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My boyfriend wanted to go here for his 31st birthday, yes, 31! I would totally recommend Casa Bonita on a weekday if you're in the mood for mariachi bands, so-so food, margaritas, cliff diving entertainment and an escaped gorilla.
I called ahead to let them know we were coming and to see if I could bring my own cake and they were totally cool with it. The servers even brought me plates and forks for the cake and gave us sopapilla on the house. The tables were ready when we got there, overlooking the pool and cave area.
I wouldn't recommend this place for picky eaters as it took them almost 25 minutes, after all 20 of us got our food, to get our vegetarian/vegan couple their meals. They just didn't get the "no cheese, no meat" part of it all.
Overall, I wouldn't go here for a great mexican meal but if you've got a cool group of people wanting to act like a kid again, do it. The "boys" even went on a trip to see the cave and arcade.
As a child growing up in Denver, I was an avid fan of Casa Bonita. What kid doesn't like a themed restaurant with cliff diving, arcades, and a haunted cave? I really loved this place!
Well, I decided to pass the torch and take my 4 year old for her birthday. I was a little scared of the food, because of it's bad reputation. Well, we took the whole family, winced a little when we ordered the food, but overall, we had a fantastic experience. We all orderd either chicken fried chicken or chicken fried steak. Both came with a side salad, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, and dinner rolls. And the food wasn't as bad as everyone says it is. Granted, this is not a culinary destination, but the food is just as good as any "bar food" across town. And no one got sick!!
Overall, we had a great time. If you have children, this is a must see. A child's excitement in this place is contagious. The acting was a little cheesy, but I think any small child would enjoy it. They do shows every 15 minutes (they revolve 4 different acts). The place is relatively clean, for being a really old building. My number one negative thing about the place is the smell. Maybe its about time to replace the carpet...
It is hard to describe Casa Bonita. Lets just call it an experience.
The place literally feels like Disney Land. I'm not sure how anyone got funding to build this place but it is pretty amazing.
The cliff divers are meh. The actors that come over every so often aren't horrible but aren't really good either.
The food while edible isn't really that great and did a number on my stomach while I was trying to go to sleep that night.
I highly recommend coming here at least once as it is a must have experience but after that there is literally no reason to come back. If was 8 again this place would be heaven.
This place is like the mexican chuck e cheese! they got some cool stuff for the kids and all to do. watch the cliff divers, arcade, haunted cave, the scenery is cool. but when it comes down to it for me, it's gotta be all about the food. those puff pastries with the honey you lather on is killer but other than that, the food was bland and the silly flag raising was just that, silly.
This review is a mix bag. Five star experience. One star food.
As many have alluded to, you need to prepare for your trip to Casa Bonita by preemptively swallowing down about four Immodiums (get the extra strength + cramping version - trust me on this) and wash that down with some preparatory Pepto.
Ok, assuming that your reasonably healthy and have had all your shots, now your ready to go.
When you first arrive, you walk by a big fountain out front, usually lined with pennies, which probably represent wishes of parents - hoping that the nightmare would be over quickly.
As you enter the heavy wooden doors, you enter a long, mexican casa style hallway. Here the air is thick with the smells over microwaved TV mexican style dinners. On a busy night this line is slow and stinky.
You wind through the maze to find yourself ordering by number. Pick your poison well - though in the end, it won't matter. Everything in ass.
Next, you take your cafeteria tray of crap into this completely other world. It's unlike anything I've ever seen. Across the room, a five story waterfall streams from a cliff, splashing to the pool below. All around you are caves and caverns, nooks and cranny's, screaming uncontrolled children and their useless parents...
Find a table with a view of the waterfall. That's where Black Bart and some random hero guy play out a nightly battle of good versus evil. When your done drinking enough margarita to kill the likely bacteria in the poop on a plate you just ate, it's time to explore...
Start with Black Bar's Cave. Tall people - duck. Then wash your hands thoroughly. Next, go to town in the place. There's all kinds of rooms and places to wander through. There are game rooms, puppet shows - it's like a seedy Jersey Shore Mexican style boardwalk crammed into a building.
Once you've exhausted yourself on the experience, get home. Sleep for about two hours. Then the fun really begins - in the bathroom. Enjoy!
One last note - Everyone should go there once to say they did.
I have been here once with my kids. They had a great time. The food is absolutely inedible though, and the entire place seems dirty. How hard can it be to make decent Mexican food? It isn't rocket science.
This is the DisneyLand of Mexican restaurants. Can't afford to take your family to the happiest place on earth? No worries, you can take them to the second happiest place on earth, and still have money left over to take them again tomorrow.
