I love a good mystery, so I immediately reserved a spot to attend The Dinner Detective's first production in Honolulu last weekend. It turned out to be one of the best live entertainment shows I've been to in years. It was hilarious, engaging, and most importantly, there was murder, and lots of it. If you purchase a Groupon, you will need to choose which show date you'd like to attend and pay an additional admission fee of $12.48 to cover tax and waitstaff gratuity. You will also be asked to choose your entrée for the 4-course dinner included in your purchase price. The choices are sous vide chicken breast, fresh island fish, and penne pasta. The show is held at the Alana Waikiki Business Center of the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Alana - Waikiki Beach. The free WIFI sign-in and password will be made available to you when you check-in. At check-in, you will be given a ticket according to your entrée choice as well as a name tag to write down an alias. My alias for the evening was Agatha Poirot. There is a cash bar available as well as free iced tea and coffee. An ATM and restrooms are conveniently located outside of the room where the performance is held. The actors and hosts are very entertaining and did a great job in making the evening a lot of fun. I won't give the story away, but I will say that this particular storyline will have multiple murders, and the actors make it tough to figure out who the real killer is. I thought the two detectives were the best performers of the evening and were laugh out loud funny. They need to be given their own show, perhaps a parody of Hawaii Five-0! The top sleuth who not only figures out the murderer, but writes down the best explanation as to why the murderer killed his or her victims, will win a murder mystery entertainment prize package. I was told that the mysteries will change, so there will be opportunities for audiences to attend future shows with new mysteries to solve. The Dinner Detective is one of the best entertainment options in Waikiki and a fun way to spend an evening for tourists and locals. read more

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This was somewhere between a 3 (A-OK) to 4 (Yay) for me but with no half stars, I'm up for the 4. It's always nice to have an option for a dinner date out with friends with some entertainment. The staff and actors were great The hostesses were quite attentive and friendly and kept popping to different tables to check up on everyone. The hotel banquet staff was not quite up to par, maybe because they felt that they should be more "in the background" with everything going on. The mystery was well done, some twists and turns and not as easy as you think it might be to solve the case. It was easy to figure out who was acting in the audience vs. who the audience participants were so you could narrow down the suspects quite quickly. Since both my husband and a friend was "suspect", it even made my choices slimmer. For those who like to mingle, it's a fun way of interacting and meeting people but if you are on the introverted side, this may not be for you. Quite a few customers were in the "acting community". The food was so-so for me although my group enjoyed it. Both the chicken and fish were prepared well and was covered with a sauce that was tasty. Salad and dessert were good. Beverage choices were limited but expected with limited bar service, soft drinks and coffee. This is a fun outing for a group. If you really get into solving the mystery and talk to everyone in the room, you probably would be able to get more into the case. Expect some characters..... and I don't mean Mickey. Some people can really get into this sort of thing! read more

The Dinner Detective - Victim #1 - Dinner Theater Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Dinner Detective: first ever dinner theater experience. Hopefully this isn't what they're all like. Acting was ok; loud doesn't mean funny. Very easy to spot the actors in the audience. Run time advertised 5pm-8pm. Actual run time 5pm-9pm. Buca Di Beppo: bland food, slow service, new staff. Thought it was part of the dinner detective experience...turns out it's just Buca. read more

I love plays, movies, dinner shows. A Murder Mystery dinner has been on my bucketlist for a long time and we finally went to celebrate my birthday at the Doubletree Alana's mystery dinner. I have been in marketing for 30+ years so the first thing I did was look for clues when I arrived at the theater. I hate to say it but I wouldn't recommend this show. The acting was bad it was so predictable. It could have been a little better if they served dinner earlier. The schedule showed approximately 7 pm but we didn't eat till a little after 8 pm. There wasn't a lot of people so it was puzzling. Groupon or not, save your money. The food we did eat was delicious. We would have been able to concentrate on the dinner show better if we weren't starving. That's my 2 cents. read more

The Dinner Detective - The fish meal was tasty. The chicken and fish looked alike due to scoop rice, protein on top, sauce all over. - Dinner Theater Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Sadly it did not meet my expectations. Staff was super nice and friendly however, still not enough to recommend spending the money for this event. Fyi they ask for tip. And they ask you come up with a fake name. The setup could have been better planned. The story line was very weird. Not sure why the cop wore the underwear? The drink selection offered sucked and was so over priced. The food was good but not great only choices: chicken fish or pasta with a salad starter. read more

