Mcmenamins Anderson School Theater

Two stars largely for the operations being a disorganized mess. Don’t get me wrong, I like having a couple pints while watching a movie. Sounds pretty chill right? But to experience such here, plan on arriving at least 90 minutes before the film starts. Really takes the relaxed chill out of the night. But you’ll be chill enough since they leave the heat off in the building.
90 minutes explained: for some strange reason, parking is horrible. And it’s in the suburbs. I think who drew up this mcmenamins hipster Disneyland considered 50% of the guests biking-​in. Fantasyland thinking for sure. Anyway, adjacent stadium parking lot was full to so we had to park a couple blocks away. In the suburbs? For mediocre beer and food?
Once at the theatre, it’s an awkward entrance with no line to the one guy taking will-​call tickets /​telling people the movie is sold out /​also selling tickets. Confused people not sure what line they are in or if there is a line.
The buying beer & food experience is a joke. Took 20 minutes to get through a line that was less than 15-​feet long. Just to get a beer for me and popcorn for the kids. It was as if the two clerks were solving differential calculus problems with each customer. Slow and overly complex. I gave up.
Being I read Unilocal,I learned it was tough getting more than two adjacent seats here. So I parked my kids in the theatre before I attempted to secure our carbs. Coming back to the theatre I found uptight bearded NPR guy holding Chardonay & popcorn, negotiating with my kids and then the entire row to move over to comfortably seat his late arriving party. This seemed to be constantly going on. This is hella annoying. Tip — arrive super early and sneak in your own food and drink.
Once the film starts you find out pretty quick you get what your discount ticket pays for — low quality sound system and poor sound insulation from surrounding buildings. And yes if it’s cold outside it will be cold in the theatre. Tip to management: if you are too frugal to turn up the heat, fix your food & drink operations and you’ll generate enough revenue to pay your utility bill.
Bottom line — I can get to downtown theaters quicker than this one and have a much better movie experience in all respects.

I’ve made several a stop at this Mcmenamins and have been to the theatre a few times now, which I think is an adequate amount of times to leave an objective review.
First, I like the theatre itself, I think it’s vintage and cool and I have no complaints about screen size or the sound, they are perfectly adequate. The chairs are comfy and there is ample space to get up and down during the movie without making everyone stand up.
Where they didn’t plan well is only a couple rows have an area to put your food and drink. If you don’t get those seats you’re stuck trying to eat your food on your lap which can be a challenge with a messy burger. The food here is nothing spectacular, the tots are good but wayyyyy too salty. The biggest deal, the thought that went into the arm cup holder size vs the beer glass size is like non existent. The glass is way too small and wobbles around, falls over, spills, falls and breaks on the floor, you get the idea. Would it be that hard to use a solo cup type or something that fits snugly? Or shocker a pint glass???
And my usual gripe is the employees of Anderson school, no personality, rude, generally unhappy people. It’s no different in the theatre than in the restaurants and bars. The gal on this particular day behind the counter was totally put out that she was at work, and the most unhelpful person as far as being able to talk about the beer. She would only let me buy a beer for myself, which I kind of understand, but then I was told by a patron you can buy another beer for a person but they have to come get it themselves. Well that would have been helpful if the actual employee offered that info, instead my husband had to get in the back of the line and was gone for 20 minutes!
Bonus is it’s dirt cheap at $ 7, but after visiting a few times I really don’t feel like dealing with the staff or the stupid glasses and fumbling with my food. I’d rather spend way more at iPic and actually enjoy myself.

I’m a huge fan of Mcmenanmins and all of their properties, but our theater experience was not so grand. We had a few issues that might keep us from returning to their theater.
1. The theater is not insulated well for sound and the weather.
a. It was really cold in the theater and all of the other viewers had all put their coats back on.
2. The theater is not well built for a dining experience, there is only 2 rows with a narrow bench for your food or beverage. We had both of our beers spilled due to this design.
3. The lack of popcorn is unacceptable
Overall this is a great place to watch a movie and have dinner elsewhere on the property in the spring or summer when it’s warm.

First, could find no parking, which is concerning because every single parking spot in the adjacent Pop Keeny Field parking lot was taken too. (And no, there wasn’t a game, it was all from McMenamins folk)
I was then very surprised at how small the theater was. It seems to hold like 30 people. It’s very tiny.
We gave up because there were no 2 seats next to each other and asked for our money back, and upon leaving my wife was hit by a swinging open side door by a server, because they had a black rope ushering people along the wall right by the main door. It was a very dysfunctional set up in there.
Mcmenamins is pure pandemonium even after opening over a month ago. The servers are still very confused, people drink outside in the rain because there’s no room inside most of their bars/​restaurants. And that’s not going to stop. More and more people keep flooding to Bothell in hopes of more affordable housing.
Mcmenamins is too popular for it’s own good here.
In contrast, I’ve been to and loved the Kennedy School by Mcmenamins in Portland. I was there on a weekend, every bar/​restaurant was hardly full, and their theater was very large and comfortable.

Staff is friendly and helpful. The food menu is pretty limited, but you’d be surprised how tasty their burgers and tater tots are.
One pain point I have regarding this theater is that the walls seem to be not properly insulated, hence no good sound isolation. I watched The Martian couple weeks back and could hear the live band rocking it up in the Haynes’ Hall, which is right next to the theater. Generally the volume is pretty loud throughout the movie so you’re covered, but there were pockets of time I could hear the live band when there were movie scenes with absolute silence or minimal sound.
Correct me if i’m wrong, but as far as i’m aware the live band performs only on Friday evenings. You can avoid this issue by not coming on Friday evenings, or you can accept this and consider it as part of the Mcmenamins experience. By the way, the live band performance was [awesome] — clap clap clap.

Very cozy theater so the shows will sell out fast. For the theater/​bar the prices are very good. The staff were all very helpful even during the rushes right before the showing.

Ran out of popcorn at the 2:45 matinée before majority of people received any. Theater is not setup for food delivery and caused other patron to spill beer on me. Two green dead pixels on screen. Lobby too small and poorly laid out to support ticket taking and food service.
Beautiful location but poor execution.

Most of the staff is very friendly there. They still have some kinks to work out. But the rooms are so adorable and i love the fact that you can walk around and drink. It is a must! Stay on the top floor, there is a coffee/​wine/​beer on that floor. Prices are high for food. However, the food is amazing.

First time here for 10:45 pm showing.
Not very good service.
Was looking forward to some popcorn, but they had already cleaned the machine and told me they were out. No offer to make more. Employees seemed more concerned with not having to do additional work, then helping a customer. Very disappointing to say the least!!! Chairs were very comfortable and lots of leg room.

Great experience overall but not your typical chain theater. They do show Blockbuster movies but set in a quaint vintage style theater. You do loose some of the benefits of going to chain theater with viewing on a smaller screen size, lower quality sound, and what not. However, the price of the ticket makes up for that difference. It is fairly affordable and allows me to feel less guilty at concessions. Also, they have some rows that provide a bar table top for your food. You can order a full dinner with options like burger and tots or pizza. They have a good selection, but I recommend trying their Cajun tots for sure. Let’s not forget that the staff is super helpful and friendly too. I would recommend trying out this place for casual and fun night out!