So much potential. The staff were nice but the food was horrible. Not really a lot of options and when it came out it looked cheap and straight out of a freezer. Could barely even finish it. The drinks were gross. Too strong and over poured. I'm sure there were no measurements used at all (mind you I've been in the serving industry for many years) I will sadly not come back here read more

Golly! This was a fun night out for me and my fiance! I recently moved to Idaho and was looking for fun stuff to do around the holidays. I enjoy plays, musical and murder mystery dinners and found out after doing an online search about Watsons mystery Cafe and i'm glad I was able to get us into this Christmas themed show !! The show was definitely a good time. I enjoyed the comedic acting, set design and costumes as well as the music and a dance number that happened during intermission. Only reason I take a star off is that the food falls a bit flat for the price you pay. The salad and soup were alright but not anything great. The soup was cream based and rich and would have benefitted greatly if they included a roll or garlic bread with it. I purchased the dinner option and put in our request for steaks this evening. I asked for my fiance's to be served medium and mine medium-well but unfortunately his came out rare and mine more of a medium than a medium-well. It was a big letdown to have our steaks undercooked but I was able to salvage them. Rather than complain we asked for a to go box and i took them home to make steak and eggs the next morning. We ate the mashed potatoes there which were good, they just weren't very warm and the corn they served was okay but perhaps a bit too seasoned with paprika. We enjoyed the cocktails we got though and the dessert was good to !! We had a few different holiday specialty cocktails. The garnishes were very festive and cute. They were presented well and tasted great. I ordered the death by chocolate for dessert, which was a chocolate and almond butter tart and we also got a slice of pumpkin pie that came with the meal. Those were both good. I would recommend skipping getting an entree and just come here for drinks and dessert... perhaps an appetizer if something catches your eye. The waitstaff and actors were all very friendly. It was definitely a fun atmosphere and I would love to come back to see more shows ! Towards the end of the night I even won a prize for being dressed festive as I wore an edgy/sexy Mrs. Clause outfit to the show - I got a couple tickets for a comedy show at their venue ! So I highly recommend dressing up for the show you go to if you're not opposed to that sort of thing !! I'll definitely be back! read more

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Cool venue. Love live theatre. Paid, online, for a ticket to a show with 4 course dinner. Got there and my salad was sitting on the table...warm. Was There 40 minutes and no server to bring a drink or my next course. Went to the bar to order a drink and get some water. Guy told me to go sit down. Waiter came and it took 25 more minutes for my drink to be delivered. Had to ask for my main course...disgusting. It was awful and mostly just canned corn dumped on a plate with a premade chicken breast. Show ended and I was still waiting my 4th course. Told them I didn't want it and that I'd like my drink to take the place of the missing course. They charged me $8.50 instead of $11 for my drink. No compensation for the missing course. Don't waste your time or money. read more

I have been to two shows, and without a doubt both shows i have left laughing and wanting to return. This establishment embraces good times, funny jokes and a very clean and happy atmosphere. I have taken my whole family here and can not wait for the next show. 10/10. Thank you!!!' read more

Watson's Mystery Cafe & Spirits - Myself and the western crew!!! - Comedy Clubs Near Me - Boise, Idaho

Food was really bad, drinks seemed to have no alcohol. Show was awful. Us and many others left after a very short while.

We came here for a Halloween Witch Trail Mystery Dinner. The place is a very cozy place and the set was small but right on the mark for what they needed it for. My husband and I have been in theatre many times in the past so we were able to tell that there were quite a few times the cast forgot their lines or struggled to remember them. However, they always recovered and the show went on. It was a very funny show. Their drinks were amazing! The staff were super friendly. The food was....meh. The fries were very soggy, the fish was tasteless and the chicken strips were average. We were going to plan on coming back in the future for another show and now that we have won tickets at this event (my husband was the only one who figured out who the killer was) we will probably go more than once! haha. Thanks for a great Halloween guys! read more

