Empire Columbia Park Cinemas

Avoid this place like the plague.
We should have turned around when we saw the dimly lit sign on the highway with missing letters. The parking garage looked like it was going to come crashing on our little Prius. The columns that held the garage up were moldy and the ticket counter (which is outdoors) had rude teenage girls with attitudes.
I went to the ladies bathroom before the movie, and the handle bar wouldn’t flush the toilet no matter how many times I jimmied it. Where was the «out of order» sign that should have been on the door?
When I stepped into the movie theater, the floors were so sticky that it took a little extra force to lift my foot while walking. The upholstery on the chairs was damp, from either sweat or the muggy air. I was itching all over until the movie ended.
After the movie, I went to the bathroom and used a different stall but that one wouldn’t flush either. Maybe they should upgrade to automatic flushing toilets to prevent the foul odor of urine from infiltrating the air.
The icing on the cake was the huge, itchy, bug bite above my right eye when I looked in the bathroom mirror. My whole eye was swollen. I looked like Will Smith in Hitch.
If that place gave me bed-​bugs, I’m suing. I wouldn’t recommend this place to my arch nemesis.

Very rude staff. Screen 11 had bad lighting’s. Called office and one of us walked IN to complain but none turned out and the lights were never fixed. After movie we informed the front desk person (Caucasian male, shaved head) he was horribly rude and was least bothered. Asked for the manager, she walked out and showed no interest to listen to us. Everything about this theater sucks.

The worst experience. Came here for a Bollywood movie which by the way on Tuesdays you still pay full price 10.25 and seniors no discount on Bollywood movies. ??? Why not? This is being racist!
Not to mention the most disgusting theatre I have seen. Flies are in abundance near the concession stand. Near the food. WHERE IS THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT???
Bedbugs???
Not at all happy!

So, my first review here on Unilocal and yup; the winner HAD to be this dump… My husband and I visited this dump today to watch the Sinister 2 (lol wat a joke) as soon as you come to the door-​disgusting is NOT the word… my hand got dirty w some weird slimmy substance– so i had to run to the bathroom-​not before going up the nasty escalators full of a sticky something (human secretion lmaooo) handprints on the railings, and who knows what else!.. the walls couldn’t be any more dirty and nasty, popcorn all over the floor ((yuck)). The movie theater itself was so DAMN DARK and COLD, seats are soooooooo uncomfortable (left w a backpain). Once the (lame) movie finished, i decided to go over to an employee and requested to speak to the manager or to at least provide comment cards for me to leave a comment… unfortunately (as i expected) they didnt have any. the gentleman asked me «why?, is everything ok?» I responded with nope, «just wanted to let the big boss know that this place is disgusting and it’s just getting worse» also added «how can the city inspector visit this place and keep it open?» And his response actually surprised me lol. He actually agreed to my comments. He was actually VERY nice and made me laugh even thou my husband and I had the worse experience seconds ago lol. The only way this theater will close or get cleaned is if WE ((THE PEOPLE)) stop going to this DUMP… it is also giving our city the worse impression. So PLEASE people do not keep going to this dump! Let’s make this shithole close thier doors until a CLEAN and RESPONSIBLE owner (like Kerasotes-​love love :)) make this a nicer place… By the way I’m giving it a star only because that’s the lowest I can choose!

I came here for the 6:15 showing of Sinister 2 and it couldn’t of been worst. I wish there was a minus 10 star rating because that’s what this place deserves. I felt like I had to rush home and shower with clorox so I could disinfect myself! This whole theater is digusstingly dirty, there was food all over the floor and someone had spilled drinks on the escalator and railings. My wife had a long summer dress and she had to pull it up to keep it from getting dirty. The seats were so uncomfortable, they’re leaning forward so much that our backs were hurting just after 5mins of sitting. I will never come here again and I recommend that no one come here either! The place looks like the owners don’t care about anything, they repainted the walls and doors and got paint on everything. Looks like they hired a couple of 5yr olds to paint.

Okay, this is a very badly maintained theater with bare minimum facilities. There aren’t any automated kiosks to order/​pick-​up your tickets, ticket booth staff may/​may not be present but someone will be able to get you tickets. You just have to look for them. As you go up the escalators, take a moment to show your disgust of the litter, popcorn and whatever is thrown on that day. You get the idea.
Now, the actual theater room itself isn’t half as bad as the other outside stuff I mentioned. The screen can be a little dark but the audio quality is decent and the seats aren’t uncomfortable. Get your dose of desi entertainment on a big screen and loud noises but don’t expect anything more.

