The Movie Experience Movie Theater Review in Downtown San Luis Obispo (SLO)
Posted by San Luis Obispo Mom on Wednesday, June 21, 2023 Under: Romantic
We had a movie date over the weekend in Downtown San Luis Obispo at The Movie Experience, also known as Downtown Centre Cinemas. It's centrally located and is part of a big shopping complex.
What made this date stood apart from the rest was that I had an awesome dinner while we were watching the movie in the movie theater and my dinner is not hot dogs and popcorn. The movie theater doesn't blatantly say you can bring your own food and drinks to the movie theater, but it also doesn't say you can't. So, I ordered a California Burrito (that's my awesome dinner) from San Luis Taqueria online and picked it up 45 minutes later. We had already bought tickets online for a movie at 6PM at The Movie Experience.
Fortunately, San Luis Obispo Taqueria is only a block walk away from The Movie Experience, so we stopped in there really quick to pick up my burrito and then made our walk to the theater. I walked in there with the to-go bag in my hand and there were no questions asked.
I'm originally from San Diego and that is where the California Burrito was first created so I'm so happy that now, California Burritos can be found practically in every major city in California. San Luis Taqueria did it justice. It had the fries, the carne asada, sour cream, quacamole, pico de gallo and all the flavors wrapped tight in a very authentic tortilla. I made sure to get a small container of salsa from the salsa bar before I left the place when I picked up my burrito because without the salsa, it would not be complete! I devoured that burrito while watching the first half of the The Flash.
The Movie Experience (I can't get over how interesting this movie theater name is; so many unintentional puns) is not a large cinema but it has the best location that's smack in the middle of Downtown San Luis Obispo so there are many places to walk to before and after the movie. I really enjoyed the movie experience (see what happened?). Now, some of the seats are kind of torn but our seats reclined! This is the first movie theater that I got to sit in reclined seats so this was a real treat for me! The first few rows were reclined seats that you had to specifically pick from the chart when you bought your tickets.
After the movie was over, we decided to have a night cap before we ended the night, so we stopped in Eureka! I ordered the Farmers' Market Cocktail and thought my actual drink looked even better than what they had pictured at their bar. See the photo that I took of my drink below.
Eureka! (exclamation point intended as that's their actual name) is only a block away from the movie theater and one block from where we parked so it was perfect. When we parked at the Marsh Street Parking Structure, we picked up our parking ticket from the machine as we entered in. However, when we left, the gates going out were all open so we didn't have to pay for our way out for some reason! Surprising, we had free parking for that night!
I highly recommend parking at this very parking structure if you're planning on going to the movie theater in downtown. It may not be free to park every night but it's so close and convenient.
If you'd like to map our adventure and see how amazingly close these places are from each other (about 1 block from each other!), here are the addresses of the places that we went on our movie date night below:
What made this date stood apart from the rest was that I had an awesome dinner while we were watching the movie in the movie theater and my dinner is not hot dogs and popcorn. The movie theater doesn't blatantly say you can bring your own food and drinks to the movie theater, but it also doesn't say you can't. So, I ordered a California Burrito (that's my awesome dinner) from San Luis Taqueria online and picked it up 45 minutes later. We had already bought tickets online for a movie at 6PM at The Movie Experience.
Fortunately, San Luis Obispo Taqueria is only a block walk away from The Movie Experience, so we stopped in there really quick to pick up my burrito and then made our walk to the theater. I walked in there with the to-go bag in my hand and there were no questions asked.
I'm originally from San Diego and that is where the California Burrito was first created so I'm so happy that now, California Burritos can be found practically in every major city in California. San Luis Taqueria did it justice. It had the fries, the carne asada, sour cream, quacamole, pico de gallo and all the flavors wrapped tight in a very authentic tortilla. I made sure to get a small container of salsa from the salsa bar before I left the place when I picked up my burrito because without the salsa, it would not be complete! I devoured that burrito while watching the first half of the The Flash.
The Movie Experience (I can't get over how interesting this movie theater name is; so many unintentional puns) is not a large cinema but it has the best location that's smack in the middle of Downtown San Luis Obispo so there are many places to walk to before and after the movie. I really enjoyed the movie experience (see what happened?). Now, some of the seats are kind of torn but our seats reclined! This is the first movie theater that I got to sit in reclined seats so this was a real treat for me! The first few rows were reclined seats that you had to specifically pick from the chart when you bought your tickets.
After the movie was over, we decided to have a night cap before we ended the night, so we stopped in Eureka! I ordered the Farmers' Market Cocktail and thought my actual drink looked even better than what they had pictured at their bar. See the photo that I took of my drink below.
Eureka! (exclamation point intended as that's their actual name) is only a block away from the movie theater and one block from where we parked so it was perfect. When we parked at the Marsh Street Parking Structure, we picked up our parking ticket from the machine as we entered in. However, when we left, the gates going out were all open so we didn't have to pay for our way out for some reason! Surprising, we had free parking for that night!
I highly recommend parking at this very parking structure if you're planning on going to the movie theater in downtown. It may not be free to park every night but it's so close and convenient.
If you'd like to map our adventure and see how amazingly close these places are from each other (about 1 block from each other!), here are the addresses of the places that we went on our movie date night below:
Marsh Street Parking Structure: 871 Marsh St., San Luis Obispo Obispo, CA 93401
San Luis Taqueria: 1032 Chorro St, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
The Movie Experience (Downtown Centre Cinemas): 888 Marsh St, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Eureka!: 1141 Chorro St, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
See my YouTube Short from this movie date night at The Movie Experience is below. It's a vibe!
Reading Suggestions:
- Read about my movie watching experience at the Regal Cinemas in Arroyo Grande.
- Read about my experience watching movies outdoors at the Sunset Drive-in in San Luis Obispo.
- Read about my staycation at the Granada Hotel & Bistro in Downtown San Luis Obispo and the places we went for that night in December when the beautiful Christmas lights were up.
- Read about my date night in Pismo Beach and the three places we went.
- Find a list of place in San Luis Obispo County where you can drop off the kids for a night of fun for Kids Night Out or Parents Night Out for an evening.
- Read about my sushi date with my husband at Kanpai Sushi in Shell Beach (part of Pismo Beach).
In : Romantic
Tags: date idea slo the movie experience san luis obispo review downtown slo movie theater date idea in san luis obispo