you can walk in the moment they allow you to. This process worked fairly well for us but not for the woman sitting next to me. She never got her drinks and asked for a refund after the movie. So clearly there are some kinks to work out. I’d give Iron Horse another month or two if you care to be a beta tester.
Evans goes on.
So here’s my biggest issue with the theater so far – the food, in my opinion, is thoroughly mediocre. There was nothing really wrong with it, it was by no means bad, but it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.
Because I read Evans’ review prior to going to Iron Horse I did not have the same expectations as he did. So for me, the food was fine. To me, the chairs and a beer were what made the experience.
Seriously, these seats are the best of all the theaters in the area. And it’s not even close.
Not only are they big, wide seats but they are plush and soft, almost pillow-like. They blow the seats at Regal and Cinemark out of the water.
Agreed.
He goes on, later, about the seats.
Since the button for the electronic reclining system is on the inner arm of the seat, I did press it accidentally while shifting in my seat a couple times, so keep an eye on that. It can be pretty startling in a dark theater if you’re not expecting it.
I did this 5 or 6 times. My hand, for whatever reason, hit the button and I kept making the seat move. This isn’t a complaint. I don’t think the seat design is poor. And I don’t think I will do it again next time. But I couldn’t believe how many times I hit this on accident. I felt like a moron.
Overall, the Iron Horse delivers a pleasant ride that adds a little something more to your local theatergoing experience.
Exactly. Iron Horse isn’t Regal and it isn’t Cinemark. And that’s great.
Oh, one final thing. Overall the experience cost us over $80.00. So it isn’t the most affordable way to go to the movies. But I think that is a very fair price for what we got and I think we’d likely do this a few times per year.