The Dinner Detective

Groupon Users:  The site shows plenty of availability for the coming months for regular paying customers.  Then, there is a link at the top of their reservations page that asks Groupon users to go here.  
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As of last week, there was one night available in the coming months.  Now, there are NO AVAILABLE DATES for Groupon users.
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I went to the dinner show last Saturday with 6 other people in my party, and the overall package was really good....

So why not add the 5th star? I'm just a LITTLE disappointed (just a little!) that when I bought the Celebration Package, I was immediately under the impression that the birthday celebrant of our group would be the one chosen to participate. Turned out someone else in our party had that spotlight. When purchasing the tickets, I found out I had to call, so when I was on the line with an employee, she left me with the impression that the birthday celebrant would be chosen. I totally wouldn't have minded at all if I knew ahead of time that ANYONE from our party would be chosen, but I felt as though I was misled the entire time since purchasing the tickets. :(  I even told them on the phone the name of the person I want to have participate, and they TOLD ME they took note of it and will use him for the show.

I wished their web site (when offering the packages) was a bit more clear, especially since it was my first time doing this, and I just had no idea what to expect. I guess I totally misread it and assumed the celebrant would be chosen to participate. :( I even approached the lady who was checking us in on the day-of, and I ran it by her to make sure they would be able to point out the celebrant from our party, and she reassured me that they have him spotted. A little correction on my mis-assumption at that point would've been good instead of having my hopes up the whole time. I didn't really enjoy the show after the "wrong" person from our party was chosen because my focus became diverted by then, and I couldn't really solve it anymore. I ended up spending the rest of the show wondering and guessing, "Okay, maybe this is it... This is where they'll bring him in." Oh well. :( I guess for next time, I'll know what to expect. Other than that, 4 stars is still pretty good by my standards. :)

PRICE: A little less than $70/person for dinner and a show? Not bad at all. The rate isn't too crazy expensive. You end up paying that price for dinner at another restaurant (sans a show) anyway.. So why not add a little mystery crime solving as well?

DEMOGRAPHIC: A good range of people were there that night. All age groups, (but no small kids (look it up on the web site for age restrictions) and I can understand why. Some conversations/scripts/audience participation were sexually suggestive, and may not be suitable for little kids. Not to mention, the "murder scene" in the beginning. Also, goes without saying, but if you want to be active in participating, you have to understand English. Sometimes these actors can talk really fast, and it's easy to miss something if you're not readily listening.

ATTIRE: Everyone in my party wore business casual clothing. I wore jeans and a dressy top. We all got in no problem. So long as you're not in ratty clothes and flip-flops, you're fine. ;)

PARKING: Parking is not too bad. They let us know on the web site that you had to pay for parking, but when we went, the gate was open so we got in/out for free. :)

CHECKING IN/THE WAIT: Pretty easy enough. We went up to the lady who checked us in, then she directed us to the next table to pick out our "alias" names. :) Then we hung out a while with our party... The bar was available for anyone who wanted to drink while mingling, and some hor d'oeuvres were served.

DINNER/DESSERT: The dinner/dessert was okay. Salad/bread, main course, (I got chicken), and dessert. Chicken was all right. Nothing worth raving about, and dessert was extremely rich and sweet. :) Too sweet for my taste. Someone from our party got sick from the sauce in the chicken dinner, but everyone else was okay. But hey, it's just food. We came for the show. The servers were awesome. We asked to take some of our food home (for those who weren't really as hungry), and they accommodated our requests really well.

SHOW: The whole setup/story was AMAZING! Actors were all so good. The plot seemed to flow very smoothly throughout the entire show. The only suggestion to make it even better would be to provide EVERYONE a copy of the evidence (not just per table). People at our table took so long with the clues I barely had time to look through it myself.... and, yeah.... I don't want to give too much away, but really. I thought it was really good. A tip? Pay attention to EVERYTHING. All details are important! :) Who was the killer when I went? Pshh... yeah right! Like I'm really gonna tell you that.

A couple of us went here for a friends birthday and it was the first time going to one of these things. We didn't know what to really expect but it was a pretty good show. One of my friends actually was chosen to participate in a lil scene which made it even funnier!

As far as the food, it was decent... Not bad, but not great (I chose the chicken.) And the dessert was too sweet for my taste.

I would definitely recommend this dinner show to first-timers! Hope you enjoy!