Metreon

This place has the look and feel of a mall, but it’s not? Maybe I just haven’t found the rest of it but it seems like there’s just the movie theater, Target, and a food court here. I’ve been here a few times, mostly because this is the closest Target to me, and once to watch a movie. I’ve only seen it really packed once, on Christmas. Seems like a really good place to have lunch!

I’ve read about picking up bed bugs in movie theaters but I try not to think about creepy crawly things when I’m sitting there in the dark. The smell in the theater (The Witch — April 9^th) was so awful and just kept wafting by, surrounding me. Aaarrgh! Days later and I can still smell it :(
Management informed us that the smell was coming from a couple of paying customers and there is nothing they can do about it.

The Metreon suck now. This place have change into something that is not recognizable. This place use to be so much fun but now it full of overprice food court. The Metreon use to have a playstation store and an arcade. They open at 10:30am and the new movie that came out starts at 11:00am. It only let people 30 minutes to buy tickets and whatnot and get to the actual theater and find seats.

I really like this shopping center, they offer everything from cellphone kiosk shops to movie theaters to high end restaurants to a full size target store on their top floor. The goods and services are kinda pricey here, but everything is always top notch quality, you definitely get what you pay for. I like that this shopping center has a decent sized movie theater arcade, they offer a handful of pinball and claw machines and quite a few racing and first person shooters. I’d highly recommend this place to anyone who is looking for something fun to do while out and about in the city.

The Metreon is legitimately the most average place in San Francisco.
It’s basically a food court that serves just about the same type of food (same restaurants even) as the Westfield food court attached to a movie theater, a target, and a rooftop event space. While that sounds classy and all, it’s nothing special.
The Metreon of my youth was a place of wonder. I remember the Sony stores and multi-​levels of various stores that scaled the mall, and all is left is open, white space with the most standard of food court offerings.
Still, it’s not a bad place to hang out. The Metreon offers free wi-​fi, and there’s enough food options that there’s something for everyone (even if nothing really stands out as a wow factor).
I do miss the classier, more 90s theater feel of the Metreon of the past and feel that the execution of creating a clean, open modern space has resulted in something that feels sort of dry and austere.
Hopefully, the Metreon scales up and adds more class to it instead of feeling like just a place to go before bars open up.
TIP: The Target is pretty chill.

The big movie theater room at the end of the hall does not seem very safe compared to two other movie theaters I’ve been to recently. There’s no room between aisles to move through. They pack people in too tightly. Getting to the exits in a hurry if the place is full would be very difficult.
On the plus side, picture and sound quality is very good.

Very good conveniently located theater, since they added that Target downstairs, it’s a great place to go on a date night, then go get groceries after,

IMAX 3-​D for Star Wars is experiencing technical difficulties! I really hope I did not take a day off to stare at a blank screen with a group of angry people! They’re coming by to give us free passes for next time! This is awful!

Assuming you’re looking this up for IMAX:
If you sit in the front row and try to watch a 3D movie, the glasses only allow you to see 60−70% of the screen at one time — which wasn’t a problem at all for Star Wars. Non 3D movies, everything would have been fine.
The Laser IMAX does give some pretty bright whites, but if you’ve got 3D glasses on, you’re dimming the picture so it doesn’t matter too much.

*this review is for the IMAX theater*
I always come here with the bf for the «hot» new releases; usually the Marvel movies, Inception, & (just recently) Star Wars! Unlike other AMC theaters, this has the actual IMAX screen. I love how we don’t have to arrive early and wait in line to grab the good seats. For IMAX, there is reserved seating– so I can come in late and not have to worry about having my seat stolen.
I do miss the classic IMAX intro that they used to play before the start of the movies (showing you all the speakers that the IMAX has to offer & the sick beat). Now they just play previews like every other theater.
I would take away 1 star for the intro but I can’t due to the fact that they allow outside drinks into the theater. Yay! Metreon has a Sharetea located inside of it; one of my favorite boba spots to check out. So it’s a huge plus that I can sip on my favorite drink without having to sneak it in.

