Mystery Cafe Dinner Theater

If you are looking to have a fun, light, entertaining evening, definitely check out Mystery Café’s production at The Elephant & Castle. Actors mingle with the audience and as the audience, you can have a lot of fun role playing with the actors. We arrived for a ‘wedding’ and had to choose what type of wedding it would be (Russian, Irish, Greek, Italian, etc.). Based on votes from the audience, actors adjusted their accents, costumes and script accordingly. It was a fast-​paced evening of food, murder, dancing, singing, improv, audience accusations, sing-​a-​longs and a whole lot of laughs. All the actors seemed to have a fun time engaging with the audience not only when they were ‘on’ but also while serving food, singing birthday and anniversary songs and were excellent overall. There was live music and he, like the actors, was excellent and you could tell he enjoyed taking part in all the fun. He in fact, led the sing-​a-​longs. Actors also had fun interacting with each other. You could tell they enjoyed what they were doing the entire time.
The food? It’s OK. Nothing to write home about. Portions are small for the steak dinner (especially the sides). The bartender was a bit of a boob. Seemed annoyed people wanted to order drinks. But despite the mediocre food and restaurant– I highly recommend the shows at The Elephant & Castle! Fun night!

Boy are the people reviewing this fuddy duddys or what? We had a great time! We saw the show Murder Most Medieval. It was funny and well acted and part sing-​along! I saw some people there who had the look of «Go ahead, impress me.» You know what, they won’t be. The people who went looking for a good time had one.
The food was decent and they even improv’d a great deal to work the audience in. I thought it was a worth while visit and would recommend!

Pros: Shannon in the box office was truly amazing! She was incredibly flexible and helpful. Based on her professionalism, I was very excited for my group to see the show.
Cons: unfortunately, the show was terrible. The script was not interesting at all. The actors even seemed bored with the script. The show went on forever… 3 hours of painful acting and bad food.
I am incredibly disappointed in this experience. The show was truly awful. Actors were checking their cell phones during the show, the food took forever (and was not very good), and the script was just painful. I expected more for $ 52/​ticket.

Myself and friends took my Daughter to Elephants and
On Saturday, ⁴⁄₂₆ My friends and I had a Bachelorette Party for my Daughter at Elephants and Castle «Saturday Night Dead». In addition to the fee, I paid an additional $ 20.00 for the «Crossfire Special Occasion Package». Upon arrival, My Daughter was given a Tiara and light up… Rose and Bachelorette badge, and had her picture taken with the cast. A few minutes later, we were told that the printer was broken and my Daughter was asked to give her email address to the cast member so that they can send her picture in an email, which means that she would have to print the picture on Regular paper. My Daughter was given and empty Frame.
The show was ok. Not great acting but, we did have some laughs. It was pretty easy to figure out who did it. I did like when the cast interacted with the Guests.
My Daughter is Vegan and we previously ordered a Vegan Stir Fry Meal. She had to wait until everyone else was served before getting her meal. When she received her meal, my Daughter discovered that that the meal had Soy in it. She is allergic to Soy. (noones fault). We had to return the meal. Instead she was given a pasta dish with a side of olive oil. Fine. The other Members of our Party had Steak and roast chicken which didn’t have a lot of flavor. The potatoes were good. The dessert (chocolate pie) was good. My Daughter had a fruit plate for dessert that was fine.
I feel that this event is over priced, and the additional $ 20.00 for the Crossfire package was not worththe price! My Daughter had a good time and is what counts, but I really couldn’t recommend this event to anyone.

This review pertains to the «Saturday Night Dead» show. Food was okay, but nothing special. The show, however, was very mediocre. This murder mystery takes place on the set of a fictional TV sketch comedy show. Unfortunately, the show is neither mysterious nor funny. There is very little plot and disappointingly few clues. So that the best you can do is randomly guess as to whodunnit.
If you’re looking for a few laughs over dinner, this won’t be a complete waste of time. But if you’re looking for an engaging and challenging murder mystery, this doesn’t even come close.

What a «hoot». Four of us, middle age and a bit older went to see this show last night. Over the top? Sure, but that’s the fun of it. Soppy storyline? Yup, but audience participation and broad based humor take this show to a very pleasant level of «night out» fun. Food also pretty darn good. Plenty of roast chicken, well prepared, nice crunchy string beans, and good warm rolls. Hard working actors with great sense of humor and welcoming audience interaction make it quite enjoyable. Oh, and don’t miss the excellent piano player who kept everyone humming (and singing) along before, during, and after dinner. All in all recommended.