This place is high class, five stars worth. I just cannot get past the low reviews on the food and atmosphere! I personally find the food to be delicious. So delicious that I would eat here every day given the wallet and the chance. The price is only because the food is 5 star quality. Who doesn't want someone to vend a class-A-5-star-tasting taco salad from a slat in the wall? Raise your hand if that does not sound appetizing. I am pretty sure no one raised their hand, because it sounds so tantalizing, that you are probably about to grab your car keys and drive there right now. The sopapillas are like little clouds of heaven drizzled with honey. I could probably eat basket after basket of them. I enjoy raising the flag up and annoying our waiter, because he is wondering just how many I can eat. When I get married, my wedding cake will be made out of Casa Bonita sopapillas.
Besides the beyond delicious cuisine, Casa Bonita offers a variety of other entertainment. Who doesn't want to go explore a very incriminating cave in the corner of this gigantic mega-plex restaraunt? I know I am the first one to go inside of this spooky cave. It gets me every time, oh the horror. It's way more terrifying than going to a haunted house on halloween, so take your kids here instead. They will be having nightmares for days. There is also an arcade with old novelty games like Skeeball, pinball, etc. There is an authentic, and notably world famous Mariachi band that is always playing. They are near the vendors of expensive family heirloom glowing necklaces. Pay them a listen if you feel like getting your groove on. They only add to the high class that this place oozes.
Let's not forget the main attraction. This one might be a little to risque for the children, so you might want to cover their eyes. It's the equivalent to Disney's downtown night life. For some adult men, adult women, and teens who thing they are too old for Black Bart's cave, there is some XXX porn glowing from the giant waterfall. Authentic tiny men in speedos are on display to turn you on while you eat your class-A-5-star- taco salad. They jump from cliffs as small as their short shorts, and dive into a little pool of water. There are guard rails up to keep their adoring fans from jumping into the water after them, but I have tried. Trust me.
Aside from the cliff divers, the extremely inviting gorilla is sure to please your little monsters. He is pretty much the mascot of Casa Bonita. Think Mickey Mouse, only more gentle, kind, and lovable. He is the ideal choice for representing, because what else says "Mexico" like a gap-toothed slightly pedophiliac gorilla? Children scream in what seems to be delight, and not horror. He has a distinct pair of Hawaiian shorts on, and can be found roaming around the floor of the restaurant. It's the perfect photo opportunity for your family scrapbooks. The claim to fame for this guy is that he is always trying to cliff dive. When will he learn, his body is not nearly cut enough? No one would like to see this in the water, bring out more sexy men in Speedos!
My life long goal is to marry a cliff diver, have vows read in Black Bart's cave, and my wedding reception in the dining area. Guests can dance to the mariachi band, and play skeeball until the wee hours of the morning. I will extend the invitation out to Yelp now, because space will be limited, seeing how my new husband is kind of a mega star. If you do attend my wedding, you will get a free glowing necklace and a few rounds of skeeball on me. Also, when I have children, I hope they are all boys. They will train to become cliff divers just like their father. They will live off of a diet of Class-A-5-Star Taco Salads and endless sopapillas: the cliff divers diet.
This place really is comparable to the happiest place on earth. I beg anyone to differ.
I tried desperately to go in here for an appetizer and a drink, but apparently that is impossible. You are required to walk through a labyrinth of ropes and second-hand decor from a Mexican dungeon resembling something out of a Disney ride before you can even get to the point where they tell you they won't let you go any further unless you buy a Quesadilla or a Taco Salad. And when I asked "don't you just have a bar?" They looked at me like I was frickin' Frankenstein. Maybe it was my Halloween costume.
I'd love to comment on the food or the show or anything else, but apparently they don't let this kind of riff-raff in there.
Yep, I'm totally going to say this is one of the greatest restaurants I've ever been to. We met a friend from Chicago in Denver this past weekend and her friends suggested we go to Casa Bonita. I had never seen the South Park episode until today (honestly, I pretty much loathe the show) so I didn't know it achieved national fame by being the subject of an episode of the show. So, anyway, we were lured to Casa Bonita with the promise of cliff divers, a guy in a gorilla suit and other ridiculous Disneyland like things.
Oh man, this place was super awesome. First of all, don't take this place too seriously. You need to understand that you are in the Mexican version of Disneyland and that everything here is kitschy and ridiculous. If you let it get to you, your night will be ruined. Second, the food is expensive but it's worth it because the portions are ridiculously huge and sopapillas are included with everything - for free! Third, take the time to walk around this place when you're done eating. It really is awesomely ridiculous in the most insane way possible.
Upon entering, you're bombarded with typical kitsch Mexican mariachi music and a line to order food. You place your order, grab your food from a line cook and then proceed to a table. It really is kind of like a giant cafeteria and the lines echo some kind of amusement park. Once you are seated, there's a waiter and he'll bring you drinks, refills and as many sopapillas as you can stuff in your face. Mmmmmm excellent. Depending on where you sit, you should be able to see the show happening right in the middle of the place. We could see, but just barely - there were way better seats near the edge that had better views. If you've been here a million times with your kids, there's other seating areas in "caves" and such that don't allow a view of the show, but are probably just as fun.
