The Murder Mystery

LoI bought the tickets as a surprise for the family. My husband checked out the reviews and was NOT happy so our expectations were low when we went on 12÷11÷15. I am pleased to say the previous reviews are unfounded. We had a very enjoyable time. The actors did a good job, there was plenty of food, and their was no problem with the seating. There was no charge for parking. If you are a reclusive wallflower this is not the activity for you. But if you are someone who enjoys interacting with strangers and improve comedy which requires you to think a little, this activity is for you. I have heard that the location, food, and actors have changed so perhaps this is why we found it more enjoyable than previous reviews. The only reason I did not give them a five is because the adjacent restuaurant had a band playing and at times it was difficult to hear, especially when the door opened. Try to sit towards the front.

This place is a complete scam. If you pay for the Living Social pass you are screwed. You will NOT be able to book a dinner in Atlanta. This is a waste of you money.

As a birthday gift from my wife we attended this performance in Feb, 2015. We have been to other Murder Mystery Dinners so I believe we knew what to expect. Many people believe this to be a show that they ‘watch’, where in reality it’s an interactive evening and trying to solve the mystery.
The venue (Venetian Room) was fine and the location was alright as well. Parking is right across the street, more to come later on this.
It was a weekend so I expected a bit busy. We paid for Gold Circle seating which is to be better seating, etc. Once we arrive, we were squeezed into very tight seating at round tables meant for 8 — they had 10 at each table. Our table was literally right at the entrance door and no better view than any other in this small venue.
The website had you pick what meal choices you wanted, only to find out that the food is family style and they bring everything that was on the menu — is was acceptable. We even had some allergy concerns and they seemed to handle that properly.
With any ‘show’ the key to success is for everyone to be able to understand what is going on, even if they don’t participate. With this show, you honestly cannot understand what is being said. The acoustics and speaker system appears to be from the 70’s and never updated. There were so many frustrated people that some even left early. Unless something is done to resolve this critical issue, i would not recommend attending this show.
One last, odd, thing regarding parking. The website clearly stated parking is $ 10, which is perfectly acceptable for the 3 hour show. Upon entering the marked parking garage, an attendant of the show is there to ‘collect’ the tickets from the dispenser for entering the garage. The instructions are to pay the bar in the venue the $ 10 and they will give you a ‘paid’ ticket to exit. This all sounds reasonable, except when we tried to exit the garage, the ticket was not marked paid and the automated machine requested payment of $ 9. I understand the need for making money but even on the parking… We pressed the call button and they did quickly resolve the not paid/​paid issue.

Where do I start. First, don’t waste your time or money. We got ripped off for parking (more later), the food (similar to what I ate in my Elementary School cafeteria) was served family style, after we were asked to choose our entrée when we made our reservation back in December. I paid $ 6 bucks for a beer (I can get a whole six-​pack for that). We were crammed in to this room at tables of ten (strangers) and there was little room to move around. WE couldn’t see or hear anything and the actors, what we could hear, were very amateurish. We were very disappointed in our experience. When we went to leave the parking garage, after we already paid the $ 10 bucks for parking, we put our ticket in the machine and the little message said «Please pay $ 71.00». ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? We ended up pushing a button labeled «Lost ticket» and it said «Pay $ 10.00» We figured it was the only way to get the steel curtain to rise and let us out. If we had been thinking we should have pushed the call button and asked them to let us out as we had already paid our $ 10. My wife and I spent a bundle getting decked out in the «Wild West Theme» for the evening. I should have read the reviews. My bad. That won’t ever happen again. AND the amazing thing is, this show «Wanted Dead or Alive» is sold out, every show. Luckily we only paid $ 58 (for 2) on Groupon. OH Yeah, we left early, after the poor excuse for the dinner was served. Buyer beware, Heed the reviews.

Two stars only because a night with friends is never a waste.
1). Almost every seat in the house is a bad seat. My view was literally of a column. But at least I wasn’t like one guy at our table who had his back to the column. He couldn’t even turn around and see what was happening.
2). Audio was horrible. We spent the entire time asking each other what the *actors* were saying.
3) DO NOT COME HUNGRY. They should be ashamed of themselves for the food. 10 people at each table and everything was served family style, but the bowls were clearly only enough for 2 or 3. Tiny pieces of some of the TOUGHEST chicken breast I have ever eaten. The *risotto* was like mashed potatoes. It was white rice that was mushy and clumped together. You literally had to break off a piece of rice. Lasagna was horrible. No signs of meat or cheese. Just pasta and tomato sauce. TOUGH LUCK VEGETARIANS. You will be limited to green beans. And good luck getting any. Our table ran out before everyone got some and they didn’t bring any more. We asked for more salad and they told us we couldn’t have any until everyone else was served and if there was any left.
4). It was fun for the first hour. They didn’t do a very good job explaining to the audience members who were chosen to interact what their role was. That made the whole mystery confusing. Pair that with the inability to understand what was being said and it gets old pretty fast. People started walking out after the first hour. And some of them had roles in the mystery!
We won’t do it again, but it was an experience. Write it off as that.
To improve, make this a HARD stop at 2 hours not 3. Stop serving a meal. Just stop. You’re better off serving popcorn and peanuts. And get a better audio system. Or at least advise the audience to stop talking and turn off the music during clue time…

I wish my friend and I read the reviews ahead of time. Please read! And know that this business is not worth your time or money!!! The food was worst then awful. We got groupons and wanted to get my boyfriend to come — but we couldn’t reach them and were told they were sold out when they weren’t — glad we didn’t pay full price for him anyway, the acting if you want to call it acting — was lame, the wait staff was rude and we had to load trays and remove things from trays. We took pictures and weren’t even given the option to turn them down. It was 80’s themed and the audience was more on point in conveying the theme then the paid «actors» in dress, speech, etc. The mystery was lame, and the solicitation for audience participation was bad. All around there has got to be a better way to spend money and have a good experience — this was NOT NOT NOT it!!!