This place was nothing like we expected. My boyfriend thought it was too pricy. but I thought dinner and show that’s reasonably priced. Till we got there and was pointed to t direction of a basement. Where we were seated with random strangers. The show started and it wasn’t great. I’ve seen my kids role play better than that. It kept getting even more boring. It lacked interaction. I thought well maybe it will get better when the food gets served. Boy was I wrong. The spaced it it to much I waited about 30 mins after my salad to have our meal. Which had no flavor, and was a very small portion. I wanted to leave right after dinner. It was nothing like they advertise and def a waste of money. I wouldn’t send my worse enemy there. I had to give it at least one star to be able to post. But it’s not even worth the corner of a star.

Was skeptical about going to Marriage Can Be Murder dinner show after reading the Unilocal reviews, but decided to give it a try anyways, and am happy I did. I have attended several dinner shows that were well just ok, but Marriage Can Be Murder was a real good time. Went on Saturday, August 3^rd for my Sister’s Bachelorette Party and had a blast. I was the one that booked the show, so I kept looking at the other guests in our party and they were all laughing too. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food, as I heard no complaints, and the actors were awesome, they made you feel part of the show at all times. Will definitely be checking out there other shows! Great job. Keep up the good work!

Food was adequate, the entertainment kept moving and got better as the night went on. Would do again

Went to mystery café @ Elephant and Castle last night to see Marriage Can Be Murder. Overall it was a good time… something different to do… and amusing at times. The food… i wont complain… the steak was pretty tasty but i didnt expect it to be already cut up into peices and placed in a ramekin… the roasted potatoes… crispy on the outside tender on the inside just how i like em! The green beans… well…they were green beans… add some salt and pepper and voila. Went with two other couples one who was celebrating a birthday so we actually couldve went to chuck e cheese and made it a good time… we turnt up!!! The amusing part of the show was definitely the crowd participation and the very witty priest. If youve never done it and you have friends like mine that’ll do anything once… You’ll enjoy the place… kareoke upstairs after the show too… discover beantown.

This review is for the «Death by Chocolate» dinner at the MIT Endicott House on Saturday, April 20, 2013.
We were extremely disappointed in this event and the organizers should be ashamed of themselves for a falsely advertised, poorly executed, overpriced shenanigan.
The website for this event clearly stated that we would search the mansion for clues and interrogate suspects to help catch the murderer. This statement could not be farther from the truth. We sat at assigned tables while the actors put on a poorly scripted skit that was supposed to help us figure out the crime. The skit lasted for approximately 15 minutes, at which point we were asked to write down our guess. A friend who also attended the event with me asked one of the actors when we would be able to search the mansion as advertised. His excuse was that there were too many people to allow us to wander the mansion so the cast brought the clues to us. I blame the organizers for this — if you know that a large group of attendees would hamper the experience why would you allow that many people to buy tickets? The evening ended with the cast telling us who committed the crime, revealing clues that were never mentioned during the skit. The whole «show» was poorly executed and poorly acted.
The show itself was overpriced, but the food was an even bigger disappointment. We bought our tickets through LivingSocial, which totaled $ 65 per person plus a $ 2 meal tax purchased on site. For this, we received a soggy Caesar salad, cold pizza, and greasy pasta. I know site rentals can be pricey and someone had to pay for the actors, but to offer pizza and pasta for a dinner show is just inexcusable. On top of that, we had to wait in line for 20 minutes at the cash bar. We ended up purchasing two drinks at once in order to save our sanity from standing in line again.
The evening was a waste of time and money. We will never attend a Mystery Café Dinner Theater show again.

