July 8th 2013: Watching Monsters University at Mendon Drive-In, Mendon

Today after work, I decided to check out what watching a movie at a drive-in is like, by going to the Mendon Drive-In in the town of Mendon. The show only started after nightfall, so I had a lot of time to grab dinner at the Greenhouse Wood Fired Pub, a bar restaurant at 3 Cape Road in town.

With my groupon, I got a lot of food, getting the Pork Tomatilla Soup,

the Grilled Stuffed Jalapenos (Fresh, whole jalapenos butterflied and stuffed with cream cheese and house smoked pulled pork, then wrapped in bacon and topped with homemade BBQ sauce before being grilled),

the Grilled Blackened Kielbasa (A butterflied smoked kielbasa, dusted with blackened seasoning, grilled and served with creamy horseradish sauce),

the Garlic Mussels (Fresh mussels steamed with garlic and white wine and served with fresh baked garlic bread)

and the Garlic Parmesan Bone-In Wings for appetizers,

while getting the Jameson Steak Tips (fresh bleu cheese mashed potatoes,topped with marinated steak tips, covered with sweet Jameson Irish whiskey sauce, then topped with homemade crispy onion strings) for my main dish. 

The jalapenos were simply scrumptious, with all the ingredients coming together perfectly, while the kielbasa was tasty, and even better with the horseradish sauce. The mussels were okay, although the weirdly colored garlic bread was crunchy and pretty good. The wings were the most disappointing of all, being too oily and pretty bland in taste. The soup was a little too sour for my liking, but the steak tips were actually pretty good with the sauce it was cooked in. However, I was already too full to eat much of the steak, so more leftovers for tomorrow.

Overall, this place is probably more of a bar than a restaurant, although the food is actually pretty cheap.

With that, I headed to the drive-in. After paying $25 for entry of my car, I drove to my screen,

located in front of a large grass patch with rough positions for cars.

As it was still light out, I decided to get some dessert from the concession stand, getting the Vanilla Razzle with M and M's and Reese's Pieces,

and the Cotton Candy Soft Serve, which I had thought was actual cotton candy instead of flavored ice cream.

Finally, it got dark and the movie started. I had to turn on the radio in my car to hear the audio, but without having my engine on, it meant that I would have to restart my vehicle every so often, as well as risk having my car run out of battery. It also rained, which meant I had to use my windscreen wiper every so often as well.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but I feel that there are too many inconveniences associated with the drive-in experience, especially when it rains. It would be a cheap way to bring the family out to the movies though as the entry is per car and not per person.