Paranormal and mystery enthusiasts looking for a scary good steak dinner with a side of mystery can take their boo to Monteleone’s Haunted Motel Themed Restaurant in Central for both.

The restaurant located in the 5 Points area isn’t really a motel. It’s a motel-themed steakhouse where one can watch and participate in an interactive murder mystery that’s acted out while you dine.

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Okay, It's Not Really a Motel, But Is It Really Haunted?

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According to owner Gary Monteleone, the converted home is totally haunted. And if anyone knows first-hand about sharing space with the dead, it’s Gary Monteleone.

Especially after everything he, his wife, and employees have gone through for years at his other restaurant, Monteleone's Ristorante, which is so haunted it made Yelp’s 20 Most Haunted Places in Texas list.

The Eerie Engineer

Monteleone’s Haunted Motel Themed Restaurant
Monteleone’s Haunted Motel Themed Restaurant
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The original plan, Monteleone told me, was to buy the property on San Marcial Street and use it as a parking lot for Monteleone’s Ristorante, which is located around the corner. But Gary ended up really liking the 1920’s era home deciding it was “way too pretty to tear down,” and instead remodeled it and moved in.

And that’s when the Eerie Engineer made its presence known.

According to Monteleone, the psychic medium he consulted when the paranormal activity became too much told him the man once worked for the Union Pacific Railroad and lived and died in that house. Even in death he considered the house his and didn’t want Gary there.

“He was terrible. You would hear noises and [then] see static electricity like what you see in the dark [when you rub] a balloon going back and forth in the bedroom,” Gary recounted to me during a radio interview.

The Dining Experience

Monteleone’s Haunted Motel Themed Restaurant
Monteleone’s Haunted Motel Themed Restaurant
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The dining experience is very much like dinner theater. The evening includes a little bit of Hollywood in the form of a murder mystery put on by “The Bellhop Players” -- server/actors who entertain after guests have been served. The play changes quarterly.

The New Murder Mystery

Haunted Motel Themed Restaurant play flyer Oct 2022
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“Murder at Monteleone Manor” is the latest murder mystery which runs through November.

It’s advertised as an “homage to House on Haunted Hill,” a 1959 horror film about five people invited to a "haunted house" party. Of course, as the night progresses terror ensues.

Book a reservation if you’re up for a Halloween-time adventure and a different kind of date night.

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