Mendon Drive-In

The new owners’ greed has really killed this place We showed up an hour and forty five minutes early with advanced tickets, only to wait in a 100+ car line. There are four ticket booths, but only two attendants shuttling between the four windows, as they cheaped out on employees, so it took forever to get in. It didn’t really matter though, as the show was so wildly over-​sold that the movie was already full to capacity. The grouchy guy at the ticket booth told us that buying an advance ticket did not guarantee us a seat, it old got us admission. Apparently they do not grasp the concept of an advanced ticket.
After we slogged our way through the traffic with no idea what to do as the movie was already full, some poor teenager told us that we would have to park at the other movie and walk over to watch the feature we bought tickets for as standing room viewers, which again, is nonsense, as we bought an advanced ticket. At that point, we just wanted to leave and get our money back, but even that proved difficult with the choking traffic and chaos, as none of the poor high schoolers working the lot had any idea where to put anyone. Eventually, one of the owners parked us on the ramp leading in to the drive-​in, and we decided to stay, though I’m fairly sure this constituted a fire hazard. The final insult was seeing one of the Andleman brothers taking pictures of the full house from the roof of the snack bar, no doubt to brag about the great turnout online! I’m sure the people who bought tickets and had to sit on the ground or be turned away have a different story to tell.
Sound like a fun family night out to you?

I brought my boys here every Friday night of the summer for years! We loved it …the snack bar food was delicious and sometime we would bring a picnic either way it was a wonderful night! Last night for the first time in several years I went back with my son, daughter in law and grandson (his first drive in) the staff was friendly… the grounds were clean… that’s where the good ends and my complaining begins the snack bar food was gross! We spent 56.00 and threw everything away except the fries. This is not the snack bar from a few years and owners ago! If the new owners want to keep people from bringing food in, I would suggest working on the quality of food being served and it would be nice to have options like a salad or fruit… sandwich and chips —anything but the frozen soy burger (taste like the hockey pucks from school lunch 40 years ago) oh and the rule not to bring coolers and food in is actually absurd at a drive in and even more absurd when the food being sold is so bad I wouldn’t serve it to dogs!

I’m heartbroken. For years, I loved this place. Brought my family here several times each summer, usually with a caravan of neighbors and their kids. But now there’s new owners and everything has gone terribly, terribly wrong. The food had been great, similar to pub food, good burgers and fries, etc. But now it’s like something you’d get in the school cafeteria. Tiny portions, bland and lukewarm, and they charge twice as much for it. People used to come with beer and wine, they’d bring pizza, snacks, coolers, and it was always a great family atmosphere. Now they’ve banned coolers and won’t allow you to bring in your own food and drinks, forcing you to purchase their nasty food at ridiculous prices. My neighbors and I all agree that it would be better to hold on to the fond memories of the way The Mendon Twin used to be rather than ever go back and see what it’s become. So sad.

First time going and very disappointing.
The good: great views. Clean bathrooms. Clear picture on screen. Minimal interruptions from cars around us.
The bad: five times the teenage or 20 year old parking attendant Nazi on his golf cart came to our car with different complaints. No smoking in this area. Fine-​however it was a rookie mistake since we’ve never been her before. However look around and see that 3 other people have lit cigarettes in hand. He came over again-​your car needs to be moved closer to the pole. Fine-​car moved. 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th time he came over to tell me to turn off my running parking lights. I have a new car and we tried the manual, Google and even the car next to us offered some advice and still they wouldn’t turn off. The parking lot Nazi grumbled «ok just Figure it out.» Figuring it was ok since we were in the first row we wouldn’t be nothing anyone in front of us. Wrong! He came over again and shined his flashlight inside of my car DURING the movie and told us to turn them off. You’ve got to be kidding me? At this point I’m getting harassed by this kid. Hello-there’s people smoking-​kids running around and dogs off leashes but my daytime running lights are bothering you that much? Seriously disappointed. At Least the movies were good!
The ugly: a gigantic dog turd on the ground next to the snack bar.

Wow — New Rule! No coolers and no outside food or drinks! $ 27.00 to get in and now they expect me to shell out money for their disgusting food! We are a family of four and always loved the drive in for a reasonable family night out. Most summers we were at the drive in at least once a week. Won’t be back — cheaper to go to a movie indoors!!!

Great drive and very good food good picture and great audio plus they show very good movies good place to go out for the night

Drive in is the best! quality experience, food, always fun for everyone of all ages.

I live on Long Island and grew up going to drive in’s. Unfortunately, the drive in theaters have become extinct on the island and replace with the indoor multi plex. So during a visit to MA I was so excited to stumble across the Mendon Drive-​in. It was like stepping back to the by gone days of a warm summers night and a movie. Prices at the food stand were fairly reasonable compared to the movie theaters in NY. What a good time we had, Oh to have one of these on Long Island again.

