In late May, we had the chance to taste almost all of the menu items — including the sopaipillas! — and to see the waterfall in action once again.
After that, Casa Bonita went into soft-opening mode, inviting only small groups of VIP guests for dinner service. On June 21, a single-use link to purchase tickets for dinner-only on select date was sent out to some of Casa Bonita's email list subscribers, and those invites continue to go out on a rolling basic; for those that get the link, reservations can be made for groups of up to eight. The price of admission for dinner: $39.99 for an adult and $24.99 for a kid between three and twelve; children under three get in free. The fee includes a choice of entree, chips and salsa, and, of course, unlimited sopaipillas; booze and any additional desserts are extra. When lunch launches, it will be slightly cheaper — $24.99 for adults and $19.99 for kids. And as of July 19, fans can buy merch, which includes everything from hats and T-shirts to a hot sauce line and drink mixes, in the newly launched online mercado at shop.casabonitadenver.com.
Here's a breakdown of everything else we know:
Is Casa Bonita open?
Sort of.In December, Parker and Stone announced that the opening would be in May. Many believed the big day would be May 26, which is the birthday of both South Park co-creator Stone and the fictional Kyle Broflovski from the long-running Comedy Central show — whose birthday was celebrated at the iconic eatertainment venue in a season seven episode. But that was not the case, after all.
Casa Bonita did host some private dinners for family and friends by the end of that month, but it didn't make its big debut. "I've never opened one restaurant in 24 years that is on the day that you anticipate," Rodriguez remarks. "And that's a normal restaurant. This isn't a normal restaurant."
Instead of opening to the masses all at once, Casa Bonita is currently in what it calls "beta testing" mode, hosting dinners with limited hours via invite-only to people who have signed up for its email list.
Opening in a limited capacity makes a lot of sense. This is a huge operation with a lot of moving parts and hundreds of new team members, from servers to security. The capacity of the building is 2,100 people, and it can seat up to 700 at one time. Rodriguez explains, "Obviously, in the beginning, we want to do things right. So we're going to start very small."
How can I sign up to eat at Casa Bonita?
Make sure you're on its email list. And have a little bit of luck.
Are reservations available for Casa Bonita?
Nope. The email list is the only way for a shot to visit, for now. Walk-ins are also not currently available. How much are tickets to Casa Bonita?
The price of admission for dinner is $39.99 for an adult and $24.99 for kids ages three to twelve; children under three get in free. The price includes a choice of entree, chips and salsa, and, of course, unlimited sopaipillas. Booze and any additional desserts are extra. When lunch launches, it will be available from Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will cost $24.99 per adult and $19.99 for kids.
What is on the new Casa Bonita menu?
There are eight meal options, plus four more on the kids' menu for those twelve and under. None of them come with neon-orange cheese, but they do all include chips and salsa, plus those famous sopaipillas (more on those below). 
The taco salad is back. It comes in a fried tortilla bowl filled with lettuce, tomato, avocado and picadillo (a mix of ground beef and potato) topped with chipotle aioli and queso fresco.
The rest of the dishes come with a scoop of salad plus super-flavorful rice and beans, and all of them are gluten-free. You can choose from enchiladas topped with red or green sauce, or both for Christmas style; big chunks of carnitas topped with green chile sauce; adobo chicken; picadillo with green chile; chicken mole negro; camarones (shrimp in adobo sauce); and a vegetarian option, calabacitas, that includes squash, roasted corn, cauliflower, roasted poblano and queso fresco.
The portions are generous — so even though you can fill up on sopaipillas, you won't have to.
Many of the dishes have a nice hit of heat, and the vegetarian, gluten-free green chile recipe is the same one Rodriguez uses at Work & Class, her restaurant in RiNo. This isn't dumbed-down Mexican food, but it isn't upscale, either. "I like very clean food, very simple but flavorful," Rodriguez says. "It's kind of like the old menu, but it's a new era of doing things in a better way."
You'll still be able to raise the flag for sopaipillas, which are included with every entree.
Molly Martin
One big new addition is a selection of desserts that can be ordered à la carte, including a traditional flan; a marshmallow Jell-o salad; a pudding-like "hot" chocolate with a hint of chipotle powder; the Carlota de Limón, which is a Mexican spin on Key lime pie; and an ice cream sandwich, which was added because of Stone's daughter's love of the dessert.
Drinks, which will now be served from multiple, visible bars, are all pre-batched and served on draft for efficiency. They include a house margarita made with the aloe liqueur Chareau; an extra-minty mojito; a classic Manhattan (Stone's preferred libation); a rum Old Fashioned; a Paloma with the addition of a bit of Aperol; a purple-hued Bee's Knees; a cosmo made with grapefruit liqueur; and a mezcal gimlet dubbed the Mexican Firing Squad.
