The Dinner Detective Interactive Murder Mystery Dinner Show

Pure chaos. Loud is an understatement. Staff delight in screaming «interaction», explaining that you have to pick a fake name and then lie to everyone about yourself. Highly encouraged constant screaming is unnerving. Food quality is very, very similar to a La Quinta social-​hour. 150 people cram-​packed into an afterthought of a stoic, undecorated tiny room after standing for an hour outside for «cocktails». There has to be a fire-​code violation for this. Very hot and you can’t move like rats in a cage. Very claustrophobic. Room is very VERY tiny, suited for a party of 10 – 12 but is stuffed 10 TIMES that! You’re literally on top of each other and the noise and din of encouraged patron «interrogation» is haphazard and loud as FRACK to the point of insanity. As for «cocktails», all bottom-​shelf booze, mind-​you at premium prices. $ 10.50 for a shot of Jose Cuervo or Jack Daniels? $ 8 for a half-​glass of Sutter Home wine? A can of warm Coke was $ 8 as drinks are not free whatsoever. Wilted lettuce «salad» was horrifying. This show has no class whatsoever. Left before the main course. Couldn’t stand the complete lack of class, professionalism, and utter failure. This is better suited for a junior high-​school event than what it pretends to be. This SCAM is obviously a mass money-​grab for suckers. No refunds. STAY AWAY!

Truly a disappointment. We arrive at almost 15 minutes to 6 p.m. and no sign anywhere in the Lobby of the Antler’s Hotel as to the actual location of the Dinner Show. My husband had to go to the front desk to ask for directions. We go to the end of the hall and pass at least 6 other venues that were going on in separate ballrooms. It is now 10 minutes to 6 p.m. and there is a small sign sitting on a desk with blank nametags and pens lying on it. Absolutely no host/​hostess of any kind for the venue. The natural thing happens. People start acting like a herd and go up to the desk and grab a nametag, put their name on it and wear it.
At the top of the hour, a hostess going by the name of Karen pops in and starts yelling not to put nametags on and to remove it if they did it. Completely disorganized. Another ten minutes go by and more people are showing up. Karen comes back out and finally gives direction as to have people in a line and it is just pure chaos at this time. There are people waiting and have gone to sit down in the room and are told to leave and come back out to the mill farm area that we are expected to wait in. It’s just a hall with no seating for handicap or anyone for that matter. There is a small bar where a coke and a bottled water costs $ 10, but nothing else.
We have now been waiting for over 40 minutes by the time we get to check in and get a nametag only to be told to go wait down the hall. Ludicrous. The noise level is very extreme and the hostess starts screaming Marco Polo at the top of her voice in order to get the crowd to quiet. There is no control whatsoever here and the crowd has only had time for one drink at this point. It is uncomfortably warm in the hallway and we continue to wait for the room to open.
There is a group of 24 that is seated first, even though they mostly arrived last to the event. No rhyme or reason to the madness here. Once inside the room there is no decoration whatsoever for a dinner theater. The room is just a small, cramped ballroom with table seating for 10 sitting elbow to elbow. The woman next to me was screaming Marco Polo at the top of her voice into my ear and that was the last straw. Our party just left the insanity even before touching the salad for a much more professional option at another venue. This is just a money grab with low quality service.

We had a lot of fun. It was a great date night. Food was great, the actors were great, the venue was great. Our only criticism is that they wanted an extra $ 35 for a picture. I didn’t think that was worth it.

