Light House Cinema Review

Great cinema. Keep an eye out for old favourites. Went to see Gremlins over Christmas.

Great place, really comfortable seats and atmosphere

My favourite cinema in Dublin. The staff are incredible and the film choices are excellent. You can see interesting art house and mainstream stuff here, and the bar/cafe is lovely.

A cinema that breaks from the mainstream mould. Cafe instead of a nachos and soft drink counter (you can still get popcorn though). Wide selection of bottled beers available. Frequent art installations to browse before heading to the film. Nice lounge area in which to chill out before/after a movie. Frequent "seasons" where the work of an actor/director will be celebrated and his/her movies played. Or sometimes an older movie will have its anniversary and will be replayed. It has funky decor and pleasant staff and I feel relaxed when I go there.

Excellent. Had food before film and enjoyed a glass of wine after film. A wonderful venue for an evening at the cinema

I regularly go for late night arty and independent movies. Recently went to Anomalisa and just saw A Date for Mad Mary. Love that you can have a beer in the seat. Great for a romantic cinema date.

Love love love! Shows good independent films. Nice layout, bar and shop. Student rates. And comfy seats!

Great cinema, felt happy and relaxed the whole time I was there.

Lovely, cozy cinema with a cafe and bar. Friendly staff. In a nice area of the city, Smithfield.

Just rediscovered this cinema recently after moving house and realising it was the closest to me.

Really interesting design, great screens and well stocked cafe/bar.

Seems to have changed it's remit since re-opening after a few months of unexpected closure and now shows classics and more mainstream titles alongside art house/ world film.

A nice little neighbourhood cinema. Good selection of movies and treats

Love this cinema. Films are brilliantly curated. Very clean and staff are very nice. Super handy parking and cheap for Dublin.

Amazing cinema. Always have unusual films on show. Coffee shop very nice and great restaurants near.

Nice place, bit more chilled. You can buy beer here and bring it in but that means half the audience is getting up and down to pee during the movie, which can be distracting. Foyer is a little sterile, but they often have a nice exhibition there. David Lynch cakes was my favourite

Best spot in the city for a great coffee, a bite to eat, and relaxing with a book....or the internet. :-)

Brilliant evening at Funny Girl theatre show in cinema 1, very comfy seats.

I like it.. Great screen quality and always quiet. I love visiting on weekdays, latte upstairs quite good aswell..

Lively cinema, nice to have a beer while your watching a movie as well.

Fantastic cinema. Unbeatable selection of smaller and international films as well as the big ones. Nice bar and chill areas, and brilliant rotating exhibitions Lego a while back, tonight Japan themed. A great place.

Had Kenah on the phone to switch a booking made by mistake and she was super helpful and friendly. Great cinema and even better customer service!

Great to be back in the Cinema. A big thanks to the efforts of the staff in keeping us safe.

Best cinema experience ever. Excellent customer service.

Nice relaxed alternative cinema. Films could be improved a bit but much better than mainstream theatres . Nice atmosphere

Great atmosphere. Great to be able to see old classics on the big screen and nice space to hang out before hand as well

I really like the whole vibe of this cinema. Screens are so comfortable. Ticket prices quite reasonable. Great selection of off the beaten track film.

This is a wonderful cinema. The chairs are so comfortable, you want to stay in them forever! The staff is absolutely wonderful and super friendly. The atmosphere is so cool, and unique compared to other cinemas. If you want a great film experience, come here!!

Lovely cinema with very nice facilities! The place is huge and very well decorated, with plenty of lounges where you can relax before or ater the movies. Should offer the option of booking seats, to avoid people sitting on the edge and stopping other from getting better seats (there is no middle aisle between the seats).

Nice cinema in Smithfield. Go there if you like small & cosy cinemas.

Amazing cinema, the nicest staff and 6 euro per person before 1 pm on all movies

Easily my favorite cinema in all of Dublin. The cinema is clean and well looked after. Staff are always helpful. There's a nice Cafe along with ample searing outside the screens to allow patrons to discuss their movie experience.

Favourite cinema, reasonably priced and a great atmosphere

Great cinema! You can buy drinks at the bar and bring it with you.

Update: received a message saying that all equipment and film files were working properly. Guess my 30 years as a sound engineer were for naught.

Okay, first of all I am going to come across as having very little to complain about. Second of all this was a kind of perfect storm. I'm a recording sound engineer with a lot venue experience, and a huge fan of The Beatles.

Yesterday I went to see Yellow Submarine in its newly hand restored 4k and sonically remastered 5.1 surround sound glory. I was (rather sadly, I'll admit) tremendously excited to see it, as it would be the first time I'd ever gotten to see a Beatle film in the cinema.

