February 2, 2026
In 2020, Casa Bonita in Denver closed and the parent company subsequently filed bankruptcy. In 2021, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the awesome show South Park, purchased it out of bankruptcy for around $3M dollars and then subsequently spent $40M to renovate Casa Bonita. All because of the love Trey Parker had for the Casa Bonita he knew as a kid in the late 1970s. Finally, in late May 2023 Trey and Matt reopened Casa Bonita.
And I swear I have been trying to go since then. Seriously. The way it works right now is you have to have reservations. And seriously every single time I have a trip to Denver, I look weeks in advance and there is no availability. Zero. Even tried last December.
But finally I found an available time that worked perfectly when on business in Denver. And seriously I am SO glad I got to check it out! I’m not kidding. I was on “cloud 9” after my experience.
One thing I want to address — the food. The food is actually very good. It’s not that same frozen crap from pre-2023. Trey and Matt hired a three-time James Beard nominee to run the kitchen as Executive Chef. Of course I had to order the chicken enchiladas because that is what I always used to get (I probably went four times as a kid). And I ate my entire plate. Also, those chips and salsa were great too. I asked my server about the salsa and mentioned how tasty it was and he told me you can buy it in the gift shop.
There was so much to do. For those that know about Casa Bonita, just think to yourself “old” Casa Bonita, but so much better. The old cool stuff is still there, but with a twist. Including the puppet show which I could not record or take photos of. But funny enough, the puppet characters are different food items. The host is a hard shell taco called “A Taco,” and he tells everyone at the beginning that he and the other characters used to be the food guests ate at Casa Bonita, but they were replaced (by the better food) and are now on “puppet show duty.” The script was written by Trey Parker.
I could write a lot more and talk about all the cool stuff, but I took a lot of photos. So just peruse that instead. I will say this — if you have not checked out Casa Bonita since May of 2023, then you need to, especially if you have kids. And also, any critiques of the food prior to May 2023 are irrelevant.
Oh, and one other thing. I think it’s bad ass that the creators of South Park spent so much time and money to bring Casa Bonita back to life.
