Alcotraz Melbourne: Cell Block Five-Nine-Two — Restaurant in Melbourne

In summary: Save your money and your booze because the venue manager was awful. Pretty sure we received 1 cocktail and 3 mocktails each, our liquor was barely used- I would not be surprised if the venue manager was behind this. Cassidy, the other actors and bar staff were great though! Our booking ID was 63250234, just in case you claim we weren’t there like you have done to the other reviews.

Myself and 5 other girls booked this “immersive cocktail experience” for a total of $420 and paid $60 for a bottle of alcohol that they’re SUPPOSED to mix into our cocktails. They warned us beforehand, that they reserve the right to switch us to mocktails if they thought we were getting too intoxicated. As these other comments suggest, the acting and skits are really for only 10 minutes of the 1hour and 45 minute booking. With not much else to do but drink and chat, we do so amongst ourselves and admittedly maybe laughed a little loud. This was only after having one drink, I promise you no one was intoxicated or out of control, we were just trying to make this fun for ourselves because the alternative was to sit there bored which was obvious for a few people at our same booking. But something about this caused the venue manager to not like us and she was certainly not hiding it. She quite rudely told ONLY us to keep the talking to a minimum, despite the cell behind causing way more commotion as she is telling us off. For the rest of the night, she made it a point to stare us down anytime she was perusing the room (definitely not part of the skit and it was only directed at our group despite there being other groups that were far louder and rowdier). At this point, we had moved onto the second round of cocktails and noticed that there was virtually no taste of alcohol, we were served syrup for the rest of the night. Upon leaving the experience, we noticed our (and many others) 1L bottle of liquor still more than half full sitting on the counter. They did warn us beforehand that we wouldn’t be able to take this back which is understandable. But they certainly did not tell us that we had been switched to mocktails at any point in the night. Sooooo dodgy come on, there were so many bottles of liquor left was everyone else also getting mocktails?? What do you do with the liquor????

Myself and two of the girls needed to go to the toilet and we had asked one of the actors before leaving the cell. She pointed the way so we thought this was perfectly fine. However, on the way back from the toilet (we are literally mid walking back to the cell) we were told off by the venue manager because we weren’t supposed to be there??? She made it abundantly clear at the beginning, that they reserve the right to kick you out if they feel it’s necessary. So having paid so much money for this, we spent the rest of the experience sat mostly in silence, sipping our cups of syrup and busting but being afraid to go to the loo. ALL WHILE STILL GETTING DIRTY LOOKS FROM THE VENUE MANAGER. If our behaviour was an issue, why did she still have a problem with us as we were sat in silence….

I do have to credit the actors, they did a brilliant job for the short time we saw them. The man who played Cassidy in particular was really good!! It is a bummer we were discouraged from talking, because he was very quick witted and funny to engage with at...

I can't recommend this experience at all. I was left scratching my head as to why it's so popular. It's sold as a "Cocktail Experience" but whoever heard of a BYO booze cocktail experience? The way the website reads, bringing your own booze is optional not necessary. We had to run to BWS & grab something last minute.. There were lots of people in the same situation as us. Yes it's on the website, but given the amount of people who turned up without booze, it's clearly not obvious to everyone. I don't think it's worth the money. Basic experiences start at $72 & you pay more for extras. For that you get to sit in orange jumpsuits in over crowded cells drinking cocktails with booze you bought in yourself. In comparison, price wise, bottomless brunches start from $60 & include food & 2 hours worth of drinks. I get it, you're paying for a theatre experience, but attending local theatre productions also isn't that expensive. It's supposed to be entertaining however I found the storyline of the Warden, prisoners & guards to be lame. There weren't many laughs or enthusiasm from the audience & the dialogue/ acting portion was limited. We were told we weren't allowed to swear at the paid actors during the experience. However this was confusing as the actors swore at each other making the rule easy to forget. While in character the guards and wardens spoke poorly to us, the inmates. While in character it was easy to get caught up in the guards V prisoner vibe & swear back at the guards. But if you do this, you get a talking to & a warning of removal. It's really pathetic... Obviously if you were in a prison situation, prisoners would swear at guards. Why the actors don't see this as a joke while in character as we were supposed to be is beyond me. I know they are working but the swearing isn't personal, you're swearing at their character & it's in keeping with the theme. I found this rule to be ridiculous, childish & frankly Un-Australian. If following Tik Tok trends is important to you, go. I myself didn't enjoy it. Plenty of other people love it, so make up your own mind. I'm not interested in any come backs from Alcotraz, I'm giving my honest feedback. I thought it was lame & we spent a lot of time sitting around drinking...

First off, this is an experience. Not just a spot to drink at. If you want to get lit then you likely know a local or the spot you’d find yourself most weekends.

With that in mind it was pretty freakin dope! You’re brought in to a cell hall, given an orange jumpsuit to wear for the duration of your booking and also given time to chill and chat with your mates in between the skits and activities along the way.

You’re to bring (smuggle) a bottle of your spirit of choice in so that the talented and fantastic bar inmates can make your group a few solid beverages over the course of your 1hr45min session. That being said, you can also upgrade your ticket price to get a bottle from the venue on arrival. Do be sure to not rock up pissed beforehand and make sure you’re not bringing a full bottle for each person in your crew, as Vic Liquor Laws mean that you can NOT take the open bottle home.

Basically have one or two before you go in if you want, don’t rock up smashed and go like a 500ml bottle of something nice per pair of people.

Not only are you getting a few cocktails straight from the minds of your awesome bar staff but you’re treated to an intimate showing with your guards, fellow inmates and the warden (all of which are amazing at commanding the space, improv and trained, non offensive accents). The warden himself switched between English, Japanese and Mandarin all purposefully done with a Southern Lilt.

The only thing that I noticed we could’ve done without is the Kick streamer who had to make it all about himself but that’s no slight on Alcotraz or it’s staff. 95% of all Kick IRL streamers are degeneracy at its worst and should be barred from any establishment. But besides that I would definitely bring a crew in for a pre drink for a huge one, a double date or something fun before/after dinner.

10/10 would...