If you don't mind being the center of attention in a room full of people (about 80-90 approximately) and you are ok with being the subject of humor, then the experience will probably be a lot of fun. I went with my girlfriend on a Sunday and were seated at a table with two other groups of guests. When the show began, I was told by one of the show's actors that I would be playing the role of the groom in a "wedding" murder show. I was game and had a good time. My table seemed to enjoy the experience, although I spent most of my time playing the role I had been assigned. It was fun and we had some good laughs. I recommend the show. The food was good. I enjoyed my pasta dish. read more

The Murder Mystery - Performing Arts Near Me - Riverside, California

This place is really not worth all the money that was spent! So disappointing Once the show started the server came by to let you you haf to pay a $9 service charge per person. My boyfriend had 3 beers and he was charged tip. He ended up spending $39 and i spent $58 on the tickets from groupon. There are so many better things we couldve done with $100 I gotta admit The place is really nice inside. The pasta was good the chicken skewers were amazing. But i would never return for this show again. They seat you with random people. unfortunstely i was chosen to be one of the suspects, Its not a fun place to be at if your shy, it was very uncomfortable for me. I didnt really want to participate and i feel like i ruined the night of the other people we sat with. Moral of the story IT SUCKED By the way i had initially gave it 2stars but the more i thought about how uncomfortable i was i needed to bring it down to 1. read more

These guys did a great job at a corporate event I threw. They stayed totally committed to their roles, were just the right amount of cheesy and funny, and adjusted timing as needed and listened to the audience. I recommend! read more

It was miserably bad experience, I literally wanted to leave. I felt ashamed bringing my friends w/me & organizing everything. From a cheep food to a cheep acting! Costumes were so bad & old, "actors" so boring & unprofessional. We couldn't hear very much setting in the corner. Also the level of the show was so low. Overall, the worst show I & my friends ever attended, was under impression that bunch of friends decided to earn few easy dollars & "created" that nonsense of a show. I wish I was doing anything else that evening instead of being there. Waisted my time. read more

The real mystery here is why we were expected to pay $9 per guest just cause? AFTER you purchase your tickets, walk through the door, tickets redeemed (no refunds for you!) and seated. The poor server comes around to take your drink order and "oh, by the way, there's a $9 fee per person we never told you about! Here is your $11 glass of beer! " Why don't you just ad the fee to the ticket we price?? So, essentially your ticket just paid for your dinner. Not the show. Not your drinks. The food was good, but a VERY small portion. $27 appetizer. The show was bad. The acting was bad. The story was hard to follow. The actors were bad. Do not waste your money. read more

Well, reading all the other negative reviews, I'm not sure exactly what people were expecting. My husband has been begging me to go to one of these Murder Mystery dinner shows for years, and I finally acquiesced, and ended up having a pretty good time. Of course, I went in expecting bad food and a completely cheesy show. Right on both counts. But expecting that going in made it kind of ok. A few minutes after I sat down I was given a binder and a funny hat. It wasn't exactly explained to me that this meant I was now in the show. I kind of had to surmise that on my own. But I was given the role of Sir Reginald Butterbuns the third. The notebook contained a little information about the character I'd be playing, but other than that, I wasn't given any instructions at all! So I winged it! There were a few things that I wish I had known to expect, and I wish they had had a page in the binder explaining how to play a character in the show, but there ya go! In the end, I won the Best Actor award for my portrayal, so I reckon I did ok. All that said, I'm not entirely sure that I would have had as much fun if I hadn't been picked to play one of the 8 or so characters. My suggestion is: if this sort of thing appeals to you, go in costume and go prepared to play your own character. The show is definitely only as much fun as you put into it, so you kind of have to be willing to help create your own night. If you're good with that, then eat a snack before you go and go with the intention of being just as silly and cheesy as your surroundings are going to be, and I think you'll have a fine time. read more

I went for the Murder Mystery Dinner. In a nutshell LAME!!!! First there is a HUGE fountain in the middle of the restaurant that makes it hard to observe what's going on in the room. The staff is highly unskilled or entertaining as actors. They try to get the audience involved by giving each table a character but because there are so many characters our table started to lose interest in the story. They don't explain the rules of the game very well. Nobody in the audience seemed to really know what was going on and the inuendo character names are just tacky. The food wasn't all that great. Except the little garlic dinner rolls, our table ate 3 baskets of those. The main meal was family style bland pasta. I felt like i was at a cheap wedding reception. By the end of the night my friends and i were just shouting out loud accusations and claims because we were so bored. I wouldn't waste your money on this EVER!!! read more