"We gave you pretty much 98 percent," Rodriguez says of the May 25 tasting. "And the 2 percent of surprises is going to be fucking amazing."
Is the food at Casa Bonita better?
Yes. Way better. "To me, the most important thing is the consistency, the quality and the customer service," Rodriguez says. "That's my goal in all of my restaurants, and this one is not any different."As a multi-time James Beard-nominated chef with over two decades of experience, Rodriguez knows what she's doing, and it shows. Everything is made from scratch, from the tortillas to the green chile to the desserts and the margarita mix. There's no cutting corners, and that shows, too. But wisely, she's kept the menu succinct and has execution down to a science.
Can the operation hold up under the stress of thousands of visitors a day? Skeptics should know that the place is in the hands of someone who not only believes in this ambitious project, but knows how to execute it.
Will you still line up to order and take your food on a tray?
Yes. But the setup looks a little different. Diners will start in the lobby, then line up to get their food — and get a glimpse of the tortilla-making room. Food is served from an open kitchen line. "Now people can see what they're eating. That's very important to me," Rodriguez notes. That also means it's easy to make adjustments, like leaving cheese off the calabacitas, for example. After grabbing your plate — on a tray, if you'd like — you'll pass by the à la carte dessert display, where you'll be greeted by a host who will escort you to your table. That person can also help carry food if, say, you're visiting solo with a group of hungry kids in tow and need extra hands.
Are the sopaipilla flags back?
They are! Although the fried dough is now served from a dedicated sopaipilla window in the main dining room. They come pre-drizzled — so no more filling the entire thing with honey, though you can request extra. But you'll get packets, not a bottle.
What does the inside look like now?
"Certain things are going to be there forever. The way it used to be," Rodriguez says — including the flags on the table to signal that it's sopaipilla time. But now, "it's clean, it's amazing. It doesn't stink. It's still kitschy, but it's classy," she adds. The whole mantra of this update is "Change nothing, improve everything," which is an ideal that the team has clearly stuck to.The result is a Casa Bonita that is completely familiar, but also completely revitalized. No, there are not South Park characters around every corner. In fact, we didn't see any hint of the cartoon on our tour, which included everything from the dining areas to the impressive, brand-new, massive kitchen setup. (Rodriguez describes the old kitchen as "dirty as fuck.")
"It's an expression of Mexico," Rodriguez says of the decor — even more so than before, with new art from local creators and works brought in from various regions of the country.
The lobby area, where guests will enter, has been transformed into a Oaxacan town square, complete with colorful flags hanging from the ceiling. The sprawling, multi-level dining area still has an array of sections modeled after places like Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City and Guadalajara. As always, the cliffs are an homage to Acapulco, with star-like lights covering the ceiling above the pool. And there's a new sound system, too, that pumps out a variety of animal noises and other atmosphere-enhancing sounds.
There are lots of practical updates as well, like the addition of more bathrooms, and safety measures like higher partitions to prevent the possibility of falls.
Rodriguez assures us that "Matt and Trey wanted to keep it a fun place for kids." That can best be seen in Black Bart's Cave, which is back with a new narrative that adds some actual sense to the fictional Black Bart's backstory, plus new lighting features, as well as the arcade, which operates with a card, Dave & Busters style.
"It's an iconic restaurant," Rodriguez reiterates. "They wanted to keep it the same way it used to be, but in a better way."
Former Westword food editor Mark Antonation was among the first to see cliff divers back in action.
Mark Antonation
Are the cliff divers back?
Yes, and they'll be diving into a pristine-looking, fourteen-foot-deep pool of blue-hued water that now smells only of chlorine instead of a weird, musty mess. Plus, it's much safer. Before, the only exit landed wet divers in an electrical room. Now there's an alternate exit. There will be other shows and entertainment, too. But for now, the whole team is focused on getting the place ready for reopening. "Everybody becomes everything. [The entertainers] practice, and then they go clean, and then they take the trash out," Rodriguez says.How much did the Casa Bonita renovations cost?
While the original budget was $10 million, costs quickly added up. According to a story in the New York Times, Parker and Stone "spent upward of $40 million to tear it down, rebuild it and, they joke, to keep everything the same, except now sanitary."Why did the South Park creators buy Casa Bonita?
"It's not a joke, and that's the thing. It had become a joke," Parker told the Today show when asked by Harry Smith (a former Denver radio DJ and Channel 7 anchor) if buying Casa Bonita was a decision made without irony. "We were sad that it had become a joke, because you could see what this place was in the '70s when they built it. They were trying to make a little Disneyland here."Colorado natives, Parker and Stone both visited Casa Bonita as kids, and it was ultimately a sense of nostalgia that motivated them to restore it to its former glory.
Check out the full interview:
