It's a very old concept, dinner and a movie. Many entrepreneurs across this country have tried this merging of movie and dinner approach, some good, some not so good, and most good ones I knew have gone out of business. (Oddly I know of some badly executed ones that are still in business.)
In this town we have Central Cinema, and they do it in good taste! They have decent drinks (a small but tasteful variety of beers includes microbrews, and some wines - wish there were mixed drinks, but oh well), a succinct but somewhat interesting menu (personal sized pizzas that are not just pepperoni, sandwiches, salads, "tapas plate" which includes killer hummus, edamade, pig in a blanket with turkey or tofu option, and also rich desserts), and usually a good selection of one movie at a time.
I like their movie selection - this time we saw Vodka Lemon, a bittersweet old people romance flick from an ex-Iraqi Kurdish director set in a little Armenian village. They'll show good older movies like Run Lola Run and Triplets of Belleville (one of my all-time favorite!) in the coming days. Whoever picks movies for this place has a good taste.
The food, while they try, is not that stellar but sufficient to serve your needs when you want to combine dinner that's not hot dog/popcorn and a movie. I do appreciate that it's not just a burger and pizza fare. Their herbal tea is good, hummus excellent, pizzas pretty good, salmon burger satisfactory, but the edamame was mushy and kind of gross. This last time I went for a quirky option of pig in a blanket, and while the pastry had good ingredients and intentions, it was a little mushy inside also.
They play old cartoons (like Betty Boop) and interesting old educational clips (sometimes satirical while the original was not meant to be so) before the show, making the wait time more entertaining and much more interesting than a conventional movie theater. The wait staff is friendly and usually helpful.
Overall I give it a "great" rating, because of their semi-interesting menu selections, availability of alcohol, excellent pre-movie entertainment and excellent movie choices. Movies are cheap here ($5), and in my mind, we should always encourage combining drinks, better food and a movie :-)
P.S. If you ever go to Boulder, don't miss Boulder Theater - there's nothing like watching The Big Lebowski in bathrobes while sipping White Russians, in the middle of downtown.
more