I bought a groupon and decided to check this place out. I also invited 6 other people to go with me. I did like the fact that the company extends the same deal via e-mail for your friends and family if you purchased a groupon. The location was very random in a building in Los Angeles. The food wasn't anything to brag about, but doable. I did not like the fact they charged $3 for a regular size of Arrowhead water. They offered alcoholic beverages, I was able to have Chardonnay for about $7. Unfortunately, our group was way in the back and it was difficult to really know what is going on. However, the actors and staff were pleasant. This place really tried..I just wasn't feeling it as much. I definitely would not pay full price for this event and you should invite as many friends as you can. I believe the experience can be what you make it. I won't go again though. read more

This was for a San Diego Production at the Hall of Champions. I was so disappointed by this production. I bought tickets advertised in a groupon because I really thought this would be a fun night out with my husband, he's always wanted to do something like this. I had an amazing experience with a murder mystery production put on by my university's student government in Las Vegas three years ago, and I didn't think productions varied too differently from city to city, especially because this is a professional company. Here is the setup: You will be sitting with a group of people you don't know, unless you have a large group with you that uses the entire table. So hopefully the folks you end up with are helpful and want to work as a group, because in the end you must solve the mystery cooperatively with your table. You will be served three courses of food, and between each course each table will receive different clues. You are expected to talk to the room full of people to get their clues, or the audience members playing characters. The food is just bad, don't go into this thinking you are getting anything better than cafeteria quality food. I don't think anyone expects good food though, we're here for entertainment which was just lackluster. The main problem I saw was the reliance on the audience to play the majority of the cast. There were only four official cast members facilitating the entire act. They chose roughly ten audience members to play various roles, who in turn could become a suspect. Not all audience members are good at acting out a role, because they are chosen at random. The least they could do is ask for volunteers? Because they chose audience members they were not in character the entire time, and they were also being harassed by 'detective' audience members while they were trying to eat because the food was delivered to different tables at different times. The cast members were certainly trying, at times their jokes with the audience were offensive and made for more uncomfortable moments than laughs, but most of the time they were just cheesy. I know a lot of these murder mystery dinners rely on improv acting, but I've seen better from a high school theater group in terms of timing. Overall I was very disappointed. With a more energetic audience this could have been better, but the majority of the cast was not into character, the facilitators were better at confusing than creating flow for the mystery to be solved. On top of the tickets, you are expected to pay $9.00 gratuity per person for dinner. They didn't even bring water to your table, so you could be missing critical plot points if you're running over to the cooler to fill up your cup. We came close to walking out before dinner came, because it was so confusing and so slow to start out, but we made such an effort with our costumes and taking time off of work to go to this that it seemed silly to leave. I give 2 stars because there was an effort made, but I have seen much much better. read more

I attended a second show of theirs on Friday, July 18th. The show was held at the same location as last time (Old Spaghetti Factory) and had a lot of the same dynamics as the first (same menu, audience participation, etc). There were, however, a couple things that stood out for me that bumped them up a star from my original review... First and foremost, they completely rewrote their storyline. The main complaints I had from my first visit was that the storyline was very basic, and the "mystery" was entirely too easy to solve. The new storyline is ten times better and was much tougher to crack. Again, I do not want to spoil the story for anyone, but just know that if you attend one of their current shows, you will be entertained, and your detective skills will be put to the test. Secondly, and I don't know if this is more of a compliment to the Murder Mystery Company or to the Old Spaghetti Factory, but the service was much better. I am not sure how the two companies decide which servers to assign to the show on a given night, but whatever strategy they went with this time worked out perfectly. Our server in particular - Cori (spelling?) - was excellent. She was friendly and professional, and checked on us multiple times throughout the night. Another thing worth noting was that this last show had a completely different set of actors from the first. The actors were never the issue, however, as they were equally great both shows. It did seem as if the actors from this 2nd show made more of an effort to get the crowd up and moving throughout the show, which was a plus. Overall, the new storyline, and the improved wait staff made for a very enjoyable night. I still would like to see them add actual prizes to the show, but everything else was great. Ashley (their business manager) did a great job with the changes, and is super friendly and easy to communicate with. Big thanks to her for following through on her promise of providing a new and improved show. I would definitely recommend this show to anyone looking for a fun, affordable night in the area. read more

Bought a Groupon and went with my girlfriend. The Italian restaurant where the "murder" took place is in a strip mall and you had to pay $3 to park in the mall. We arrived a little late and they seated us next to complete strangers. Luckily our table mates were really friendly and outgoing by participating as much as they could with the "murder" investigation. The food was ok. Nothing spectacular; just 3 different pastas, salad, bread, and a cake. Every dish except the cake was served in a big platter for the table to share. Also beverages were not free; water was $3, soda $4, and they also served alcohol. What saved this review from being 1-star was the "murder" show itself. I don't want to reveal too much because learning about how it works while you are there is an interesting experience. The actors were pretty good and funny, especially the lead detective. What hurt the show was the microphone that they passed around for other people to talk with is pretty weak. It was hard to hear what other people were saying but the main actors were good at repeating what they said so other people could hear. This show is about participation and you get what you put into it. My girlfriend and I went around, talked to the "suspects", took pictures and had a fun time. My whole table was really active and we ended up being the best table detective of the night and solved the murder. =) read more

