Review: Macabre Manor invites you for another round of spirited cocktails
When we reviewed this sinister cocktail experience at the tail end of Halloween 2023, it was titled Spirit Lounge: Macabre Manor, and it billed itself as the “Kookiest and Spookiest Immersive Themed Speakeasy,” featuring cocktails and decor inspired by The Addams Family. For Halloween 2024, the “Spirit Lounge” brand name* has been abandoned, along with any references to the ’60s sitcom and its film adaptations. This may suggest a complete makeover, but Macabre Manor 2024 is much the same, including returning cocktails such as the Addams-themed Gomez Old Fashioned. Differences consist of new menu items and additional decorations. So the question is whether those justify a return visit.
The answer is yes – for three reasons. First, the changes provide a few new frightful delights, drinks, and snacks. Second, regardless of any changes, Macabre Manor is a great way to enjoy delicious cocktails in a themed environment haunted by live characters – rather like a one-room version of House of Spirits. Third, by its very nature, Macabre Manor provides a different experience from night to night by virtue of its changing cast of characters. If you enjoyed a previous visit, you will enjoy another chance to indulge your love of spirits, both ethereal and intoxicating.
Footnote:
- Spirit Lounge began as a themed cocktail bar created by Sinister Pointe Productions, which closed during the 2020 pandemic, then returned at Macabre Manor in 2023. Sinister Pointe no longer lists it among their events.
Macabre Manor Review: What’s New
Located inside The Set, a self-described “immersive themed speakeasy” tucked inside Montclair’s That 80s Bar, Macabre Manor is a 100-minute event placing visitors inside a haunted lounge, with themed cocktails and decorations. The most obvious decorative changes this year are decorations on the bar and the “changing portraits” hanging on the walls.
Last year’s bar was reminiscent of a castle with stone walls; this year it looks like an overgrown hothouse with a small mechanical version of Audrey II lurking among the vines hanging overhead. The digital portraits used to do the obvious thing: start off looking nice, then suddenly turn ugly. This year, a returning trio of characters are up to new tricks, sliding from their frames to the adjoining ones to commit murderous atrocities.
Besides soaking up the atmosphere and imbibing drinks, you interact with one or two roaming characters eager to engage in conversation. This year we encountered three – sort of. One was a magician going by the moniker Jer Bear (Jeremiah DeMatteis), who dazzled us with some closeup tricks we had not seen before, giving last year’s magician, Mudd the Magnificent, a run for his money. Our other encounters were with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – not at the same moment, for obvious reasons. First, the good doctor appeared to tell us he he was on the trail of the evil Hyde but never quite able to catch up. Then Hyde himself arrived to tell his side of the story, though his protestations of innocence were undermined the flashing blade clasped eagerly in his hand, as if ready for use at a moment’s notice.
Macabre Manor Review: Cocktails
This Halloween’s new menu items include snacks “Fresh Scabs” and “Bat Guano,” but you really come for the cocktails. Returning concoctions include Fester’s Buzz Bulb, Uncle Kong, Banana Ban-Chi, Samara, and the venue’s signature The Set Vesper (a variation on James Bond’s Vesper Martini). This year we tried out Bone on the Beach (vodka mixed with orange, cranberry, and pineapple juice) and Antidote (rum, coconut milk, orange and pineapple juice, raspberry syrup). Both were deliciously sweet concoctions. The latter was a bit reminiscent of a Zombie cocktail; as a sort of gimmick, the raspberry syrup was in a tube which could be poured in at the drinker’s discretion to change the flavor profile midway through finishing the drink. (Fester’s Buzz Bulb employs a similar gimmick.)
Macabre Manor Review: Conclusion
We highly recommend Macabre Manor. Although expensive ($15 entrance fee plus two-drink minimum adds up to approximately $70 depending on how much you tip), the experience delivers good value for the money. Also important, its nearly three-month-long schedule provides ample opportunity to visit both before and after the Halloween season gets hot and heavy with haunted houses and other attractions that make it difficult to set aside a couple hours to sit down and enjoy creepy cocktails inside a haunted bar. If you don’t get there this year, make a point of putting it on you schedule for Halloween 2025.
Macabre Manor 2024
Rating Scale
0 – Awful
1 – Poor
2 – Mediocre
3 – Good
4 – Great
5 – Excellent
Montclair might be a bit off the radar for many Los Angeles fright fans, but Macabre Manor is worth the journey. Think of it as a mini-version of House of Spirits – a great chance to enjoy themed cocktails in an immersive environment haunted by creepy characters.
Macabre Manor operates on Fridays and Saturdays from September 6 through November 23. Start times are 6pm, 8pm, and 10pm. Tickets are $15 per person; plus there is a two-drink minimum. That 80s Bar is located at 10555 S. Mills Avenue in Montclair. Admission is restricted to ages 21 and up. Get more information at ExperienceTheSet.com.
Macabre Manor 2024 Photo Gallery
Take a virtual walk through the Macabre Manor by clicking on any photo and then scrolling through the rest of the pics…