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Went to this last night. Not worth the $75+ per person. First of all there were 4 of us in a group. They put 3 of us on one table and my brother on another table. She said it was because there were too many groups. Okay, but when we booked there were around 18 seats left. How is that fair? Shouldn't it be grouped first come, first serve in terms of purchasing tickets? There was a couple, a family of 4, the 3 of us girls, and a lone guy on our table. We automatically thought he was part of the show(don't want to spoil it for anyone, so won't go into too much detail) because it didn't make sense that he was by himself. My brother should have been placed there, with us, instead. He even went up to that lone guy and was joking him that he was sitting in his seat, and that they could split the winning money. The seating arrangement alone made things obvious for us. They ask to arrive 15 minutes before check in for an optimal experience. I have no idea why since they didn't start checking people in until after 6. What's the point? And the show was supposed to be until 9. It started at 6:30 and I was like hell no it better not end late because I have to go home and nurse my baby. Of course it did. Right before 9:30. I felt there were some unnecessary aspects that could have been cut short or removed completely. The actors were decent. The storyline itself was okay. There were some funny moments, but lame ones as well. The detectives did have high energy and one even checked to see how our food was, which was nice. I give one star for them. The other star is for the actor on our table. He had a cute smile. Ha! I called specifically to request a vegan meal. On my reservation, it said VEGAN in capital letters. They even wrote it on my name tag. The meal comes(at 8pm)and it's the same as my friend's vegetarian meal. So I ask the server if she's sure it's vegan because my friend has the same pasta and it's vegetarian. She said, "It is. It's pesto pasta." And she walks away. (She seemed irritated because I questioned her a couple of times to ensure it was vegan. And she was certain it was.) Still not trusting that it was vegan because 99% of pesto sauces contain DAIRY, I did not touch my food. I waited for someone to come around so I could double check. The same server comes back to take my plate, telling me it's not vegan. That they made one vegan meal, but someone took it. I told her that I requested it though. She said they were going to make something new. No apology. I was annoyed because I did everything right by specifically ordering my meal when I made my reservation and it didn't even matter. They did bring out veggies and rice fairly quickly and it was a tasty meal. Just do not tell me it IS VEGAN when it isn't. If I sat there and took a bite, that show would have been over due to my allergies. All she had to say was, "Let me check to make sure and I'll be right back." But she didn't. And she was so sure!!! Completely unacceptable. The parking situation was so disorganized. We went to valet and he said we had to go up to the front desk and pay there. We also needed a detective dinner stamp on the valet ticket. That would have been great to know as we were checking in!!! Or maybe on our reservation? Or announce it before or after the show? So we, along with everybody else, were sent back upstairs to the front desk to pay!! It was utter chaos. I saw that sometimes there is a Groupon for this show. I don't even think it's worth a Groupon. I'm being honest. The whole show was mediocre at best. It was a disappointing experience, especially the (food) service and parking mess. I had high hopes and what a waste of my Saturday night on vacation in Hawaii. I'd rather do 3 escape rooms for that price and length of time! read more

This is awesome! I laughed all night. It was so funny!! It was a blast and the food was amazing.

The folks that present this ostensibly fun, madcap whodunit audience-participation murder mystery evening are, for the most part, delightfully entertaining. They had all of us fully engaged and enjoying the evening. But my evening was ruined and I was left near tears by one overzealous, truly cruel member of the crew. In the spirit of fun I brandished my butter knife in the air (yes, my butter knife, hardly a lethal weapon!). I was pulled aside and lectured harshly and severely by a short, sandy-haired woman, one of the organizers. During the course of the evening there was fake blood, crime-scene outlines on the floor, lots of screaming, VERY realistic fake firearms and I was lectured and harshly reprimanded for waving a butter knife in the air. Shame on you, people.! You were so, so very mean to me that I left the venue devasted and very sad. I came to have fun and this one woman made sure I had none and paid handsomely for the "privilege" of being made to feel like crud for my joyous participation in what was supposed to be a lovely evening. The woman who did this to me has no business working in such an endeavor. She is a fun hater with a mean streak a mile wide. read more

We attended the first production last night. There was a lot of action to be attentive to and enjoy. A LOT OF LAUGHS AND UNEXPECTED SURPRISES! It's fun to participate and mingle. The actors and staff did a fabulous job. Even the food was great! We highly recommend it! read more

Totally loved the show. Very enjoyable and great cast. Dinner was very good also. Nice to have something new to go to in Waikiki in the evening. read more

If you're looking for something new to do in Waikiki, this is it! Seriously so fun for a date night, birthday, or just a good time out with friends! The show is different than other mystery dinners I've been to...the performers totally blend in WITH the audience, so the killer could literally be ANYONE in the room. They do a great job involving everyone in the fun, and I found myself laughing through all three courses of dinner! All in all, we had a "killer" good time! read more