When we talked to locals about things to do in Austin, one thing that kept coming up was Alamo Drafthouse. I asked myself, how good could a movie theater be that everyone keeps talking about it? Giving it the benefit of the doubt, I went online and checked what was showing. It was my favorite John Travolta movie! Face/Off!
If you haven’t seen this and you like corny action movies with ridiculous explosions, Face/Off is right up your alley. I don’t want to give up too much of this complex plot away, but two men switch faces. Explosions! Crazy Nic Cage being Crazy. John Travolta playing Nic Cage. It’s everything I could ever ask for in a popcorn movie.
So of course, we went to Alamo Drafthouse to watch Face/Off. We bought our tickets at the lobby and walked into the theater. The seats were large and roomy with a little table in front that holds the menu, the order sheets, and any food or drinks that are brought. I thought that having a server going through the theater would be distracting, but it wasn’t. Before the beginning of the movie, a server comes through, explains everything and gives you a chance to write down your order if you know beforehand. If you want something in the middle of the movie or a refill, just write your order on the sheet of paper and place it vertically on the stand on your table and a server will whisk it away and return with the goods.
But that’s not the only thing that made Alamo Drafthouse awesome. There were in-theater pyrotechnics! So they weren’t exactly like Backdraft from Universal Studios, but there were enough flames shooting out of the flame thrower thing during explosions in the movie and enough confetti exploding everywhere to make the visit worth it. It was a nice surprise and upped the cornball factor of the movie.
As for the food, it wasn’t half bad based on what I tried. I got some fries and queso and Will got popcorn. He claimed his popcorn was too salty. Maybe that’s how they get you to not take advantage of endless popcorn. I liked that it came in a stainless steel bowl, for that “I just made popcorn at home” experience. My fries were perfectly crisp, hot, and the queso was trashy in a convenience-store way.
Alamo Drafthouse is definitely worth visiting, especially if you don’t want to brave the puke smell of going to a crappy college bar on dirty 6th, but want to do something fun during a night out.
Alamo Drafthouse
Several locations in Austin