I remember going to a drive in as a young kid somewhere in Vermont or New Hampshire and wanted to relive the experience. After a quick search online I found the Mendon Twin and decided to check it out. It’s a little bit of a hike coming from the metro Boston area, but it was worth every second of traffic we sat in.
When you pull in you pay for your car, are given a trash bag and some basic instructions, and directed to one of two screens. We were worried about it being too crowded, but the parking area is huge and it would be tough to find a bad spot. The video was very clear and crisp just like being inside. The audio comes over the radio and sounds just as good as the video. I would recommend bringing your own radio so you don’t kill your car battery (you can’t leave your car running). The drive in does have radios available and a jump start service if you need it.
The only «downside» I saw (if you can call it that) was the food. Being owned by the renowned Adleman brother’s I had real high hopes. The snack bar serves basic food on par with most movie theaters. Hot dogs, hamburgers, pop corn chicken, and other fried sides hit the spot but didn’t reach the bar I was hoping for. If the snack bar stepped up their game, this would be a five star review easily.
Overall, you can’t beat the experience and they will have a return customer in me for sure.

The junk food jam there was a waste of time and money! The food was overpriced and undercooked… not to mention it tasted like it had been sitting out for at least 30 minutes! They deleted all bad reviews on Facebook and Instagram and even blocked me because I left a negative review… if this is how phantom gourmet and mendon drive in handles their business I will never go back!

I’ve been going there since I was a kid. It was always great. Since the Phantom has taken over its gone downhill. The snack bar is overpriced and the food is awful. I miss the ladies who use to run it. Won’t find me there again.

Back in the day, this place was the best. My parents would pack us all up in our pajamas, and take us to the little town of Mendon to see a double-​feature. It was one of the highlights of adolescent summer vacations.
Fast forward 20 years later, the drive in is now under new management. The Adelmen brothers now own the drive in. (They also own/​run/​whatever the phantom gourmet) they upped the ante by adding and tweaking the food menu, they threw in a beer garden, and have cute little fire pits for people to enjoy.
The only issue I had was the parking situation. The lovely drunk woman (alcohol is prohibited? RIGHHHTT) behind us made us tie down the hatchback of my SUV to the point where I couldnt sit in the back of my vehicle. We had to move our car 4 times to make these broads happy, and then, we had to make the people in front of us move because we couldnt see the screen. It got to the point where I was about to just leave and get my money back (but hubby insisted we stayed) This is why its important for sedans to park in the front and let us SUV owners stay in the back.
It would be useful if they added some signage stating where vehicles should park so they are not blocked from seeing the screen because clearly, their patron’s dont use common sense.

Great deal! Great staff! Clean bathrooms…
Love the layout, the «retro» feel and thought food was classic and on par for the «movie theatre» experience… $ 25/​car is extremely fair for a double feature !
Had a blast! Will definitely be back!

Good classic family fun. Arrive early, play catch on the grass in front of the screens. We always park our SUV backwards and fill the back with pillows and blankets. Kids still talk about these memories. We always bring our own food and snacks but make it a point to at least buy a few things from the snack bar to support the biz. Bring lawn chairs so you can sit outside your car, bug spray is a must, and remember that it gets cold at night sometimes. Nice touch with beer garden and fire pit outside. Screens and picture are good quality and sound system works flawlessly.
Opportunities for improvement: Andleman brothers need to make sure to stay on top of some service details to differentiate from previous owners and raise the quality of experience for patrons: bathrooms are always a disaster and short on supplies. Snack bar is consistently 95 degrees — most of my family refuses to go into snack bar due to that unbearable heat so we spend one third as much money. Consider some additional differentiators: free Wi-​Fi, game room, more comfortable lounge area.
All that said, I appreciate that this place was taken over by a couple of well-​known guys that actually show their faces there and make an attempt at improvement. We are lucky to have this place.

Dear Mendon Drive In,
YOU are my savior! My husband and I were so worried that we will never ever enjoy the movies again because of our newborn baby. Thanks to you, our baby’s first movie is the new installment of Jurassic Park. She can’t enjoy popcorn yet but it is really nice to be able to breastfeed while I watch a T-​Rex throw some serious smack down.
The picture quality of your screen is great. It sounds like surround sound even when we are just using our car’s radio. We enjoy the cozy family atmosphere. We love your beer garden. You even priced your beer so reasonably and for that we are really thankful because babies are really expensive. For $ 25 and two movies, you have given me and my husband a chance to live like normal movie goers.
Next time, we will show up earlier so that we can score a better parking spot. We won’t forget the lawn chairs either. Thank you for existing!
Sincerely,
Shirleyanne A. and Andrew A.
Your super happy brand new customers

Visited the drive in with my boyfriend on a Monday in early June, before schools got out. We got there about 30 mins before showtime and had no trouble finding a great spot to park. There is a snack bar with soft drinks and reasonably priced food. Didn’t try the food though because we brought our own takeout (not sure if that’s allowed but nobody was patrolling).
The movie was great, you can listen to audio from your car stereo. Be sure your key is set to ACC so the battery doesn’t drain. Apparently they supply jumper cables if your car runs out of batteries.
One caveat: You technically aren’t allowed to bring in alcohol. You can buy beer, however they don’t allow you to take alcohol out of the beer garden, which is not really in sight of the movies.