Worst not clean, was ahead of time before movie start so I purchased 4 tic with family attend told me not to go in yet cuz they need time to clean but I waited out of theater 1 no one cleaned anything nasty seats broken cheese on seats beer bottles on floor popcorn napkins on floor really they did Clean that I would have rated 0 start if it was the option.

HORRIBLE! I wish I couldn’t rate that one star! The prices is above 10 $ for a shitty theater! It’s so dirty and uncomfortable!!! Food is nasty and never fresh! The STAFF IS VERY DISRESPECTFUL! Everyone is stupid. clueless and rude !!! Even going through and putting up with all the crap every time I go. I still continue to go out of desperation for Bollywood movies and still I never get any good treatment
AVOID this theater !!!

Two stars for ticket prices and decent bathroom and the popcorn was really good — not gonna lie!
Went to grab popcorn and the pissy teenager working that day had a response to everything I asked for. Every-​single-​thing!
«We only have large waters — i can’t give you butter on the side only in a little cup»
Then while in standing there he stops our transaction to tell his manager? That she needs to move someone to take tickets — that someone was standing right next to him and it was awkward! We were all kinda chuckling because the supervisor was like ummmm okay whyyyy… Then he started whining «because Andrews better at concession and way wah waaaaah»
Kids yelled at my fiancé for going in too early to theater then come out two seconds later and say he can go in — the place was disgusting and not even clean when we went in so that was just rudeness for now reason.
All in all — we probably won’t be back here.

Horrific experience dirty dingy and old. Bathrooms are worst than the projects. Urine smell and not clean. But they charge you just like the best theaters out there

The theatre smells, trash all over! Women’s bathroom has no soap and nasty! Chose this theatre because of the proximity to my mom’s house. Hate giving bad reviews.

This theater needs some renovations!
I come here once in a blue moon for showtimes that aren’t available elsewhere. The theater is ridiculously understaffed and needs better management!
The theater food: Overpriced stale chips, nachos that haven’t ever been warmed (taste so old), and the popcorn also felt stale.
Cleanliness: Most of the seats were never clean. The row in front of me had soda and garbage all over the floor. Some of the seats were also missing inside of theater two.
It’s a outdated theater that needs some catching up to do!
Avoid it until they fix it!

They really need to get the renovations going on.
I wouldn’t blame the staff, but the theater is super dirty and the chairs are never clean.
The theatre is spacious which would make it a good experience if only it was clean.
Paying regular price for tickets and not getting normal looking tickets? Yep that is pretty sketch.
The food is overpriced, but it usually is at other theaters as well but eh not worth it here.
Overall, you just have to make sure you get there early and don’t end up walking in a dark theatre where chances are you will sit on a chair where there’s soda spilled or cheese all over. There is a spacious parking lot though so that’s good?

Not as bad as these one star reviewers say it was. First off the ticket stubs were just receipts from a regular old cash register instead of a typical ticket, which can throw some people off. I didn’t mind at all. Inside the theater itself had a vintage feel to it. It had a musty smell, like how your basement would smell like. Not bad, but you can tolerate it. Getting to our designated auditorium was not difficult at all. It reminded me of an ‘80s night club with the amount of neon lights and signs.
Now inside auditorium is where it is pretty sketchy. There was no previews or commercials playing even though we were 10 minutes early. There was also no light besides the dim aisle lights. My friends and I had to use our phone lights to get to our seats. Some of the seats looked dirty, but you could definitely still sit in them. When they finally put the projector on it startled me because the sound system was louder than it should be.
Overall this theater is tolerable. I personally enjoyed my experience because it was cool in a vintage way. Like how it would be decades ago.
Note: Going alone might be a bit daunting because most of the auditoriums were not packed at all. I suggest you go with friends if you’re skeptical.

This place is terrible. Not worth the money they charge for tickets. The concession stand prices are highway robbery! $ 7 for a couple of sips of soda because they don’t even fill the cups all the way. They only had Coke and fruit punch available. The order of French fries was more like a sample. The theaters themselves are treacherous. Try navigating around disassembled chairs in the dark. I gave it 1 star so I could post this review.

