Is Casa Bonita in Denver the wackiest restaurant ever?

There are experiences you will always remember and Casa Bonita is certainly one of them. My friends recently moved to Denver and when I visited we all headed off to check out this place.

Prior to going, my friends had me watch South Park season 7, episode 11, titled “Casa Bonita”. Cartman wants to go to the restaurant which is pretty faithfully depicted in the episode. After seeing the show, I was dying to see the real thing.

Casa Bonita – The Entrance

The South Park version of the restaurant is quite similar to what you see in real life. There are even similarities in the surrounding shops which is amusing.

A clock tower makes the place stand out from everything around it as it is the tallest thing in the area. Even so it is possible to miss it as it is set back from the main road a little. Outside is a notice showing some of the things you might see inside. Cliff Divers, Gunfights, Dancing Monkeys, Magician and more – it screamed family friendly. Anyway, in for a penny, in for a pound – it was time to go check it all out.

Ordering Food

Once inside, you walk through an area for queuing until you reach a till and place your order. It is generally recommended that you have the All You Can Eat Deluxe Dinner which comes in at $17.12 per person.

What do you get? The menu says – “Includes a crispy taco, two enchiladas, Mexican rice, refried beans, guacamole and sour cream. Deluxe Dinners also include chips, queso, salsa and our world famous sopaipillas with honey.”

After ordering, you join a queue of people. This is quite long and I thought we were going to be waiting forever but it moves fairly quickly. I found myself wondering how they seated all these people.

Eventually you grab a tray and shuffle it along for a bit until you’re given your plates of food. Next you go up to a spot where a server grabs you and whisks you off to a table.

The Casa Bonita Experience

Casa Bonita is huge inside! I mean Zeppelin hangar type huge! There are tables everywhere but the space is divided up so it seems much more intimate than it actually is. Loads of trees and rocks and all sorts of things break up the space.

Quite frankly, the food was average. There is plenty of it and I did have seconds of what I liked but it wasn’t blow your mind great. The sopaipillas with honey were the highlight – I could have had 35 of these. Still, you don’t come to Casa Bonita for the food. They worked the guy doing the diving on the night pretty hard, having him come out three or four times to do two or three dives each time. He would dive – with all the associated twists and what not – then climb the rocks back up and go again. Huge fitness required and he did a great job! After the food we went exploring, seeing the gift shop, passing by the puppet show full of enthralled kids, checking out the caves and seeing the odd show as we wandered about. The place just has to be seen to be believed and it was good fun.

Overall Thoughts

For those of you with a family and kids, Casa Bonita is going to blow your children’s minds. They will love everything about it as a lot of it is designed for younger people. The only minor quibble was that the sound wasn’t great during the Monkey show, as the noise of the waterfall makes it difficult to hear the performers.

That being said, there is still plenty for the young at heart and this restaurant really has to be seen to be believed. I’ve never experienced anything like it. Waterfalls, rocks, trees, divers, food, the sheer amount of seats and the rest. Definitely a must do if you’re in Denver!

Have you been to Casa Bonita? What’d you think? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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