New Alice in Wonderland experience in Sheffield leads you down a rabbit hole - review

At the back of American-style Karen’s Diner, an “enchanted” entrance leads to a magical journey down the literal rabbit hole.

After a few steps, I find myself in the middle of a waiting room that resembled Alice’s entry point to Wonderland after she fell down the tree.

With music which could only be described as straight out of a fairy tale, guests were invited to let themselves get drawn into the stories “whispered from the walls”.

The evening starts with a welcome drink in the rabbit hole (waiting room area), where customers can choose between various cocktails (2 for £12!) and other spirits as well as Wonderland-themed shots like Jam Tart.

With five cocktails to choose from – Jabberwocky Sour, Mad Hatter Martini, Mock Turtle Martini, Bonkers Bellini and Tweedle Gin – there is something for every taste.

My partner and I opted for two Mock Turtle Martinis, which would just be regular pornstar martinis, if you would not drink them surrounded by lots of props straight out of a fairy tale.

After starting the night with the welcome drink, the 20 guests were invited to the tea room, which looked like straight out of Alice in Wonderland’s movie set.

The ambience was mysterious, playful and lit up by hundreds of fairy lights, which set the tea tables into a warm, dim setting.

Shortly after sitting down, the Rabbit and Mad Hatter appeared from small side doors. The actor duo showed great talent as they put on an engaging show and perfectly improvised to incorporate the audience, its replies to questions as well as clothes and facial expressions.

To participate in the boozy tea party, guests had to win the three ingredients for their tea party by solving riddles and quizzes between two tea party members.

After putting our linguistic skills to the test, we received our “bottle of red” and a “bottle of orange”, which were Passoa liquor and orange juice, alongside a very lovely brownie.

Once in the teapot, the special ingredient – dry ice – was put into everyone’s tea pots by the rabbit to create steaming, bubbly drinks that provided a tasty, fruity alcoholic “tea” to enjoy while the actors entertained as their Wonderland characters.

After a quick costume change, both reappeared as a judge and the Queen of Hearts, who challenged everyone to a card game with giant playing cars and shouted “off with their heads” in perfect Wonderland-manner.

For the second part of the show, guests received their second cocktail and were challenged by the Queen to draw something on the whipped crème on top of the cocktail with caramel sauce.

Guests had the opportunity to win free Wonderland-shots by excelling in crocket and the drawing challenge.

My drawing of the Queen of Heart’s herself won me a very tasty Jam Tart shot for free.

After about two hours of fun, entertainment and alcohol we exited the rabbit hole to return to the real world where, still, “we’re all mad here”.