Went to the Murder Mystery Company's dinner/show at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Duarte. What a waste of time and money. And, I was even one of the guests conned into participating. There were no directions to people in the audience unless you were selected to participate, and even then, it was totally lacking focus or direction. My binder with directions for participating contained a huge backstory. Yet, it stated that I couldn't talk about it at all. The goal was just to make things up and misdirect people. Then why even write a whole elaborate background? The character I got was so useless that in the time crunch at the end, my clue wasn't even needed and nobody batted an eye. It did not help that the audience participants who got main characters were equally confused, likely because of the total lack of instruction, and just started making things up. The actors themselves did a lot of shouting. It was intermittently too loud and too soft because let's face it, the Old Spaghetti Factory isn't really equipped for such an event. We basically came here because we were nostalgic about going to the Old Spaghetti Factory as kids. Fast forward many years and wow, memories really white-wash what the food tasted like... Save your money and pass on this. Not really funny, not really tasty, and not time well spent. read more

My husband surprised me with a date at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Duarte for The Murder Mystery performance. We had a great night! (I'll only comment on the performance and not the food or service bc TMMC, I believe, can't control that.) The characters were great! My husband told me ahead of time to dress up in a ball gown and use masquerade masks. Some people were dressed, others weren't. The atmosphere was lively and friendly. You don't get to sit by yourselves, instead you're seated with random people--Not so much a drawback if you're okay interacting with people....C'mon recluse! There's cute picture taking but you have to pay for it....not cool. You can't even use their backdrop to take a picture with your own phone....not cool. The pics they print out are cute but should be cheaper--not $20 but $10! All the clues were presented, which is helpful in figuring out who did it. Interrogating people was fun, but at times odd, since some of the suspects were regular dinner guests and didn't know how to act their role. The majority of the dinner guests that participated were great and acted well. I believe if you come early enough they choose people randomly from the dinner list. So come early if you want a chance to role play! Our table of 4 happen to win! One tip: get the names correct! One table s guess was thrown out bc they wrote down the name incorrectly. Some Cons: -Liked I listed above, paying for pictures:( -A wack certificate for the winners! Put a little more thought to a cute, inexpensive award! A chocolate bar? A dessert? Something! read more

MYSTERY DINNER Good: 1. Audience Participates 2. Chicken and Steak Plate 3. Friendly Service Needs Improvement: 1. Make teams of 3-4 you can't communicate in large groups because of the noise level. 2. Provide sheets for 3-4 people so we can keep track of clues. Also provide pens because it's too difficult to see pencil writing in the dark room. 3. Need better sound system you can't hear what 1/2 of the people are saying. The background music and people talking makes it very difficult to hear. However, with that said people screaming into the microphone was also unpleasant. A better sound system would fix all this. 4. Mediocre acting and costumes---performers need to practice more and play their roles much better. The costumes are very cheap and ridiculous. **If you come to this show DON'T DRESS UP like they say in the e-mail. More than 1/2 of the audience wore jeans. *** FYI there is a $6 mandatory tip for the actors AND an extra tip for the waitress depending on the drinks you order. read more

I've always known about Murder Mystery games, and have even played the game with a few friends during a birthday celebration, in which we printed from a website. However, this was the first time that I participated in a live murder mystery game presented by actors. The Murder Mystery Co. was by for the highlight of my office holiday party, and is still being talked about in the office a whole week later. When I initially announced that I was hiring Murder Mystery Co. for the office holiday party, everyone was extremely excited, and I am happy that I hired this company. We had the honors of working with Amber and her team, who were the sweetest, and by far most hilarious duo. If you want to add some excitement to your next event, be sure to hire The Murder Mystery Co., you will not regret your decision. read more

What a fun night! The best part of the show was not knowing what to expect! Ok so I see some of these reviews are so so, but come on people...it's a live performance! And a really fun interactive one at that. What ever happened to trying something new? The food was good. Served three different pasta dishes. The rolls were delish. And the dessert was yum. I was happy cause I'm veggie and they had good options. The actors were funny and my friend played the reporter! We had an awesome table of people (whom we didn't know), but quickly became chums with. All and all I would say the night was an A. :) read more

