Encore Dinner Theatre

It’s been around 18 months since we tried Encore, so I looked up their Web site to see what was playing. After 5 minutes of searching the site I GAVE UP?

Our family loves this theatre, but noticed that there is a «For Lease» sign on the marquee out front, and on the one facing the Santa Ana Freeway. We’re really hoping they can get reorganized and bring great dinner theatre back to Orange County. Let’s all support the Encore Theatre… a wonderful place for a great meal and an exceptional show!

I recently attended a showing of Fiddler on the Roof at this dinner theater. I was appalled by the lack of professionalism I experienced. First off, the bathroom attendant was incredibly pushy and rude. When I tried to grab a stick of gum on the way out of the bathroom he demanded i give him a dollar and when I didn’t he followed me into the lobby and berated me. I think he may have been drinking as I smelled beer on his breath. Secondly, one of the waiters was purposefully distracting during the second act. He seemed to be directing rude comments at one of the actors on stage and eventually made his way to the side of the stage where he could be seen clearly flipping off said actor.
Truly bizarre behavior all around.

Used to go when it was Elizabeth Howard prior to closing. Were glad to hear it reopened. Went and saw Grease on Friday. Theater was pretty full, only a couple of open tables. Waitress was great, manager was doing his rounds chatting, pouring wine etc. We all ordered something different — chicken, gourmet ravioli, beef — all were very good, hot. We brought our own wine and paid the corkage fee of $ 15 I think. The show was great — its not Broadway but it was very entertaining and the actors mingled during the Intermission which was very amusing. Overall a fabulous night out. Will definitely be back.

Just saw the play Grease and I have to say I was thoroughly amused. The food was great and the staff were friendly and attentive. I would recommend anyone that hasn’t been here to go check it out. Frankie oh my goodness you were something else. I loved it!

Went here for the first time to celebrate the wifes birthday. The atmosphere is nice. It is small, intimate, but classy inside. Dinner was very good and service was excellent. Dinner, show, drinks, and dessert cost about $ 250 for three people.
We saw Grease the Musical, which was overall pretty good for a venue like this. Most of the performers were good in their roles and very good singers. The show has a good 1^st half, but I found the second half to be uneven and the pacing was just off on the production. I also found some of the set pieces to be cheesy (the car Grease Lightning, for example). But, after all this is a small theater on a limited budget. Overall, we had a very good experience and would definitely return.

Always an enjoyable evening at the Encore Dinner Theater! The theater is gorgeous! Love the renovations that were made. Food is really good — fresh with a lot of variety (much more than previous theater offered). The service is excellent and enjoy being treated like royalty when I visit. The staff is very nice and makes you feel welcomed. Shows are entertaining too. Love it when the actors interact with the audience during the intermission. It makes us feel even more a part of the theater. Would recommend this for everyone!!!

I think I may have gone on an off night. My food was cold, the waiter had an attitude and the show was ok. It was a night on absolute apathy from everyone at Encore.

Great place for a dinner and a show. It reminds of Center Stage Theater in Fontana. I would definitely come back to this place for sure.

This review has two parts: Food and Show (Grease), since shows change every few weeks please keep that in mind.
Food was fine, no major issues. Service was good, quick to refill water and clear plates. Server Arly was very friendly and helpful. We brought our own wine and paid the $ 15 corkage fee. I had the brisket for dinner. It was very tender but I didn’t get the «sauerbraten» taste as described in menu. Husband had the blackened Roughy, said it was OK but brocolli was rubbery. Tables were small and relatively close together. Chairs had a swivel so you could turn and see the stage.
Show had highs and lows. Highs — talented singers, enthusiastic cast, good costumes overall, and excellent wigs for the girls. «Teen Angel» was an especially good singer! All performers were wearing mikes, but still lost some dialogue so they all need to work on voices out to the last row. Lows — during «Summer Nights» song lead singers were completely drowned out by rest of cast, definitely better sound mixing needed! Choreography was pretty lame, seemed very much like they had watched «Grease» the movie way too many times and just copied the moves. Set was middle school caliber at best, and when scenes took place out of the «Rydell» high school area no change was made to make it any different. Greased Lightning car was a joke.
Again, actors were very good. Several had excellent singing numbers and cute comic relief.
We had a $ 10 discount per person for opening weekend and our final cost was $ 150 for 2, dinner, coffee, dessert, tax, tip, corkage and show. I will not be coming back again soon unless I have confidence that the show production values are greatly improved.

