Gourmet Detective

My husband and I wanted to try something new and different from the ' ""dinner and a movie"" date, So we . went here last weekend. I'll admit that we were both apprehensive but it turned into a wonderful night! My favorite thing was that if you didn't want to actually participate you didn't have to! It was a wonderful and refreshing night. more

Okay, I've been to more than my share of murder mysteries... I've even been to 2 in Boston. These guys get it right. It's interactive, but up to you, so they don't pull you up on stage and humiliate you. It's funny, but it's also a real story, not just a bunch of one liners all night long. The format is as follows: it's set in a restaurant, all the ""characters"" are part of the restaurant somehow and so all of these crazy characters are running the restaurant and so you become part of the story. It's very cool. The talent is solid, food is good, and the production is the most professional. Plan a few extra minutes for drive time and if you get there early they have a nice bar to settle into. Have fun. We had a great time. more

I took my husband and another couple to see this show on 10/30/10. This had to be the worst show I have ever seen. It does not take much to entertain nor impress me and this was TERRIBLE!!! On top of it, the food SUCKED. I'm so upset about this experience, I'm thinking of disputing the charge on my credit card for them promising a certain product and not deliverying. When you read the website, they talk about how the dinner and food is so important to them and they take time to create wonderful dishes. I had what sounded like a great meal (New York steak with garlic mash and veggies). It was an unknown cut of meat with a gravy over it and instant mash potatoes. I would rather eat at Taco Bell. We were there celebrating my husband's 32nd birthday and I felt like a real looser taking them to this show. It was so boring, the actors looked horrible and acted poorly. It killed me know I paid $235.00 (not including drinks or tip) for a bunch of BS. Save your money and time. more

I took my wife here for a date. We are in our mid-20s and I thought this would be a fun and unique date. We were welcomed by some of the actors, who stayed in character the entire time and did a great job throughout the night. Unfortunately, we were seated with the God squad, who asked us within 2 minutes of sitting down if we went to church. We told them we were Episcopalian, but they spent most of the evening trying to convince us to visit their non-denominational church. Anyway, the drink service was almost non-existent, so I had to get up and go to the bar in the next room to get drinks several times, as the waitress only brought us one drink the entire evening. Though the website leads you to believe the cuisine is excellent, the food consists of instant mashed potatoes and frozen entrees that are just warmed up. My wife does not eat processed food, so she was not able to eat dinner, as no restaurants were open after the show. \r \r That said, the acting and actual show were pretty good. Therefore, if you are going to go, make sure you go in a group of 8 so that you know who you will be sitting with, pack a bottle of booze, and eat dinner beforehand unless you like TV dinners. Pros: Actors Cons: Slow drink service, food more

My husband and I were given a gift certificate to the murder mystery dinner and neither of us were especially excited about going. We are both theater professionals and tend to enjoy more intellectual theater. We were however pleasantly surprised by the evening. We were sat with several other strangers at a large table and had a good time interacting with both the other guests and all of the actors. The singing was not great, but somehow they made the mediocre voices part of the characters they were portraying. We are both vegetarians so we ordered their vegetarian lasagna which was rather tasty. Way too much dressing on the salad, but we asked for another one without dressing and that was decent. I would suggest pre-ordering the dressing on the side. The food in general was decent banquet food, but the presentation on the entrees was very plain and unappealing. The drinks were fantastic, great bartender who knows his stuff...only complaint there was getting our drinks a bit faster. We probably would have ordered one more round if we didn't have to wait so long in between cocktail service.\r The actors were great and they did the food service and stayed in character the whole time. The entire table seemed to really enjoy the evening. If you don't go with a group, I would recommend requesting a table with other couples. It was great fun meeting new people and enjoying the show with them. Pros: Actors, Drinks Cons: Slow drink service, Food Presentation more

I've been to a couple of ""murder mystery dinner shows"" and Gourmet Detective was definitely the funniest, most professional and slick organization. They have their act together, no pun intended. My favorite part is that the actors are costumed, in a different time period (the one we saw was in the 40's) and they are in character all the time, which is pretty cool. It's amazing they are hysterically funny when they are mingling with the audience. The story is definitely about the mystery. It's funny, dramatic, etc, but because the characters hang out at your table between scenes its your chance to interact with them, very fun. Anyhow, we had a great time and it seems like they deserve a nod for the positive. more

My husband and I were looking for a cool thing to do for Valentine's day and bought the package for the dinner, show and hotel. The hotel (Irvine Marriott) ended up being the only saving grace of the whole evening. The food was at best mediocre, the show was absolutely boring. The seating was too cramped and the whole evening I kept thinking, I spent all this money for this?? Please spend your hard earned money elsewhere; this is not worth it! more