Pre-movie cocktails

For the last two Fridays, I’ve sat in the AMC Lowe’s Boston Common watching recently released movies. Two weeks ago the Husband and I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on the day after opening night. The movie started at 8:30 and we got into the city around 7:15, so we decided to grab a bite to eat and a glass of wine from Teatro.

I purchased our tickets online a few weeks in advance, so we didn’t need to wait in any lines to purchase or pickup our tickets. Teatro seemed like a good option because it’s one of the few places in the Theater District that we’ve never been to and have always wanted to try.

It was Memorial Day weekend, so the city was pretty empty. This afforded us an immediate seat at the bar. The inside of Teatro is quite stunning to look at. It was light out still when we arrived; however, this didn’t damper the ceiling decorated with dark scroll work and adorned with funky chandeliers and iridescent blue lighting. It was loud, but in a bustling and happening sort of way. Clearly a popular happy hour / after work hangout.

I wasn’t hungry, as I had stuffed my face with a Chipotle Vegetarian Burrito earlier in the day, but the Husband was starving. So we both ordered drinks — I had the Sauvignon Blanc, di Lenardo – Friuli, Italy ($8) which was really nice and I don’t remember what the Husband got. I’ll have to ask him…

We decided to share an appetizer (because I’m fat) and opted for the Crispy Calamari with Lemon Aioli ($14). Shortly after, warm bread arrived accompanied by some fresh hummus. Both were very tasty.

The calamari was very good as well. The breading was light, crispy and not too oily. The calamari rings were a tiny bit tough, but I never know if it’s due to the actual meat or how it was cooked. The baby calamari were tender (as they usually are). The lemon aioli was great and they actually provided us with a side of marinara sauce as well… which I used for both the calamari and the remaining bread (good thing I wasn’t hungry or anything).

The entree arrived next, a half order of Lamb Meatballs and Fresh Rotini ($12, $19 for a full serving). For a half-serving it was a nice size: two very large meatballs atop a healthy portion of rotini. The husband loved it; obviously I did not taste it (no four-legged animals for me… remember?).

By the time we finished, it was about 8pm. The Husband kept insisting we hurry to the theater, and I was like “why, we still have 30 minutes and we already have our tickets!” Boy, was I wrong… mark this as a rare “the Husband was right” event. When we finally got to the theater, almost every seat was already taken! In fact, the 9pm show had already queued up in the hallway. We had to sit in the 2nd row, which was literally about 6 feet from the screen. It was so bad that I had a headache from sitting so close, a neck ache from looking up for 2 hours and cannot even tell you the plot of the story because it was too difficult to follow the gigantic heads flying across the screen. Definitely a disappointment. Sorry Husband, you were right… we’ll have to go see it again.

Last week, I found myself back at the theater and in the same situation. This time, I was with my girlfriend M. — I had pre-purchased tickets for the opening night of Sex and the City. Obviously, opening night was a must for this movie! We arrived about 1.5 hours before the movie began and started our night at Teatro again. This time just for a glass of wine.

We headed over to the theater about 30 minutes before the movie started — mostly because I never learn my lesson. My thinking was that there are so many more die-hard action movie fans that I doubted we would have a seating issue. Wrong again. Every woman and her pack of best friends was there… arriving in limos and dressed to impress.

We had to sit in the 3rd row.

At least in this particular theater, the first row was situated further back than in the Indiana Jones theater. While it was closer than we would have liked, we still enjoyed the movie. In fact — despite some negative reviews I had read and my attempts to ruin for it myself by sneaking onto spoiler sites, I really loved this movie. It was all I had hoped for and more.

Lesson learned? Either — never go to opening nights at Lowes on the Common OR get your arse to the theater a full hour before the movie begins. Oh, and leave enough time to hit Teatro first for a drink and/or a bite. The food is good, the atmosphere is cool and the menu is affordable.