Casa Bonita

"Opened 1974; closed in 2020 for 3 years Casa Bonita’s past is so storied that it has an entire Wikipedia page and a South Park episode dedicated to it. Until the gigantic Mexican restaurant's closure in 2020, generations of Colorado families came here to celebrate birthdays, eat sopapillas, and watch cliff divers plunge off indoor rock faces into pools. South Park’s creators then purchased the space, and spent millions of dollars to make it exactly as they remembered from their childhoods, but better. The result is a welcome update to the original. There are still roaming masked characters to interact with and caves to explore, but dishes like carnitas tacos are greatly improved and are now made from scratch." - anne cruz

"There’s a lot going on at Casa Bonita, a reopened Mexican restaurant that’s one of the most unique dining experiences you can have in Denver. Cliff divers throw themselves off real 30-foot waterfalls, a Man/Bear/Pig inexplicably wanders around the restaurant, and you order sopaipillas by raising a flag. You’ll have to struggle for a reservation through an email lottery, but it’s worth it to bring a bunch of friends and explore every nook and cranny of this gigantic place over a couple hours. While the food is infinitely better than it was before the renovation, do yourself a favor and stick to the menu’s best dish, the carnitas tacos. If you think this spot couldn’t get even weirder, just know that the creators of South Park are the owners, too." - allyson reedy

"DENVER Casa Bonita is full of cliff divers, neon pink stucco, and sopaipillas—and it’s such a legendary place that South Park even dedicated an episode to it. The palatial Mexican restaurant reopened this summer, thanks to the creators of the show. It’s one of the hardest reservations to get in Denver right now—for your own chance to wander into Black Bart’s Cave and sight the Man/Bear/Pig wandering around the space, you’ll have to get on their email list.  " - anne cruz

"There’s a lot going on at Casa Bonita, a reopened Mexican restaurant that’s one of the most unique dining experiences you can have in Denver. Cliff divers throw themselves off real 30-foot waterfalls, a Man/Bear/Pig inexplicably wanders around the restaurant, and you order sopaipillas by raising a flag. You’ll have to struggle for a reservation through an email lottery, but it’s worth it to bring a bunch of friends and explore every nook and cranny of this gigantic place over a couple hours. While the food is infinitely better than it was before the renovation, do yourself a favor and stick to the menu’s best dish, the carnitas tacos. If you think this spot couldn’t get even weirder, just know that the creators of South Park are the owners, too. " - Allyson Reedy

"Casa Bonita, the Pepto Bismol pink Mexican restaurant immortalized on-screen in South Park, was on the verge of death two years ago until the show’s co-creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, plunged into the project of saving their Colorado childhood favorite like a couple of indoor cliff divers. All skepticism aside, the restaurant is back open for business after a $40 million restoration of everything from the cliff-diving pools (more on those below), the arcade, the kitchen, and more. So much more. The result is a fiesta fun house that feels like the same kind of spectacle but different in the ways that count. The enchiladas, tacos, chicken mole, and beef suadero (brisket) are much improved thanks to new chef Dana Rodriguez. A basket of puffy, honey-drenched sopapillas (Cartman’s favorite snack!) remain nonnegotiable. But the main event continues to be the cliffside dining experience with table service for a revamped, yet still ridiculous, live show where you can watch a troupe of divers flip off platforms, down waterfalls, and into the once-green-now-blue lagoon below. It’s like the Rainforest Café with a side stage for puppet shows, a roving mariachi band, a cave maze, and the return of the legendary gorilla. You might wonder what the hell is happening, and that’s the point. — Katie Shapiro" - Eater Staff