AMC Dine-in Theatres Block 37

First of all, this is not your typical movie theatre you or your parents used to go to. If your willing to shell out $ 18.00 per person after city «entertainment taxes» to watch a movie in style, comfort and luxury, then you must head over to AMC’s Block 37 newly constructed dine-​in movie theatre. The theatre is fairly new as I was told that it just opened some time last year in mid-​December and it looks fabulous! My husband and I decided to avoid the crowds and wait it out to see Star Wars on a Tuesday night at their 9:30 pm showing and boy was it worth the money and the experience!!!
The theatre is located on the 4^th floor of the Block 37 complex. Upon entrance, you can either present your pre-​paid ticket online or purchase your tix on the spot at their concierge desk. As we were waiting for our suite to open, we tested out their red fancy leather reclining seats in the lobby (they only have two, check out my pics) and my gawd were they super plush and comfy! They literally look and feel like 1^st class seats on a major airliner! The black button to recline your seat is either on your left/​or right sides (near your thigh) depending on your seat location and there is enough space in front or behind you to recline almost horizontally!!! Not that you’d want to sleep there or anything. Although you very much could!!! Each chair has a slide away tray table with cup rest to hold your food and drink. The suite itself still smells very much clean and new and I only hope they continue to maintain this facility that way. After all, you are paying a premium for this so its only fair that they would continue to hold up their end of the bargain! Each cinema suite is intimate and cozy with a max of 40 seats in each one with wide spaces between the aisles to move about and recline. In addition to this, they serve a full food and alcoholic drink menu therefore classifying this AMC as an adults only (18+) theatre. No whiny children or loud raucous adolescents kicking the back of your seats here! Yes. Just absolute peace and quiet while your enjoying your movie.
Their bathrooms have touch less Dyson grade sinks and soap dispensers and the bathrooms are Odorless. ODORLESS!!!
So the cinema suites work like this… Within a few minutes of entering the theater after you’ve comfortably settled into your chair, your waitress/​waiter greets and introduces themselves to you. Each guest or couple has their own personal attendant! Bonus!!! Your waitress/​waiter should show you how to push the call light if you need to order any food or drink, assist with any questions you may have etc etc. Basically the button is there for you to press with someone to wait on you throughout the whole movie. This totally reinvents and upgrades the experience of going «to the movies» nowadays. I mean seriously, if you could make this experience any more perfect, why not throw in a massage function in the seats!!! Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Absolutely terrible service! I had my button pressed for 20 minute when I finally decided to go grab a manager. I ordered a drink before the movie started and still hadn’t received it an hour after it started. Won’t be coming back.

This is my new favorite theater! First of all, it opened in mid-​December for the première of the new Star Wars movie. The place even smells new! Second, the seats are plush and recline. The theater is small and intimate and there are not a lot of seats because of the recliners, but I felt so comfortable watching a movie here. Third, service here is really good. You get your own personal waiter/​waitress. I’ve never had that at any movie theater! My one complaint is that I wish the bill was settled before the movie started. Instead, my bill was brought to me towards the end of the movie but while the movie was still going on. Hopefully in the future this will change. Fourth, the food was also really good. I had the chicken bites. Yummie!!! And last but not least, the movie theater is accessible via CTA Red/​Blue line and the train terminal is connected to the mall where the theater is located so you never have to go outside. Love love love this place. I will be back soon!

This place is brand new so while it does have some work to do, it’s very promising! It’s an interesting concept. Essentially «mini-​theatres» where servers take your food and drink order while you lounge in the super comfy reclining leather chairs. It’s located on the 4^th floor and when you get off the elevator, turn left. There are no signs saying this and if you take a right, it’s a dead end.
The food came out quickly, but there are some kinks… hot chocolate was cold and my husbands drink order and a shared plate didn’t come out the first time because either the server didn’t hear the ask (previews had started) or there was a gap in their system. The food was great… never thought I’d be able to have a yummy chicken quinoa bowl during a movie. But again, the temperature was off. so again, there are some things to work out.
Overall, I enjoyed it and will go back, but maybe I’ll wait a few months to let the place break in a bit more!