We just got back & I enjoyed it so much I thought I'd leave a Yelp review right away. I've been to five murder mystery dinners & I actually liked this one best. A friend had gone before & told me to dress up. Since the theme was Til Death Do Us Part & suggestion was to offend bride, I decided to bust out my wedding dress. Most only get to wear their dress once. I was pleased after 12 years I could wear it again. We arrived about a 1/2 hour early. We were allowed in 20 minutes prior to scheduled start. Were greeted by the bridesmaid who told me Summer, the bride, was going to be very unhappy with me for my choice of dress. We were seated at our table with 5 other people. The best man came over to name one of our table mates a suspect. He also gave us a book with directions, clues & information needed for the game. You are allowed to read certain parts at certain times from the clue/information book. So initially you are to read the first page with the suspect at your tables backstory, what you are allowed to say & people to avoid. The actors proceed with the storyline & at specified times you get up to question other tables & take it all in. Then you are told to sit down & the story proceeds & additional clues & motives are given. You read more information from your table book & question more suspects. At the end, your table jointly makes their guess of murderer & details of how & why. Who had motive & means? In the end the actors give out awards for best dressed (which I won), best female suspect, best male suspect & a few others. The food is decent Spaghetti Factory meal. You get a salad, choice of main course & spumoni. If you need drinks or appetizers, you can order & pay separate. They take a cute pic when you enter & you have the option to purchase for $20. All around very enjoyable evening. We plan on going to another one with a different theme. read more

The Murder Mystery - Pretty proud of my best dressed award. - Performing Arts Near Me - Riverside, California

Sounds like a fun idea but this was just about the lamest thing I have done. Food and drinks were terrible. The setup was cheesy. The game/acting was slow and lame. We walked out after 45 min. This was big groupon failure. i want my money back!!! read more

I hired them for my boyfriends 32nd birthday party. We hosted it at the house and had it all set up for the Billionaire Masquerade theme. Everyone had such a blast! Nick & Summer were awesome. I will say it was a little awkward at first when guest first arrived and the actors were in character however, once more people got there and drinks started flowing...everyone got into it. Make sure your guest are fun! The reason ours turned out so well is because the guest that were chosen as suspects, got INTO it. We had about 18 ppl and all couples so each couple got to team up and have at least one person have an acting part. I really liked having everyone involved. I had no idea what to expect and sent over a bunch of facts about my guest. A few got incorporated and was super funny when they did but regardless, it was great and not really necessary. If I do this again I personally would skip out on dinner and sub for pizza or apps and drinks. I had tables and chairs set up but you could also do a lounge setting if you wanted. Have your guest dress up! read more

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Other reviewers on this page seemed to not enjoy this performance as my friend and I did. though, it was what i expected; a muddier mystery with dinner. the performance was comical and the company at our table was fun to talk to (though, i realize that the "MMC" has nothing to do with that, I thought that i would add, it either way.) i would suggest coming here and getting opinion on the matter. 4/5 read more

Went with a group that almost filled a table. We went with no expectations and listened and participated. We had a great time. Food was so-so but we knew we were not going to Morton's. The entertainment was good, unique and different. They could have more drinks but that did not matter. If you go in with a fun attitude (we all dressed up too) then it helps. And why wouldn't you? You go in as a spectator or participator... Our group was fun and the entertainment interesting. We drank, ate and tried to solve a mystery! Fun evening accomplished!! Our group had a great time and would do it again! read more

This company has the worse customer service! I had to reschedule because we had to put our dog down this morning. I called and spoke with the manager Tim and he was not sympathetic to the situation at all. He kept stating the fee to reschedule is 15.00 dollars per ticket. We bought the tickets from G Iku. read more

Saw these guys n gals the other night for work Christmas party at real speak easy in long beach,roaring 20's deal everybody dress the part. It was a blast!! Big Lou,Amanda Lay and Trish Fish were fantastic and you could not beat the room. Got to play Rat Finkel , all around good guy.lol what a great time, thanks again . Kevin read more

