OLYMPIC CINEMA & DINING, BARNES

I'm not a massive cinema-goer. I absolutely love watching movies, but there's something about going to the cinema that I find a bit restrictive - you can't stop and pause the film, the seats can be uncomfy and you can end up sitting in front of someone who kicks your chair for 2 straight hours, and I often feel the price you pay is unjustified for the experience you get. That was until we went to the Olympic Cinema in Barnes. There were many things that appealed to me about the Olympic, from their on site restaurant's menu, to the fact I could book a sofa seat for 2 of us for the same price as 2 standard seat tickets, so we booked to see A Most Violent Year on Friday evening. To start with tickets are £15 which seems to be cheaper than other local cinemas - we went to Westfield to see Birdman recently (which I really didn't enjoy/get) and that was £44 for 2 of us. The £30 we paid for 2 at the Olympic got a us a double seat/sofa so we didn't have to wrestle an arm rest between us, and each chair comes with its own table for your drinks. As the film wasn't showing until 9pm we booked for dinner first at The Dining Room, which is in the same building as the cinema.

The Dining Room at Olympic Studios is bigger than I'd imagined, with about 50 covers, on a mix of individual and longer sharing tables, and is headed up by a chef who's previously worked at Noma and Racine. We had our own table, and decided to go all out, as we were both pretty hungry and had time to kill. Sadly the first thing to pass my lips was the least favourite part of my evening. The Dining Room have an interesting cocktail list, and I chose one that I can't remember the name of... maybe the Basiltini (I'm pretty sure that wasn't what it was called but was something similar) and was made using basil and way too much ginger for my liking. It was also very sweet, and I prefer my cocktails sharper, but I drank it anyway while we ordered our food. We chose the steak tartare and calamari for starters to share. Both were delicious, though we'd forgotten to check if the tartare was already seasoned, which it was, with tabasco, so none of that for the boy! Which was fine by me as I got to eat all of it! It was perfectly seasoned to my liking and the steak wasn't cut too fine - I really don't enjoy the minced version of steak tartare. The calamari were really good too with a crunchy but light batter and soft squid inside, served with very moreish homemade mayo.

As I said, we decided to go all out, so for mains I went for whole lobster - it's rarely on a regular restaurant menu and as the food looked so good here I wanted to treat myself. It's served with chips and an almond garlic butter that I couldn't get enough of. The lobster was beautifully cooked, still retaining some bite whilst have the delicate tenderness that seafood should have. The boy chose the sautéed calves liver with smoked bacon, onion puree and savoy cabbage. It was pink as requested and so full of flavour. Both are dishes I would definitely order again there. Our bill, with a bottle of wine, others drinks and the lobster came to £100 between us, which was great value for what we ate and drank.

 

As the cinema and restaurant are all under one roof you can take unfinished drinks through to the screen with you. There's also a bar outside the screens serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, and cute bags of old fashioned sweets and different flavoured popcorns.

 

Olympic Cinema is a real treat. It's luxurious without being ridiculously expensive, and has everything you need for a great night out on site. Highly recommended.