Its a fun concept but it can get very pricey. I went to a early movie on my day off, i was the only person who ordered food so i didn’t find the wait staff to be a distraction during the movie. I could see it being a distraction in a more crowded theater The waitress took my order during the previews I ordered a beer and the bacon and ranch burger with fries. The beer arrived a few minutes later which was nice. The burger followed a few mins later. The burger was pretty good as were the fries, it was a Step above fast food quality. The check came ten mins into the movie, i signed then and handed it back and then put my feet up and enjoyed the movie and the rest of my beer. I will come back but i still prefer the AMC on Michigan Ave.

First time to this wonderful movie Concept in the loop. On the fourth floor of block 37 and it was quite the deal. The bar has great and made some excellent drinks while we looked over State street below. The movie was outstanding with our appetizers. What a great way to disappear for a afternoon out

$ 15 and change for a MATINEE!!! No thanks. BTW, it goes up to $ 17 in the afternoon. Add 3D? Who can guess? $$$ that’s just exploitative.

I have now seen 4 movies at this location, and each experience has been well worth the price of admission. I hope they maintain the cleanliness and service quality as well as the generous number of screenings for each film. Well done thus far.

Am I really writing a review of a movie theater? I asked myself. And then I decided yes, I am, because I just visited this new theater for the first time and interacted with probably a dozen employees who were extremely nice and wanted to make sure I had a pleasant experience.
The reclining seats were comfy and not *too* close to your neighbor (something that bugs me a little in the AMC 600 theater in river north) I even reverted back to childhood and ordered chicken tenders and dangit if they weren’t shockingly delicious. This place is pricey but I would say worth it because you get a really nice experience.

Such a great experience! The service and the theater experience were good. The food was just okay, but the drinks were pretty good. I’d say eat first snack there and don’t forget to order a few drinks before the movie ends.

We had a great experience the two times we’ve visited. The theater takes up the top floor of the Block 37 shopping area. Super convenient if you’re close to a Blue Line.
We watched a movie in two different auditoriums, one which was their largest capacity at 40ish people, and the other in a smaller one at about 15 people. Either one is good. The seats are the best I’ve sat in a fancy theater. Very leathery and plush and recline-​y. The last row does not recline all the down but it’s really dark back there if that’s what you prefer. And there’s lots of space between the rows. Each chair comes with a huge swiveling TV-​dinner type tray with a spot for your drink.
The menu is expensive, as expected. The only offer one size of popcorn (large) at $ 8 which you have to order through your server. We ordered the quesadillas on one visit and they were actually surprisingly really good — a generous serving and came with chips, pico de gallo, sour cream, and guacamole. Your server brings your receipt about 20 min into the movie, which can be distracting but to their credit they try not to be.
The movie-​related stuff is just ok – the screen is not gigantic and the sound system is probably just standard.
Check out the bathrooms though. Dyson’s done it again and created a faucet and dryer in one. Sorcery.

This is just around the corner from me, so that’s good–
I went on Christmas Eve and I found everyone to be nice, the place was clean and there were no issues–
My only complaint is I’m not overly fond of Dine-​In option only-​I wanted a small popcorn, however that is not available, only a bucket the size of my head is, which is $ 8-​The drink was around $ 4, which was fine I guess–
I think this place would be so much better to do away with the Dine-​In portion, just let people buy what they want, no need to have servers running around getting orders, dropping off the check etc.
Movies aren’t cheap now, so $ 16 for a ticket, plus $ 12 for popcorn, which I only hate 2 handfuls and ½ of my drink, so $ 28 is up there for entertainment–

I think this theater is getting better. I was here on New Year’s Day and didn’t have any of the issues noted in other Unilocal reviews. I did hear that they opened this new theater earlier than planned to allow more Star Wars fans to catch the latest movie, which could’ve caused some of those other issues.
My boyfriend and I got into our theater at the earliest possible time, 20 minutes prior to the movie starting, and were almost immediately greeted by our server. He did a good job running thru the food and drink options and gave a few recommendations. He was professional and polite.
Food and drinks both came out without much of a wait. I got the boneless wings off the appetizer menu and they actually reminded me of Chick Fil-A’s nuggets. They were really good — hot and fresh out the kitchen. I got the red sangria to drink and it was good too, even had a few slices of fruit. My boyfriend had the Cali Chicken sandwich it was huge. He said it was good, and it did look pretty tasty.
The seats reclined all the way, the theater was clean, no annoying guests. The only tiny bump in otherwise smooth experience was that the cash out process wasn’t over when the movie ended. No big deal though — we had a few more minutes to relax in the recliners!