The Sinatra show was very good. They mixed it up with different singers and dancers. Overall it was a good experience. The service we got was top notch and food was good. I had the 6oz filet and the wife had the chicken (see photos).

Dinner Service was great. Nice ambiance; yet the decorator should stick with that and pass on choreography. Cuisine, based on a banquet standard was «good.» The show however was ill prepared. The main performer, Henry Prego, would be fine for a private dinner party yet was pitchy at best. Elijah Rock, warmed up as the show went on. This man CAN tap. The «third wheel,» Frances Dilorinzo, only detracts from the performance. The children’s addition was escalated by the young lady to Henry’s left. Apologies for not acknowledging her by name. The band… awesome.

I enjoyed everything that the Encore Dinner Theater provided. We went to the last showing of Fiddler on the Roof yesterday afternoon and had a wonderful time.
Regarding the meal:
Our party of four each ordered drinks and each were very good and not watered down. The bruschetta appetizer was also very good.
I had the Cesar Salad and paid extra for my Surf N Turf pasta The shrimps were large and the portion was huge so I wasn’t able to finish.
We ordered the chocolate cake and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert and they did not disappoint.
Regarding the Play:
We thoroughly enjoyed the play and cast members are quite talented. A small production with Broadway talent. It was obvious that they loved their craft.
Regarding Service:
We had one waitress but were approached by many wait staff just to check-​in on us or to assist in anything we needed. Water was refilled and table was cleared expertly.
Loved it and will definitely be going back.

Theater production is good and we really enjoyed it, we saw Fiddler on the roof and it was very good.
Food is terrible and not worth it at all.
I had the Beef Brisket, it was arranged in a cross with mashed potato in the middle and then broccoli florets were inserted in a cross into the mashed potato.
On the brisket, which was way over cooked, was a red wine, thick, brown sauce which was awful it tasted like balsamic vinegar and garlic with onions, way too overpowering.
Service was good and they gave us a free dessert after my food arrived cold, the dessert had a wonderful black curly hair in it, great!
So in summary, Theater good! (5 stars)
Service good! (5 stars)
Food Bad! (1 Star)

AMAZING! This place has it all. The food was awesome — the show was spectacular. I hadn’t been to this dinner theater for years and didn’t know that they had completely remodeled the entire theater. The beautiful chandeliers, the comfy chairs, the fine dining atmosphere — it all made the evening more perfect. I absolutely loved Henry Prego sings Frank Sinatra and would highly recommend this to anyone that loves old school music with a live band. He will be back in June and July and I will be going again.
I am very excited for the Neil Simon play that is opening this weekend.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this place!

Sadly, no more Encore for me. Yesterday we have spent over $ 200 for a dinner & «A Song For Christmas» musical and it was a total, embarrassing disaster.
It started so promising. The ambiance in the theater was warm and wonderful, food, wine and service were impeccable but then the show began & we just wanted to run… It was so amateurish, which I would totally tolerate if the tickets were free — but we paid so much money to be there! I wanted to leave in the middle of the first act, but we had to wait to the intermission to settle our bill — it was a torture.
I’d say 90% of the audience had the same reaction — we saw people giggling, rolling their eyes, exchanging disapproving g looks — it was such a spoiler of a potentially beautiful & memorable Christmas evening. I really felt cheated that time. No more Encore for me.

