It never occurred to me that was an actual place. I just assumed it was a parody of over-the-top tourist trap type places.
The episode came out when I was in college, 2000 miles from home (when home was only 450 miles from Denver). Being the only person from anywhere near the area, I got asked multiple times if it was a real place. Having gone there once in high school, I kept having to answer “Yes, it’s real, yes I’ve been there, and yes, it looks just like that.” Freaking easterners with no idea of western geography.
The food is terrible, it’s stuck in a strip mall somewhere in Lakeland, and the two times I’ve been there were plenty for me.
But tell us how you really feel? Don’t edit yourself.
Lakewood, actually.
What the ever loving fuck?
Yeah, you’re right. What I get from going off memory of the Denver area.
It made me think of Pedro’s South of the Border.
(How is that place not cancelled yet‽)
I looked at their “Mexican” restaurant menu and a chill went through my soul as I immediately found myself thinking “Well, that’s exactly what I expected the menu of a Mexican restaurant run by white people in South Carolina to look like.”
And here I growing up in San Diego thought that Los Angeles didn’t know how to make decent Mexican food.
Save Casa Bonita is now trying to get the bankruptcy judge to let them buy the “restaurant” for $400,000 more than Matt and Trey offered.
What a bunch of entitled dweebs! Their statement reads like a political counterpoint–“we have heard SO MANY awful things about [Zeppelin Development]” and lots of accusations of nefarious dealings without any substance. I think they’re just pissed because Parker and Stone got there before they did. “South Park could have offered many more millions and just made a fair offer…” How you gonna say that like they were being sneaky? You don’t run a successful business by paying many more millions of buckazoids for an asset when you don’t have to.
Good on Parker & Stone for buying it. Here’s hoping they dust the place off and maybe improve the food, just a little. I think they know if they put the South Park stank on the place they will destroy what attracts Cartman to it in the first place. Here’s to vanity projects!
Saw an article which made me curious as to Dopers experiences of the place. Apparently, the food was tasteless because everything was steamed - no ovens or stoves. Opening soon.
I read another article that mentioned that the were carrying over as much staff as possible, but that it was taking lots of training to get the kitchen staff up to speed, because previously they’d mostly just been opening cans.
The local press near Denver is excited for the opening (or hyping it, whichever way you want to spin it). I’m excited to try it in a year or two, when there’s no line for the opportunity to get tickets. Can’t read the NY Times article, but one of the local papers summarized it, and Stone and Parker think they’ve spent $40 million restoring it.
I only ever ate there once, and the food was just as bad as you would guess from steam tables and cans. Like school lunch in the 80s bad, but worse because $15 for some canned beans rolled in some tortillas, and some canned enchilada sauce poured on top. Then heated until the plate is dangerously hot, then let to sit under a heat lamp for 8 minutes because service was also terrible.
Cliff diving show was fun, though.
Friends and I stopped at Casa Bonita on our first road trip to LA. We found out whatever we could about the place (pre-internet).
Highlight for me was waiting in line. The inside was styled like a Mexican village at night, with a tall black ceiling full of stars. You could easily pretend you were with a bunch of people outdoors at night.
Then we got to the tables on five stories of balconies, and there were the mariachi bands on multiple levels, and the fire eaters and cliff divers, and I don’t remember the food at all.
I bought a 7.99, big bottle, of Chi-Chi’s Premade Margaritas, with tequila and triple sec, the other day. It is defunct, but I can get chichi’s margaritas and salsa at the store. I loved their Chimichangas. If Casa Bonita basically rips off Chichi’s, they can have purchase on this hill. My tableside guac, should probably have some fire element.
There was just a short piece on The Today Show about the fact that Casa Bonita is about to have its grand reopening, with a short interview with Parker and Stone. They said that it would take 6 million customers a day to break even with all the money they put into it. Probably a slight exaggeration, but clearly they’re not doing it to be successful restaurateurs, it’s a labor of love (or ‘labour of love’, if you’re Terrance and Philip).
It’s really amazing how much press coverage this story has gotten. Had someone anonymous reopened the restaurant, it would be simply a local story. But their existing fame makes it a national news story.
Apparently there were still as many as 3 existing restaurants in Belgium, as recently as sometime in 2022, but the last one closed last October.
But how many were Chi-Chi’s?
Casa Bonita Little Rock was extremely successful from 1970-88. The all you can eat special drew long lines at lunch. My parents stopped at Casa whenever we had shopping trips in Little Rock.
I ate there 2 or 3 times a month in the 1980’s. It was a 5 min drive from work.
Casa Bonita sold and slowly went downhill. I think it finally closed in 97 or 98.
It would be great to see it reopen.
This photo gallery from a recent visit really put a smile on my face. I feel like I’ve been there before. It’s so easy to image a kid, possibly evil, running around the attractions, trying to get the most out his visit as the police close in, lol.
https://old.reddit.com/r/southpark/comments/17i5bhz/went_to_casa_bonita_tonight/