It's Andy Fish!

Veronica and I decided to sign up for a performance of THE DINNER DETECTIVE– it’s a franchised “dinner theater” performance that is held here in the Woo at the Downtown Hilton Garden Inn.

It’s roughly $75 each which includes a 3 course dinner with a choice of Fish, Chicken or Vegetarian. There is a cash bar and located in an area outside of the dinner area which is held in a conference room on the second floor.

I’m going to walk you through what to expect in case you’re considering signing up. If you look online you’re going to find a BUNCH of four and five star rave reviews and a handful of 1 star negative reviews- there is even an insinuation that they bribe people with a shot glass if they leave a five star review.

I can tell you that is absolutely not true. They do say that if you scan a code and leave a review and show it to the host on the way out the door they’ll give you a shot-glass but there is no pressure for it to be a positive review.

The other complaints I read were for the food– if you’re going in expecting a five star meal you’re in the wrong place, if you’re going in hoping for a quiet evening for you and your significant other you’re in the wrong place. The show is the thing, and the food is equitable to what you would normally get at a catered event at a hotel- slightly below the average wedding meal.

So why the wide range of reviews?
It would seem to me that if you went along not knowing what to expect and you’re a particularly introverted person you are likely going to hate it. I myself am not the most extroverted person but I knew walking in that I was going to be talking to strangers at the mingle event and at my table as well. Go in with the right attitude, you’re part of the show, and you’ll have a good time.

You are asked to arrive a few minutes early– we got there much too early but we wanted to make sure we could find parking– if you park across the street at the Major Taylor Boulevard Garage and get your ticket checked at the Hilton front desk (they give you another card after you pay) you can skip the pre-pay machine as you leave and just wave your ticket at the exit for $6.

We were told we couldn’t sign in yet, but we were asked to fill out our name tags with any name other than our own. An alias, there were a lot of R-Rated choices made by the attendees which is probably why they don’t encourage kids. Veronica took her nametag and wrote “Mrs Peel” so I followed suite and wrote down “John Steed”. Being two British secret agents seemed like a good idea. We sauntered over to the bar and ordered a Gin and Tonic and a Vodka Tonic, they used top shelf stuff– the Gin was BOmbay and the last time I got a Bombay Gin and Tonic in Chicago it cost me $30– cocktails here were $10– soft drinks were (I think) $3 and beer and wine was $7. This seemed like the kind of event where drinking might be a good idea.

After a few minutes of chatting with the other attendees in the gathering area we were told to line up to sign in. So we got in the Que and did as we were told signing in and then stopped at the bar for refills and while we waited in that line one of the hosts came up to us to ask if we were “the Fish’s”– not sure why we were singled out, but Veronica got our tickets out while I handled the bartender.

We were assigned a table and everyone there asked “Are you the Fish party?” So much for keeping an alias.

The Salad was waiting for us, and it was a solid regular tossed salad. The show started while I was still finishing as a very loud actor screamed and ran in and fell to the ground as our victim. We were instructed to walk around and question our fellow diners. Then the police showed up– and loudly one of the officers instructed us what we should do– and that she didn’t like liars.

They singled out one member of the audience (the trick being you don’t know who is an actor and who is just an attendee) and questioned him. Then they singled out Veronica and she was very fast on her feet. They singled out a few others and then our main course came.

Now it’s probably a good time to say when you buy your tickets you can single out someone in your party as a “suspect” which they likely won’t know. That option was sold out when I bought the tickets– but to be honest Veronica being a suspect actually added to the evening, so if I were to do it again with a different group I would likely sign one of them up.

For our main course we both got the baked haddock with rice, potatoes and vegetables. I thought the fish was very dry but at least it was cooked through and not a pile of mush (wow high praise, huh?).

The mystery resumed before they could clear our plates and we were tasked with taking down clues that were placed on the wall as QR codes. A note about the event, there is no decor. It’s a very plain conference room, so if you’re looking for atmosphere you won’t find it.

More shenanigans. The jokes are solid, relax and don’t take things so seriously.

Dessert came in the form of a gluten free piece of cake which was somehow excellent, and there was a coffee station setup with some piping hot fresh coffee.

More shenanigans, more QR clues– we put together a solution pretty quickly– there was definitely a theme to the murders– yeah there’s more than one, and then we were asked to fill out our solution sheets.

They collected them somehow read all of them in record time and came back in to pick the winner who had the closest content of all the pieces– we had the killer, the consipracy but we had left out one of the suspects because we ran out of time to fill out the sheet.

OVERALL

If you go to local theater you’ll know what you’re signing up for. The actor who played the seasoned Sergeant was outstanding, and I told him so on the way out, the rest of the cast varied from solid to a little weak but at the end of the day if you go into this with a positive attitude you’ll have a good time. I’d recommend going with at least four people, although we had a great time as a duo.

It’s a little pricey for what you get, but there is a lot of work put into this and some cleverness to it that really makes it fun. Yes a few of the players get a little too rambunctious so there is a bit more shouting than I would prefer in such a small room.

TIPS

1- If you point at someone in your party to be questioned you will be the one questioned. I could see that a mile away.

2- If you’re a drinker take advantage of the inexpensive nice quality cocktails to take the edge off– don’t overdo it of course, you have to drive home, but if it loosens you up it’s worth having one or two.

3- Have a strategy in your head as you go in. Remember nobody knows if you’re part of the show or if you’re just another attendee, so you can go wild with your answers. Veronica stayed in character when they asked her what she did and she said she was a British Secret Agent, when asked if she’s killed people she said “No that’s what my husband is for.” If you take a few minutes to get into character you’ll have a better time. There was a guy a table over from me who was clearly dragged there by his wife, because he looked at her constantly and rolled his eyes. When he got called on he was flat through the whole thing. It’s about having fun.

4- If you aren’t a person who mingles get over yourself, talk to people. We talked to enough people when we first got there–we were also dressed pretty well, that a lot of people thought we were part of the show.

5- Dress code- there is none, there were people there in flannel shirts and there were people there in dinner dresses and nice suits. I’d have some fun and take a minute to dress up– how often do you get to do that?

So mediocre food, somewhat amatuerish performances but a lot of fun. I’d do it again.