There's two arcades, old timey photo booths, a gift shop, Black Bart's cave, a show starring a gorilla, cliff diving - it is honestly the most bizarre and wonderful place I have ever been. I don't know whose idea it was to create such a magical wonderland of insanity, but he deserves much kudos. Go and be merry - I know you'll have a good time if you just let yourself go.
BTW, see the South Park episode here: http://www.southparkst... It is as good as Cartman says, trust me.
This place is outrageous.
The food definitely leaves something to be desired but its acceptable. The place is huge and pretty ridiculous (in a good way). Its definitely a memorable place to bring out of town guests. I can see kids getting a pretty fun time out of it too.
What I thought was really cool, besides the magic show, the cliff divers, the gorilla, the mariachi was the different seating areas. You could sit in a cave, a palace, next to a rope bridge, a magic theater. Its just wild.
I think the funniest thing about this place is that its located in a strip mall. :)
It kind of reminds me of "From Dusk til Dawn" where they decide to meet up at the titty twister and have this wild outrageous time and at the end Clooney punches Cheech and is like WTF dude? and Cheech is like...what do you mean, Ive never been here, Ive just seen it from the road. I just imagine never having heard of this place, driving by and thinking, hmmm lets try it out and you come out 2 hours later wondering what the F just happened.
I'd probably give this place more like 3.5 stars, but I'll round up. We were driving through from Denver to Buena Vista and our native in the group said that we had to stop here.
It was not what I expected of a mexican restaurant! Like other people have said it's like a mini theme park akin to Disneyland. It's probably a little more entertaining for younger kids (we were a bunch of college kids), but we still ran through the caves and tried to scare each other in the dark corners. They had people doing high dives off the indoor waterfall like 50 feet up. It was nuts. Really pretty in that theme park kind of style.
The food was alright. Nothing special and the portions are so-so. But we all had a really good time. Great experience. I probably wouldn't come here often if I was around the area per say, but if somebody was in town visiting I would definitely take them here for the experience. If you're in the area definitely check this place out it'll put a smile on your face.
Proof that a restaurant can survive on atmosphere alone and be lacking in the quality of food department. At times, I would sometimes forget that I was actually at a restaurant.
My friend John described the place perfectly when he said it was "controlled chaos." I can understand why the kids love it. It's not everyday when you can see cliff divers and scare the crap out of the adults walking through Black Bart's cave.
On the food side, I had a dinner platter that included a taco and enchilada. The meat quality brought me back to the days of having grade school cafeteria food. My friend got the "chicken" salad and I honestly could not tell if it was either chicken or tuna. By far my favorite were the all you can eat dessert sopapillas. They came out fresh and are great with honey.
A great alternative to the chain kids restaurants. The food is lacking, but that atmosphere is something to experience at least once. The South Park episode really does this place justice in its accuracy.
I heard about "the restaurant with cliff divers" before I even moved to Denver. When I had a visitor come from out of town, I finally decided to try this ridiculous touristy place.
Friends warned me about the food: mainly, to stay away from the cheese and the meat. I heard many stories of gastrointestinal distress - but NO ONE told me not to go.
Thanks to reviews on this site, we decided to go for chicken fajitas (you get to decide what you eat), and it was actually not bad at all!
We went on a Friday night, and couldn't believe the line of folks waiting to get in. The two of us made it through the line with our food and were seated at a great table on the second floor, facing the waterfall. We managed to watch the cliff divers as we ate. Our server was very (almost overly) attentive. When my friend said we were celebrating my birthday (it was a few days later), he arranged for the mariachi band to sing for me, and I was rewarded with fried ice cream.
We enjoyed our meal, had caricatures drawn of us, and wandered around. It was early on a Friday night, so there were a fair amount of kids running around, but that's to be expected. Sure, the place is loud, and cheesy, but it seems to me that that's the point.
Despite the warnings about the food, we both felt fine after our outing. The only lasting remnants were some great memories. I'd definitely bring out-of-towners there again!
This place has an amazing atmosphere. It's like going to Mexico. The food was mediocre at best, and really over priced. But you pay for the entertainment! The service was friendly and prompt and the sopapillas were delish.
It is a really fun place to go, lots to explore, the place is HUGE! It was really great to see kids playing, laughing and running around. They have an arcade (no pinball, boo) with some classics, Ms. Pacman, Centipede and Frogger. Tons of skee ball, a pinata for the kids, a scary cave, puppet shows, caricature artist, cliff divers, and a gift shop. Lots to do and see, if you've never been here, it's a fun place to go and bring the kids.
Visited Denver for the first time this year and Casa Bonita was on a short list of must-see establishments for its sheer "WTH" factor. The food was eh (lots o cheesy sauce), but really it's more about the goings on inside. From an equally cheesy gorilla show to cliff diving, a caricature station, mini haunted house, glow sticks and best of all a plate of light and fluffy SOPAPILLAS! I suggest you tap into your inner child and pack the Rolaids cuz this is not for the weak-bellied or the frou frou. Think Chucky Cheese meets the Mexican border.