So, a few things. First of all, this was our first time to this particular drive in and we were pleased with the overall quality and atmosphere. We were able to bring our puppy, which was a huge plus for us, and were even offered a dog treat upon arrival. We got a great spot, the screen was in great condition. The staff was extremely helpful and polite, we have a hatch back and were very politely asked to tie it down and supplied with rope. The movie sound and picture was fantastic and we had a wonderful time!
However, my boyfriend and I were very disappointed by the food! We were very excited to try a variety of things, since ohantom gourmet put their name on it, we figured it would be great. Unfortunately that was not the case. We ordered cheese fries, which were solid. We also ordered chicken bites and a pepperoni pizza. The chicken would have been great, if it wasn’t cold. The pizza was overpriced and honestly pretty disgusting. If we had known, we could have just brought our own! At intermission we went back to grab another snack, because it was the weekend and calories apparently don’t count. This time we ordered nachos, a corn dog and popcorn. The nachos were your basic nachos, again with phantom gourmet backing this place, we expected much better. The corn dog was probably the best thing we had, and the popcorn was cold and had been sitting out.
So basically I would recommend bringing your own food, or asking them to make it fresh. Maybe stick to corn dogs and warm chicken!

My husband and I have been going to the drive-​in for a couple of years now and I have to say our last trip (5÷2÷15) was probably the most disappointing.
In previous years we wouldn’t bother bringing our own food because the snack bar was reasonably priced and had a pretty good selection of items.
Prior to our recent trip, I checked the website to review the snack bar items (in previous years it was always posted) and noticed that this year it was missing. I didn’t think much of it and we went to the drive-​in as planned.
Upon arriving we got our little snack bar menu and immediately noticed that the options had been seriously trimmed down and in some cases, the prices were raised. Increased prices wouldn’t have bothered me if it wasn’t for the decreased portion sizes. I could have paid $ 1 for a McDonald’s (we don’t eat fast food) cheeseburger and been more satisfied than the $ 5+ burger I had at the drive-​in.
My husband, who is vegan, was even more disappointed. In the past they had taco-​like options, including vegetarian options and now the only thing on the menu he could eat was popcorn and french fries.
We were seriously disappointed. We thought when the Phantom Gourmet guys took over there would be an improvement in the snack bar quality at least (more bathrooms would also be nice).
It didn’t take me long to realize why the snack bar menu hadn’t been posted online. If it had been, we would have stopped at a restaurant or the store and picked up food — thus negating the need to over pay at the snack bar. I think I spent about $ 33 dollars on popcorn, soda, a rubber pretzel even our dog couldn’t chew, french fries, a sad, sad burger, and chicken bites.
I do hope things change. We’d rather spend our money supporting the drive-​in, but we aren’t going to just throw it away.
Tip: Make sure your dogs are up to date on their flea & tick meds and make sure you check them for ticks when you get home.

Loved this place. Drove on Friday to see Grease.
Got there at 7:20pm for 8pm movie, not that busy. Got the 3^rd row back in middle. Almost no one doubled up between the white poles, so it was pretty spacious.
Great atmosphere, relaxed people.
Beer/​wine garden is great b/​c you can drink and watch outside.
Milkshakes and Razzles are delicious. As is the popcorn.

My family and I went for the first time this past Friday and had an excellent experience. We got there about 1 ½ before the movie started which was perfect. Plenty of great spots available and we landed a spot right up front (however it was a Friday night) The staff was great, we ever recieved free comic books for seeing a Marvel movie. We lucked out parking next to a veteren drive in movie goer who was very friendly.
Here are some things that were helpful for our visit:
Have tons of pillows (the kids loved the nice comfy back seat of the car)
Bring a radio (our «neighbor had a dewalt radio which was excellent)
bring beach chairs, blankets and snacks! (you can bring your own snacks which is perfect for a family on a budget)
Next time I will bring a repellant candle. The bugs weren’t bad at all however the next day I noticed my daughter had tons and tons of bites
If you decide to back in your car to use the hatch back (which we did) be prepared to tie the rear door down so it won’t obstuct anyone else’s view.
The kids LOVED playing with all of the other kids there. Football, frisbee, ect.
I had my 10 month old with me as well and she did great. She was wide awake during the beginning of the movie and was fine «noise wise» she loved crawling and moving around in the back of the car and eating some yummy snacks.
We tried the snack hut anyway just to check it out and we ordered the cheeseburgers which wasn’t too bad. My only reccommendation would be that it needed lettuceand tomatoes lol
The movie quality was GREAT! HD for sure and the it was great to see the Phantom brothers there welcoming everyone. We will definitely go again before the summer is over. Can’t beat the $ 25