Go for the small theater and plush recliners (skip the back row — where the backs don’t fully recline, as we sadly discovered) but don’t plan on a professional food service.
We had a hard time getting a server, my husband had to ask 3 times about his beer, and we had to inquire with staff standing outside in order to pay our bill when no one came after the movie credits ended.
Love the concept but really poor execution. As other reviewers said, hopefully it gets better.

«I’ve got it. We’ll reinvent the cinema model completely for the 21^st century»
I’m listening…
«First we’ll add massive seats that recline»
Brilliant
«Second, we’ll make the theatres smaller and charge more for the experience»
Oookayy…
«Third, we’ll make it really labour intensive and incredibly complex, so that the poor staff are running around hunched over throughout the movie, distracting the customers, leaving cheques on their trays out of nowhere in the dark, halfway through the movie and generally taken everything we’ve learnt about running a movie theatre and toss it out of the window and start from scratch.»
Like a bad MBA group breakout on reinventing an existing industry.
Nope. Not at all. (2^nd star for massive seats)

Overall, I really enjoyed my movie going experience at this new theater. I like that the theaters were small, had full reclining seats, and a nice food and drink menu. I like the whole concept of the dine-​in theater.
That said, there were some kinks that I think will work themselves out with time. Our server was very friendly, explained the menu and how to order and all that stuff like an old pro. When she brought things in during the film, she was quiet and you barely noticed her, thus not really interrupting the show for others. Other servers were not that stealthy. One walked in during the show, speaking loudly while taking an order and being a general disruption. It was very odd how some staff members seemed really well trained, while for others it seemed like it was their first day.
Aside from those kinks, I found the rest of the experience to be good. The gumbo mac and cheese was tasty, my cocktail was good and our server was top-​notch. I’d give it a 3.5, and hope that time will fix some of the early glitches.

This would be my theater of choice from now on! I love the small and intimate — 6 rows only– theater size. The food is indulgently wonderful. You much try the ranchero burger, the brussel sprout salad, and the gumbo mac. The only downside is that servers are a tad slow. But at least you have a movie to watch while waiting.

Don’t listen to the bad reviews; the kinks appear to have been worked out. We saw Star Wars here and arrived to a clean theater with the 3D glasses set out at our comfortable, fully reclining seats. The server was friendly and attentive. We ordered a round of drinks and a snack — pretzel bites, which were delicious — and he offered to bring a second round of drinks 45 minutes later so he wouldn’t have to interrupt us during the show. We accepted and the second round arrived right on time. None of the servers were intrusive; they seemed to go out of the way to make sure the viewing experience was unimpeded. Four stars only because the screens are small. I would definitely return.

Awesome concept, poor execution.
The set up is really awesome. Huge reclining chairs and little tables at each seat to eat your food on. A full bar and a button at each seat to alert a waiter so you can order food and drink before and during a movie.
However, for this to work you have to have good staff to wait on the theaters. This is where it falls apart. After I pushed the button, I waited 45 minutes and no one came to my seat so I could order a drink. No one gave me a bill. I had to leave to movie to find out what was going on! The waitress was terrible, just terrible!!! I went to the bathroom and there was 10 staff chilling outside the theaters. What are you doing!?! People in my show waited forever for our server. I think they hired some awful staff to open with.
My hope is they will get rid of the bad apples and the service will improve.

I am adding to my first review. Very attentive staff. Amazing location. Covers most of the 4^th floor. This theater made a great addition to the loop. I will return soon. Clean location with plenty of space. Once again very attentive and helpful staff. Keep up the great work.