Casa Bonita
21st & Sheridan
Closing Sept. 30, 2005

Update: 10/03/05 According to this KTUL article, they are renaming Casa Bonita to Casa Viva. Everything is to be left the same as it was before, down to the little flags on your table to call for service. It's said that the only change besides the name is that the food will be better. We'll see.

When I heard about Casa Bonita closing this Friday, I figured I'd head over there and take some final shots. Tulsa's Casa Bonita and its sister restaurant, Crystal's Pizza were absolutely fantastic places to go in their day. Both had huge video arcades that I frequented during the golden age of video games (1980-1983). Although I've never been a fan of the food at Casa Bonita (except the sopapillas), I've always loved the atmosphere. It's like a Mexican Disneyland, with enormously high ceilings, faux caves, cliffs, water features and tons of nooks and crannys to discover. I figured they'd let me shoot some pics if I didn't use a flash. However, when I showed up at around 6:30pm, there were about 200 people there in line to eat. They were literally lined up all the way around to the rear of the building. Hmmm...maybe I won't get any new interior shots before they close down. After all, this is a hobby, not a job. Hopefully, someone else will post up some interior shots. Here's my exterior shots, including the mob of people that showed up to eat the night before it closes.

I'll never be able to think about Casa Bonita without hearing Eric Cartman's voice in my head..."Casa Bonita, Casa Bonita! Food and fun in a festive atmosphere, Casa Bonita!" [.wav] from the South Park season 7 episode, Casa Bonita. I do realize they were referring to the Denver Casa Bonita...but hey, there's only two in the world.