***Metreon’s big pluses are its offering of AMC and Target (both rarities in Downtown San Francisco); unfortunately, while this movie and dining center has a fresh, modern and clean food court, their eatery choices are not as strong as what is offered just outside of the center***
I am not sure what the parking situation is, but Metreon is located close to a BART station.

The 4 stars are in part for nostalgia’s sake, to be honest. A part of me prefers the «Sony Metreon» of my mid 90s early 00s childhood memories from family trips to SF from SoCal. But recently, since moving to the East Bay, I’ve been back to the Metreon with friends and despite all the changes, I’ve enjoyed my time here. I have surprisingly — or maybe inevitably — made new memories here, while still associating it with some of the old warm, fuzzy feelings… haha.
I remember there being a large arcade area with DDR, and I’d be so impressed with the groups of teens demolishing the game. (And I’d imagine that SF young people/​kids would come here after school by themselves, or just skip school… and it’s funny because a friend later confirmed to me that this was pretty much what they did. Hah.) There was also a comic book store upstairs that we’d go to, to buy Moebius comics for my artist uncle. It just all felt like a really cool and fun destination to me as a kid… and for a while, they also had a huge Where the Wild Things Are playground. The details were impressive. Anyone else remember that? I also remember Spider-​Man hanging outside the building when the first reboot movies came out. The food court here was also really crowded (we always had a hard time finding tables), and we liked this Japanese ramen place.
Now all that has been changed, entirely different food court and options. There’s the AMC and Target. There’s Sharetea, which is cool to see, and I think the first Sharetea I tried. The lines are always long here, with the moviegoers, but moves fast and you don’t have to wait very long for your drink. Buckhorn is also in a back, lower corner of the foodcourt. A couple of dessert options right by the entrance door, always look deserted. Seems like a loss.
I still feel like the vibe of this place is a fun, invigorating one. Maybe it’s the high, clean, and modern architecture that contributes to it and the various crowds of people who come in. The AMC itself though has such narrow rows, a pretty tight space, which I was initially surprised about, but then again it’s SF with limited space and many people.

They have more option of food besides just popcorn, they have the chicken tenders and curly fries which is the best to have with popcorn and watch a good movie. The place is decent to watch a movie just like any other movie theater.

Pretty neat place. I highly suggest walking because traffic here can get really bad and parking is expensive.
My favorite store here would probably be the boba.
I think it’s really cool that they have an AMC here too.
What’s really cool is that the Metreon also has a food court with a pretty good selection of food. The bathrooms here are nice and clean as well!
If you go towards the back, you will end up in the Yerba Buena Gardens which is a pretty little area. Very relaxing.

The Metreon is an all encompassing place to do shopping. Although there are not that many stores, Target with it’s department store incarnation, a movie theater, several places to eat and Yebra Buena Gardens are at least enough. Westfield Mall is a bit closer to transit though, but there is a parking garage adjacent to this Metreon.
I have been here several times. It has been made to look extremely elegant. Don’t forget the IMAX theater, because in the Metreon’s IMAX system, the 3-​D really pops out unlike almost every other place that does 3-​D. The mall looks to innovate having done Kaiser Permanente health exhibits and having touch screen soda machines. The Asian food selection is vast.
Metreon is simply intruiging.

This place has definitely upgraded with new things over the years. I used to come here and watch movies all the time, but I prefer the drive to Daly City instead… one for parking. It’s a cool place to just hang out, especially with more things to do like target and such. I think the self ticketing machines are nice because I don’t remember them having it before, but most places have that now and it’s good to avoid the long line. I think this place is clean in my opinion. Coming here to watch a movie isn’t much different… at least I think compared to other places. We did come to play the room escape. I think it could’ve been better because it was too noisy since the roof is open and it’s also too crowded in the room. still liking the upgraded feels though

