Cocktail lounge to open at iPic Theaters on Wilshire Boulevard
By Janae Yip
May 16, 2016 12:08 a.m.
A lounge specializing in cocktails and appetizers will replace a high-scale restaurant Friday in a movie theater complex on Wilshire Boulevard.
iPic Entertainment opened The Tuck Room to replace Tanzy, an Italian sit-down restaurant that closed in March, about two years after it opened. The theater also offers food and cocktails to customers during movies.
Hailey Goodner, a hostess for The Tuck Room and third-year English student, said the theater’s management team decided to replace Tanzy with The Tuck Room because it specializes in American appetizers that guests at the theater can enjoy before or after a movie.
Goodner said iPic Entertainment’s management also wanted to rebrand Tanzy because guests already eat full meals in the theater. She added she thinks The Tuck Room will be a better fit for Westwood because it can provide a comfortable atmosphere for students, faculty and nearby employees to drink beverages.
“Students do not need to be 21 to enter The Tuck Room,” Goodner said. “Bartenders can replace the alcohol in cocktails with nonalcoholic beverages to ensure that underage students can have festive drinks too.”
The lounge is dimly lit and adorned with crystal chandeliers, plush couches and patio heaters. The bar, situated in the center of the lounge, offers shelves of alcoholic drinks and is the only area where people under 21 are not allowed.
Some students said they think The Tuck Room will not fare well in an area occupied primarily by students.
Marianna Kwan, a first-year business economics student, said she does not think The Tuck Room caters to college students because it seems expensive. She added she thinks students typically go to cheaper theaters in Westwood.
“I don’t think students will be willing to pay more for food and drinks just because it’s served in a fancier location, when everything is easily available at a much lower price at other places in Westwood,” Kwan said.
Sophia Chang, a first-year psychobiology student, said she does not think students will enjoy drinking next to older adults and other frequent bar visitors.