Awful!!! Plain and simple. We couldn’t follow the play, food was awful. Left 30 minutes after start. Save your money

I have been to similar theater in the ATL and this experience was just bad… bad food, bad acoustics, bad actors, bad crowd size… I wish I could say something nice, but difficult to justify the expense (about $ 120 for two ppl with 2 drinks, tip and souvenir photo)
suggest you try agatha instead

I wish I could give this 0 stars. We left 40 minutes in since the food was gross with the smallest portions possible. Literally 5 pieces of chicken for 10 people to share. Couldn’t understand what was happening since the room had no «stage area» and we were seated in the corner and couldn’t see anything. Literally the worst thing I’ve bought on groupon and I’ll be fighting for my money back.

Bad bad bad. The food was terrible and served family style with 10 people to a table. The room was nice but not conducive for this type of event. I could not see nor hear half of the characters that the «professional» actors were introducing. This was not a play. Almost all of the characters were from the audience, who were either trying to act by way over acting or just had no clue. We left before dessert was served. We were not the only ones to leave. Don’t waste your money

Awful experience is right! we went to the Hurt Plaza location on 08÷15÷14. The mikes were so bad we could not understand what was being said. There was no coherent story, just a bunch of people badly dressed, walking around making occasional faces. There was no acting.
As far as the food, I am not a fan of fast food but the meal would have tasted better had they catered it from McDonald. Do they actually think people don’t know what they’re eating– they had pieces of overcooked, dried salmon sitting on grits passed off as risotto; they had shredded chicken smothered in Kraft barbecue sauce sitting on top of creamed corn served as jerk chicken. But the worse was the mess that was passed as dessert– ground vanilla wafers topped with instant pudding, strawberry jam and cool whip called Strawberry-​Lime Parfait served in a plastic cup with a plastic spoon. The string bean with vegetables was the only decent dish
They started serving food at 8:30– the event started at 7. Our table had 9 people, 2 of which did not eat from the salmon and the chicken and still it was barely enough.
The only positive comment I can make is that our dinner companions were lovely.
We had a groupon but some at our table paid $ 60 for their ticket + 10 for parking + 7 for each glass of wine, 4 for each soda 10 for hard liquor. then it was suggested to tip 4/​a person and buy your picture for 20.
If I could give it a minus 5 I would.
I truly felt like this company tries to make the most bucks by giving you the very least that it can. Many were tourists so they figure they will not see you again and can get away with it.

Awful experience. We ordered salmon on the Groupon, however we were served «family style» and did not get enough food. When we got the food, it was cold, and we even had to go out to eat afterwards. This is not worth the money. I suggest going elsewhere for this kind of entertainment.

The mystery theatre at this venue SUCKS. The food was sub par. I could do better at home. No acting. The audience did the acting. Please don’t waste your money!

terrible acoustics … poor lighting …
emcees were not engaging enough …
little appreciation or attention shown to those who dressed for the theme …
key parts handed out to people who can’t read or speak understandably …
beer: they had 1 choice and ran out before the show really began!
food: bland, nuked chicken breast with pasta … coffee was lukewarm
my advice: save the money — buy a home murder mystery game and throw your own party :)

The location is a run down part of Atlanta. Street parking only. I didn’t feel my car was is a safe location. When you enter you building your salad is sitting out on the table :((I hope nobody did anything to it) You have about 7 alcoholic beverages to choose from. The food is not prepared on site. You have two courses to choose from. If you go downstairs to the 2 stall bathroom (for men and women) you will see a curtain… behind the curtain is where you will find the food being reheated on hot plates. I couldn’t help but notice since people had to wait 15 minutes to use the bathroom. During the show you may have up to 4 different actors talking so you have no clue who to listen to and what is going on. Of the many actors talking only 2 have microphones. The screen play is poorly written. For desert they served a slice of Kroger pound cake with whip cream and a strawberry. You saw many couples leaving the show early. Each canned soda is $ 2, Irish cream coffee $ 6, mixed drinks $ 6 to $ 8, coffee $ 2. All of this for 147.00 I WILL NOT BE BACK.

1. Tip request: I purchased a groupon for the Grimprov Theater Murder Mystery Dinner package. It was a decent deal– drinks were modestly priced. However, when it came time to pay, they put a bright sticker requesting that we tip on the price of the groupon and the meal– which is NOT standard for when you buy tickets to a show. Would you tip the guy who sold you movie tickets?
2. Audience participation: They had notebooks on the tables and that was the extent of the audience participation. That meant there were «characters» in the audience– who weren’t actually actors. It was hard to hear and I didn’t pay to watch regular people be embarassed.
3. Setting: The tables were crammed in there so that you were touching other people and there wasn’t actually a stage. It was more like seating for a wedding– and you couldn’t see anything without standing.
4. Food: The salad was good (the menu didn’t mention red onions, which a member of my party can’t eat), the pasta entrée with or without chicken was tasty and hot. THe waiter was working realllllly hard bringing plates out to each table. I’d suggest they set up like a buffet in the future– it would be more efficient.
5. Talent: There was no play/​script apparent. The show seemed to just be «actors» walking around with funny hats and glasses and asking you to write down wedding vows.
I would completely not recommend you purchase this groupon at all. I hope that this group gets some talented actors, costumes, sound effects, and a stage– or else I doubt anyone will go more than the one first time.
VEry disappointed in the evening!