Note — this is for the «Death by Chocolate» dinner at the MIT Endicott House on 4÷20÷13, so it may not be representative of the experience at the other locations.
Looking for an interesting date night (we’ve been to ‘murder mystery’ house parties before, but not a professional production), we were looking forward to a new experience. However, it ended up being a disappointment — and unfortunately I believe the rest of our table (some new friends we made that night) would agree. I think we’d be hard pressed to give Mystery Café, even at another location, another try.
The mostly good:
The cast was enthusiastic and played up their roles well. We expected a whole lot of cheese with our chocolate — and we got it, in a good way. They were playing over-​the-​top characters, and did a great job. The lead, who played Billy /​Willy Wonka, was outstanding, especially during the wrap-​up at the end. (I’d happily watch him as an improv /​‘insult’ comic — I wish I could be that witty off the cuff!)
The not-​so-​bad:
The storyline just wasn’t that engaging, and the inter-​character conversations that were supposed to help you determine who did the murder didn’t reveal any useful info. No conflicting alibis, no real twists, etc. At the end, I think most of us just sort of drew a name out of a hat to determine who did it. I expected to have to do more /​work harder to figure out who did it (if you read below, you’ll understand why I thought so).
It was a cute concept that could have been a lot stronger, story-​wise.
The wicked ugly:
We bought our tickets via LivingSocial, and the LivingSocial ad (
) had some relatively serious false advertising:
«You’ll help search the house for clues» — Um, no. Stayed stationary at our table. One of our table companions mentioned going to another event where you got to do that.
«interview suspects» — No again. All you saw was an introductory scene, and a few small (and relatively useless, clue-​wise) cut scenes throughout dinner. There was no chance to ask questions, etc.
Like I said, I expected to have to work a bit more to uncover the clues.
Unfortunately, the food at the Endicott house was just plain bad, and a horrible value for the price. I’ve run corporate events, and I know that location and catering costs can be astronomical, especially in a place like the Endicott House — so I was expecting a simple meal (Cesar salad, pizza, pasta). But if it’s going to be simple, it should be good. Not so much here. The salad was swimming in dressing. There were three choices of pasta (no meat) all of which were greasy and poorly flavored; the chocolate mousse dessert (at a Death by Chocolate event) was institutional-​quality and mediocre. If you’re going to go for simple, at least go for quality.
Overall, between the lackluster show and horrible meal, the ticket (even the reduced price one) didn’t feel like a good value. The description, especially, set up a false expectation that was never delivered.
One last thing — when you get there, you’re charged an additional $ 4 per person for meal tax — that caused an annoying back-​up at the door. Not sure why that couldn’t have been charged /​collected with the ticket prices?

Me and my Da Weeze went to «Reunions Can Be Murder» at the Elephant and Castle and were greeted with awkward hugs from the actors who were to be our fake classmates for the night. It was confusing because they acted like they remembered us but we had no recollection of who they were. Then I remembered this was an audience interactive show and it was all an act. Still an awkward way to start the night.
Neither the show nor the dinner was outstanding but put together it made for a nice change of pace. Victor Ghastly, the tortured high school artist, stole the show. The show had some good laughs and a lot of audience interaction including accusing different audience members of the crime, all while comparing them to their celebrity look alikes. Victor compared my date to Reba Mcentire.
The menu and food was no frills. I got the roasted chicken which was huge but needed some sort of seasoning or sauce. The baked potato and the green beans were good though. The food is not nearly as bad as other reviewers have said.
If you’re looking for a five star meal do not come to the Mystery Café. If you’re looking for the best acting in the city don’t come to the Mystery Café. You will be disappointed! If you are looking for a fun, change of pace then come check out the Mystery Café!

This is my 200^th Unilocal Review!
I came here with a group of girls. We were seated by ourselves at a round table amongst a sea of people in the basement of Elephant and Castle. From the moment I walked in, I started laughing. I walked in with a friend who is not a Unilocaler, and had no idea what to expect. I love the high school reunion theme and how everyone stays in character the whole time. The one actor is a supposed software company CEO and my friend was asking him technical questions the entire time to try and get him to get out of character. It was entertaining.
The actors are also the servers. I give them some serious props for getting everything out on time and with a good attitude. The food was very good. The roast chicken was delicious and a huge portion! I honestly have no complaints about the food. They will even box it up for you if you have leftovers, and they can accommodate people with specific food allergies.
I’m going to be honest. You need to go in with the right expectations. It’s a like goofy/​cheesy/​whatever, but if you just go with it, you will have a good time. People are too grumpy sometimes! I feel bad for them.

I went there with my fiancé for the Reunions Can Be Murder show. Overall it was a fun night; the concept was cute and the food was actually pretty good. It was more of an improv that a scripted show, which surprised me. A couple of the actors were really great and carried the show while a few were just OK. I would do this again — it was a different type of date night, that’s for sure!

