the mommy avenger

We have been enjoying all things Halloween this month, so we thought we would put a twist on our celebrations and go visit Mystique Dining at Gardner’s Village for a night of the macabre.

Mystique Dining is a venue you can attend year round for a special night out. There are 3 locations within California (San Diego, La Jolla, and Folsom) and one in Utah in West Jordan. For the months of September and October, the program is called Manifestations! A Magically Macabre Tribute to Edgar Allen Poe. Patrons can enjoy dinner and entertainment provided by a magician.

I have been to magic dinner shows before in the past and they have been a little corny, but fun. If I am honest with you, I actually expected this experience to be similar, as I’d had no basis to think otherwise. I was wrong!

We arrived at our start time of 6pm and got checked in for our evening activity. There are many nights of the week that there are multiple shows for the night, so plan what works best for your schedule. Each sitting lasts approximately 2.5 hours.

We were led into a sinister dining hall bedecked with spooky and ornate place settings and I instantly knew this was nothing like any other magic show I had attended before. Every little detail of the room was well thought out and coordinated to create the perfect atmosphere for a night of frightening entertainment for the 30 patrons that we would be dining with that evening.

Haze filled the green tinged room when we walked in, the result of the bubbling appetizers awaiting each of us at our seats. We we greeted with dehydrated apple slices with caramel dipping sauce and witch fingers. Both of which were quite delicious. The presentation of our first course was so fun and a good introduction of what our evening was going to be like.

The music and sounds amplified within the hall was dark and mysterious, but perfectly pitched to allow for ample dinner conversation as we enjoyed each of our 5 courses. I mentioned that you can select your meals beforehand. Menu choices include split game hen, grilled eggplant roulade, macaroni and cheese, and prime rib. They are extremely accommodating to dietary needs and preferences, including gluten free, vegan, etc. There are also chef upgrades for even more gourmet options. I opted for the prime rib at the time of reservation.

I did not go to dinner with the expectation that my food was going to be anything note-worthy. In fact, past experience tells me when you have mass-produced food, the quality almost always suffers. I was shocked to find that each and every morsel I tried was absolutely delicious. I will even make the leap and tell you the food I enjoyed last night was the best I have had in a restaurant since relocating to Utah. I was absolutely amazed!

Over the course of the next hour and a half, we were treated to optical illusions, recitations of some of Edgar Allen Poe’s most popular tales and course after course of delicious food brought to us with exceptional service by our “butlers” for the evening. We enjoyed a wonderful salad with goat cheese, apple, mixed greens, and cranberry with a lovely sesame, lemon and herb dressing. That was followed by a raspberry sorbet with fresh blackberry palate cleanser. Main entrees arrived and I was surprised at how large the portion was. 12-14 ounce prime rib cooked to the most perfect medium rare. I might add this was a great piece of meat, not at all fatty, just wonderful! Potatoes, asparagus, au jus and horseradish sauce accompanied my meal. I thoroughly enjoyed every bite. Ending the five courses, we were presented with dessert, the appropriately named Death by Chocolate. The cake was surprisingly light, moist, and flavorful. I wish they did take out, I would stop by to grab a slice to take home another time!

When I come back, because I most certainly will, I would not hesitate to try some of the chef specialties to upgrade the experience!

We had a fantastic time enjoying our meal and listening to the selections of Poe. That alone would have been enough to constitute a fabulous evening. However, Mystique Dining capped the experience off with a world-class magician to entertain us.

Our entertainer for the evening was David Parr. He was the recipient of the Fool Us trophy on the hit TV show Penn & Teller: Fool Us. David created and costarred in Chicago’s longest-running magic show, which was chosen by the Travel Channel as one of the top nine magic shows in the nation! He is the author of some well-regarded books about the art of magic, and his magical creations are performed by magicians around the world.

He shared with us some truly unbelievable tricks. In such an intimate setting, audience participation was abundant and it felt as if he were a part of our own dinner party. He did show us the the act that won him his trophy with Penn & Teller and I have no idea how he did it. Even up close and personal, his secrets were not exposed. Our time with him flew by as we were all mesmerized by his performance.

We thoroughly enjoyed our experience last night and I have but one regret–that I didn’t bring my entire family with me. Everyone would have enjoyed it. The show is recommended for ages 13 and up, so no little kids are allowed. But, for those of age, it was an incredible experience and one I would love to do again. I am already looking ahead at future events (they have a Christmas themed one coming up!) and I can’t wait to enjoy it again with my whole family.

To learn more about Mystique Dining, visit them online. The magicians brought in for entertainment for these events change throughout the year, as well, so you could get an entirely different experience each time you attend. Thinking ahead, tickets to Mystique Dining would make a wonderful experience gift for the holidays, and a memorable one at that!

_{*we were invited to facilitate a feature, all opinions are my own*}