| Overall |  | ||
| Food |  | Service | |
| Ambience |  | Prices | |
Casa Bonita is something of a Denver landmark, (in)famous since 1974 for cheesy entertainment and mediocre Mexican food.
That reputation is deserved.
Katherine had been to CB before, on some sort of field trip. She was so enthusiastic about it, and so desirous of our going there some time, that we figured it would be a great location for her birthday. And, despite some … serious flaws in the dining experience, it was, in fact, a great location for her birthday.
Food: Let’s get the down side of this out of the way first. CB has a limited menu; folks are encouraged to go for the “Deluxe” dinner — all you can eat from either a chicken plate (enchiladas and tacos) or beef plate. Once you run out, you raise a little flag at table-side and someone scurries up to refill your plate.
That’s the assumption, at least. We never tested it. Four adults, four deluxe plates, no requests for anything further. To call the food bland is to imply too much flavor to it. The “cheese” tasted and felt like it came from a jar and a microwave (though it was plentiful). The “hard” taco shells were steamed soft. The food was … wait, I already used the word “bland.” And we were busy dribbling salsa for our chips onto it to give it any sort of flavor. (The salsa did have a bit of a kick.)
The sopapillas weren’t bad — but sopapillas aren’t all that tough to do, either.
I had a margarita. It was … about as interesting and authentic as the cheese. I should have gone for the bottled beer.
Service: Folks were polite, but brisk. Entry into the place was in long, snaking lines — I was riffing on a Disney ride — with someone along the way taking orders, then someone else keying them into a computer, then picking the food up from another station, then picking the drinks up from another station, then being walked in to a seating station, then being escorted somewhere to be seated.
One of the things we ordered was never delivered, though it showed up on the bill.
Ambience: Ah. Here’s where Casa Bonita shines. Constant entertainment, especially for the kids. Cliff diving routines (yes, there are cliffs, and a diving pool), comedy routines of various sorts, pinata thwacking, video/ticket arcades, mini-haunted houses, puppet shows, mariachi players … There’s a ton of stuff to see and to do.
We were seated (at random) at a fabulous table with great sight lines to the stage, the diving area, the mariachis.
Katherine had an exhausting blast. Margie and my folks showed the patiences of saints in hanging out while Katherine and I toured the place for an hour or more. And Katherine is insistent that Margie should come back for her birthday in October, so that we can see the place dressed up for Halloween.
Price: The food was pretty inexpensive ($11 for the “Deluxe” dinner). The quality and potential quantity makes that a reasonable bargain — especially with the entertainment provided.
Overall: Casa Bonita is difficult to quantify. Katherine thinks it’s the most faboo place in the world. I would rather pitch a tent in Chuck E. Cheese than return there. I have to say, though, that judging by their real target demographic, it deserves its rep both as entertaining (especially for a 7-year-old) and as a mediocre dining experience (especially for adults or for anyone looking for something that resembles Mexican food more than a Swanson’s Enchilada TV Dinner does). It’s equally deserving of being a Denver landmark (and the subject of a South Park episode).
If I never go back again, I won’t regret it. But I am kinda glad I went at least once.
Happy Birthday, Kitten.
Casa Bonita, 6715 W. Colfax (at Pierce), Lakewood, Colorado
Happy Birthday Kitten. After spending almost two years in Washington where a sopapilla is apparently a deep fried flour tortilla covered in cinnamon/sugar with whip cream and strawberry sauce, I long for a real sopapilla even if it was from Casa Bonita.
Lucky. We have to go to Chuck E Cheese for the neice’s bday tonight. *cries*
If I said the food at Chuck E Cheese is more flavorable, and the visits shorter, would that help?
Just remember who you’re doing it for — and appoint yourself the person to go around with the neice as she has fun (which you’ll then enjoy vicariously, and can even guide a bit), vs the folks left sitting at the table, drumming their fingers, looking at their watches, and reaching for the Advil …
😀
I always thought it tasted like Old El Paso frozen food. ;P
The last time I was there was like when I was 10 or so and the food was bad then. 10 was I started eastig food for taste and enjoyment so really it was the last time the Casa appealed to me.
Did they get rid of the school cafeteria peas?
Um … no peas (though the tray line did remind me of a cross between a cafeteria, Disneyland, and Hell).
My dinner was a soggy chicken taco, a set of chicken and cheese enchiladas drowning in something goopy and vaguely cheese-like in color and flavor, a small island of chopped lettuce with a tiny dollopette of sour cream and guac, a scoop of spanish rice, and a puddle of rerererefried beans.
But it *was* all I could eat …
;P
See, that is a HUGE improvment from when I was ten.
Then it was 3 small odd Enchilada’s….and peas.
That was all.
So, hork down the enchilada’s (NOT the over cooked nasty cafeteria peas) then on to the honey delivery devices…and then PLAY! 🙂
Well, Kitten, for her kid’s meal, went for the cheeseburger and fries. She eschewed the fries (and about half the cheeseburger, in fact) in order to PLAY. A wise decision on her part.