This is a very mediocre theater at best. The whole thing is very outdated. There was a strong smell of pee leading to the actual theater and the theater had NOT been cleaned after the previous showing. There were soda cups and popcorn on seats and the floor. Needless to say, the bathroom was a horror show. Toilet paper and pee in every single toilet… No seat covers either. You get an excellent leg workout from squatting over the seat which is why I’m okay having to leave one star instead of zero. When we were leaving they had the exit blocked off by those retractable ropes used to make lines which was irritating. There were signs posted saying reclining chairs will be installed in the next 30 days. There were a couple rows of chairs missing from the theater which I guess supports that and there were varying reclining chairs in the concession area. The pictures posted on here were probably added by the theater and represent what they hope their sad theater will become. Oh! I almost forgot, the girl who sold the tickets spent FIVE minutes talking to her friends before calling next… I won’t be returning!

I went to this place to use a Groupon which they honored without problem. I doubt I’ll come back though. It’s clean but a little run down and the concession prices are out of hand. $ 7 for a soda? Escalators were shut down so it was hard to get to the second floor. The theaters were pitch black until the moment the movie started. The place also had a lovely musty smell if that’s something that bothers you. Not the worst experience but not great.

FIRST THINGS FIRST — DO NOT TRUST THE PICTURES ON Unilocal — they don’t have luxury seats — one is of the Starplex in Ridgefield Park, the other are of AMC locations. They do not have reclining seats — they’ve been promising them for months but nothing.
Also they’ve attempted to pull a bait-​and-​switch on the Groupon Vouchers, not accepting them for a film’s first 10-​days. This is not in the fine print and although a manager did accept them, I had contacted Groupon and was told they should accept them with no problems.
Here’s my original review from three weeks ago:
Saw an awesome film — unfortunately not many theaters around were showing it. With that being said, this should be a last resort.
The owners of the theater have essentially pulled a bait-​and-​switch (as a review mentioned) with the Groupon vouchers — saying they wouldn’t be valid for a Hollywood during the first 10-​days of its engagement. (Which was not the terms they were sold on! If this is Groupons’ fault, Groupon should do the right thing and exchange our unused vouchers for a refund)
The theater itself is in very poor repair, I suspect the staff and management do what they can but the owners just don’t care to take care of the place to put the necessary capital into it — I did notice the lobby was brighter and they now have digital displays. The staff still wears Big Cinemas uniforms despite the fact its not a Big Cinemas location any longer. Staffing levels were minimal which made for very slow lines (one line for popcorn and tickets) and the escalators have been out of service forever. I had visited last in January and they were broken then.
I was with my mom can’t really climb all the stairs up to the second floor theater, so we took the elevator — which was stuck for a few minutes. We went down a level (to the projection room) and back up — finally the door opened. And when it did: we discovered the elevator was actually roped off on the second floor! Nice. Nobody told us not to use the elevator!
We arrived at our theatre to find it pitch black. Two other patrons were in the house and they lit up a section for us with their iPhones. The screen was dark and BAM a loud advertisement instantly starts up.
The restrooms were fairly clean — and the concession area seemed clean, as for long term physical renovations — we’ve been hearing «Luxury Seating» and «Renovations» since Cinema Holdings Group — I mean «Empire Cineplex» took over. If you look at their track record of the owners they the slumlords of cinematic exhibition! They’re ran at least 3 theaters into the ground — including their infamous (and not listed on the company website) Park Slope Pavilion. One was closed by its municipality for safety reasons, one they’ve just abandoned.
They also run the Allwood in Clifton which had broken seats and terrible presentation (they projected the film through a crack in the port window leading to a nice uneven line right down the center of the screen), Hudson Mall (which I have not been to but I can only imagine), and two discount houses.
Unless its for Bollywood or limited release films I can’t see why you’d not go next door to Kerastoes. The management and staff seem like nice enough folks with zero support from owners who will just trash the place and close it like they’ve done to every other property they own. The thought of luxury seats are nice but seeing how well maintained the rest of the property is — and yes, this is a challenging theater to run (two floors, 6-​screens, 3 sets of bathrooms) — I can’t imagine they’d install them the right way.
I know this place is a challenging theater to run but Empire Cineplex choose to take it on. The lack of work they’ve done in six-​months inspires little confidence in their ability to deliver comfortable facilities. The projection and sound were fine I should note, and the popcorn was good — the rest of the experience was just maddening.