By: The Jackal ;) 1÷31÷2015 Show
The summary: Great show, food and fun. Go with an open mind! Not a place for a quiet night out, lots of action and excitement! Food was great, the management must have done a great job at fixing any menu problems after other customers brought it to their attention. The clues will genuinely challenge you, you will have to think if you want the prize :)
The dirt:
After reading a lot of the reviews on this page I can see how some people may not enjoy the experience. They have no sense of fun. From the helpful reviews on this page I quickly saw that the people that did not have fun were expecting the event to be held at the Broadmoor… The notes about the décor are somewhat on key with the ballrooms, a little dated, but definately not tacky. The halls outside the ballrooms have been updated since the last time I was there so I’m sure when it’s in the budget the ballrooms will be updated. The bar keep and other hotel staff were quite but not rude. For any one looking for a quiet evening, Go Somewhere Else! I was having to much fun to pay much attention to the carpet.
The show was great. The food was great. I know some people at other shows may have had a bad cook but our food (pork entre) was well worth it. The show, in my opinion, was fun as I mentioned before and the actors were having fun! One of the actors, no names, was in character the whole time and really had us going with their ‘back story’… Even if your not a people person you should give it a try, you will be pushed a little out of your comfort zone but it is well worth it.
GROUPON: I take offense to all the reviews on here that have to do with Groupon. This should be about the show not the less than great Groupon experience. READ THE FINE PRINT. It’s not like the dinner theater was trying to get one over on you. They sell through Groupon a limited number of discounted seats that helps them advertise. Now. I had a terrible time trying to get seats in October shortly after my birthday. Most of the Groupon seats were sold out. The original tickets said they would expire on December 31, 2014. I ended up traveling and didn’t want to book seats until later in October, when I came back into town I found out that there were no more seats. Needless to say I was not only concerned but upset. After a concerned letter to Groupon I received no reply within the next few days so I called them up and got through the second try. The person was not surprised about my call and once I explained that there was no tickets left they put me on hold to look into it. After a few minutes they came back and told me that the offer had been extended until March 2015 and it would be updated online in the next day or two. Sure enough it was. I was then able to book my reservation for tonight.
The only flaw that Groupon and Dinner detective need to work on is the idea of giving the tickets for the dinner theater through Groupon as a gift. While I had read the fine print and had no problem with the gratuity, my parents gave me tickets for my wife and I and they would have liked to have made it all inclusive in the initial Groupon purchase, maybe even some drink coupons. Besides this it was great show and experience!
Shout out to April! Great hostesses, got the whole group energised and excited with her excitement! Thanks again!

What a fantastic fun time. While the food will not WOW you, the fun of trying to figure out the mystery while interacting with a bunch of people you don’t know will excite you. I would definitely so it again as the two main detectives (actors) were a hoot and had their Schtick down. Have some fun and meet some new folks who you might actually accuse of murder.

Went for New Year’s. My reservation stated it was a «special» five course meal. I guess bread is considered a course as there were definitely not five. The acting was as good as expected. It was fun, but I would not recommend going when the price is doubled as we did. It’s time Hilton spent some money on renovations at the hotel as everything is very outdated. It’s also too bad the staff couldn’t have acted a bit happier to be there.

Absolutely Horrid !!! Arrived to a brown ring around my bread plate that I could literally scratch off with my fingernail. Had something that looked like bug guts on a windshield on my butter knife and that was just the beginning. The acting was absolutely awful. When my wife’s chicken arrived there was obvious blood, there’s no way the kitchen staff didn’t notice that. She didn’t even need to cut into it, it was right there on top. The rawness was even worse when you actually did look deeper. The green and wax beans still had leaves on them, they weren’t even properly cleaned before being cooked.
To call these people actors puts down high school drama students. The dead body actually got up and ran off again after handing the «detectives» a clue. We were in a rectangular, not very large room and they were basically yelling. Detective Hialeah made a completely off color joke — «decide who you think is the most artistic person at your table, now now be nice, we said artistic» this is obviously and absolutely a joke toward autistic as nothing else rhymes with artistic. When I brought it to the attention of the staff they brought her to me to apologize. She said I heard a noise so I wanted to make sure everyone heard me. If she’d heard a noise at the far end of said room she could’ve made sure the tables at that end had understood her, not say it loud enough that the entire room could here her little joke. I merely said «I’m sure» to which she responded «I’m done apologizing» and walked off.
We were not the only ones to leave. The couple next to us said that their 8yr old granddaughter could do a better acting job and they left directly after the salad portion of the meal.
I’ve been to a few murder mystery dinners and I’ve never been more disgusted by the quality. I’ve been to many a location in the Hilton family and never have I had worse service, such filth or more disgusting food.
Don’t waste your time or your money.