My son's favorite part is telling out-of-state friends that yes, Casa Bonita is real and is fairly accurately depicted on South Park. Tips for maybe actually enjoying Casa Bonita:
1) Bring a small child with you. Their joy can be contagious.
2) Order the fajitas. They are...not bad. Not great, but not bad. Drink a couple of their weak margaritas and plan to eat lots of tortilla chips and sopaipillas. (Others suggest the taco salad. I dunno, I don't think I'm that brave.)
3) Have an ironic sense of humor, a desire to explore the dark underbelly of "tourist attractions," or both. If you can't get a kick out of stupid stuff, you're not going to enjoy this place.
4) Explore the hidden recesses. Look for the little weird touches like the fake fireflies, laundry drying on a clothesline strung above you, and bats with glowing eyes hanging in Black Bart's cave. Points for remembering what "used to be there" when you were a kid.
5) Stay away from the arcade. Kids can go through quarters like magic.
6) Don't be ravenous when you go. You'll be cranky if you have to wait in line for a long time, and you may be even crankier after you get your food.
7) If the line is long, hope that the booze stand that serves the line is open. If it is, you can sneak ahead and snag margs for your party. Grab another when you get there. They're pretty weak but help you pass the time.
8) Try to go when it's not deserted (extremely depressing) and not madly crowded (headache-inducing).
9) Yes, the diving pool smells like chlorine and dampness. Look on the bright side; it doesn't smell like mildew or feet.
10) Relaaaaaaax. Take your time. Chill. Bring someone you can converse with and a kid or more who will happily stay as long as you can stand it.
11) Then stay away for a long time to recover!
Spring for the fajitas (tolerable, not great but way above the other entrees in edibility), order a… Read more »
I'm from California so when I watched the South Park episode on Casa Bonita, I thought it was a mere figment of the creators' imaginations. I mean, why the hell would any Mexican restaurant have a waterfall with cliff divers and a pirate-themed cave? Why would a Mexican restaurant have a western-themed jail photo booth? I thought "Oh those South Park guys... they're so imaginative."
So when I came to Denver to visit, imagine my surprise when I found out from the locals that Casa Bonita not only exists, but that it's EXACTLY the same as what was depicted on South Park. EXACTLY.
Casa Bonita is like a Mexican Chuck-E-Cheese on acid.
Now I was warned to stay away from the diarrhea-inducing food, so I took the advice of my friend to only eat the chicken fajitas. NOT beef fajitas. Chicken. Apparently that was my best chance of avoiding hershey squirts. Well, it was a SUCCESS! No hershey squirts whatsoever. Dry as a Towelie.
Were the chicken fajitas delicious? Hmm on a scale of "Instant Death" to "Food Heaven," I would measure it as a little better than "Would I touch this with my hands?" and a little worse than "Would I feed this to my dog?"
Anyways, one things for sure -- from the second I stepped in, I was smiling. The immense joy I got from watching cheesy actors put on a show for 10 year olds. The pure pleasure I received from pushing little kids to the ground so that I could enter Black Bart's cave. The great happiness I had from seeing novice divers dive off a dirty (yet mystically majestic) man-made waterfall into a jacuzzi-colored lagoon.
Until about an hour. Then the kids started getting insanely annoying and the whole magical feel of the place crumbles as reality sets in. You are not in an episode of "South Park." And then all you want to do is get the hell out of there.
I read somewhere that Casa Bonita is one of the biggest restaurants in the country. Wow! Anyways, the interior at this place is awesome. Makes me feel like I'm a kid again. The place is huuugeeee. I wonder how many people it can sit. They have waterfalls, divers, an arcade, a haunted house, rides, antique pictures, games, a gift shop, etc. etc.
The food is ok. Not that great. But the sopapillas are muy deliciouso. Yummm. My favorite part of being at Casa Bonita. =)
I will echo what some have said here. The entertainment value of Casa Bonita cannot be denied. Kids will enjoy Black Bart's cave and the cliff divers among other things here. The food is marginal (terrible really) though, so don't go hungry. I think the only food I have ever moterately enjoyed at Casa Bonita is the sopapillas...
Bottom line - this is one of those places that you can take your kids a few times in their lifetime, if you are local. You should only put it on your tourist list if you visit Denver regularly. If you are coming here as a South Park Fan, you will not be disappointed in their depiction. If you have only one chance to experience Denver culture and restaurants don't make this your destination.
I would have given this place one star if they did not have such a cool atmosphere here. They have water fountains, cliff divers and all sorts of things. The Mexican food though is probably the worst though. It is very cafeteria like and has no spice at all. All I can say about the food is STALE, STALE, STALE!! But you should really go at least once to see the wonderful atmosphere it is really worth trying to eat the awful food. Play it safe and basic though, just get a bunch of tacos. My grandma got a more complicated dish and got food poisoning from this place. My cousin worked here though and recommended just getting simple dishes....like tacos.
