Photos provided by Inside Castlebar
Company: Inside Castlebar
Game: The Restaurant
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Language: English, Polish
Type of Game: Remote Escape Room 🗣
Genre: Adventure
Date Played: 2/18/2021
Difficulty (based on 4 players): 5.5/10
Size of Team: 1-10 Players Time: 60 Minutes Price: €35 (1-2 Players), €40 (3 Players), €50 (4 Players), €60 (5 Players), €70 (6 Players), €80 (7-8 Players)
🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈
You finally got an interview with the best restaurant in town. When you arrived, there's no one there. You found yourself trapped inside the restaurant and a timer started to countdown from 60 minutes. You probably don't want to sit around and wait to see what happens when the time is up...
🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈
The game started with the avatar giving us a verbal intro of the backstory. We were then bought into the inside of a restaurant. The décor looked simple from first glance but there's a lot of hidden surprises. The owner also kept the set design in immaculate condition. As we continued on with the game, we kept getting surprised by new areas and more puzzles.
There's no inventory system paired with the game but since there's not many items that we would need to read or focus on for too long, we didn't think it was a necessity.
🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂
We liked the mixed use of physical puzzles and logic puzzles. The added humor to the utilization of one of the props was quite pleasing. There was almost no "red herring" prop usage in the entire room and we really appreciated that as being in a set for a restaurant, you could easily be lost with plates, utensils, etc...There was only one puzzle in the entire game we thought could be a bit confusing for online play as the association of the clue wasn't as clear to what we had to do. The owner did say she's going to adjust that so hopefully you won't have that issue during the game play.
Although the puzzles were non linear and could be easily played as "divide and conquer" style, due to the fact that there's only one avatar and we were playing this online, it's not really possible to utilize that method. If the owner wants the players to be able to explore the "divide and conquer" way for the online adaptation, then we would suggest having an inventory system and add a 360 view of the room to the game.
🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂
Don't be fooled by the simplicity of "The Restaurant". You might think you'll be able to get out very quickly but you'll soon realize there are many hidden secrets within. It was a lot of fun seeing our teammates say to each other: "Wow there's more?" I'm happy to report that we left quite satisfied with our "meal" and I'm pretty sure we got accepted for the job.
𝔼𝕊ℂ𝔸ℙ𝔼𝕋ℍ𝔼ℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕤❜ ℙ.𝕀.𝕤❜ 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤
Hanna N.
I really enjoyed The Restaurant, and I would absolutely have loved to be able to play it in person! The props and puzzles are fun and unique and there’s at least one puzzle where you have to break the usual rules of escape rooms, which was a super cute touch to the story.
Martha was a lovely avatar and did a good job of sneaking hints in to keep us flowing, while giving us a lot of freedom to explore and try everything we could think of.
The game is non-linear and there is a LOT to do and look at, so make sure to have pen and paper, or a screen shooter ready. At times I felt a bit stressed out about the sheer amount of locks and clues we found, and since there is no inventory system we had to rely on our avatar to do everything for us. Therefore I ended up taking the backseat in our group a little bit, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the ride!
This is definitely the weirdest job interview I’ve ever been to, I can only recommend you give it a try!
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Helen B.
I have done a few physical escape rooms with groups of friends and love the ability to run around and examine everything and work together, fumbling with keys and padlocks and putting together all manner of puzzles or hunting through bookshelves or boxes.... So I had to say I was dubious about how this was all going to work on Zoom, where we can't touch anything and our view would be restricted to a camera lens. Would the technology even hold out?
We met Marta our guide outside the room and she welcomed us, gave us some background information and rules, and explain that she would be our avatar, and to guide her as we wish. We began, and we entered the room which at first appeared sparse and small. Marta wears a bodycam which gives a pretty good, clear view at all times, and we were able to ask her to move around to get the best view of things. As we called out what we wanted her to do, she obliged, with a nice balance between listening to what we wanted but also showing quite clearly that there was nothing more to be found on an item if we just gave it a general once-over. Her descriptions were clear, concise and flowed well, so there were never any awkward silences. She spoke in a lovely soothing and supportive voice and put a lot into expressions of surprise or excitement when something went right, which was lovely.
The puzzles we encountered were clear enough for a screen and Marta helped by putting things close to the camera so we could see everything. As we progressed it was clear that some puzzles could only be solved after further exploration. As I don't want to spoil the room content I will just say that there were a few clever surprises that meant the room held a lot more secrets than we first thought, and despite a few uneducated guesses at some combination numbers we made swift work of most of the puzzles. There are some very clever uses of tech in this room which really impressed me, and a couple of items have been adapted for the online experience which was a nice touch.
There was a lovely mix of puzzles and tasks, a LOT of locks and a bit of Math to be done, and with time ticking quickly away I found Marta to give lovely subtle suggestions and behaviour changes that weren't blatant hints, but guided us to knowing we were or were not on the right track. She has a beautiful lilting voice that always felt very encouraging! I felt that if she knew a group were struggling that she would say or do something that gave you a clue without giving the game away and seemed very good at judging how we were doing against the time.
We completed the final puzzle with only a couple of minutes to spare and emerged victorious. Yes, it is tough not being able to get in there yourself and explore, and no it's not easy when someone else is your eyes, and you are all wanting to say something at the same time and end up hearing no-one, but that is just the nature of the beast until we can return in person. It still worked really well, we were an effective team and Marta made it very enjoyable and rewarding. We had a lovely chat with her afterwards where she told us a bit about the history and the practicalities of running the room, and their plans for expansion.
If I am ever in the west of Ireland in future I will make a point of paying them a visit to do their next room, they certainly deserve the custom!
*** This game can no longer be booked as a remote game but can still be booked as an in-person experience ***
(If you do decide to try this experience, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank Inside Castlebar for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
One thing I always notice in such upscale settings is the attention to detail, even down to the menu covers. A well-crafted menu cover can set the tone for what to expect from the meal, making it feel special from the moment you sit down. It’s not just about appearance—it’s a signal of quality and thoughtfulness. Investing in elegant menu covers is a smart move for any restaurant aiming to elevate its brand and make a memorable first impression on guests.