The Dinner Detective
Courtyard Los Angeles Westside
6333 Bristol Parkway, Culver City, CA 90230
http://www.thedinnerdetective.com/
http://www.marriott.com/
Visited: January 2010, Dinner, Dine-in
This is a combo review of the dinner theater, The Dinner Detective, and of the venue, the Courtyard Marriott.
The Dinner Detective is an interactive, part scripted/part improv, murder mystery theater presentation. After you've checked in, you're asked to fill out a nametag with your alias for the evening. Then during the reception, you're given instructions to begin 'interrogating' your fellow guests - some of which are in fact, guests like you, others are actors mingling with the group as fellow guests.
The reception had a cash bar for soda, beer, wine and cocktails, and open service of coffee and hot tea. The hot hors d'oeuvres were veggie spring rolls and veggie quesadillas. Both were tasty, but a bit soft - the travails of serving them in a chafing dish, I suppose.
Dinner started with a nice mixed green salad with mushrooms, carrots, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. A light vinaigrette was available on the table, as were rolls and butter.
Between courses, mystery action occurred, and during the meal, we were given clues to review and opportunity to discuss with our fellow guests.
We had a choice of entree (which you reserve when you purchase your tickets), and we wanted to try each they had to offer: tri tip with peppercorn sauce, Alaskan king salmon with lemon butter, and chicken marsala. The servings were very generous (for example, you got a whole chicken breast not just a half), and came with rather plain mashed potatoes, and large servings of carrots and broccoli. The meats were tender and their accompanying sauces were tasty, but we wished we had more of the sauce. There was also a pasta primavera (vegetarian) option that someone else at our table had, but they were not very pleased with it.
The murder mystery comes to a crescendo during the next break, and over dessert, you are given an answer sheet to identify who you think is the killer and why. Dessert was a very tasty double fudge chocolate cake served over caramel and raspberry sauces.
As we're wrapping up dessert, the detectives return to announce who did it and why. And then the host announces the winner who correctly deduced the killer and motive.
It was all very light-hearted and good fun, and the food was pretty good, too. The service seemed right on time and very responsive. I would recommend the show and the venue.
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