My oh my oh my. I haven't yet invented a word that really captures the world of Casa Bonita. My friend Liz heard some folks talking about it last weekend so we decided to give a whirl. We had plans to meet there last night so I decided to endure my typical pre-meal research with some help from Yelp. Thank goodness I did because I realized I had no idea what I was getting myself in to.
All the reviews about the food: dead on. It is awful, terrible, disgusting, and horrific. I'm certain our chicken came from a can and to honor the great Jessica Simpson, I honestly couldn't tell if it was chicken or tuna. However, the entertainment and sheer monstrosity of this place is worth the $11 "cover charge". I say cover charge, because it is a requirement to order an entrée upon entrance. They were nice enough however to comp one of the salads at our table because it literally remained untouched. I truly believed I would be taking a rollercoaster ride to get to our table. Casa Bonita is a small, indoor, Disneyworld. The acting can be summed up to high school drama kids who need some gas money. Although, I must say the cliff diver was pulling off some gnarly tricks.
To sum it up, Casa Bonita is a place you should experience while in CO. I just can't guarantee whether or not you will regret it afterwards.
I might get shot for this..... but... 3 words..... Mexican Chuckie Cheese...... I'm not trying to offend anyone, I just busted out laughing coming to this place cause it's so amusing!!! My friend took me here with a bunch of her family who were in town, and I had the greatest time EVER!!!! So here in California we have real palm trees, just imagine my look of confusion/ surprise when I saw faux palm trees being covered with Christmas lights, I seriously thought it was the funniest sight in the world! Also, my friend remarked, "Look! Here's a taste of home! HAHA!"
The food here really does suck, but surprisingly enough the sopapillas are pretty tasty! But seriously, it's pretty entertaining to see cliff divers, some random "haunted cave" HAHHAHA!, some gorilla chasing you around, etc. It's just full of laughs, you have to love this place for what it is!
Food:
Hard to give this place 3 stars but you have to just for the experience. None of the other reviewers lied when they said this is the worst food ever. Notice I didn't say Mexican food because about the only thing that this place has in common with Mexican food is the names. The American cheese sauce enchilada's and worse than Taco Bell tacos are horrible. Even the beans were weird. My wife made the right choice by going with the taco salad because at least that has mainly salad. The sopapilas were about the only thing that was good.
Service:
The service was good. Everyone was helpful even with carrying the trays to our table and always on the ball when the flag was up. We were there on a Tuesday night which was surprisingly busy although we didn't have to wait in any lines.
Entertainment:
This is what this place is all about. The campy entertainment is on par with what you would expect from any amusement park. Definitely funny for the kids. The diving is pretty cool. The layout makes this place feel huge. The place is ready for an upgrade and it looks like most of the scenario has not been cleaned since the place was built.
All in all it is a must to go experience if you haven't before. Tips for first timers would be, go with a full stomach, order the cheapest thing and don't eat any of it (Note: every person that is older than 2 has to order a meal). Have some drinks and eat sopapillas and watch the entertainment. Pay your bill and spend at least an hour exploring the sites and sounds of one of the most unique restaurants in the world.
It probably wasn't the smartest thing to go to this place on a Saturday night. The line made me slightly panicky and when I saw the nacho cheese sauce slathered over everything, I started looking for the exit.
Here's the thing about Casa Bonita, me and my companions (including the lovely Lauren D.) talked so much shit about this place that when we actually sat down at our great seats, our expectations were so low that when anything went right we were pleasantly surprised.
Our server, Michael, was totally awesome and was surprisingly professional for having to serve screaming kids and sketchy high schoolers all night.
Yes, the crappy pirate acting was painful but since I can't juggle fire and do a swan dive at the same time, I'm not going to give them too much flack.
For as weird and surreal as it all was, with plenty of beers and sopapillas, it can be fun way to kill three hours.
So I pondered this the whole drive home - do I give Casa Bonita 1 star for how bad the food was (like middle school cafeteria food) or 5 because I had so much damn fun while I was there?!? I decided to go with 3.
We watched the South Park episode beforehand and met Rachel and her beau, and waited in the insanely long line with screaming brats and other weirdos and then pushed our entrees around on the plate. I have to say out of all the options you have, I suggest the taco salad, it's really the least offensive of all the dishes. We had decent service, after all, you just have to raise your little flag on the table when you need something. And our server was more than willing to bring us all the sopapillas we wanted! Which was my favorite part. In the end, the beers, sopapillas, and our evening companions were so good we endured three whole hours of the crappy pirate acting!
And I have fond memories and I'm glad we went, but we will probably never return again.