Goldstar offered a good deal for dinner and a show. My friends and I were bored one Saturday night, so we decided on taking in an evening of Frank Sinatra, as performed by Henry Prego. The theater itself is a little hard to find, and pretty sketch looking from the outside, but it is located in a strip mall with some interesting places… Honda-​Ya and Laxmi Sweets & Spices are nearby! The foyer is a bit threadbare, but upon entering, the joint is quite classy. The orchestra area, stage, lighting, and ambiance are beautiful. The chairs are clearly meant for an older crowd, as they are low to the ground and on wheels. For $ 29 we got a «platinum package»… an entrée each, and admission to the show, in the «special» part of the audience.
The food wasn’t bad. The service was slow, but I blame the usual crowd. I don’t think we, as lucid 20 and 30 year olds, are the intended audience for this kind of venue. I say this since the vast majority of folks around us seemed mummified, longing for their youth, including separate but equal water fountains, and D.W. Griffith to pop out of hiding.
Henry Prego was fab. The opening act, Marc Cohen, was horrible. Classist, racist, mind numbing. I am a less intelligent person for having sat through his nonsense. Seriously, dumb jokes are dumb jokes, no matter how you slice them.

So my best offer on this is really a 3.5 star.
PRO: The food is decent, it could be better. But while they are focusing on the show not the food, it is tasty and decent. Go with a Goldstar ticket to save some money, you will enjoy the show and food better if you aren’t paying out the a$$ for it.
CON: The service tends to be slow, and while they say seating begins at 5:30PM for a 7:00 PM show it never actually seems to. My overall on the food and service is they are doing just enough to get by.
The overall experience has been worth it, the shows are entertaining and for a dinner and show this makes a decent night out. The redesign of the theatre is nice, and the place is clean. There isn’t really a bad seat, but the booths seem more comfortable than the tables. Enjoy!

Based on a Friday night stand-​up comedy show — discovered thru a Groupon Now deal. $ 18 for 2 tickets plus 1 appetizer or dessert up to $ 8.
Before the show starts (at 10pm), you wait in the lobby with others while a server takes your drink orders. There’s a bar but no one tending to it. The only drink I ordered was a rum and coke, which was only $ 5! I think a cranberry vodka also goes for $ 5.
A staff member takes each party one by one to their seats inside the gorgeous theater. We sat at a table front and center. No booths available up there, only from the second row and on.
For a Friday night, this place was DEAD. I counted 18 people in the audience (including us) in a theater that easily seats about 80. I think this place needs better advertising to get themselves out there more!
This isn’t the venue’s fault, but the comedians were just NOT doing it for the crowd. You can tell all 18 of us were fake laughing most of the time. Maybe if there was a bigger crowd, they could get more into it? They resorted to picking on members of the audience (including myself) and discussing the personal life of the drunk girl in the audience who would yell out random things.
There is a small menu for comedy performance nights. A few things I could remember off the menu: Mozzarella sticks, 3 cheeseburger sliders, spinach dip, fried green beans, red velvet cake slice, and chocolate cake slice — which were all decently priced at around $ 8 or more. We ordered mozzarella sticks — 6 pieces with marinara sauce — delicious! Also ordered the 3 cheeseburger sliders which were NOT DELICIOUS! Imagine eating a burger patty made out of SALT. I don’t know why we didn’t ask them to take it back.
Another thing that bothered me — I asked our waitress if I can have a glass of water (to wash down my cheese saltburger). After 15 minutes of waiting for water, I got her attention when she was near. She forgot about my water, but eventually brought it. I wonder how long it would have taken if it was a full house that night?!
The place IS beautiful, the bathrooms are nice, friendly staff, but I don’t think this place can bring me back unless there’s a well-​known comedian or a *really* good show that sparks my interest.

Pear-​Gorgonzola Vingarette on house salad = amazing! I was there with 2 of my friends and we might have sampled each other’s food. Seriously, I’d go just for the food. Top notch! Desserts were huge and orgasmic. The cheesecake is best, it is lighter then most baked cheesecakes, which I think is perfect.
Don’t be fooled, it is a bit pricey, but not for the quality of food and a good show! Swing into Spring had so many good songs (big band musical review type show) that made me want to dance! Too bad they only have dancing for patrons twice! The lighting and mics were off or funky for a couple parts, but for the first opening, it is to be expected.
I hear Mother’s Day is going to be big. If my mom wasn’t in Indiana, I’d absolutely take her here. She’d love it! Getting there about an hour before the show is a good time. Take in a drink at Pineapple Hill if you get there super early.