Casa Bonita - Just As I'd Remembered

A couple of weeks ago, Sam came to Colorado to visit me while I was teaching at Bank School. I took a shuttle from Boulder to Denver to meet him at the airport so we could spend more time together. He arrived just in time for lunch and since Sam is generally game for about anything, I suggested we visit a place I’d not been to in 30+ years – Casa Bonita.

It’s amazing how many people know about this restaurant. In fact, I am not sure I’ve met many folks from Kansas City who haven’t at least heard of it. I have such fantastical memories of my visits there, I wasn’t sure if they were real or imagined, and I wanted to find out.



I think I was 8 years old the first time my parents took me. I remember a pink palace with a giant fountain in front. It is impressive enough from the outside, but once you walk in, that’s where the real magic begins.

Pass through the front doors and you've walked into an old Mexican village through which roped lines snake toward the point where you will place your order. There are only two real choices on the menu, an all-you-can-eat Mexican platter or Fried Chicken. I remember having both as a kid, but wanting an authentic "Mexican Village" experience, Sam and I opted for the all-you-can-eat Mexican platter.

The food line is suspiciously efficient, but you don’t go to Casa Bonita for the food. Sam and I took our trays and followed our server down a path, through a cave to a table near the waterfall. I was thrilled because I knew we would have front row seats to watch the cliff divers. Cliff divers? Yes indeed! And this is the very thing most people seem to remember about Casa Bonita. When I ask if they’ve ever heard of the place, the near unanimous reply is “You mean the place with the cliff divers”? Yep. That very place.

The food was ok, about the same quality as a frozen Mexican food dinner, (I actually happen to like frozen Mexican dinners) with one exception -the sopaipillas. My entire adult life I've been frustrated by the fact that most Mexican restaurants serve their sopaipillas fried crispy and suffocating in cinnamon and powdered sugar. I remember as a child eating soft, puffy sopaipillas, sans sugar or cinnamon, but with a light drizzle of honey. I didn’t realize until our server brought a basket of these heavenly delights that Casa Bonita was the place where those memories were born.

Sam and I ate our lunch while we watched “The Sheriff”, “Bad Guy Black Bart” and “Chiquita the Angry Gorilla” joust about on top of the cliffs, threatening to throw each other into the water. Finally the real cliff diver came out and performed a couple of neat dives.

After lunch, we explored the rest of the “village”, including Black Bart’s Hideout, the Gold & Silver Mines, the Governer’s Mansion, the Old Jail and the numerous nooks, crannies and caverns. Along the way we saw flame jugglers, strolling Mariachis, and Mexican dancers. There was a puppet show for kids, a fortune teller, magicians and an old fashioned skeet ball arcade.

Even for a 40 year old, this place was pretty cool. But I was beside myself with excitement for the fun I remembered having here as an 8 year old. Casa Bonita was every bit as magical as I'd remembered. And judging from the decor, not much had changed since 1974. Thank God.