If you would have asked me about Casa Bonita when I six or seven I would've given it five stars. Now that I'm a grown man it's easy to see why Casa Bonita deserves no stars. It's actually getting one star from me today for being a part of my childhood, that's it. With that said, my buddy and I thought it was necessary to take my wife there (who's from another state) to experience all that is Casa Bonita. We did not even plan on eating the food. All we wanted to do is show her the cliff divers, the caves, the arcade, etc. Instead the door person told us we HAD to eat so to our dismay we waited in line and ordered the cheapest, least disgusting thing we could find: $9 taco salad. Seriously?!!! $9?!!!
We're escorted to our seats through a maze of people and tables and instantly push our plates to the edge of the table, untouched. The waiter comes up and says, "not hungry?" He then goes on to explain that all we had to do is pay a $5 "cover charge" to walk around. What?!! Scammed!!!
After we nibble on some sopapillas (mainly so we could mess around with the table flag) we head off to the arcade. They still have the original OFF-ROAD arcade game!!! That was there when I was little! The arcade smelled like a men's bathroom at the old Mile High Stadium if you get my drift. We then went into the caves and little kids were running around going "this is gay." Man, Casa Bonita what happened? You're totally lame. Here's an idea: How about an upgrade into the 21st century? And seriously, the food. You might as well serve up some Little Juan Burritos or something. At least I'd eat those!!!!!
The worst mexican food in the state. Plus, you have to pay too much for it. It made me sick one time in high school.
That said, everyone must go there at least once. Just stick with sopapias and margs.
The other reviews sum up the details pretty well. I just wanted to say that this place is a must if you live in Colorado. It is a must if you have kids, I just wish it wasn't a must for the two different sets of out of town guests that I had in the same week last summer. That was brutal.
Oh, and if you have kids, take an old time picture of them in the jail. That, and the balloon machine are memories that are engrained in my being. I always got a yellow one. That machine is great.
Like so many of my fellow gullible consumers, I ended up in the cafeteria line at Casa Bonita due to the timeless South Park episode. I do feel like Matt Stone and Trey Parker should be receiving some royalties for their contribution to this places success; seems like almost everyone who has been here blames their reasoning on that magical episode. Cartman's experience at Casa Bonita leaves one with the impression that you too will have a Disneyland like experience. However, my experience here was much more comparable to what a child might experience visiting Never Never-land. It starts with some anticipation, excitement, confusion, and ends with a thumb up the butt.
It comes to be expected that with theme restaurants such as this that you don't pay for the food you pay for the adventure/ambiance. With that in mind, the food totally sucks, there are a 1000 screaming kids and teenagers running through the restaurant, and Black beards cave was a little disappointing.
Overall though, I had a lot of fun, you yourself try to have a miserable time when there are so many other people surrounding you who are laughing and smiling. If you haven't already been, Casa Bonita is worth going to, but just once, sort of like the amount of times you should try meth.
Casa Bonita! Casa Bonita!
I hadn't been to this place since I was a kid. I was visiting Denver for the first time in 8 years last summer. My girlfriend, who had never been to Colorado, was with me. Among the must dos for her was Casa Bonita.
The food is terrible. The service is slim. The acting is a joke.
But the magic still endures!
My girlfriend is a fan now.
Casa Bonita! Casa Bonita!
Three starts for the entertainment and one star for the food. The family got sick from eating the food there and I think I would rather eat Taco Bell any day instead of eating the food. Find the cheapest thing on the menu and just don't eat it. I guess you come to Casa Bonita for the Entertainment which was good (not spectacular but good). Have to visit it at least once but probably not ever a second time.
Seriously, this place is a f*cking hot mess. But I struggled to give it either five stars or one star. Why? Because a hot mess is spectacularly disastrous--so do you give it 5 stars for spectacular? Or one star for disastrous?
There are no words to describe this place. "Kitsch" isn't the right word. Wikipedia says "kitsch is said to be a gesture imitative of the superficial appearances of art." And while this sums up the fake plasticized Mexican hacienda style decor of Casa Bonita, it doesn't even come close to describing the atmosphere because I have no idea what Casa Bonita is imitating with their cliff divers and gorilla-suit skits. Moreover, "kitsch" doesn't describe the sickening smell of two decades of chlorinated pool funk that permeates this whole place.
The food, to put it mildly, is f*cking terrible. I say this in all seriousness--eat before you go. They slather everything in a substance that appears to be either generic Cheeze Whiz or EZ Cheese, and as if that weren't bad enough, your food is presented to you, cafeteria-style, by being slung through a small trapdoor, across a table, and onto your plastic tray. If you must eat there, order the (wildly overpriced) chicken fajitas which are the least offensive menu item, don't drink the water (that's authentic Mexican right?!) or the sodas (diet coke had a strange detergent taste to it... hey, at least they're cleaning something!), and save room for the sopapillas which are really the only edible thing on the menu. If the putrid smell of chlorine funk hasn't done you in by the time the sopapillas arrive, you're in for a culinary treat.
