Kiwi Magic

I really wanted to like this place because I am ALL-FOR entertainment in Santa Monica. Unfortunately this place fell really, really short. I wouldn't even call this "magic". Sure, there is a stage, and there are two people up there doing tricks, but I am not sure if they have any formal training in "magic". The tricks consist of a multitude of versions of calling a seemingly "random" person from the audience to "guess" a card. And then voila, sure-enough that is the card the magician has also conveniently guessed too. The only caveat is that they call the same group/person each time to come up on stage. I mean really??? The same girl coming on stage AGAIN?! It is obviously a "plant" in the audience to make the trick work. It's really bad. Most of the tricks consist of calling a person from the audience to verify that the magician has the right, card. There was one trick where a boy in the same group as the girl had to select 1-9 pins to win $500. Of course, he never selected the right pin. From the audiences perspective this is VERY boring because we have no stake in any of this. It's all just chance. It's just a guessing game. The bartender who serves the drinks is cool and friendly so that was a nice welcome entrance. However, just be warned that the beer glasses are 10oz glasses so you must drink the remaining 2oz of beer from the can. They advertise this theater as a 150 seat theater and that may be true, but in reality, on a Saturday night there must have been 25 people in the theater. Actually only 20 people if we don't count the group of 5 people who were obviously "part" of the show but in the audience. I purchased tickets for $45 but I was never asked to see my ticket. I guess with only 25 people in the theater they didn't really mind if we were just walk-ons. I feel offended that they used the word "Magic Castle" in their advertising of the close-up magic in the after show because the "magic" here was not reminiscent of what I see in the Magic Castle or in Vegas. Good story-telling.... but the magic that went with it, again was using the SAME plants from the main theater show. "Can I get a volunteer please.... oh yes.... you again... yes, you.... guess a card please" I went into this thinking the magic was going to be subpar, and to just enjoy it for what it was, but I just can't get over the use of audience plants over and over. This is a cheap tactic and I left me feeling very upset.

My husband and i went here last night with two of our friends and wow what a great night!! The best $48 you can spend to have a great night out with friends. We’ve been telling our family and friends all morning they have to check this place out! Highly recommend!

Amazing time! Robert and Greg's show was amazing!!!! Everyone participated and there was a bonus magic show with David Stryker. Highly recommend it.

Went to the Illusions Magic Lounge last night for the first time. What a great place good food. Great drinks. Friendly bartenders. We saw 3 great magicians there as well. David Stryker walking around the bar showing us close up magic. Than the main showroom. Simone Turkington and Mr Felix Jones. What a show That was great Very entertaining. Magic was on point. About a 90 minute show that was superb. They had a lot of audience interactions. Great for adults and kids alike After the show we were taken into a different room. Much smaller where we got another 20 minute or so parlor style show from David Stryker. That was great as well. Well worth the admission price. Every seat in the house is great!! Highly recommend!!!

Yikes. We went to Santa Monica for spring break with our 20 year old daughter and 23 year old son. I booked this on the night of my daughter’s 20th birthday because we had dinner reservations near by and as my son said “magic shows are always good”. This show had a bunch of 5 star ratings so - perfect, I thought. I paid extra for reserved seats because I was worried based on the timing of our dinner reservations we would get there right at show time. Words to the wise: Don’t pay for reserved seats. It’s a small theatre and was less than half full on a Sat night. This is pretty bad magic. Really bad. We wanted to leave at half but didn’t because we felt bad for the two performers. They had several glitches - the music wasn’t turning on/off as planned and you could hear the performers whispering about it on stage. They did a trick where four audience members get called up on stage to help move a table with their “mind powers”. The table didn’t move as planned; to the point where the audience was calling at it like it was a dog. That was probably the best part of the night. They selected the SAME GUY to come up to the stage for three different tricks. Each time they asked him to introduce himself - umm hello? We all knew his name was Marco after the first call-up. I guess this was also funny but it was the audience laughing at the performers. In sum, this is NOT worth it! And, I feel pretty ripped off by the “reserved seating” upcharge.

This place is magical! Both literally and figuratively. From the drinks to the atmosphere to the shows it is incredible! Highly, highly recommend checking it out the first chance you get!

We went on a date night to Illusions Magic Lounge for drinks and a show and had such a great time! This place is a gem to have in Santa Monica and an amazing option if you want to do something a little different. We saw Jody Baran and Kathleen on stage and the show actually blew our minds. We were convinced there must have bee some sorcery at play : Thank you for a great time and we'll definitely be back soon!

Such a cool spot and we got to see an amazing show! So entertaining and fun, and safe to say our minds were blown by the magic. Raved to all our friends about it so figured we’d rave to google too! Check it out!

A fun night out for me and my big boy. The show was fun, funny, and appropriate for all audiences. There was some adult humor but it was so well manufactured that the kids would never suspect.

A very fun show to watch with fam/friends. Jody and Chris kept it lively and light hearted, adapting to the audience. Highly recommend as a local activity.