Geez. Where do I begin? I made a terrible error in looking up "Next Door Lounge" on Yelp, which is deceptively where this acting troupe lists as it's location on Groupon, making it appear the party responsible for the event. Little did I realize that this 4-star bar was only the venue. I didn't look up Murder Mystery Co, and I sure wish I had :(.... I tried to enjoy myself @ the Next Door Lounge location, but it got to the point where I just wanted to leave. They drop a $9/person additional fee on you once you walk in the door. They claim this is part of the 15% that is written in the "tiny print". However, it is actually 15% of the ORIGINAL price of the tickets, NOT the Groupon price...deception #1... and this was only the beginning of my problem w/ the evening... Deception #2: they also automatically charged us a 20% gratuity on the drinks bill by the end of the evening when it was just my husband and I on a bill. I don't know all these other people at the table THEY seated me at, but they treat me as if this is the case! Then they had the audacity to ask for more on the credit card line below. I felt bad for our waitress (I don't know if she actually received that gratuity, which I'm guessing now was a "cover charge"). She was working hard, but w/ all the surprise fees, I really didn't feel so charitable, especially with the awkward demand for me to get up throughout the evening and walk around the room, asking questions, when quite frankly, I just wanted to enjoy my food and drink, spend quality time w/ family, and watch the entertainment unfold. Deception #3: Audience Involvement: I was UNpleasantly surprised at the degree to which the actors rely on US, the audience members, to play a part...it was uncomfortable. It became embarrassing when one audience member clearly was not ready to speak, and the guide just reenacted his scene FOR him (she put on her "man voice" and had a dialogue with herself to SHOW the audience member how it was SUPPOSED to be done). I felt like I was back in grade school with an impatient teacher in a bad lesson ("I'll just GIVE you the answers since you can't figure them out yourself"). Many in the audience were clearly not happy with the huge list of things they were charged to recall in their "group binder" that was waiting for them on their coffee table (which was intended to double as a dining table). Some at our table didn't even have a chair...they had to eat dinner on stools with no backs! Add a coffee table to that equation, and you're eating out of a trough! So once my family members and I figured that this was NOT WHAT WE EXPECTED, we just let go, and allowed the other 6 people sitting around our coffee table run amok. As the acting was reaching a fever pitch in malaise, my bro leaned over to me to ask, "Did you research this?" it dawned on me that I had looked up the BAR, not the "acting" troupe. I pulled out my Yelp immediately to look up Murder Mystery Co, and LO AND BEHOLD..... 2 stars. I've never felt like such a chump in my entire life. At least my husband was ROFLHAO at the ridiculousness of it all. Seriously, I was so embarrassed, and I wondered to myself all the way home, "How can those "actors" escape this embarrassment? They do this day-in and day-out?" Then I realized, "Hey, because they've just horn-swaggled everyone and raked in the dough!!" I'll do my best to give this sad little ditty justice at 1-star. Call the BBB, folks. This here's some shady business. Scary thing is that they may have done "just enough" to cover their bases. Slick... read more

What a jumbled, poorly written, disorganized mess this was. I swear some of my 8th grade English students could write a better murder mystery than this. I went here with my mother and my brother, expecting a nice performance, a puzzle to solve, and some decent banquet food, and all I got was the decent banquet food from the Old Spaghetti Factory. If you're a huge fan of LARPing, this may be the murder mystery dinner for you, but for us it was a frustrating and disappointing experience I am certain not to be repeating with this particular company. Our descent into this mire of forced mirth and muck began as we were shown to our seats by actors already in character. That boded well! But my gut immediately sank when they promptly came over with a binder and a cheap costume and foisted a role upon another hapless man at our table hoping to enjoy his mother's birthday outing with her. They never asked if he wanted to participate at all, he was simply assigned the role. I watched in a bit of horror as they did the same with all the rest of the tables and slowly came to realize this "show" was going to hinge almost entirely on audience participation. Not only that, but the hostess made sure to repeatedly insult my brother, even when he clearly was not enjoying her ribbing. Off to a bad start already, the show began with a short, uninteresting introduction after which the murder immediately occurred. No exposition, no mood, just right into a guy hamming it up in the middle of our packed banquet room and collapsing. Much to my dismay, we were then instructed to leave our tables and go interrogate the characters. They had all been given a binder full of information about their character and the object was to ask them/bribe them with play money for information to help you solve the mystery. And therein lies the true failure of this murder mystery company. The first "interrogation" round took place right as food was being served, so not only did very few people want to leave their seats to actually go gather information, but the poor "volunteers" had to endure the questioning all the whilst trying to chat with their families and friends and enjoy their meal. Heaven forbid. Needless to say, as one of the few people at our table who appeared to be a clear extrovert, another guest and I were sent forth to take notes. After scrabbling around awkwardly in the crowded, stuffy hellhole, my dinner was piping hot when I got it, lukewarm when I returned. Perhaps this was just bad timing on the food service's part, but we sat at the table for what seemed like forever beforehand with nothing to do. Why couldn't that have been dinnertime? Food could have easily been served before the "performance" to leave us free to participate without the unneeded punishment of a cold dinner and circumstantial evidence and heresay at best to contend with. Even if they had timed the participation rounds and the food service better, it still remains that the story was contrived, thin, lacking in any actual concrete facts, relied heavily on backstory, and most fatally, on the skill of the audience member to relay that information. To their credit, many of the audience members embraced their role, had fun, and engaged those who came around to ask them questions. However, many did not. Many never really bothered to look inside their binders and did not know key information when asked. In particular, the guest asked to play the actual murderer at our dinner was completely clueless about their role. The binder of their information was passed about the table and no one could get a straight answer. And you know what? I don't even blame them. This is the job of the acting company, NOT the audience members. When you put on a show, it is YOUR job to ensure the audience gets the clues they need to solve the puzzle, not to act as a glorified MC to make offensive jokes at audience members' expenses and awkwardly fill us in when your sacrificial lambs fail to regurgitate the canned info you gave them. The cast of characters was also too huge, and many of them were completely unnecessary. Very early on I found myself not even caring who committed the crime, and caring much more about when dessert was to be served. Save your money and avoid this like the plague. Or maybe you'll get lucky and they'll have an audience member perform the role of the victim and you can be excused! read more