The entertainment at Casa Bonita is what you would expect if your drunk pedophile uncle had a dream and a hundred bucks. The "cliff diving" consists of board shorts-clad teenage guys, who have great abs but bad tans, climbing up on the faux rock waterfall-slash-stage, and doing some Greg Lougainis-style dives into the water. It's just WIERD. And the "entertainment" consists of same teenage boys, putting on cowboy costumes and gorilla suits and acting-out skits that don't even convince 4 year old children.
Yet for all my negativity, there is just "something" about Casa Bonita. Everybody needs to go once, just to experience the place. You can't comprehend that a place like this can actually exists, until you've actually been there. It's just so... random.
Can a place be so bad it's good? If so, then that place is Casa Bonita.
How is it even possible for so much suck to exist in one place?
This place is the bastard child of Tijuana and Disneyland. It was AWFUL in every way. Yes, I was warned about the food. Firstoff, no vegetarian options on the menu. I asked the girl taking orders what I could eat that didn't have meat - she said cheese enchiladas, beans and rice. I asked her if the beans had lard and she assured me no.
No, perhaps not lard, but BACON, yes. We get our order and my friend screams "DONT EAT THE BEANS" before I dig in. Awesome. I stuck to chips, which were tolerable. The sopapillas were yummy. But how badly can you screw up fried dough?
The food is a moot point. But really, how does that place even have a food serving license? There is no way that toxic waste is in any way safe to eat.
The place was just awful in every respect. I tried to put myself in the perspective of a child and ... no, I would've hated it then too. There were no redeeming qualities of this place. I.HATED.IT.
But, hey, at least I can say I've been.
There is only 1 reason to come to Casa Bonita, the INSANE Atmosphere. You either need to have a bunch of rug rats in tow or you need to be a really dedicated South Park fan to bother going. Anyone who has been in Denver for any amount of time ( or grew up there) knows the food sucks.
Here are the steps to have a successful CB Experience:
1) Watch the South Park Casa Bonita Episode
2) Eat before you go
3) order the bare minimum to get in the door
3.5) Turn the kids loose if you came so encumbered
4) Throw the food away that was purchased in step 3
5) get a gigantic margarita and a huge plate of Sopapillas
6) walk around and enjoy
7) Get another gigantic margarita and another huge plate of Sopapillas
Repeat steps 5 - 7 until full sensory overload kicks in.
Enjoy!
Mad props to Casa Bonita because you have to try hard to make food this bad! And they put 110% into making the slop as nasty as can be.
Come here for the sopapillas & entertainment, the slop Nazi at the front will make you order a entree or the wont let you enter for the one thing worth seeing the entertainment! The cliff divers novelty wears fast and the mariachi doesn't know how to play Danny Boy, I thought it would be funny! Ignore your food because its screaming botulism and smother the sopapillas with honey since it bottled and made someplace else.
Ask for the novelty I survived Casa Bonita T-Shirt as you exit and chuckle at the blank stare your get in return. Every Denverite must weather this institution once so when family and friends come in town we have someplace to send them so they don't come back!
My wife and friend decided to take me here while we were in Colorado. The food wasn't great (not awful either tho), but the sopapillas more than made up for it!!!! Besides, nobody comes here for the food... it's all about the fun atmosphere.
Where else can you find cliff divers, caves (even tho Black Bart's was kinda cheesy), and a gorilla all in one restaurant? This place rules!!!! I felt like a kid all over again!!!
casa bonita gets 4 stars only for atmosphere... you get better mexican food at taco bell! but the entertainment is AMAZING. you must watch the south park episode on casa bonita before going (if you've never been there). i moved from missouri a few months back, and didn't know it was a real place. having a small child, i knew we had to go if it were *anything* like it was portrayed in the episode. for sure, i thought, they are really blowing this place out of proportion! and then as we were seated.. the cliff divers came out... i had tears in my eyes i was laughing so hard. can't wait to go back! (just eat before you go)
Okay - I'm going to lay it all on the line up front - the food at Casa Bonita is horrible. It's that simple. However - as a person who grew up in Denver I have to tell you this place is an institution and should not be missed if you have kids.
Last night my husband and I took my best friend's three boys (ages 7, 5 and 3) to Casa Bonita for our second annual Casa Bonita Christmas outing. They were literally atwitter in the back of the car the whole way there and even behaved well during our 30 minute wait in line just to get food knowing that greater rewards awaited on the other side!
Like I said, the food is really bad. However - kids love it and the warm sopapillas at the end of the meal are pretty good if you like doughy fried food with honey (who doesn't?). I will spare you the details of the meal, except to say that I had the taco salad last night and if you stick to the salad part, avoiding the fried shell, it's edible. Be sure to drink lots of water.
After dinner we ran all over Casa Bonita watching a showdown at the waterfall complete with a cliff-diving Black Bart, explored Black Bart's Cave (scary enough to keep the older kids interested, a little too scary for the little guy), watched two puppet shows (complete with the 3-year-old saying, "That was the BEST puppet show ever!") and arcade games. The kids won tickets at the arcade and ended up with all kinds of cheap-o trinkets. When we dropped the kids off and the 3-year-old asked if he could sleep with his new treasures my heart melted again.
