Discussion How to survive Casa Bonita, the world's weirdest Mexican restaurant

[The Helper]

I recently visited Casa Bonita for the first time, and I'm still trying to recover. No, that's not an indigestion joke about the food, sub-par as it may be. Actually, my mind was blown in a good way. As I'd been told, there's no easy way to describe the Lakewood institution, which bills itself as "The World's Most Exciting Restaurant" - a pronouncement that very well might be true. The multi-story, Mexican-themed behemoth includes a 30-foot-tall waterfall, cliff divers, fire jugglers, strolling mariachi bands, a pirate cave, magicians, puppet shows, skee-ball machines... you get the idea. As one of my colleagues put it, it's like Disney had sex with Tijuana and left the goofy-looking bastard to fend for itself in a random strip mall on Colfax.

I loved every insane second of our trip there - except for the fact that I felt like those kids in the movie SpaceCamp who were accidentally launched into space and had no fucking idea what the hell to do. There was just way too much stuff going on at Casa Bonita and no helpful little robot named Jinx (yes, that's a second SpaceCamp reference) to help me figure it all out.

With that in mind, we here at Westword decided, as a community service, to create a Casa Bonita survivor's guide. Follow these rules and you'll have a hell of a time -- who knows, you may even live to eat again.

1) Do your research. There's no way to fully prepare for the sensory-overload experience that is Casa Bonita, but a good first step would be to watch Trey Parker and Matt Stone's South Park documentary about the place. We're using the term "documentary" because while every other South Park episode features bizarre characters and outlandish scenarios, the actual Casa Bonita is so ridiculous they just slapped it into the show looking exactly how it looks in real life. We're also pretty sure children really have been willing to kill others for a chance to go to the restaurant, so Cartman's attempt to kill Butters so he can take his place at a party there is completely factual. And finally, just like Cartman, chances are you will end up running around Casa Bonita like a crack addict, all the while singing the song, "Casa Bonita! Casa Bonita! Food and fun in a festive atmosphere!"

Denver Westword

How to survive Casa Bonita. This one's still as relevant as ever.

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Ha so Casa Bonita is a real place

 

[Rapmaster]

Didn't know it was a real restaurant!

 

[Blackveiled]

Didn't know it was a real restaurant!

Yeah. Same here, lmao.

 

[w/e]

Rofl that's awesome. I really want to go.

 

[Seb!]

Colorado and Oklahoma, come on. :thdown:

 

[Blackveiled]

Colorado and Oklahoma, come on. :thdown:

Probably a hell of an expensive place to run, haha.

 

[signoftheend]

The expensive thing is the antacid that you need after you go there... the experience is great, but the food might kill you

 

[The Helper]

A little update on this...

“South Park” creators ink deal to purchase Casa Bonita

Casa Bonita will soon, officially, be in the “South Park” creators’ hands.

Six weeks after Trey Parker and Matt Stone publicly said they planned on buying the legendary Colorado restaurant, filings in federal bankruptcy court this week show the comedy duo have moved to purchase Casa Bonita for $3.1 million.

Keith Pizzi, a representative with the comedy duo’s company, Park County, signed the purchase agreement in U.S Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado accompanied by the name “The Beautiful Opco, LLC.” A search on the California Secretary of State’s Office shows that company shares the same address as Park County.

Westword first reported the purchase agreement Monday evening, which still has to be signed off on by a federal bankruptcy judge.

“South Park” creators ink deal to purchase Casa Bonita

Trey Parker and Matt Stone said in July they wanted to buy the Lakewood staple “and treat it right.”

www.denverpost.com

 

[The Helper]

It looks like this is a done deal and it is being worked on. I want to visit this place. When I go to Colorado on vacation I am definitely going here

Casa Bonita

The Greatest Restaurant in the World!

www.casabonitadenver.com

 

[The Helper]

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — The highly anticipated reopening of a Colorado landmark famous for its cliff divers, lagoon and sopapillas is almost upon us.

Casa Bonita posted on Saturday that the finishing touches are being applied to the golden dome atop the building's iconic pink tower.

The Lakewood restaurant has been undergoing more than $12 million in extensive renovations since South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone bought it for $3.1 million in Sept. 2021.

Parker, Stone and Executive Chef Dana Rodriguez announced in December that Casa Bonita would be reopening this month, however, an exact date still has not been revealed.

In the meantime, the restaurant shared a few GIFs of employees hard at work preparing for the big day.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1659973053022097409

Casa Bonita prepares for highly anticipated reopening

The iconic Lakewood landmark is almost ready for its long-awaited reopening.

www.9news.com

 

[tom_mai78101]

Casa Bonita — the 52,000 square-foot pink palace in Lakewood, Colorado, known for Mexican food and cliff divers — won't be offering tips to servers and bartenders.

The nearly 50-year-old establishment— which shut down in March 2020— reopened last week after a buzzy, $40 million renovation.

It was purchased by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of the animated sitcom series South Park in September 2021, after the restaurant filed for bankruptcy earlier that year, according to The Denver Post.

The series, which is set in the fictional small town of South Park, Colorado, features Casa Bonita in an episode in its seventh season.

In January, Fox31 reported that Casa Bonita "2.0" would offer salaries for its waitstaff (which they would receive in addition to tips) ranging between $14.27 to $15.27.

Days before opening, though, the restaurant reportedly asked employees to sign new contracts that offered hourly wages for servers and bartenders of $30 an hour, according to Axios Denver. The catch was that they would no longer receive tips to supplement their wages, Axios reported. (The minimum wage in Colorado is $13.65, according to the state's labor department.)

The creators of 'South Park' have eliminated tipping at Denver's famed Casa Bonita. Servers now make $30 an hour — and some are mad.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone are asking staff to sign contracts offering hourly wages of $30 at the Lakewood, Colorado, Mexican restaurant they bought.

www.businessinsider.com

Why would anyone be mad that they got paid much higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour ?

 

[Old Mountain Shadow]

Why would anyone be mad that they got paid much higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour ?
[/QUOTE]

bc slackers now are the equivalent to excellent employees, by standardizing the pay like that you’re asking for issues.

 

[The Helper]

The Hype for Casa Bonita is over. It is just a regular place now. I still want to go but I hope that it will still be open by the time I get there. The website might say something about it

Casa Bonita

The Greatest Restaurant in the World!

www.casabonitadenver.com

It is so broken. Kind of sad. I still so want to go though!

 

[The Helper]

bump

 

[The Helper]

bump