Metreon has definitely evolved from what it started out to be which was a giant Sony advertisement. Now it’s become something that it needs to be in order to survive, a food court. It’s a little bit of a Debbie Downer to see all the once popular areas shut down like Airtight Garage and the PlayStation Store. I miss the skyway on the mezzanine level that I used to walk over to get from the one side of the Metreon to the Montage restaurant and the Airtight Garage which led to the escalators to head up to the movie theater. I just loved being able to get lost in there, spending time at the PlayStation Store to try out some new games, and hanging out at the Airtight Garage to play a few rounds of Dance Dance Revolution. Metreon was THE spot to be whenever Sony released a new system.
When Target finally opened, it made Metreon feel really small and not open spaced. Pretty much all traces of what it used to be have been absorbed by the department store. But with its addition came the convenience of having to buy cheaper drinks and snacks to take to the movie theater.
I still visit Metreon on a consistent basis because of AMC IMAX theater which is a true IMAX theater and not like the pitiful wannabe IMAX at AMC Van Ness. The food options are decent if you need a quick bite and it does make for a good meeting spot with friends and family. As a food court and convenience store, Metreon does the job, but it isn’t the same «entertainment complex» that it used to be.

So this is an epic theater for sure. Great venue and all that… Sadly the reason I’m writing a not-​so-​nice review was because the buttered popcorn I ordered did something reaaaally odd/​bad to my lips. I basically had a rash outlining the inside of both my upper and lower lip for over A WEEK after eating their popcorn. It was noticeable as soon as I stopped, and it’s obvious it was caused by eating it. It’s a terrible habit of mine, but I always eat popcorn. I’m a fiend for it. I’ve literally never had a reaction like this before; so this makes me think it was a problem caused by the food and not just a personal bodily issue with my mouth.
I’ll probably go here for a movie again if I’m ever in the area, but I won’t go out of my way to go here and I’ll NEVER order food from there.

AMC Metreon is my go-​to place for movies, and the foodstuffs and Target and other stuff in the area are a nice touch. I’ve been to a bunch of the restaurants in the food court, most recently ShareTea (boba tea) and Moolicious (crepes), though I almost never come here solely for the food. Metreon is in a convenient location that’s easy to get to from downtown by transit, car, walking, whatever. Plus, since its backyard is Yerba Buena, there are oftentimes festivals and other events going on.

Has definitely improved over the years. I used to come here only to watch movies at AMC or play pool and drink at Jillian’s. Since they keep adding to the Metreon, I find myself here more often.
One of the main reasons? They have a Target! No more driving all the way to Colma to pick up a couple things. Instead, I can just stop by the Metreon during my lunch break. A great convenience!
As for food, I’ve checked out: Buckhorn Grill, Freshroll, SF Soup Company, Sharetea, Split Bread and Super Duper. I find myself going back to Sharetea numerous times to get my boba fix.
I’m glad the Metreon has stepped up its game a little. The food offerings are better and I have more than a movie as a reason to frequent it.

Listen, I’m a tourist so I like this space and the building and walking back and forth deciding between the few, pricey food options. Tourists enjoy this shit. Also there’s a movie theater, which seems cool. I really appreciate the outdoor space and seating, as well as the wifi. I had lunch here one day and I was over it but we don’t have this type of structure/​space in NYC so be thankful San Fran! Your city isn’t turning every square foot into a boutique coffee shop (am I wrong? have I been missing that too?)

Cool spot to hang out, but:
Small choice of restaurants of poor quality and high price, not the best service.
The bathrooms are disgusting. The soap is watered down to last longer (which I’m sure it’s a health code violation), the hand driers are not clean, so you have to be careful of not touching any of the grime around them. The bathrooms are used during the whole day for homeless people to shave and shower by parts, which I think it’s unacceptable for the bathroom of a private venue. Be careful not to touch any hairs while washing your hands.

Dont like the prices of movies now adays but I dont mind coming here to the Metreon. I like the idea of the popcorn stand being outside of the theater, it breaks up the crowd a big. Plus if you really want movie popcorn you can have it without watching movie.
Its a standard theater but cool thing is the food court below and target, which you can bring in if your smart about it.