{this post refers to a Casa Bonita visit on 9/18/25.}
Special K: Casa, I enjoyed the old stuff and the food was good. Overall I'd say it's a little too polished now. A little too much enforced fun for me.
b1: Roger.
K: What about you?
b1: It's not really the same place.
The food's considerably better. (I was surprised the sopaipillas are better.)
They take themselves too seriously.
I should've sampled more of everyone else's dishes. (I didn't have a bit of your enchiladas.)
Their recounting of its development is a little like American West history.
Whitewashed.
I'm glad I went.
Tipping is weird. Our server was essentially asking for a tip on top of the forced 18% service charge.
I might go back once to try another dish.
Maybe.
K: Yeah. I was backed up to waterfall and mariachi noise and was only getting about 20% of what she was saying. But I caught some of that weird surcharge thing. And the prices are high to begin with.
They take themselves too seriously is exactly right. You can see the seeds of that attitude in the Casa documentary. I think Trey (or was it Matt?) needed to catch himself and back off a bit.
It's not really the same place is also exactly right. It's now a sort of living Casa Bonita museum.
b1: Casa.
Bonita.
Museum•
Maybe
Live Action CBM
Really, it's the Heritage Square of Casa Bonitas¹.
K: Great.
¹ for the you-weren't-fucking-there-even-if-you-watched-South-Park-YOU-BASTARDS crowd... This is reference to a nearby Disneyland-midget spot of the same timeframe as Casa. Melodramas. Rides. Food.