if i could give negative stars paired with a big, fat "F" i would. the following is what i wrote to the murder mystery company when they emailed me their survey to fill out after the event. i am not going to waste any more time being upset about this fiasco, so i've copied and pasted my remarks to TMMC. "enjoy." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ to TMMC: I cannot express how extremely disappointed I was with your event. I convinced my group of 8 to all buy the groupon voucher to go to your event (total $240 spent... not even including money for drinks and tip!) and no one could hear anything. The event should have been limited to no more than 50 people. 150 people in a room with horrible acoustics created chaos. I continuously apologized to my friends profusely for having wasted their time and money. Service: Nothing horrible. Nothing special. Food: Bread basket full of hard bread. Soggy salad. Soggy pasta, tiny portions, bland flavoring. Tiramisu was ok. My group had to go out to eat afterwards because we were all still hungry. Location: O'Mamamia was located in an odd neighborhood to have this type of function. It was also very hard to find. Inside the restaurant, we were seated at plastic chairs and plastic tables with paper sheets instead of nice table cloths. I felt like a child pretending to have a grown up's dinner. The acoustics of the room were terrible. I don't know if that is the restaurant's fault or not. Entertainment: My entire table could not understand anything that was being said. The acoustics were horrible. Not all actors had mics, and even the ones that did we could not hear clearly. The mics were giving off feedback. Additionally, we were seated at the edge of the room, so it was difficult to see what was going on as well. Most people didn't know what they were supposed to be doing and several of the randomly chosen actors from the crowd did not do what they should have been doing in order to progress the game/story. I honestly have never been so disappointed in an event. As our show was coming to an end (~7:00 p.m.), we even called up another couple that we knew who were supposed to attend the 8 p.m. showing that night to tell them not to come... that the credit they would receive from Groupon would be infinitely more worth it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ read more

What a disappointing evening. Instead of being entertained we were subjected to bad acting, a poorly written script and if that wasn't bad enough suffered insults from the cast. Several men were called out for their lack of hair (yes, it was that juvenile), another man was repeatedly humiliated because he was not dressed appropriately and a woman was mocked because she had too much to drink. I came wanting to solve a murder not listen to my fellow participants getting put down and the cast wasn't even very clever or funny in the way they did it. The telling of the murder mystery depended too much on audience participation leaving me wondering what I was paying for since we were doing all the work. It might have worked better if the cast had actually taken some time to find out if the person they assigned a role to actually wanted to do it or not. Several people barely took the time to read the binder they were given and were unable to answer questions making solving the mystery impossible. Don't waste your time or money on this. You will be more entertained if you buy a murder mystery game and play it with a group of friends. read more

Reading some of the other reviews which are rated high makes me say WOW! You had Pasta. JUST to be clear this is the place on La Brea avenue in Los Angeles next to Candela Taco Bar and lounge. Yes, I did buy my ticket on Groupon...THANK GOODNESS. If I would have paid $120 for both my sister and I to go I would have been a little UNHAPPY. The food: You get a salad with no dressing on it. Even the actors in the show make reference to it. The main entree was a steak and chicken fajita with rice and beans. They DO ask you if you are a vegetarian but my only worry with that is what if you don't eat red meat? hmmmm so you're STUCK with this steak and chicken mix. I didn't take a picture of the plate, because I was so embarrassed. If I told or showed anyone what I was eating for REGULAR price $60 per person they'd laugh. NOW you may say oh but you are getting entertainment for the $60 as well. Then I will say, have you EVER been to Medieval Times? for LESS than $60 a person you get good food, as well as a very good portion and entertainment that keeps you entertained. Our dessert was a churro cut in half with chocolate and caramel drizzled over it. I thought it was a nice presentation. HOWEVER, for $60 COME on. The BIGGEST kick to all of this...how about you PAY for soda as well! So for $60 I can't get a soda? The show: Uhhhhh I'm STILL lost..Really? First there were TOO many people not to have EVERY table have one of those folders with a character in it. I don't get it. The actors were not all that great, and their jokes were VERY dry. Out of my group of friends I'm ALWAYS the one who finds some sort of goodness from ANYTHING we do and I'm the one prone to trying NEW and DIFFERENT things. But this was a waste of time and money. They need to take into consideration some people are a little more shy than others and you REALLY need to concentrate and develop some way of making everyone feel comfortable and interact with each other. Maybe have an actor assigned to each table and play a name game at the beginning so everyone knows each other. Also to explain the game. On the table there was a paper that explained the rules. BUT if it was at the other end of the table you DIDN'T know it existed. Overall DO NOT GO HERE. I'm SOOOO curious...I REALLY want to try another murder mystery company JUST to see if I have a better experience. I really hate not having a good time. :-( read more

