Adams Mystery Playhouse — Restaurant in Denver

This came as a surprise for me as a birthday present, so I didn't have hardly any time to plan to dress up on-theme, which they always encourage. It appears that they always have 2 separate shows/events: one on the main floor and one in the basement aka "Six Feet Under", which was the one my boyfriend and I attended. Steampunk was the theme of our murder mystery. The actors double as the servers (bring cash for gratuity) and remain in character the entire time. While I couldn't eat much due to post-op reasons, I did nibble a bit at the food, which was all extremely tasty. Our entrée was oven-roasted chicken with a side salad, roasted potatoes, and a bread roll. Dessert was homemade chocolate chip cookies, drinks like water and iced tea were available in the room while alcoholic beverages were available at the bar throughout the night. There is very strong audience participation to the point where some audience members are chosen to be characters (as I was) and given lines and others are encouraged to stand up, introduce themselves, and read from the clues left at each table. The actors have wonderful senses of humor and try to involve everyone at their comfort levels. For me being very introverted, I was a bit nervous to have to act in front of an audience, but you have to step out of your comfort zone some time and there's no better place to do it than here. There was some adult level humor as well as "dad jokes" on a "so bad it's good" level of funny. It's a lot of give-and-take and improv. The more enthusiastic the audience, the better, but the actors are all on their toes and have a quip for anything the audience throws at them. The murder itself was easy to follow but not spoon-fed to you and our audience was about half and half in who correctly guessed the murderer, so it does make you think and try to piece together all the clues. An absolute thrill and not one critique or criticism from me other than I'm sorry it was over so soon. I've spread the word to friends and family and already have plans to come back with my brother. Happy to support a local business that's been out of the loop for a while due to the pandemic, but it's well worth every penny. And a special shout out to actor and server Travis S. (Peter Southward), my boyfriend's friend who put on a stellar performance and made the evening so enjoyable...

Checking in was a breeze, we skipped the bar (due to the line) and the scavenger hunt (because we arrived slightly later than expected). Our table upstairs was reserved for us with our name on it and Major Hottie (the actor aka Jim Young) came right over to introduce himself to us. He had us laughing from the minute we entered the door.

We took our plates downstairs to get dinner which was just okay (eat before you go) but was a nice little snack. I didn't go in expecting much from the food due to other reviews and I'm glad I had already lowered my expectations.

The show was hilarious and we couldn't stop laughing. Almost everyone in the room became a character for the show (props/ hats/ accessories were handed out before the show started. Our table ended up being the only table to solve the mystery which was exciting but in the end we were all winners.

I am not sure which show we saw because the original one we had bought tickets for got canceled and they moved us (they called and asked, we were totally fine with it). It was actually great to be upstairs because it was a more intimate show and we got to know the other people in the room. There were many side shows between a couple getting up and leaving (due to an argument) and then two drunk girls in the hallways)- those were just icing on the cake.

After the show you can get your palm read or hit up the bar one last time. We just sat inside relaxing and waiting...

While the actual performance had its redeeming qualities at the rec center in Erie this past Saturday night, we were disappointed at the lack of effort the Adams Mystery Playhouse company put forth. There was no atmosphere to speak of, no decoration beyond the inexpensive plastic table cloths for the 9 tables, and center pieces consisting of paper doilies with a small clear vase and a few fresh flowers. The performance was set in "present day", and the situation was a family reunion. The "costumes" were just street clothes you see everywhere. The clues were 7 pieces of paper laid on 7 different tables. We were expecting much more out of the evening. And then there was the food! We were the last table to walk through the serving table line. They were critically low on food! Come on caterer, we are paying customers, we paid for our full dinner and you didn't deliver! First I was given 2 tablespoons of beans (until my husband insisted they give us more from the other serving side), 1/2 cup pulled pork, and the last 1/3 cup of coleslaw, which. by the way, had a ridiculous amount of cracked pepper mixed in it. I stopped eating it after two bites. They were out of cornbread until half way through our dinner. It was a small flat cupcake sized serving, it wasn't warm and they didn't serve butter with any of the cornbread.The caterer and the playhouse were more focused on making money than on pleasing...