Casa Bonita Mexican Restaurant

Denver's most famous roadside attraction that is also a restaurant keeps on chugging with kitsch decor and various kid friendly activities and entertainment. It's a cheap place for kids to eat, 20 bucks a plate for adults. There is a gift shop and a portrait studio and a caricature artist, so it's possible to spend a lot, or a little if your kids just like exploring the warren of rooms and tunnels that make up the place. The arcades need updating, but the puppet and dive shows are free. The food portions are big (there are all you can eat options) but it's a pretty limited menu. It's not terribly wheelchair friendly and you might find yourself carrying a tray to a far off table all by yourself.

Yes I know this is a landmark. The entertainment is fun the kids will really enjoy it. We went at 2 in the afternoon so it was not very busy. Most of the servers enter from the left side as you enter. We were seated on that side for their convenience. the problem with this is as you're watching the entertainment the diver is on the same side as us however he dives to the other side so we could not see what he was doing. We were one of two parties on our level. To my knowledge there are two levels we were on top. If there had been other people in the restaurant on the other side It would be understandable getting the obstructed view. We were there 2 hrs thinking perhaps that side was reserved. Noone came.

Being a Denver native, I have fond memories of this place. From the dark & spooky cave, the cliff diving gorilla, the game rooms, or even the puppet shows, it was a fun-filled adventure worth the 2hr wait to get inside. So when I was invited to go here for dinner a few weeks, I was reluctant since I didn't want to taint those memories.
I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised by the entire trip. You will hear that the food isn't what you go here for and that still holds true. But, let me tell you, in comparison to how the food was 25 years ago, the food is phenomenal! In reality, the food was descent enough that I would actually consider returning again just for the food, if it wasn't almost $20 for an adult entree.
As for everything else...the cave was still just as dark but it seemed smaller (of course it did because I'm bigger ????); the cliff divers are great divers but are not good actors; the game rooms are a descent way to spend $20, whether playing Skee-ball or other skill games (they do have a couple old school video games like Donkey Kong); it was all worth the $ to revisit Casa Bonita as an adult! I'll bet we visit again in the near future, especially since we live less than a mile away.