This was very disappointing. I very rarely write reviews unless it's really great or really bad.. unfortunately this was the later.. My boyfriend and I come from a small town and had low expectations because anything will be great compared to the few options we have, Watson's seemed unique and fun and we were excited to see a comedy show. The show was good, we laughed and had a good time because of it but the venue! Cool looking spot, but there were so many errors with the staff and organization of running the place. Tickets and menu said you can order at table or at bar, the 3D printed flag to signal a waiter was loose and wouldn't stay up, went to order at bar she said I have to order at our table. Eventually server comes and takes our order but this is when the show is starting, while we had been there 20 min early. We order a Manhattan and a Jameson on the rocks, the waitress put these into a digital POS. After 30 minutes, no exaggeration, the host of the show comes to our table because she saw us looking around, waiting. She was sweet but not a server so said she'd let them know. Our server comes to us several minutes later but instead of talking to us, stands too far for talking distance and uses hand gestured to ask if everything's okay, so we respond with hand gestures shrugging and making drink motions. She doesn't come talk to us and walks away. Another several moments pass and she comes with something that looks like our drinks. Does not seem apologetic or in tune. And I understand, I've been a server 10 years, sometimes things slip but if so you need to show you care about your customers! And I was very nice to her when we first met, complimenting her makeup an outfit ect. Anyways, I take sip of the manhattan and I still to this day do not know what they served me. It was in a martini glass and tasted like what I assume was spiced rum with a maraschino Cherry? I didn't want to make a fuss, just wanted to enjoy the show so as she brought more drinks to the others around us (had watched them get drinks before our first order) I call her over and just order two Jameson on the rocks before we finish these to insure we get them. Luckily we didn't order food... the entire show the kitchen was the LOUDEST part of a miced comedy show! I couldn't even see the kitchen but they were so loud laughing and talking messing around that it was louder than the whole audience and mic'd comedians, very distracting. And we all know the kitchen is behind the scenes and they don't need to be so worried about the audience, but the establishment/hosts should be making sure that doesn't damage their reputation for both customers and people wanting to book at their venue! Anyway.. the show is okay and we make the best of our time. Show ends and we're waiting to pay at our table. Server comes over and we were still kind and thankful, then she says "oh, your friends left so you're paying for them too right?". What friends!!! We had no idea who she was talking about, we came in alone, she only served us, I was like what is going on. Then instead of apologizing or thinking she messed up, she thought we were trying to screw then out of paying for whoever elses ticket she mixed with ours! I had to walk away and let my boyfriend handle it, he was only sweet and normal but I was getting frustrated. The. When he told me the bill was 86$ for 4 drinks, (served incredibly late, terribly made or just made a different drink) it tipped me over the edge to write a review. And I would have spoken to someone then when I walked back in but the host and servers were gone and the bartender was busy with the line of people after the show. We can have a good time anywhere, but i couldn't believe the disorganize and lack of care this place and their staff had. Disappointing. I would not recommend it. read more

We attended the Valentine Comedy Show! Loved the cool vibes and relaxed atmosphere, which immediately set the mood for a wonderful evening. Love that the ownership supports our local Idaho talent! Dinner was super delicious and very tastefully presented. Our waitress was excellent! Loved Sarah, whose expert knowledge of wine was very impressive. Sarah had a lot of excellent wine choices! She's a classy lady. The chocolate martinis embellished with heart shaped strawberries, were also the bomb!!! I would definitely return, and I highly recommend Watson's for a super fun evening! Again, I love that this ownership supports our local community talent. We need to in turn, support owners who love our community! The ownership and staff genuinely care. I highly recommend Watson's for an awesome evening out!!! read more

Watson's Mystery Cafe & Spirits - Comedy Clubs Near Me - Boise, Idaho

I don't make bad reviews lightly. The event held at this place was run by another organization so I'll leave that alone. The drinks, service and food were all Watsons though. Drinks were advertised as alcohol but as a cheap drink I had three drinks and I don't think any had alcohol. I was with a group and paid my bill early and left. The organization that ran the event called out my group/table social media for skipping out on a bill, specifically me. I contacted the owner of Watsons who denied saying it was me and he added he had my receipt, he would not apologize for the social media call put it giving my information to the event organizer. Just all around handled very inappropriately. Not a great venue and management lacks in customer privacy and basic conflict management. I hope they learn from this and do better. read more

There is so much potential for this place to be incredible but it was a major disappointment. It was so bad on so many levels. I couldn't tell if they were making it up as they went or didn't know their lines. They tried to have the audience participate, but that failed miserably. The audience understood what was going on. I don't think the actors/players did either. If you are going to do a show and add some improv here and there, have a story as a backbone so if audience participation isn't working, it still would work as a play. The description of the event on the website didn't give an indication that the audiance would be involved. There was a cute, random dance routine, but the music kept cutting out, and the song kept changing. It went on for way too long. I thought the dancing was giving the actors time to do a costume change or talk about how to salvage it. But no. When an actor proposed a toast, the audience didn't know when to drink. There wasn't the usual "to so and so!" after the speech as a cue. How do you mess up a toast? As soon as we sat down, they took our drink order. My date got hers right away, but I had to ask for my coke again when the waitress checked on about 30min later. We didn't order food because I wasn't sure if we would actually get it and I didn't want to back up the kitchen more. The best thing was the ambience. We will try again to see if this was just a bad night. I suggest they just do plays and drop the improv. Improv rarely works and just encourages drunk A-Holes to yell out random BS. Improv should go the way of mimes. Just stop it. read more

