Alamo Drafthouse opens in Tempe
If you had any doubts that movie theaters are competing with bars and restaurants for your dining dollars, you just have to visit the new Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Tempe.
Leading up to Thursday’s grand opening — coinciding with the anticipated opening of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” — the high-end theater is giving patrons an incentive to check out the seven-auditorium facility while staff is training.
Through Wednesday, the theater is offering 25 percent off food and non-alcoholic beverages. Tickets can be purchased online for limited show times of new and classic films that include “Avengers: Infinity War” and “The Sandlot.”
The new Alamo boasts seven screens with more than 750 seats — both oversize recliners and luxury rocking chairs — that you select via a reserved-seating system. The hotly anticipated theater will anchor an entertainment and shopping development called The Collective, near Baseline and Rural roads.
Food, craft beer, cocktails
There’s also seat-side service, so moviegoers can order food and drinks without having to get up. Patrons are encouraged to arrive early to order and watch pre-movie programming.
The food menu includes appetizers, salads, pizzas, sandwiches, desserts and milkshakes. Dishes include Hatch green chile pork fries, baby kale chicken Caesar salad, banh mi hot dog, fried egg BLT and sour cream cake doughnuts.
You’ll find a wine list and a wide variety of craft beers, many from Arizona breweries. The cocktail menu features a playful movie theme:
❚ G: Old Favorites, such as the Dude’s White Russian.
❚ PG: Easy Drinking & Familiar, such as the Tony Stark Whiskey Sour.
❚ PG-13: Flavorful & Balanced, such as the Kentucky Buck.
❚ R: Big & Boozy, such as True Grit. The bar will have a Charity on Tap handle featuring a different beer and charity every couple of months. Currently, $1 of every pint of SanTan’s Mr. Pineapple will go to the Pat Tillman Foundation, which provides scholarships and career development to military veterans and their spouses.
More about Alamo
❚ The company is based in Texas and the Chandler location is at 4955 S. Arizona Ave.
❚ For the Tempe location, Alamo tapped Tucson artist Joe Pagac to paint a whimsical, movie-themed mural on the west wall outside of the building.
❚ Turn off your smartphone. Alamo enforces a strict no-texting, no-talking policy. Anyone caught disrupting the movie will be asked to leave.
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
1140 E. Baseline Road, Tempe.