Alamo Drafthouse CinemaReviews of drafthouse.com

Great atmosphere a good place to enjoy a movie with drinks and food. I love coming to this theater

The Crystal City (Virginia) Alamo is a treasured venue. I saw The Accountant 2 today, on a muggy and hot Northern Virginia Friday afternoon; all was cool and clean inside. Got a White Claw from the bar ($8.25 + tip) and brought it into the theater. An attendant promptly met me at my seat and after checking to confirm that I was in the right seat he took my order (a side of fries with extra ketchup) and was back in a flash with my order and a cup of water. I've made Alamo a go-to for a couple of years now. What makes it special for me is the presentation of archived film clips they show in the 30 minutes before the coming attractions. For today, in keeping with the tie in with the FBI in the movie, the clips were from ancient FBI training films, and a great short film called Good Cop Baby Cop. You might not see stuff like this anywhere else. You can reach the theater by taking the Blue or Yellow Metro trains to Crystal City and walking through the deserted mall; there's also a Metroway Bus stop across the street, which you can take from the Braddock Road Metro station. Update: Still a five-star review, but I should add: I went midday on May 23 to see the latest Tom Cruise Mission Impossible installment. Great flick; totally worth the time. Still a five-star review for the theater (cleanliness, service, best pre-show entertainment on the planet). But we were ten minutes into the actual MI film when the lady in the row directly in front of me got bored, apparently. She's on her phone, randomly screening whatever. My photo shows my start time and her screen time. She's one row in front of me and I lean over and say, and I quote, "Would you please turn off your screen?" I swear, that's all I said, and it took possibly 3 seconds. Fast forward to when the movie is over and I'm stepping down to leave. Husband blocks my way out. Says if I ever talk to his woman like that again I will face physical harm. (More like "if you say something like again that I'll kill you," but you get the drift.) I ask him if I'm free to leave and he lets me pass. I gotta say Alamo's pregame show is way better than most about expressly telling patrons to kill their phones and be cool. And Alamo expressly offers to redirect misconduct - all we need is to push the call button and a staff member will respond. If there's noise involved, at least. But there was no noise here - just a stupid iPhone screen. So my take on this, supplementing my earlier positive recommendation (which I'm not changing now) is that if you have a CCW you might want to come to the theater properly armed. Had I had my 1911 during the exchange between me and my fellow theatergoer, it would likely have taken a different course. I'm not one to advocate armed interactions, but when the patrons of a theater threaten me with violence or the risk of harm like this guy did, I'm willing to respond with appropriate force.

I made a mistake and accidentaly signed up for the Season Pass under the incorrect account (I had wanted to purchase a gift for my partner). This was entirely on me and I didn't really look into the program before buying. I contacted Alamo customer service and Marvin S. was able to competely refund and set me up so I could correctly order the pass under the right account. Marvin S. was incredibly kind, patient, knowledgeable and got my issue solved ASAP. Alamo is an incredible physical place and I was zero percent surprised to see that their customer service excellence extended to the digital space as well. Thank you very much Marvin! You saved the day!