I sat in the centre of cinema 2 and immediately noticed that the music playing in the background was only coming from the right hand side of the sceeen. I figured it was just a pre-show glitch. Then the ads came on. We had centre and right hand sound now. Again I figured it would be okay for the film.

It wasn't. It was immediately apparent that there was no sound coming from the front left. Both left and right surround speakers seemed to be working, but seemed oddly unbalanced with the rest of the film sound in a way I couldn't put my finger on. I tweeted the venue immediately, not wanting to leave my seat and miss my literal cinematic event of a lifetime. I would have loved a reply to that tweet.

Big deal, you say. I must have little enough to worry about. But I choose this cinema over the centrally located one in town also showing the film, which may be a little care worn, but which sounds absolutely fine from previous experience, precisely because it the Light House proud boast of "awesome surround sound".

The problem is that The Beatles music was usually mixed hard panned left and right in the stereo, meaning some instruments appear on the left side and vice versa. With the front left not working we missed the mellotron intro from Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, the iconic strident piano intro of Hey Bulldog, and half of George Martins wonderful soundtrack and the rest of the songs. Apart from the fact that the pull of the sound coming from centre and the right hand side constantly was insanely annoying.

I'm not entirely sure anyone saw my tweet but the left hand surround sound did seem to get louder during the performance, which meant that it wasn't balanced with the right hand side, meaning the whole effect was a rather off putting pull front and right and behind left. Apart from the fact that very little of the music appeared in the surround speakers.

If the sound had even been decent it might have been forgivable, but there was no evidence of a 5.1 remix seperate bass channel. This could have been down to the source material, but it sounded incredibly weak on the low end. Plus, there was a nasty attenuation around 1.5k at a guess that made the ads and the film uncomfortable to listen to at times.

I did complain at the box office afterwards, after genuinely apologising for being "that person". The girl couldn't be nicer, and asked if I wanted to see the manager. I had to catch a bus back to Wexford so I couldn't. She did say no one else had complained, and judging by the sing along with All Together Now at the end of the film, I'd agree that everyone else seemed to have enjoyed it. Again, however, the opening guitar could only be heard very distantly. The girl at the box office did insist I take two complimentary tickets even though I insisted I'd be rarely up from Wexford and wasn't complaining to get them.

Anyway, yeah, so I've little to complain about. It's just that this was so important to me. Big deal I guess.

The cinema? Well, it's nicely designed. The staff were friendly. The seats almost verged on utilitarian but not uncomfortable. There was enough light spill from the screen hitting the floor and from the usually bright lights in the cinema to prevent watching the film from being an immersive experience. I travelled from Wexford for the "trip of a lifetime". I was genuinely, genuinely deeply gutted it was very far from it. I really must get a life...

Best cinema in Ireland.
Great selection of film too.

A really good cinema, but more expensive than the other cinemas around. Day ticket adults is 10 , while most places will be 7.50 to 8.

Nice movie theatre; can enjoy a wine or beer with your movie

Been to the lighthouse many times and always had a great time.
However, having booked tickets in advance for an 8.35pm screening of "The Disaster Artist" last night, myself and 3 friends arrived to find the only remaining seats were scattered throughout the theatre.
We just sat on the floor together and watched the show regardless but I'm sure this would be a less appealing option for certain groups of people (eg. Disabled, elderly).
This is a problem that is easily solved by assigning seats, even just for busy screenings.

One of the best cinemas in Dublin, and not overly expensive.

Great cinema that Dublin sorely needs. Drinks and decent crowd.

Great location, nice coffee shop and very friendly staff.

Years and years have passed since I first discovered the Light House, and this place remains my favourite cinema in Dublin. Possibly the world. <3

Thanks for the perfect organisation and interesting movies, guys!

This was a great spot to take in a movie while visiting from Canada :)

This is like one of my fav places to cry, also the strawberry G&T is lovely.

Beautifully decorated, classy and a pleasure to watch a movie in. Although more expensive than a conventional multiplex (I paid 33 for 2 tickets to a double feature and that's not counting munchies) I still recommend it.

A great grown up cinema with a great choice of alternative films. Especially good that you can bring your drinks into the screen.

Amazing cinema. Probably my favourite in Dublin. Now if only they'd do a subscription membership service (like the Cineworld Unlimited card) I'd probably live there.

Comfy cinema with cafe. Expensive price for cinema ticket. 12eur mid week. Shows mainstream and unmainsteamed movies.

Good protocols, fun movies, I felt safe and had a great time. So nice to be back at the cinema

This is a fantastic place, I've been here plenty, always a treat.

Best cinema in Dublin, full bar as well, lots of independent and specialist films shown. Highly recommend

Comfy seats and nice premises. Friendly staff. Makes going to the movies a pleasant experience, does not feel like you're visiting a chain cinema. Conducive for watching a show alone or having privacy as a couple.

Perfect cinema, great to be able to see not just american money makers