The Plaza Cinema Cafe – Downtown Orlando

As part of the new downtown arts initiatives, the City of Orlando has decided to plop a movie theater in the middle of downtown via The Plaza Cinema Cafe. My partner and I decided to drop by especially since there was a 50% of ticket deal with the Buy Local Orlando (get your free card here at http://www.buylocalorlando.net/) and brought my little sister as well to check it out.

This place is located right above the Bento cafe restaurant and we actually enjoyed a meal there before heading upstairs. Thankfully both Bento and Plaza Cinema offer parking validation for the attached garage.

We headed up the escalator and stood in line for our tickets. I noticed that students and seniors were the same price at $4.75 per ticket! What a deal compared to the $8.00 and up rip offs the other movie theaters dish out for student pricing, I thought.

I think the Plaza Cinema Cafe needs to look at their management here as the staff looks really untrained. There are no roped off area for collecting tickets, just one of their guys in black standing inside in the middle. I can imagine it can get frustrating when there’s a rush.

The cafe line is right in the front of the theater inside. The lines are a bit confusing and the employees are even more confused. They seem like they just got off from school or something. The place is brand new and really classy but it sucks the whole experience when the staff has no concept of service. I think they need to get new management and leadership here to train everyone.

I ordered a chocolate brownie sundae for our dessert and it was actually pretty huge. The ice cream was similar to ice cream from the grocery store and so was the brownie but that was fine.

The hallways inside the theatre are elegant and modern, similar to a 21st century hotel hallway or office hallway. There is a special art gallery exhibit area as well featuring spotlighted artists.

The seats at the theatre are big and the arm rests are huge! The theatre filled up pretty quick and we were lucky to be there early because some people had to leave since they couldn’t find enough seats for their party. At first I thought the sound was going to be horrible from the pre-preview commercials, but as the movie started it wasn’t bad.

Overall this theatre is pretty sweet, located downtown for a quick movie and clubbing night afterwards. There is even a bar towards the back near theatre 10 with beer and liquor for our adult friends.

I really want to see it succeed but they need to step up on their management and staff training and things will be fine. They also need a better website.

They also serve sandwiches in addition to the standard movie theatre popcorn and candy fare but I don’t know if I am ready to trust them with sandwiches yet.

The Plaza Cinema Cafe – Downtown Orlando
(321) 558-2878
155 S Orange Ave
Orlando, FL 32801
http://www.plazacinemacafe.com/