By Amanda Galloway

special correspondent

A unique dining experience will soon be available at Stony Point Fashion Park with the opening of CineBistro, a restaurant/ movie theater combination which is set to open in October of 2010. 

CineBistro, which will be located next to Dillards in the previous location of Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro, is the brainchild of Cobb Theaters, an upscale theater business based in Birmingham, Ala.  The company currently has 14 different locations throughout the southeast and 193 movie screens.

The CineBistro will feature six theaters, showing a combination of Hollywood blockbusters, art house and independent films.  Each theater will be equipped with cozy dining tables and comfortable leather chairs for guest who prefer sharing a meal before the film begins. 

While the present menu is yet to be released, the offerings at other CineBistro’s provide a hint of what’s to come. Listed on CineBistro’s decadent menus are succulent seafood selections, mouth-watering steaks and a cornucopia of pasta options paired with an assortment of wines and premium cocktails.  The menu stays true to its theme by featuring drinks and dishes infused with cinematic titles such as “The Sex and the City Cosmotini,” “The Double Feature Burger,” and “Deconstructed Peanut Butter Pie,” a la Woody Allen’s Deconstructing Harry. 

Following the screening of the film, movie goers are welcome to socialize in the restaurant’s lounge, where coffee and dessert are also available.

“CinéBistro is totally unique in this market…We’re thrilled to add such a premium entertainment experience to our distinguished shopping and dining lineup, and we look forward to welcoming them this fall,” Stony Point Fashion Park

General Manager Joe Frye, stated in a recent press release.

When CineBistro opens, it will have hired 75 new employees, a welcomed sight in current economic conditions.  Although a movie screening is an essential part of the experience, CineBistro will likely not compete with other local movie theaters, due in part to its film selection and its 21 and over age requirement.

CineBistro is projected to open an additional two locations in Virginia.  One is making its debut this summer, at Hampton’s Peninsula Town Center, and the other in the Village of Leesburg in the summer of 2011.