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All the United States Colorado Lakewood Casa Bonita
AO Edited Gastro Obscura

Casa Bonita

At this Denver landmark, the meals are compulsory, the sopapillas are complimentary, and the insanity is everywhere.

Lakewood, Colorado

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Casa Bonita’s Lagoon   Courtesy of Casa Bonita
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
Casa Bonita’s Chips and Sala Fresca   Courtesy of Casa Bonita
Casa Bonita’s Margarita Cocktail   Courtesy of Casa Bonita
Casa Bonita’s Red Enchiladas  
Casa Bonita’s Taco Salad   Courtesy of Casa Bonita
Just like being in Mexico   Seren Wild on Flickr
Casa Bonita’s Lagoon   Courtesy of Casa Bonita
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Full elevation in all its glory   Chad Kittel on Flickr
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“They should have sent a poet”   Seren Wild on Flickr
…and play some skee ball, baby   Ian Collins on Flickr
Get your tokens…   Seren Wild on Flickr
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Casa Bonita   Ian Collins on Flickr
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About

Do you want to have dinner in a 52,000-square-foot Colorado strip mall replica Mexican village having a “fiesta” amidst gunfights and gorilla hijinx, with puppet shows and caricature artists for good measure? Then you should check out Casa Bonita.

Amazingly enough, Casa Bonita was built in 1974 as part of a chain of Casa Bonitas that started in Oklahoma City. The Lakewood location was the last and most lavish built and thus is the last one standing. The entertainment restaurant was designated a historical landmark by the Lakewood Historical Society in 2015.

The building’s exterior was repainted in 2022 and required over 300 gallons of custom-blended pink paint. The inside boasts themed rooms intended to invoke regional architectural styles across Mexico—Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Guadalajara.

The gleaming pink tower of Casa Bonita juts 85 feet into the air, dwarfing the surrounding suburban Denver commercial properties. The gold-leafed dome atop the tower supports a statue of the last Aztec emperor. The restaurant below can seat 1,000 people at a time and features a holographic monster at the bottom of a wishing well. If that sounds like a lot of incongruous information, just relax and enjoy the ride: you’re at Casa Bonita.

First order your meal, then pick it up on a plastic cafeteria-style tray and head to your table in one of several themed sections (“The Terrace,” “The Vista,” “The Palace,” and so on). Savor your food while imbibing some table magic, fire juggling, or relentless mariachi music. Welcome to life in “The Most Exciting Restaurant in the World.”

Want seconds or thirds while you watch cliff divers somersault from the top of a 30-foot indoor waterfall? Just raise the little flag on your table. Don’t get too full, though, as every meal comes with delicious, pillowy, homemade sopapillas that were created with a recipe specifically designed for the altitude of Colorado. Also—everyone over the age of two is required to purchase a meal. Hey, you can’t enter El Dorado for free, amigos. 

After you’re done eating, explore Black Bart’s Haunted Cave—IF YOU DARE!—take some old-timey cowboy photos, and get your skee ball on. Watch some more cliff diving. Help the Sheriff bust Black Bart himself for pinching sopapillas.

In June 2023, Casa Bonita reopened under new ownership. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, purchased the restaurant in 2021 and spent nearly $40 million on a massive renovation of the property.

Related Tags

Restaurants Waterfalls Television Puppets Water

Know Before You Go

While beta-testing Casa Bonita, the opening will have limited dinner hours. Guests will be pulled exclusively from the restaurant email list for timed, ticketed entries. Each ticket includes an entrée, a soft drink, and sopapillas. Alcoholic beverages and other items are available for purchase at an additional cost. No walk-ins. You can sign up here.

Community Contributors

Added By

sparepart23

Edited By

Obscurities, RHyzer, Tory, aprildg...

  • Obscurities
  • RHyzer
  • Tory
  • aprildg
  • charleskingep
  • Collector of Experiences
  • breaingram
  • IgFan
  • colleencourtney c93b920e

Published

February 29, 2016

Updated

June 29, 2023

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Sources
  • http://www.westword.com/restaurants/how-to-survive-casa-bonita-the-worlds-weirdest-mexican-restaurant-5774262
  • http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_25443806/casa-bonita-celebrates-40-years-sopapillas-and-cliff
  • https://munchies.vice.com/videos/munchies-presents-inside-casa-bonita
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_Bonita
  • https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/06/us/casa-bonita-restaurant.html
  • https://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/finance/casa-bonita-sold-out-bankruptcy-south-park-creators
  • https://www.denverpost.com/2023/06/21/casa-bonita-opening-date-tickets-reservations-lakewood/
Casa Bonita
6715 West Colfax Avenue
Lakewood, Colorado, 80214
United States
39.741946, -105.070906
Visit Website
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