Alcotraz London: Cell Block Two-One-Two — Restaurant in London

Looking for a night out that's truly unforgettable? Want to smuggle some contraband past prison guards and become part of an underground cocktail operation? Welcome to Alcotraz, London's most innovative immersive theatrical experience that perfectly blends crafted cocktails with interactive drama.

The Concept: More Than Just Another Bar

Alcotraz isn't your typical themed bar – it's a fully immersive experience where you become part of the story. From the moment you don your orange prison jumpsuit, you're no longer just a customer; you're an inmate in one of the most notorious "establishments" around. The twist? You're tasked with smuggling in your own spirits, which the talented "inmates" transform into bespoke cocktails throughout your sentence.

The Experience: From Booking to Release

Your journey starts before you even arrive, with the option to enhance your experience through special character assignments. Want to play the jail janitor or the crafty escape artist? These additional roles add an extra layer of immersion and can make your night even more memorable.

Upon arrival, you're processed into the system and given your prison uniform. The attention to detail is impressive, from the authentic-looking cells to the stern-faced guards who stay in character throughout. But don't worry – while the setting might be intimidating, the staff expertly walks the line between maintaining the atmosphere and ensuring everyone feels comfortable and included.

The Cocktails: Contraband Never Tasted So Good

Over the course of your two-hour "sentence," your smuggled spirits are transformed into four expertly crafted cocktails. The mixology team (disguised as fellow inmates) shows impressive creativity, producing drinks that would be at home in any high-end cocktail bar. Each creation is unique and perfectly balanced, proving that great cocktails can come from anywhere – even behind bars.

What's particularly impressive is how they integrate the drink-making into the overall narrative. Your cocktails aren't just served; they're part of an elaborate underground operation that you're now complicit in. And yes, any remaining spirits from your bottle are returned to you upon release – assuming the guards don't confiscate them, of course.

The Performance: Method Acting Meets Mixology

The real star of Alcotraz is the incredible immersive performance by the staff. As the evening progresses and the cocktails flow, you'll find yourself being drawn deeper into the experience. The actors maintain their characters flawlessly while ensuring everyone is having a good time. It's this balance that makes the experience so special – professional enough to be convincing, but fun enough to be thoroughly entertaining.

Value for Money: Crime Pays (For the Visitor)

At just under £45 for the basic entry ticket (plus your smuggled spirits), Alcotraz offers exceptional value for money. Consider what you're getting: A two-hour immersive theatrical experience Four expertly crafted cocktails Professional actors dedicated to your entertainment A unique story you'll be telling for weeks to come

The Verdict: Should You Do Time at Alcotraz?

Absolutely. This is one of those rare experiences that actually exceeds expectations. The combination of interactive theater, quality cocktails, and attention to detail creates something truly special. If anything, my only complaint is that I wanted it to last longer – which is perhaps the best criticism any entertainment venue can receive.

Tips for Future Inmates: Book character enhancements if you want to maximize the immersion Bring a spirit you genuinely enjoy – it'll be the base for all your cocktails Get into the spirit of the experience – the more you play along, the more fun you'll have Consider going with a group to enhance the interactive elements

Whether you're celebrating a special occasion or just looking for a...

Very poor booking policy and office staff, and staff at the venue showed a lack of willingness to assist and demonstrated a ‘computer says no kind of attitude’.

I booked over Xmas through Virgin Experience days whereby your activity is not necessarily secured or guaranteed which is also not made particularly clear by either party. I booked through Virgin for a £15 discount(£60 instead of £75), I then waited 2 days for confirmation of my booking but it didn’t come so I booked again at the full price to make sure we secured it because we wanted to attend New Years Day and I didn’t want to risk the activity being booked.

When we attended I told staff at the venue I had had to book twice and I’d like the full price booking cancelled and my voucher booking to be honoured, they told me they couldn’t help and to email the same emailing I had emailed 4 times already.

I didn’t hear anything back for a week and eventually got a reply that was not helpful and it was obvious the person responding to my query hadn’t even read my emails because they asked me to explain it all over again. Eventually the query was escalated to head office and I spoke to Sam Shearman from Customer Service who did try to help but it was a little too late.

Even then the only offer made by customer service was a £10 voucher for another visit which to be honest is not really particularly helpful as this is a kind of one time novel activity, you don’t particularly want to go back and suffer the rubbish storyline and poor acting twice. No offer was made to return the £15 difference between full price and the Virgin Voucher. Their solution was to refer me to Virgin to cancel my voucher. Lots of stress and very poor customer service when all it would have taken was a phone call and a £15 refund.

I ended up getting my £60 voucher refunded from Virgin and Alcotraz ended up getting the full £75 price, doesn’t quite seem right and pretty poor service all in all, a very poor attempt to preserve their reputation made.

The activity itself was ok but the American accents were awful, the storyline was a bit cringe and the price is very over the top. The 4 cocktails they made were actually very nice but considering you have to bring your own alcohol you’re paying £30 per person(at best) to have someone make you drinks in a tin cup.

All in all I would not recommend the activity nor I would I recommend dealing with the stress of dealing with a poorly ran business. If you’re in London and looking for activities there’s lots of other options:

Junkyard golf - mini golf Bounce - glow in the dark ping pong Flight club - interactive darts Urban golf Party n Paint Camden/Croydon - get drunk and paint on a canvas Four Thieves Clapham - they have a full indoor arcade with a scalextric remote control car circuit

All the above are better options than this place…...

I was really looking forward to visiting Alcotraz this weekend, especially as my friend and I had recently tried their other experience, Avora, which we absolutely loved. Unfortunately, Alcotraz ended up being quite a disappointment in comparison.

When we arrived, things already felt a bit disorganised. We weren’t given any clear instructions on what to do, so we had to ask before being checked in. Once we got downstairs with our jumpsuits, the whole setup felt unclear and chaotic. A lot of people were already in their cells with their first round of drinks, whereas we didn’t get ours until everyone else was already onto their second. This meant that by the end of the experience we only received 3 out of the 4 cocktails included and had to chase up the last one ourselves. For reference, we arrived exactly on time, but it seemed like groups were staggered into the room, which probably caused the delay.

The whole “smuggling alcohol in” element — which we thought would be fun — was pretty much non-existent. We were handed a fake book to hide our bottle in, but as soon as we entered the cell the alcohol was taken away with no real attempt to weave it into the storyline. The cocktails themselves were fairly average, quite small, and some filled with so much ice. The website advises bringing a 35cl bottle between two people; we did this but only about a quarter of it was actually used. So I’d say don’t bother bringing anything expensive, because you’ll just end up carrying most of it back home. To be honest, I also found it strange that you had to bring your own alcohol at all — Avora didn’t work like this, everything was included, which feels far more appropriate given the price of the tickets.

We also upgraded to the “Associate” ticket, which came with a prison card. This was a complete waste of money, as everyone was given a basic card to fill out once inside anyway. The only difference was that ours had a photo on it. Even then, the cards weren’t collected or referenced in the story, so they felt pointless.

For most of the experience, it just felt like a lot of waiting around. Every now and then a character would talk or there’d be a bit of interaction, but it quickly went back to everyone just chatting among themselves. With Avora, there was so much movement, immersion, and interaction as you progressed through different rooms — whereas Alcotraz felt static and underdeveloped. I get that the “locked in a cell” concept limits how much you can move around, but in that case the acting and story need to carry it more strongly, and here they just didn’t.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend Alcotraz. It felt unorganised, underwhelming, and frankly not worth the money. A real shame, especially since Avora set such a...