Last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit the revamped Casa Bonita restaurant in Lakewood (near Denver), Colorado. Casa Bonita has always been on my itinerary when I visit my hometown, and it’s back and better than ever!
History of Casa Bonita
Unless you’re from Oklahoma or Colorado, you’ve probably never heard of Casa Bonita. The small chain of restaurants started in Oklahoma in the late 1960s and spread to Colorado and Arkansas. The restaurant is known for unlimited sopa pillas and elaborate entertainment including cliff divers, puppet show, mariachi bands, magic show and more.
Casa Bonita’s Colorado location was the main feature in a South Park episode (season 7, episode 11). It was also mentioned in other episodes and in the show’s video game. (By the way, although it’s an animated show, it’s not for kids). The first time I visited Denver with my husband and told him we were going to Casa Bonita, he said, “That place is real? I thought it was just a fictional restaurant on the show.” Ha!
Eventually, the locations in Oklahoma and Arkansas closed, and the Denver location was the only one that remained open. When Covid hit in 2020, the restaurant temporarily closed. In 2021, the owner filed for bankruptcy. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone purchased the restaurant and spent $40 million dollars renovating it to restore it back to its original glory. The restaurant re-opened in 2023 and has been so popular that you must sign up for a lottery to get a reservation.
The Revamped Casa Bonita
My brother’s family still lives in town, and each member signed up for the reservation lottery. My brother was on the wait list for 14 months to get this reservation.
The outside building has a nice, bright pink coat of paint that replaced the faded pink building.
On the outside, Casa Bonita looks small, It’s located in the corner of a strip mall. But looks can be deceiving. It’s actually 52,000 square feet, spans multiple levels and can sit 1100 people.
The interior transports you to a Mexican town with features of Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco. A huge waterfall is the centerpiece, which features cliff divers every 15 minutes.
The restaurant also features several live musicians.
On the way to our table, we passed by this nod to South Park:
Before the restaurant was revamped, guests stood in a cafeteria-type line to get food. Now, we sit at tables and order from a menu:
Adult pricing ranges from $29.99 to $39.99 and includes chips and salsa, an entree, sopa pillas and non-alcoholic drinks.
Casa Bonita was never known for having good food, but food was never the main reason for visiting. Since its revamp, the chef and menu have changed. In my opinion, the food is a bit better than before, but still not great.
After we ate, we walked around the restaurant to explore and partake of the entertainment.
There are tables everywhere! Tables in a cave and behind the waterfall.
We walked through Black Bart’s Cave. When my kids were younger, they ran through this cave dozens of times during a visit!
We watched the puppet show (no photos or recording allowed). It was like a stand-up comedy routine from Mexican food dishes.
We also went to the magic show, which was cheesy and funny:
We spent about 2 1/2 hours at Casa Bonita and still didn’t see everything (like the museum and arcade). Unfortunately, we had to head back to the airport. We will have to visit Casa Bonita again on a future visit to see what we missed.
Final Thoughts
Casa Bonita in Colorado has re-opened and is better than ever. The South Park guys did a great job of renovating it without losing the authenticity of the original restaurant. If you have a future trip to the Denver area planned, I recommend you get on the waiting list for a reservation. It’s a cheesy fun time!
Police Captain: Well kid, you made an entire town panic, you lost all your friends, and now you’re going to Juvenile Hall for a week! Huh, was it worth it?
Cartman: [dreamily] … totally.
Cartman was right!