Although this place is dated (I think the carpet , paint and furniture is the same they had when I first went there in the early '80s) and it can be a mad house, kids LOVE this place - so much so that my husband and I couldn't wait to go back based on our childhood memories. If you have kids - or kids in your life - you must visit at least once. Enjoy!
It's just.... bad!
Went to Denver at the end of last year to see a Bronco game. Being an avid fan of South Park, I knew if I was going to Denver, I had to make a stop at Casa Bonita- Cartman made it so damn appealing!! I've heard from quite a few people that if you're growing up in Denver, it's a great place. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (creators of South Park) said growing up, it's the closest thing to Disneyland. Well, I grew up in Socal and have a Disneyland annual pass, so I guess I'm very disillusioned.
I went shortly after the game ended and apparently that's a popular thing to do considering the entire place was full of Bronco fans. The atmosphere was hectic and disorganized. The main dining area was... interesting. Perhaps some see the chaotic decor and over the top performers as charming... I just found it very odd. The table was dirty and felt like it was about to break. The material on the chairs was peeling and the floor was dirty. But how was the food? Terrible. It was a very weird hodgepodge mix of Mexican food with weird Americanized touches... cheese enchiladas with cheddar cheese inside and AMPM like nacho cheese on top! The best thing about the meal was the chips and they were cold and stale. I couldn't even get a refill because the waitress went MIA for 25minutes. The only reason I can give this place two stars is because it was such a bad experience, it made for a great story to tell friends and coworkers. Incidentally, a coworker went here as a kid and loved it, so again, I'm sure a lot of depends on age and company. If you're 25, never been, and looking for a good meal, look some place else. If you have a young kid, you may get more out of the experience.
But I did take pictures and got to eagerly tell my friends here at home in socal, "I went to Casa Bonita!!" That brought some value to the experience, however I couldn't think of a single reason to go back. I guess some things are best left to the imagination.
It's been over 10 years since I've visited the CB...and I could've died happy never going back.
I can sum this restaurant up by saying the following: High School Lunch Line meets Amusement Park.
Thankfully, I went knowing I was likely about to experience (again) what is quite possibly the crappiest attempt at Mexican food one can find in the southwest. Man, was I right. But I was ready and willing to enjoy myself, so fortunately I laughed my way all the way through, right from the first distasteful whiff of my tray to the last time I had to use the bathroom resulting from indigestion.
We went through the utterly vacant line on a Thursday evening and placed our orders at a cash register. *You are NOT allowed to proceed unless each and every person places an order. You are NOT allowed to double-up with someone on a meal.
We then wound around to where we picked up a tray and utensils, and slide them down to a food delivery area. It consists of a small alcove with a counter on each side and these interesting slots in the painted cinder-block wall that you know lead into the kitchen. This is where my first outburst of laughter occurred as, unexpectedly and with no one standing in the alcove, my food was launched in our direction through the wall slot. Eventually, more dishes followed for the people with me, and a staff person came out and distributed our food to our trays.
Then we proceeded on down the line, carrying our trays, to the dining area where the staff waited for our entire party to join us before directing us to our tables (that was rather difficult considering I'm 7.5 months pregnant and was holding 2 plates on my tray for my fajitas). Once we arrived at our table, I realized I had never been given my tortillas for my fajitas.
Second outburst of laughter - my tortillas were brought to me on a plate inside a ziploc bag. NICE. That's class right there, people.
Third outburst of laughter - our table took great delight in making up a dialogue for the actors conducting the diving show who, in spite of using microphones, weren't quite able to enunciate enough to let anyone in on the plot of their scene.
The ONLY reason we made the drive to CB was because it was a birthday party for a good friend. And if we have to do something similar that involves this venue, I'm definitely going to make sure I eat a large, well-cooked meal beforehand.
Ok, so..... what exactly IS this place?????
I was in Denver for my birthday this year and my local friend and my buddy who had stumbled upon this place on the internet thought it would be hilarious to take me here for my surprise birthday dinner.
Yes, the food was pretty bad gringo mexican food clearly from cans but we weren't expecting much in that arena so whatever. But, the entertainment is supposed to be the redeeming feature, right? Wrong! I felt like I was stuck in the middle of a really low budget high school theater production in Nebraska or something! I also felt pretty creepy when my 27 year old friend started ogling the cliff diver boys who had to have been 16 but that's a whole other story....
Needless to say, we will not be back to this depressing little Denver "institution".
Lakewood, CO
Category: Mexican
Greenwood Vlg, CO
Category: Barbeque
Neighborhood: Southeast
Category: Sandwiches
Neighborhood: Northeast
Category: Music Venues
Neighborhood: Northwest
Category: Mexican
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