BEWARE GROUPON BUYERS!!! DO NOT DO IT!!!
They have only blocked off a few seats per performance for this show (never available in near future). Then they have a time limit in which to redeem the Groupon. Coincidentally, it expires before any available Groupon dates in the future. ANY!!! Even if you figure out a future date that doesn’t work for the coupon expiration, they tack on tax (OK) and an arbitrary high MANDATORY tip (NOT OK), even if you only have two persons in your party!!! So, the Groupon discount amounts to no discount at all, and you have no available dates in which to utilize it!
I have no idea if the actual show is OK or not, since we already spent $ 69 for a coupon we cannot use! I suggest paying full price, and making up your own mind if your tip is something you want to do or not, as it is supposed to be a discretionary item, anyway. Groupon is very stubborn and dense when explaining to them the fact we are unable to utilize this coupon, by the vendor, thereby making it UNAVAILABLE. That is a qualifier for a refund, but Groupon is part of this scam. The theatre CS phone number geos to an answering machine saying do your business online. This makes it a Catch 22 scam, also. No resolution in sight!
Spend your money on something else that involves goods/​services in exchange for your $ 69. Otherwise put it on black at the roulette wheel and get some excitement out of your hard earned money!

Really disappointed. Tried to book a date but since we used Groupon none were available. Emailed for help and got an email back that was not helpful. Then, finally got a date booked after going back to the site several times, and they charged an additional $ 18 per person! Have never had a Groupon experience where the price went up after purchasing it. Would love to get a refund as we are dreading going.

VERY disappointed in the entire experience. First of all… if I am going to pay 120.00 (the GROUPON price) to go see something that requires THIS LEVEL of participation, I should know in advance. We were looking forward to a relaxing evening. Not a chance. The entire thing is confusing from entry and you are constantly being called to attention and required to write things, examine clues, make up names, ugh… the list goes on and on. We pegged two actors immediately in the line to go in. It got worse from there. Do you think for a room that represents approximately 6,000.00 in ticket sales alone, (not including expensive booze you have to buy there), you should AT LEAST see SOMETHING on the walls to make the experience? Some Clue art perhaps? A few Sherlock Holmes themed ornaments? Zip. Just herd em into an ugly hotel banquet room for some pink near– the– bone chicken and herd em’ back out. AFTER HOURS OF TORTURE. Had it not been for the stellar performance of the two cops, there would be no way I’d have endured it. It was a big let down and the only thing that made us «VIP’S» (as promised in our admission) were two keychains. Whhoopeee. Don’t waste your money.

My wife bought the tickets through Groupon. The description says a «commemorative mug» is included. The big «prize package» for the winner included a mug, but not until my wife asked did we get one, and the Groupon stated «one mug per person». The hostess took our name, and I’ll update this review if we ever get our second mug. The food was just OK” — not «great», and the acting is a little «campy». Two things bothered me (and I’m no prude) — there was some inappropriate stuff said by the actors, and generally; if you were loud, obnoxious, or a «young cute girl» — you had a pretty good chance of being asked to participate. Why can’t they pick some of us «regular people» to get involved? It was basically an «ok» night, but the room is small for 80 people, it was hot and stuffy, the actors were loud and «over the top» — food simply average — guess I really can’t say «ITS GREAT» — but I won’t say it SUCKS. Guess it’s somewhere in the middle! $ 120.00 bucks for two people can do much better for you in Colorado Springs!!!

This was so much fun. I bought tickets online for my anniversary, and I had no idea what to expect. If you really get involved and active in it, its definatly worth what you pay for. Otherwise it may be a bit pricey.
The acting was quite scripted, but that was expected. They are humorous, and know how to get the audience involved and laughing.
The best part of it was how small it was. I was expecting like 200 people to show up, but It was only around 50. At the beginning of the night there was a socialization time, where you got in character and met the other guests. We probably talked to about half of the guests, which made the rest of the night much more fun since we knew the people a little. So talk and have fun! You get to create an alter ego of your choice. So be creative and develop your history. It’s fun if you have lots of facts (some of us aren’t good at lying on the spot).
The food served is okay, about what you’d expect. I’d say it’s best for people 16 and up, as there is some mature content, and a lot of the night involves socializing with adults.
It was definatly a fun date activity

This is a great show! The actors were funny, the story compelling, the atmosphere mysterious and exciting, and the food delicious. My girlfriend and I had an awesome time and we will be doing it again when they have a new murder. I’ve lived in Boulder for almost four years now and I’m so happy there is something new in town that is this fun. I would definitely recommend this for a fun and different Saturday night out in Boulder.