After several months of waiting for a reservation, I got the opportunity to go to Casa Bonita!
If you are from Colorado, you most likely know about Casa Bonita. Pre-COVID-19, Casa Bonita was very well known as a Mexican-American Restaurant with entertainment that included cliff divers, puppet shows, and an arcade.
In March 2020, the restaurant closed down temporarily due to the pandemic. During the closure, the owner filed for bankruptcy, which gave the idea that the restaurant would not make a comeback. But that wasn’t the case, as in September 2021, the South Park Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone purchased the restaurant for $3.1 million.
The restaurant had a reputation for not having tasteful food but great entertainment. Trey and Matt wanted to make the restaurant better than it was before. This included hiring Chef Dana Rodriguez to improve the menu.
The restaurant had a soft opening in May 2023, but the only way to eat at the restaurant was by reserving a reservation, which was only attainable through getting off the waitlist. After several months, I was able to get a reservation. I was beyond excited. It’s the week of the reservation, and I am preparing to watch South Park’s Casa Bonita Episode. I was feeling like Cartman at the moment.
The day has come. I’m in line to get into the building, and then I walk in, and the layout is very different from what I remember from pre-COVID. It was a maze to even get to our table as we walked in and had to order our food right off the bat. I went with the safe choice of Cheese Enchiladas. I was a little scared, as the restaurant’s food doesn’t have the best reputation. As we got our food, there were references of the show South Park; there was a picture of Kenny on the ceiling and a Cartman statue of someone who was eating Casa Bonita as well.
We arrived at our table, and I was about to eat and take the first bite of my food, and I was shocked. The food is delicious. My expectations were very low for the food, as my previous experiences with the restaurant’s food were unfavorable. Due to tabling, we had one hour and 30 minutes to finish our food. Once we finished our food, we were able to explore the experience, such as watching cliff divers, puppet shows, magic shows, and meeting Man Bear Pig.
Being able to experience the environment of Casa Bonita is a night I will never forget, as it brought back many memories from my childhood, when I last visited. The new changes to the restaurant helped bring in a more diverse audience, as there was much hype around the owners being the creators of South Park. I did love my experience with the restaurant as the food was delicious, and the entertainment was even better than before. If I had to rate the food itself, I would give it a nine-and-a-half out of 10 . The reasoning for the rating would be that I ate the food so quickly that I didn’t enjoy it entirely. You can never go wrong with the entertainment as it’s so nostalgic, and in that case, it receives a 10/10.
If you have the opportunity to eat at Casa Bonita, I definitely recommend that you go. With the recent renovations that the owners have added and kept, you will not be disappointed.