Came here recently with hubby for date night, and hoped it would be fun. I read the reviews, and had low expectations, but it did not even exceed them. You really would need to go with a bunch of people you know, AND also having had a couple of glasses. We sat with a young couple celebrating a birthday, and another couple who recently met online. Every table had someone who either was celebrating a birthday or a bride to be.
My rotisserie chicken and potato was okay. I enjoyed the green beans a lot. The chocolate mousse pie was too sweet for me.
The actors were also our servers. They tried their best in a tough crowd. Would I do this again for a different show? Probably. The concept is kinda cute, and we are usually easily entertained.

I went with my wife and her friend to «Reunions can be Murder» by the Mystery Café at Elephant and Castle last weekend. Upon arriving, we were greeted by our «hostess» with a friendly «Hello! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. I’m so glad you could make it». I have to say this set me off a little, as I knew I didn’t know this person, and it seemed that she was getting a little close really quick. But then it clicked; we were attending a «reunion», and we were all «classmates». She was just setting the tone for the evening to come, and it seemed to get people in the mood rather quickly.
Dinner was ok. I had the Steak, which was a mistake for me: I like my steaks seared and medium-​rare. That was my fault, as the confirmation email clearly indicated that the steak entrée was broiled. I should have selected a different entrée. My wife said the chicken was tasty. But honestly, we really came to see the show … and we were not disappointed.
During the course of the evening and dinner, the plot moves along. Without spoiling too much, we are introduced to the reunion attendees with the requisite suspicions and interpersonal grudges. Someone is killed and everyone is implicated. That’s kind of what you might expect from a murder-​mystery. But there’s more.
My favorite part of the evening was how the cast interacted with the audience. Throughout, each «reunion attendee» interacted with the audience to help build the plot and our suspicions. One of the folks at our table (thanks Linda!) was particularly interactive with the hostess, and the hostess took in her story and turned it right around into the plot — all while staying in character. It was even more fun when I realized that others throughout the audience were doing the same thing with different cast members. By the end of the evening everyone was chatting, speculating, hooting and hollering. If there was anyone in the crowd who did not have a good time, I didn’t see them. I can honestly say a good time was had by all.

Saturday night, August 14, 2011. Great night on the harbor! The show was so good, very interactive. Same concept as Finnegans Wake only a murder mystery, this one was at a «wedding.» The actors are so high energy, it is hard not to have fun. There was good music for dancing with a keyboard player.
The food was plentiful and hot, catering by Talk of the Town caterers. Not bad, not the best either. No table seating so you have to eat off of your lap, but we didn’t have a problem at all.
I would recommend this as a really fun night out, casual dress.

I went last Saturday Night to «GhostBashers» on a first date because it sounded unique, entertaining and like it would be a good «get to know you» type deal.
I was very disappointed. The tickets were way overpriced for a few «actors» stumbling their way through the hour and a half show. I could barely pay attention to the plot, which usually isn’t saying much but listening to their bad accents and worse lines for more than a few minutes was an unusually difficult undertaking. The website said we’d be using bribes and clue money to solve the mystery; At the end of the show everyone wrote down who they thought was the murderer and passed them in. So many people figured it out that they had a drawing to pick the winner of the Murder Mystery Night.. . she won a t shirt. On the good side I did enjoy the french bread and the pasta although there was something floating in my water.
Thank god I have a damned good personality else based on that show there wouldn’t have been a second date.

I attended on Saturday night with my two bosses; we were seeing if this was a group we could hire for a corporate event.
We weren’t impressed by the framework of the show. Very little audience participation; participation was limited to pre-​selected or drafted volunteers reading from clipboards (two of the volunteers really threw themselves into their parts and they stole the show). We were hoping for team-​building within our table of strangers /​getting to know our tablemates, but there was nothing.
The actors themselves worked their rear ends off, mingling pre-​show, serving and clearing, and working hard within the show itself, but maybe they’ve just started to work together or were having an off night, because they didn’t feel as cohesive as I’m used to with small theatre troupes who know each other well.
The storyline was weak. There was no real «mystery,» just a waiting for the ending to be said so the show could be over.
The food was banquet-​hall wedding quality (so, «meh»). The portions were large and everything arrived hot.