Silky Otter Ponsonby

So happy to have a cinema so close to where we live. If you want a great night out, go early and eat in their restaurant where they have a yummy tapas menu. Not cheap, but very tasty & worth the spend. Cinema is awesome with electric comfy chairs that come with a tray table and light.

Lovely new cinema with tasteful furnishings.Great service and yummy food. The polenta chips and sliders were so filling…I was worried I would be starving through a 3 hour long movie but I was so full!Food arrived hot, and was able to be delivered during the movie which was fantastic.Full bar service available, nice bathrooms.Comfy new electric seats and cinema was clean when we were seated (unlike some gold class tickets at other cinemas). Small lights on the stand where you put your food which is so helpful, nice thoughtful touch.Only con was that Parking is difficult and expensive as it’s on the heart of Ponsonby. I paid $24 for just over 3 hours on a Saturday!

Booked out a cinema for a social club function, Claire and her team made the whole night really easy. The atmosphere of SO and the selection of food that they had on offer was top notch. The team at SO made us feel really welcome when we arrived, right through to when we left.

Nice lounge setup, but there was absolutely no ventilation in the theatre. It was so stuffy! The popcorn was also crazily salty. We really wanted to like it as Ponsonby is relatively close to home, but the Orakei location is much more comfortable and has better food.

The staff were friendly and sweet. When we were ordering food they were so helpful with amazing recommendations. The cinema was small and private perfect for date night! Would definitely come back.

This is the place to do be for movies! It's a gold class experience without the gold class price tag. The fact you can order food and drinks into the theatre at different sitting times is excellent! I won't be going anywhere else!

Great seats and beautiful screens, but the service was lacking. We were told drinks were served till 9pm, but come 8:50pm we were told the bar & restaurant were closed. 10 minutes later 4 beers and nachos were dutifully delivered to seats behind us, so we just left. The Capitol Cinema on Dominion Rd is nicer and half the price without the pretension.

I thought I would share my thoughts on why my wife and I will never frequent your establishment again in the slim hope you will endeavour to lift your game to a reasonable standard as to what should be expected when paying $30 a ticket.The film my wife and I visited at your Ponsonby cinema yesterday (Sat 24th June) was for the 6pm showing of 'The Flash'.From the moment we arrived, we were rather 'lost' and found the experience overall 'confusing'. There was nothing really made clear right from the start about where we order food, how we order food and where is the cinema and waiting room.Your maitre'd simply asked for our e-tickets, provided a card with our seat numbers then said take a seat gesturing to what looked like the restaurant section of your cinema right at front.We did not want to eat at the restaurant. We wanted to order food for the duration of the film.We sat down amongst plated tables which was awkward....No one came to ask us what we would like, so we made our way (looking rather sheepishly confused now) to the bar only to be greeted by a girl / bar lady who was rather cold, unpleasant and not friendly whatsoever. I asked her how we order food and where the cinema is as no one had directed this to us.She responded rather 'sarcastically' and said we will bring it into the cinema. So we placed an order for a flat white, small popcorn and one truffle chips and one kumara chips.I then asked where the cinema was.She then 'coldly' directed me to two other staff that were standing to the left of us like gatekeepers.They asked to see our cinema card and that they would come and get us for when the film was ready. By this time it was 5.45pm so we anticipated being inside imminently.At this stage we commented that each of the staff we'd met were incredibly unhelpful, non friendly, non courteous and seemed to pass us over to another staff member who equally was not knowledgeable.Then we ended up seeing how dirty the cinema complex was. The corridor which then found out for ourselves - is the waiting room.. had half eaten boxes of popcorn strewn around the tables. Used blankets thrown in a heap on the couch chairs. The bar leaners and chairs at the end of the corridor had greasy smears all over the tables. It certainly did not appear clean. More so filthy. Your bathroom was like a public convenience. Well the one I frequented was.No one came and got us for the cinema even though you had two staff standing aimlessly at the front.We decided at 5.55pm to try and find the cinema (number 1) ourselves. This itself was a challenge as you had no ushers standing at the entrances. No real signage. Nothing really clear..Finally we asked another patron who was equally lost where he thought cinema 1 was at. Again no help from any of your staff.Inside cinema 1 we found chocolate drops and popcorn lying on the carpet from the previous session so not clean.We found our seats but the final insult was the chips we ordered (both kumara and potato) when served were stone cold and disgusting.I then had to chase up our flat white by grabbing one of your theatre staff that had brought in food for our neighbour.The only good experience was the film.I have to say that we will never return to your unfriendly, unkempt and unprofessionally run cinema again and will happily inform friends, my clients, colleagues and just about everyone I know not to waste time spending money on an overpriced 'Silky Otter' Cinema experience. It was a terrible and rude experience from beginning to end.We will continue now to provide our patronage to Gold Class - Event Cinemas.At best we think your tickets should be priced in the vicinity of $18-$21. It's simply not worth the $30 tariff you're requesting.We wish to watch a film without being stressed and confused - to pay for a service expected with high end ticket pricing. An establishment that cares and appreciates us as customers for which Silky Otter obviously does not.