Reader: I love Casa Bonita -- always have, always will

Casa Bonita is Denver's top tourist trap, according to Yahoo: "If you're looking for a popular place to eat, you may get recommendations to visit Casa Bonita. The restaurant boasts cliff divers, escaping gorillas and an amusement arcade. Beware the bland Mexican food though because it isn't authentic." True, the...

By Patricia Calhoun

July 18, 2014

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Casa Bonita is Denver's top tourist trap, according to Yahoo: "If you're looking for a popular place to eat, you may get recommendations to visit Casa Bonita. The restaurant boasts cliff divers, escaping gorillas and an amusement arcade. Beware the bland Mexican food though because it isn't authentic."

True, the food would have to improve considerably in order to qualify as mediocre. But no one is going to Casa Bonita for authentic Mexican food. They're going for the gloriously cheesy spectacle. This is far from Denver's biggest tourist trap -- but it's definitely Denver's most talked-about restaurant. If you consider Casa Bonita a restaurant...

Says Andrew:

I love Casa. Always have, always will. I see why everyone hates it, I'm not blind. I simply just don't care. I love all the cheesiness, and silly skits with the gorilla and the divers. I love it for what it it. CB isn't under any delusions about what they are, and neither should their customers. I have a cast-iron stomach I could literally eat there everyday. The one complaint I do have is their video games. I wish they would upgrade their arcade. Until then, raise a flag and order another round. Viva Casa Bonita.!

If not Casa Bonita, then what is Denver's top tourist trap? And what's Denver's top tourist-trap restaurant?

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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