A new dinner theater series has debuted in Carlsbad with murder on the menu.
Kasey and Allison Learned, who have co-produced the San Diego edition of The Dinner Detective since 2010, expanded their business in October to a second location at the Cassara Carlsbad Tapestry Collection by Hilton hote, which is near The Flower Fields.
Every Saturday night, two of hotel’s third-floor conference rooms are decorated with crime scene tape and a series of murders occur during the course of dinner for 40-50 audience participants. It’s up to the audience — which is secretly peppered with actors posing as future victims and the murderer — to solve the crime before the evening concludes. Whoever guesses the suspect and motive with the most accuracy receives a cash prize.
The Dinner Detective was founded in Los Angeles in 2004 and has since spread to more than 100 locations nationwide. The show scripts are inspired by actual crime cases and they change each year to keep things fresh. I reviewed the San Diego edition of The Dinner Detective when it debuted 15 years ago, so I decided to check in on the Carlsbad franchise last weekend for a spoilers-free review.
From my experience, the producers have ramped up the audience interactivity of the event and made the mystery harder to solve.
Years ago, the actors had more dialogue to lay out the circumstances of the case and drop verbal clues here and there. Now, the actors do more slapstick comedy and audience interaction and showgoers can examine the case files and clues by scanning QR codes at the table with their mobile phones. For technology-phobes, the clues are also taped to the banquet room wall by a pair of bumbling detectives.
The more audience members emotionally invest in the experience, the more they’ll get back in entertainment.
When guests arrive, they’ll receive nametags to write down their character names. At my dinner, there was a Ms. Marple, a Jane Doe, a John McClane (the Bruce Willis character in “Die Hard”) and both a Superman and a Lois Lane (who arrived separately).
Audience members are told that all of the suspects and the murderer are seated among them and they’re also wearing false nametags. Guests are encouraged to interrogate everyone at their tables (and other tables) for seemingly suspicious backgrounds and alibis. There’s also a two-sided paper form and index cards they can fill out to keep track of clues as they go along.
Before dinner is served, the first victim will stumble into the dining room and collapse in the chalk outline on the floor, and the mystery is afoot. The buffet-style meal offers a generous and tasty selection of dishes including salad, vegetarian and vegan pastas, a chicken dish, two vegetable dishes and bite-size desserts. Soft drinks and alcohol prices are on the high side, but there is complimentary tap water and coffee service.
At the performance I attended, the audience was happily engaged in chatting with everyone at their tables and they took their crime-solving work seriously. The actors hidden among the audience and posing as fellow audience members were mostly inconspicuous, and the atmosphere was lively and fun.
The Dinner Detective – Carlsbad
When: 6-9 p.m. Saturdays
Where: The Cassara Carlsbad Tapestry Collection by Hilton, 5805 Armada Drive, Carlsbad (free self-parking onsite)
Tickets: $99.95 (includes dinner, show and coffee service; soft drinks and alcohol are extra)
Online: thedinnerdetective.com/carlsbad