Trey Parker and Matt Stone are attempting to become the new owners of Casa Bonita, the beloved Colorado restaurant featured on their show South Park.
“We want to buy Casa Bonita and treat it right. I feel like it was neglected even before the pandemic,” Parker revealed Wednesday to The Hollywood Reporter.
The company that currently owns Casa Bonita, Summit Family Restaurants, filed for Chapter 11 protection in Arizona on April 6. For the moment, a possible sale is in limbo due to ongoing court proceedings, Parker said. Nonetheless, the South Park co-creators are trying to make a deal work.
“We are absolutely trying to buy it,” Parker said. “We are going to do everything we can. We want to make it right and make it amazing.”
Casa Bonita in Lakewood, Colorado. Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Located at 6715 W. Colfax Ave. in Lakewood, the enormous Mexican restaurant, which features an arcade, cave and waterfall with cliff divers, among other attractions, opened in 1974.
Should the sale occur, Parker says the duo, along with additional unidentified Colorado-based restaurateurs, have big plans for the destination.
“We started talking about the changes we’re going to make — mostly with the food,” Parker said. “We’re going to make really awesome food. I was already thinking about how I was going to make Black Bart’s Cave a little bigger.”
The ‘South Park’ episode “Casa Bonita” from season 7. Courtesy of Comedy Central
A beloved childhood location for Parker and Stone, Casa Bonita has received several mentions in South Park and was even the focus of a classic 2003 episode. Casa Bonita was also featured in the 2017 video game South Park: The Fractured but Whole, as part of the downloadable content.
Naturally, if Parker and Stone are successful in their efforts, Casa Bonita will feature a good deal of South Park IP.
“It’s just sitting there. It sucks,” Parker said. “For a moment when it was like, ‘Casa Bonita is going to close down,’ we said, ‘We’re going to go buy it.’ And I felt like it was the crowning achievement of my life.”
According to one local report, Casa Bonita may be on the cusp of reopening after some repairs are completed and a health inspection passed. The restaurant has been closed since 2020 due to the pandemic.
Summit Family Restaurants could not be reached for comment.
Soft_Kangaroo_2605 on July 28th, 2021 at 22:17 UTC »
I actually ate there once, and did so because it was featured in South Park. The food they served wasn't merely an insult to Mexican food. It was an insult to the concept of food.
OmarGuard on July 28th, 2021 at 21:54 UTC »
Trey has spoken fondly of Casa Bonita in a few DVD commentaries, although he admits it was way cooler for him as a kid.
He is genuinely stoked on the place, so hopefully that passion translates into the restaurant itself.
galspanic on July 28th, 2021 at 21:14 UTC »
That poor restaurant has been on life support for decades but as long as I can see some high school kids run from a gorilla and eat hilariously bad Mexican food I will be happy!