Assuming you've heard of Casa Bonita, basically everything you've ever heard about it is true. When the restaurant was featured on South Park in 2003, most of my Virginia co-workers assumed it was just a wild fiction by the show. No, those of us who'd lived in Colorado had to persuade everyone: it's a real place, and South Park really didn't exaggerate anything about it. Yes, it's a Mexican restaurant with a magic show, a funhouse "cave," and a waterfall with divers somehow all crammed inside its seemingly Tardis-like structure.
Everything you may have heard about it since then is true as well. With each passing year, the place fell more into decline, and the food (never that good to start with) became increasingly inedible. But not even a visit to what Casa Bonita had become could erode the nostalgia felt by anyone who'd visited the place in its prime as a kid. When South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone announced they were buying the place and remodeling it, that nostalgia fueled a fever to attend that has continued a full year now after the reopening. You can't just show up to Casa Bonita; you have to put your name on an email list, then wait to be randomly selected for your chance to go.
After watching a few friends have their turn come up over the past months (and being surprised at the hints of jealousy I felt about that), our turn finally arrived. As it turns out, everything you've probably heard about the new Casa Bonita is also true. Everything is better.
The food is improved. I guarantee you that your favorite Mexican restaurant, whatever it is, serves better. But also, I can't remember ever feeling "full" when leaving Casa Bonita, as I actually did last night. At the very least, the food is at a level where it's no longer a thing worth talking about. Which, given the rest of the experience that is Casa Bonita, is exactly what it should be. Yes, it's pricey. But that price tag isn't about the food itself; it's paying for everything else.
And because Casa Bonita is now so backlogged with reservations that it can count on being completely full every hour it's open, that means it can be in full swing all the time. Yes, Casa Bonita has always had a theater inside... but I think I was in junior high the last time I remember there actually being a magic show on that stage when I visited. Now, the "insanely mysterious Sorcero" is regularly performing quick, comedic magic shows multiple times a night. Yes, there was always a waterfall at Casa Bonita... but your odds of actually seeing a "cliff diver" there after 2010 were slim to none. Now, a quick two-minute dive show occurs every 20 minutes. Yes, there had always been a puppet show stage near Black Bart's cave... and I don't recall ever seeing a performance there, even back in the 1980s. Now, every half hour, you get amusing Dad jokes delivered by puppet tacos and burritos, every half hour. (Though I do feel a bit badly for the person who has to deliver those jokes again and again, all night long.)
So yeah, Casa Bonita really is back to fulfilling the promise of being what Eric Cartman called "Mexican Disneyland" in that one episode. At least, it's enough so to deliver one fun evening. Maybe you have to come like I did, loaded with nostalgia for what the place used to be. But however it came together, I had a fun time.
1 comment:
And - recall that your sister worked there, as the girl who was chased by the guerrilla who had to dive off the cliff to get away!
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