Mystique Dining — Restaurant in Folsom

Great access to high-caliber, up-close magic.

Like many of us, I'm enthralled with the performing art of magic. I love the honesty and sincerity of the deception. You know there's something you're missing. You know it really couldn't have happened like your eyes are telling you it just did. But then, it just keeps happening...

I'll share something I learned many years ago. The best magic is personal, up-close magic. By far. Hands down. No exceptions.

When you're up close, it it's no longer a stage magician playing to an audience. You and the magician combine to create a cooperative performance. When the magician catches that glimmer in your eye, he can respond. He knows you think you just figured it out. So he reacts. Without losing a beat in the dialog, he gives you a glance, shifts his hands, and re-performs the same feat just differently enough that your great little theory is crushed. Your awe returns and the magician grins. Alternately, if she's just pull off something amazing, and your jaw doesn't drop, she knows you missed it. She can adjust, pause or otherwise adapt until you see what she wants you to see. By being close enough to interact, everybody gets more from the experience.

But where can you get such interactive access to high caliber magicians? These performers are professionals. It's what they do for a living. If you had the inclination, you could probably book them for your private birthday party. Just pay for their flight, transportation to and from the airport, overnight lodging, and of course, their actual performance fee. For most of us, that's just not going to be in the budget.

That's where Mystique Dining comes into play. Owned and run by people who understand the value of up-close magic, they've created a business that allows us to pool our resources to gain the access we otherwise wouldn't have. With two shows a night across several nights each week, the cost of bringing in top-notch magicians for small, interactive shows has been reduced to less than the ticket price of a big production Vegas magic show. And Mystique even throws in a delicious, fine dining experience for no extra cost.

With only 18 seats around a single table, even those furthest from the magician are still part of the action. But if you're a magic enthusiast like myself, I'd highly recommend that at least once you book a little further in advance and pay just a little bit more to get one of the up front seats. It'll blow your mind just a little bit more when you can watch them really, really closely and still not see how they pull it off.

I'm already making...

What a bizzare place. Here are some of my experiences

Disorganized - 3 people who bought tickets to the dinner weren't accounted for and were greeted with a "what are you doing here? We didn't know anyone else bought tickets for this dinner. We might not have enough meals for you." fortunately they were able to scrounge up some additional chickens to cook. Not only that, but I tried to buy a ticket on the phone and the person who answered was apparently out running errands. They asked "are there any seats available." haha... Thats literally why I called you! I was told to book my extra ticket online which was kind of bs because doing so made me pay an additional $11 service fee. This whole section is inexcusable.

Just weird. Everything about this experience was weird. From the weird butler (who was friendly) who had a seemingly hard time keeping people's waters filled, to the ambiance--a theme park-ish rendition of what I imagine the dining room in the board game Clue would look like--to the God awful music that you don't realize is on repeat until about 2.5 hours in, after which you hope it hasn't been subconsciously destroying you brain. Where does one even find this kind of music? Granted, these are mostly subjective and I'm sure some people love to pay a crazy amount of $ for this type of experience.

Mediocre food. Super mediocre.

All for the whopping price of $86/person! ($75 + $11 online fee). It's insane to think what my $86 got me and what I could have otherwise spent that on elsewhere.

I could keep going but I won't because I think I've justified my 2 stars. It could have been worse, but the magician was good and was a good sport with the crowd so...

I have a wonderful story to tell the world about the customer service we experienced during our visit...

My friend has a huge variety of severe allergies that make eating at restaurants an anxiety-inducing experience. She called Mystique a week before our reservation to request special dietary accommodations, but she knew how difficult it can be for kitchens to get everything customized -- especially with a pre-fixe menu. Her main hope was that her entrée would be correct and assumed she wouldn't eat the other courses.

She was happily able to eat her salad + entrée. She assumed that would be the end of the food she could eat that night. As the cheesecake was served to the group, the staff (shout out to Mark!) surprised her. He brought out a special dessert (just for her!): Vegan avocado ice cream.

Unfortunately, she's allergic to carrageenan, an ingredient in almost all ice cream, so she thanked Mark, but nervously asked about the ingredients. Some servers would have just shrugged. Others may have even lied and assured her it was fine. But Mark went the extra mile. He brought her the ice cream carton so she could read the ingredient list for herself. And guess what? It had NO carrageenan! This was the true magic trick of the night, imo.

As for the rest of the review...

All five members of my group agreed that they would have liked less food and a longer magic show. 45 minutes just felt a little short. And while the food was tasty, I would have been happy with just an entrée and a...