Our experience was very disappointing. My wife saw that they were doing a murder mystery. So, we bought tickets with another couple and went to celebrate my wife's birthday. We got there and it all started to unravel. This thing was SO overbooked! Now, reading their Facebook page it's stated that director Nancy Heaton has allowed it to grow bigger this year. Makes sense, unfortunately they pushed the envelope too far and it was a clusterfuck. There were not enough seats for the amount of tickets sold, especially for an event advertising "festive food." Food that needed silverware and a place to sit and eat. Most of the "seating" was on the freezing porch that was closed in by plastic awnings. They did attempt to put propane heaters in to warm it up but that failed. Our party literally saw our breath as we sat and tried to eat. Well, that was until they decided to go for ambiance and turned the porch lights off. Leaving us literally in the dark. As we sat there the 23° December air rose through the open floorboards of the porch we were sitting on and froze our toes. All while not being able to see the food on our plates.
BTW, lets talk about the food. While the food was good it was a strange set up. The buffet was placed on the porch just outside the dining room entrance which caused a jam up. The line extended all the way back to the bar. Which also made it difficult for me to get back to to the dark, cold table we did manage to get. The food was not really finger food but it was served in finger food portions. Chicken strips, hassle back potato bar, soup and some kind of vegetable pot pies. The plates were desert plates.
We were there for 25-30 minutes when we discovered that they had introduced all the characters inside. We were clueless left out back on the porch. So we asked to speak to someone. When Nancy asked us what was wrong, we said that this was unacceptable for the $50.00 per person that we paid. She then proceeds to patronizingly explain how a murder mystery works and that we need to "mingle" with the characters to to figure out the guilty party. No Sh*t, Sherlock! We've done these on The Cuyahoga Queen and attended interactive theatre before like Tony and Tina's Wedding, Finnigan's Wake and Shear Madness. She then told my wife's friend that " there were a lot of younger people here." Take that how you will. She told us to call her on Monday and she would refund our money. I'll update the review and let you know how fluidly this transpires. A party of about 7 young ladies that sat by us were just as disappointed. They even dressed in period of the show and felt completely left out stuck on the porch too.
They did refund our tickets without a hitch. However, you will notice that the owner responded that "these events aren't for everyone"..... She seems to miss the point that we HAVE attended similar events and enjoyed them VERY much. The CONDITIONS were our problem. She also turned her reply into an egregious plug. I find that quite shameless and a bit gauche. read more