A group of us decided to dress up for the pirate murder mystery! We had a blast! We arrived early had some cocktails and food while we watched and participated in the event! So much fun! Will definitely go back to this gem! read more

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Went for a recent comedy night with my wife. We had a lot of fun. They had a variety of standup comics that kept the laughter roaring. Really hope to come back soon. I have a number of allergies so I didn't get to try the food but it all looked like super good pub foods. read more

A group of went there for a speed dating game show. The food was fine, but the mixed drinks weren't. One of our friends left early, so she paid the waitress with her Visa card. When the rest of us went to pay our own bills, the waitress handed me the POS system and my bill included the one friend's food and drinks. I told the waitress, I was only paying my bill. She then informed me that our friend forgot to pay her bill, so she was adding it to my bill. I told her I wasn't responsible for another person's bill. She then tried to put the "unpaid" bill on another friend's tab. We got a hold of our friend who had left early and she confirmed she paid with her VISA. A couple days later the speed dating moderators posted publicly on Facebook not only our names, but that the bill wasn't paid. Its was embarrassing and not true. We had to publicly post the paid receipt. read more

The food..was... GREAT!!! What a fun place to go to!! The people and staff were so nice! I was pleasantly surprised by the delicious chef inspired dish. The chicken was perfect! The cheesecake was PERFECT! The improve was so FUN and interactive! We had a BLAST!! Go for the adventure!!!!! read more

Watson's Mystery Cafe & Spirits - Stage before show - Comedy Clubs Near Me - Boise, Idaho

This was an interesting experience for Idaho. The food was fair but grossly over priced. The silverware was so dull the wife couldn't cut her ham. Had to stab it with the full fork and rip it with her choppers. Not sure about the egg marbles either. Might have been palatable if soaked in salsa or hot sauce. Unique entertainment for the area but definitely generated some laughs. The comedy line up was a bit misplaced in Boise unfortunately and would have done well in Portland Oregon. Multiple jokes fell flat to a silent audience. I felt bad for the comedians but that's the nature of comedy. We still had a good time and can sift through the darker comedy for the humor. Nice to see free speech at work in the USA. Cheers! read more

OMG what a great place! My friends and my husband went out to see a show there and we had so much fun. We moved here a year ago and we've been to other dinner theatres and this one is by far the best. Not only do you get a good show (great actors) but you can choose from different types of meals, instead of just one. We had their brisket and it was so good. I bought some to take home. They have a full bar and our drinks were blended so well. I hate when I go some place and all you can taste is alcohol. The wait staff was so nice too, great service. We'll be back. read more

What a fun little joint. They have different events in this quaint little spot. Well worth it for a date night or outing with Friends. We went on a comedy night. I really enjoyed it. read more

What a great place! I don't understand why people get so upset at getting their dinner within 30 minutes. Don't they realize that when 50-80 people sit down at the same time and order, it might slow down the kitchen? The actors and comedians are local and very funny. They did a wonderful job on revamping the location. You can pick interactive seats or seats just to watch. The food is good with good pricing too. I highly recommend them read more

Food was very poor, I had the steak it had bristle, salad was very poor. Coke and a drink was 22 dollars. They took our drink order right way, but took 25 mins to get the drinks. Was not expecting and improv. I would not recommend the meal/performance. read more

People, be warned. This seemed like it would be a great night out. Loved the concept of dinner and a fun show. We thought this would be comparable to Tucson's Gaslight Theater--which is an amazing place. (If ever in Tucson--go there!) So we bought tickets to the "Family Feud." It was a bunch of young "comedians" trying to debate topics such as "Is the world flat, or round?" and "Should marijuana be legal in Idaho?" I thought the jokes were far from funny. It felt kind of like when your young kids come up with a "show" that they make you watch. You sit through it because you love them, even though it's terrible. Only here, they weren't our cute kids. They were adult comedians who I found to be horribly raunchy and crass. They insulted each other to no end. One even made fun of the judges disability. Not funny bruh, not funny. I sat there thinking "all these 'comedians' were made for so much more. So. Much. More." I couldn't believe we were paying for this nonsense. That's really all it was. Nonsense. They kept trying to insult each other by calling each other "dorks" and "gay." I cringed wondering what the actual gay couple in the audience must have been thinking. Maybe the murder mystery shows are better? More rehearsed? More planned out? I will never know--I will never drop another dime at this place. BTW... I thought the food was dog-food-ish. Like literally. It looked like something I might feed my dog. (To the people of Watson's, come to Tucson and learn from the Gaslight Theater. It's a family friendly, classy joint. You could learn a lot from them. Similar concept, only much better executed.) I have to agree with another review, so much potential, but a major disappointment. read more

was thrown against the wall and patted down by the owner on entry. i believe this was meant to add ambiance but was highly invasive and upsetting. will not return or recommend. read more