It was a fun night. I enjoyed my time at the event in Duarte, CA. My low rating has to do with how complex the story line got that even the actors could not keep it straight without making mistakes with character names/plots. The actor playing the current magician's assistant was very rude and condescending to the public on April 25th. Regardless, a plot line with over 10 characters including audience members is way too long and unnecessary. read more

THE MOST AWFUL EXPERIENCE I HAVE HAD IN LOS ANGELES Worst worst worst experience I have had in Los Angeles. Actors: Suck They dont want to be there and they dont really care what the audience thinks. Food: Yuck, low quality, very cheap food. We were told that we would get an option of chicken, beef or vegetarian fajitas but a plate was just slapped on our table with two kinds of pewny looking meat. When I asked the waitress what it was, she did not know. She just kept saying chicken and beef, which I dont think was beef. I dont eat pork and I certainly think I ate some tonight. No torillas with the plate. What else do you call fajitas. Small portion size. Cheap quality, something you would get at a taco truck. Seriously. Please dont waste your money going there. This place sucks. READERS: I have emailed the Murder Mystery Company, and left a review for the restaurant. I am also going to file a complaint with the better business bureau. I hope other reviewers would do the same so we can get such scams off the market!. Write to the Better Business Bureau. read more

This company is awesome! Really fun show. The other review complains about how audience members play important characters, but that's the whole thing. This isn't a regular dinner theater show, it's SUPER interactive, and they force you to interact with other audience members and search for clues. It's really fun to try and solve the mystery yourself. The actors were all hilarious, and the mystery itself ended up being pretty involved - everyone had motivations, and it was a blast to try and sort through them all. My whole table got really into it. If you're looking for a different kind of show, one where you aren't just sitting there watching but where you get to be an important part of it, then the Murder Mystery Company is highly recommended. Great actors, great story, lots of fun!!! read more

Me & my boyfriend tried doing something different and attended this event- overall it was okay, it was corny & the food was not appetizing. BUT the worst part of it was I bought one of the pictures that they took of us- they charged me TWICE. Luckily I had a bad feeling so I checked my account & I was charged twice. I spoke with the person who took my transaction CHURAQUI- he said it would post within 3 days. It's been almost a week- he gave me a number that I've tried to get in contact with- NO ANSWER. So unprofessional. read more

I think it would have been more fun if they explained things better. I took my friend to their murder mystery on a Friday night and although she told me she thought it was fun, I didn't have the same experience. I loved the part where they had guests act as suspects and be a part of the show, making things more interactive. I got selected to play a character, which was fun at first, but I wasn't given much information on my character. And because I was a character I was bombarded by the other guests asking me questions and asking me for information, but they wound up getting mad at me because I didn't have enough information to give them what they wanted. I had to break character constantly to tell others I genuinely had no idea if what they were asking me was true or not because the booklet with my character information didn't say much, so I couldn't help them out. I didn't get the chance to ask people for clues and do my own investigation and I would have had more fun simply playing the character if I had more information and backstory to my character and answers to the questions people were asking me. The food was decent, it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't amazing than standard pasta (since we were at the Old Spaghetti Factory). I wish they organized things better because they had us doing first round investigating after appetizers and before the main course, so when the food came out it was a challenge to get people to take a break to eat. When I tried to sit down to eat people still kept coming up to me and asking me questions and kept interrupting my dinner even though guests were told to stop the process while dinner was served. I couldn't enjoy my meal because people would keep coming up to me and ask me questions, making me quite irritated because I was really hungry and wanted to eat my food. The night continued, and things were going okay, I was trying to do the best that I could to answers people's questions and trying not to take it personally when people gave me dirty looks or were getting frustrated with me because I couldn't help them out much. Finally it was time for us to guess, and what do you know, I wound up being the killer. I got the most dirtiest looks from the people we were sharing a table with and one guy got upset because he thought I knew the whole time and was hiding this information. I didn't have a clue but I felt multiple eyes from people in the entire room upset with me because they assumed I was in on it. When I went to the bathroom after, a few girls were joking and talking to me about it, but there were a few other ladies glaring at me as if I ruined their night. It made me uncomfortable and guilty, even though I had no part in this! We also had taken pictures when we first arrived, and I had planned on buying them but one of the cast members told our table our photos were delayed because of a printing error and we'd get our pictures for free. After waiting till everyone left, we got our pictures, but we're disappointed in them because they were blurry and out of focus. It wasn't a printing error but an issue with the photographs that were taken. We weren't upset because we got free pictures, but I planned on buying them from the beginning as a keepsake of our night, but the pictures were all messed up and blurry. I think my experience wasn't that great because I wasn't in on the situation or wasn't given enough information to truly play along. I especially didn't like being hated by the entire room because they probably felt I knew the whole time and wasn't giving them clues, even though I didn't have much to offer them. I went home feeling upset and unhappy with my experience. My friend on the other hand had a great time and I wish I could have had her experience. read more

