Cinema Cafe 34th St

06/29/2008 Posted by kaibab1

Cinema on 34th and Third can serve interesting and well-prepared food. It would merit 4 stars if.... - The courteous, perky wait staff were better trained, more attentive and more alert to customer needs. - The a/c on the West side of the dining room were working properly on muggy summer nights. - Tactics designed to up the price of drinks ($2.00 extra for a straight-up martini) were abandoned. Why the surcharge??? "Because it takes more liquour to make a martini and the price is by the shot," according to a "manager.") . Pity...

Pros: Food

Cons: Pricing tactics

05/22/2008 Posted by BerryNYC

Ive lived in Murray Hill the last FIVE years, and Cinema is the perfect location for a local....all you others steer clear. Its fun, its reasonable, its CLEAN, the staff is super friendly, and if you are reallly bored with a date (also great for a first date, its romantic, and fun and priced just right!) you can watch the reels of charlie chaplan in the back.. The food is yummy, was there again last night (second night this week) and the crowd is different daily...there are good looking yuppies all around. The alcohol is great, the service is spotless, there are no overcharges (i think the other post-ee cant calculate a check) ..Thumbs up Cinema..you got my Vote!

Pros: Fast Seating, Tasty Food, Courteous Service

Cons: ?

11/25/2007 Posted by yeruria

The plates, silverware, and stemware were not clean. The water had food floating around it in it. The food was half cold and nothing special. The waitress spilled coffee on my husband and did not apologize. DON'T GO THERE!

Pros: none

Cons: bad food, bad service, lack of cleanliness

08/28/2007 Posted by gourmet1965

Food and service aside, you should avoid even entering this place. At the 60th Street and 2nd Ave (70th Street) locations, they intentionally overcharge customers on their credit cards. If the customer brings the "mistake" to their attention, they are incredibly unhelpful about fixing it, and they will delay and delay taking action, and lie to you outright, about having taken action. They do this intentionally. I have contacted my credit card company and an investigation has begun. To be fair, I am only assuming that the policy is the same at this location. But, better safe than sorry.

Cons: The company is dishonest.

06/04/2007 Posted by asaromike

Cinema Cafe is one of my favorite places to go in Murray Hill. It's not the place for a romantic first date, but it's a fantastic place to go and just hang out, eat and have a few drinks. From the street, it looks like you will be waiting for a while, but I have never waited more than five minutes for a table. My girlfriend and I frequent the cafe and seem to order the same thing because if it's not broken, don't fix it. They have one of the best appetizers I have ever had, the filet mignon skewers, and the sliders as an entree are excellent. As you can tell it's not a high end menu, but the food never disappoints. Not only is the food recommended, but the prices are extremely reasonable AND it's Murray Hill. Not anymore than a diner would be, and much better. Try and sit outside if possible, which is not difficult, there seems to be just as many seats outside as inside.

Pros: Food, Ambience

Cons: Nothing in particular

01/29/2007 Posted by gracesur

I reluctantly came here for just drinks the other night when some friends from London came in. I wanted to take them somewhere more "new york" and less trite, but it was snowing, cold, and the cafe was right there. i thought the cocktails were overpriced but then again it is new york. the strawberry mint cocktail was good but not very strong. they have a good selection of beers though. my friends didn't complain about their gin and tonics and mojitos. the music was very loud even though there were only 2 other parties present on a late sunday night. i found the decor a bit tacky, especially the lights. the wait staff was attentive but nothing special. from what i saw of the food being ordered by the other customers, the portions are enormous and the menu is quite extensive. not sure if i wuld come back here for a meal though.

05/21/2006 Posted by violet18

I thought the decor and ambiance was very fun; they were showing a silent movie on projection screens which I thought was a great concept. But unfortunately, both the service and food were very poor. The waitstaff was nice but they were also confused and unorganized. Initially there was concern at my table as to whether or not anyone was going to come to take our order. I had a salad whose ingredients were definitely past their prime and ended up making me ill. Lastly, to compound my dissatisfaction, the waiter loudly announced that he was unable to use my credit card for payment when the problem was actually that he brought us another table's check. For an overall enjoyable New York dining experience, I would have to recommend dining elsewhere.

Pros: ambiance

Cons: poor service, dissapointing food

12/27/2005 Posted by qtgurljny

Cinema is like a TGIF's only way better. Better waitstaff, better decor, better music, and most importantly, BETTER FOOD. Went on a friday night and it was generally packed with feel good music blaring to keep the mood going. Food is surprisingly good despite the seemingly standard fare menu. Great food to try: Crab sandwich, catfish, crawfish poppers (appetizer). You won't be disappointed.