« Dumb Jobs I Have Had, Vol. 2 | Home | Metal Delivery »
Remember the Casa
By briantologist | April 28, 2005
Here, at sorta long last, is our photographic journey into the weird, moldy heart of Casa Bonita, one of Tulsa’s strangest restaurants and a childhood icon of pretty much everyone who grew up in this town.
I remember it being about the most exciting place I could think of to go eat, made much more so by the fact that our family, like, never ever went out to eat. Plus oh my god it had video games. If you can even imagine.
There’s no way to adequately describe this place: It’s cavernous, with something like 30,000 square feet of floor space. It’s bizarre: The atmosphere is basically an indoor version of Mexico, only it’s all made of plaster and the food’s nowhere near as good as the food in actual Mexico. It’s dimly lit in the extreme. And it’s incredibly musty.
And that’s all made much weirder by the lingering childhood memories of everyone I ever go there with. It’s a truly surreal experience. Join us, won’t you?
Topics: Pixxx, Stuff, Unnatural History | 14 Comments »
April 28th, 2005 at 2:50 pm
I had no idea this place was still around! I certainly have fond fun memories. It was like early-Chucky Cheese. Next time I’m in Tulsa I will have to check it out.
April 28th, 2005 at 2:51 pm
Pancho’s Mexican Buffet has the flag on the table, too. Maybe it’s a Mexican food restaurant thing, heavy on the irony in the word “Mexican.”
April 28th, 2005 at 3:10 pm
I had a friend who worked in the Bonita kitchen when I was in high school. While I don’t know the caliber of kitchen staff they have there now, you’re lucky you haven’t spent several days on the crapper, post Bonita.
Anyway, Casa Bonita fucking rules.
April 28th, 2005 at 5:07 pm
Once, in a fit of punk, I walked out on my job at KFC. I was hired a week later at Casa Bonita as a busboy to start the following day. I spent that evening weeping into my pillow at my fate and dreading what lay before me. I never showed and never regretted it.
I was only 17, but had some idea what might wait for me from the ex-cons in the kitchen when they trapped me in that cavernous gloom.
Parts of it look like a set from a Mexican staging of the Khazad-Dum scenes from LOTR.
April 28th, 2005 at 5:08 pm
You’re not punk.
April 28th, 2005 at 6:07 pm
What, was it the crying in the pillow that gave me away?
April 28th, 2005 at 7:44 pm
Than and the fact that I’ve met you.
April 28th, 2005 at 10:26 pm
This is the place with the flags? When you raised the flag people would bring you stuff (soda, sopapillas, etc.)? There was one in OKC, oh, how I loved that place and the cheese enchiladas.
April 29th, 2005 at 3:04 am
Looks kinda like Taco Mac meets Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
By the way, have I mentioned how much your picture cracks me up everytime I bring up your site?!
April 29th, 2005 at 7:34 am
the puppet show totally freaked me out as a child. I remember having nightmares about the white glove and the detective for a really long time. A REALLY long time.
Come to think of it, there was another puppet, one from the mall (back when Woodland Hills had those little balcony bench things) I think it was a Doc Martin puppet? Yeah. SERIOUS MENTAL DISTRESS for YEARS.
However, I love the holy shit out of the muppets.
April 29th, 2005 at 8:21 am
I’m not sure I would have believed your description without the pictures. wow… Just wow.
April 29th, 2005 at 8:34 am
I seem to recall vaguely (though I have blocked out the exact timeframe) an elementary school field trip to Casa Bonita. Fourth or Fifth grade I believe, but I can’t swear to that. What sort of monsters or culturally insensitive school would believe a trip to Casa Bonita constitutes a “multicultural” experience? Oh yeah, Sand Springs! Come on people! The cave was forbidden because kids would sneak off and make out in the dark, though who would want to get busy in that setting is a mystery to me. Ugh!
April 29th, 2005 at 9:37 am
Dude, I’m pretty sure making out in the cave leads immediately to a fatal toxic mold infection. Hence the ban, most likely.
I’m glad somebody else thinks that picture’s as funny as I do, Melman. While we’re back-patting, every time I see your tooth twinkle on your site I chortle for about twenty seconds.
May 2nd, 2005 at 6:08 pm
Is that place seriously still open? Seriously? It was one of the two best places to go when I was little. The other was Godfather’s Pizza– I can’t remember why.