I'd been looking forward to this event for awhile, and I found that it was just okay, and I definitely would not do it again! I don't even know why this is so popular, but I guess people like me are curious and it sounds intriguing. The food was not good, please see my review for the Old Spaghetti Factory in Duarte for more info. The actors were good, but at the same time they used a lot of the guests in the room as part of the show. They take photos of you, but won't let you use your phone, because they want to charge you $20 at the end to purchase the photos they took. You would think they would want people posting these photos on their social media to market the events. I wouldn't recommend coming to this, unless you're really interested, and if you are, purchase a Living Social or Groupon. I really hope nobody paid full price for this. read more

I bought this as a groupon to surprise my boyfriend. The laugh was on me. We were seated at cheap plastic tables. One server was waiting on 6 or more tables. Drinks were $10!!! And not strong at all. The food was the best part of the experience. Good Job O Mamma Mia! The show started and we could not hear anything. Everyone at our table was confused from beginning to end. Not worth the $50 I spent! read more

I went here on a date night with my boyfriend after purchasing a living social deal. We had never attended a murder mystery dinner before and didn't know what to expect and went in without much expectations. An e-mail suggested to dress up in costume, but the majority of people dress in normal clothes (I think) while some wore dresses, cute Halloween-type costumes, or simple, themed outfits. Upon arrival, cast members casually chat you up as they lead you to your table, where you are introduced to your other "teammates." When we went, we felt there was a good mix of people in the room: from couples, high-schoolers, older groups of friends celebrating a birthday, to a few parent-child pairings (side note: not all of the jokes were PG, just FYI for the more protective parents out there). The cast does recruit a few guests to participate and act as suspects (they provide binders containing clues and background stories); while other reviewers have lamented this fact, my boyfriend felt it enhanced his experience being called upon to participate in the show. Maybe we were lucky and sat at a more enthusiastic table and were more engaged in the spectacle of it all, but we had a surprisingly good time questioning the suspects (or being questioned in my boyfriend's case) and discussing what we thought of the case with the other people at our table. The cast members were comical and entertaining enough. Based on my experience and after reading so many of not-so-flattering reviews here on Yelp, I would have to say my biggest tip to people considering attending a TMMC event is to be open-minded. I feel this type of event is best suited for people who like to play along and are more game for a laugh - even if it's at their own expense. Sure, the production value isn't King Leer caliber, sure, the jokes might be a bit cheesy, but all in all, I feel like it's a fun way to spend an evening with other people while getting a meal (btw, the food at Old Spaghetti factory was not very good, but I'm not docking that against TMMC). If you're grumpy, anti-social, thin-skinned, and looking for a Michelin-rated meal, you would probably hate this event. Even though I probably wouldn't go back to Old Spaghetti Factory because of the food, I think TMMC is definitely worth trying at least once. Just make sure you go with people who are fun and enthusiastic rather than total killjoys. For Ashley: Duarte location read more

I took my 16 year old daughter to the Mystery Dinner Theater in Riverside at the Old Spaghetti Factory, we go to plays once a month and wanted to try this option out. It was great, we both enjoyed it. It was a fun environment all were encouraged to dress the part and 80% of the audience did which made it more enjoyable. The actors were great and the food servers were attentive and fast. The only issue was the low quality sound system which made it hard to hear at times and we had to ask others around for details we missed. Overall awesome and would recommend for families or friends night out! read more

Very disappointed, I've been to 2 other murder dinners which were both great. This one had wilted salad, spaghetti was ok, but waiting 2 hours to get it was horrible. We were early and still stood in a long line. Not good when you have your 93 year old father. Maybe younger people would like this read more

I have been to other murder mystery dinner events and this one was the worst. The food quality and quantity lacked. The entertainment was okay. They have it set up where you are a team with your table. The table I was sat at had 20 people. It made it very hard to get involved in the show and be provided the information needed to participate. Maybe if my team was smaller I would have been able to get more involved and enjoy the show more. I would not recommend trying this murder mystery company. read more

Till Death Do Us Part. Wonderful actors and staff. Took boyfriend for first murder mystery and he was selected to be part of the evening's fun. We had a fantastic time and never laughed so much. Everyone at our table was great. Food and service was excellent. Can't wait for next one. read more