A once grand Tex-Mex restaurant that proudly declared itself to be ‘the greatest restaurant in the world’ has been saved from closure by the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Reopened in June 2023, Casa Bonita in Lakewood, a suburb of Denver, Colorado, struggled through the pandemic and was on the verge of shutting its doors for good.

Casa Bonita opened in 1974. At its peak, it was a small chain with outposts in Arkansas and Oklahoma. The Lakewood location was the last one standing, and especially noteworthy. Beloved by locals, it was also considered a must-visit for those passing through. Even its bold pink façade could hardly prepare diners for the eye-popping sights within: a waterfall, lagoon, and even cliff divers entertained guests. In 2015, it was declared an official historic landmark by the Lakewood Historic Committee.

Trey and Matt, who grew up in Denver, were among those to love Casa Bonita, having eaten there since childhood. They featured it in South Park several times, most famously in an episode entitled ‘Casa Bonita’, where characters are desperate to eat at the pink palace. The restoration has taken the best part of two years, with the new owners telling the New York Times they spent “infinity dollars” on the project. Even the golden dome, which tops the pink palace, has been polished back to perfection. "We could have rebuilt this twice as big, for half as much money, but we spent so much restoring it, like a piece of art," said Matt.

The new incarnation promises that the food will be ‘even better’ than before, under the watch of Dana Rodriguez, pictured. The head chef, nominated for a James Beard Award in 2022, revealed she applied for a dish-washing position at Casa Bonita back in the 1990s, but didn’t get the job. The menu stays true to the 1970s heyday, though everything is elevated and freshly made from scratch.

There are tacos and burritos with slow-braised carnitas, the tastiest refried beans, salads with bright, zingy dressings, and mezcal-based cocktails. There’s a set price for adults and kids, which includes chips and salsa, an entrée, soft drink, and the joint’s signature sopapillas (fried dough with honey, as pictured).

Casa Bonita 2.0 promises to stay true to its wild, weird, and wonderful past, too, hiring a full entertainment team that includes dancers, Mariachi bands, and those cliff divers. The team has also refreshed the famous diving pool, while diners are seated among a riot of  Flintstones-esque decor, fake palm trees, and bold, bright colors.

Feeling nostalgic? Read on for the fast food chains we've loved and lost.

So many of our memories are tied up with food. Maybe it's that first, brain-freezing hit of ice cream, or the first bite of a hamburger. Or perhaps it's the places associated with childhood memories: the Howard Johnson’s from your annual summer holiday, or a banana split at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour. When those places have closed, either because they couldn’t keep up with competition and changing tastes, or during the pandemic, it can be hard to swallow. Here, we take a nostalgic look back at the incredible chains we once loved that are now either gone forever or have few outposts left.

Back in the day Burger Chef was McDonald’s biggest competitor. It opened in the 1950s (the same as its rival) in Indianapolis and had 1,200 stores at its peak in the 1970s. It pioneered selling a hamburger, fries, and drink as a package deal, and the kids' meal with a toy. However, things went downhill following a series of lawsuits in the 1980s.

It hasn’t been open since the early 1990s, but at one point Valle’s Steak House had over 30 restaurants on the East Coast. Here you could get a variety of steaks and lobster in its huge dining rooms, which seated 1,000 customers. It was the choice spot for business meetings and celebrations.

You won’t have seen a sign for Arthur Treacher’s in a while unless you live in northeast Ohio, where there are a handful left. It was founded in Columbus in 1969 and grew to 826 locations thanks to the nation’s love of traditional British fish and chips. The next decade the Cod Wars and the sharp increase in cod prices caused its demise.

A stripy red-and-white awning signalled Lum’s beer-steamed hot dogs, fried seafood, hot roast beef sandwiches, subs, and international beer from places like Mexico and Japan. It started in Florida in 1956 and grew to 450 locations around the country. It filed for bankruptcy in 1982, but one location in Bellevue, Nebraska, clung on until 2017.

This country-themed restaurant was known for its Big Barney (like a Big Mac), Barn Buster (similar to a Quarter Pounder), and TV jingle, 'When the hungries hit, hit the Red Barn', which made you want to get in your car and drive to the nearest outpost. It was founded in Ohio in 1961 and grew to 400 restaurants across 22 states, as well as Canada and America.

Do you remember this burger joint that looked just like White Castle? Opened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1926, it eventually grew to 230 nationwide locations. It sold five-cent hamburgers, 10-cent pie, jelly rolls, marble cake and fruit cocktail. The problem was they were all next to train and trolley lines and, by the 1960s, people preferred drive-ins.

“Aren’t you hungry for a Henry’s?” That was the slogan of Henry’s Hamburgers, a chain with 200 stores from coast to coast in the 1960s. Menu favourites included chili dogs, fish sandwiches, deep-fried shrimp, and crispy catfish. The chain went under in the late 1970s – but one franchise remains in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

The ice cream parlor with epic sundaes, singing waiters, and kitschy decor, Farrell’s was established in Portland, Oregon, in 1963. Over the next 10 years it grew to 130 locations which lasted until the 1990s. Then it had a second wind, opening a number of branches around California in the 2000s – all of which are now closed.

Sorely missed in the New York area, in the 1960s Carrols was one of the most flourishing franchise groups around. It had over 150 outposts where you could get Club Burgers (double decker sandwiches), fries, shakes, and Looney Tunes drinking glasses. However, in the late 1970s, the parent company converted most of its locations into Burger Kings.

There were once 95 green and red G.D. Ritzy's across the eastern states, but now there's just a handful in Columbus, Ohio; Evansville, Indiana; Owensboro, Kentucky; and Huntington, West Virginia, left. It was opened in the 1980s by a former Wendy’s executive and was focused on serving ice cream, burgers, hot dogs, and chili, but by the 1990s many of its stores had shuttered.

Nowadays you’ll have to travel to the UK or South Africa to see one of these. Wimpy began in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1934, named after J Wellington Wimpy from the Popeye cartoon. It expanded to 26 stores across six states (most of them were in Chicago), but they had mostly all closed by the late 1970s. Its most famous menu item was its hamburger.

The 1960s was the heyday of bright orange, deep-fried chicken from Pioneer Chicken. Founded in Echo Park, Los Angeles, California, in 1961, it was endorsed by O.J. Simpson and at one point you could spot its signposts which depicted a chicken wagon driven by Pioneer Pete all over the Golden State. Nowadays, just two remain, in Boyle Heights and Bell Gardens, Los Angeles.

Remembered more for the huge fiberglass statue of a dachshund wearing a bow tie and chef’s hat outside each of its restaurants than its food, Doggie Diner was a California-based hot dog and burger chain that existed between 1948 and 1986. It was opened by amateur boxer Al Ross, who expanded it to 30 locations. The pressure of competing with larger chains such as McDonald’s eventually caused its descent.

Not the first restaurant to be inspired by White Castle, Little Tavern opened in Louisville, Kentucky in 1927 and had nearly 50 outposts by the 1940s. It was famous for its sliders and 'Buy ‘em by the bag' slogan. It was popular for many years but by the 1980s, it was losing market share to more modern fast food companies.

A California chain, The All-American Burger shot to fame when it featured in the 1980s coming of age film Fast Times at Ridgemont High as the place Brad Hamilton gets fired from. Here you could get a quarter pounder, chili burger, and hickory burger, but by the time the movie was released it was shutting stores due to bankruptcy. One survived on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, until 2010 when it closed.

The home of rice, fries, gumbo, corn on the cob, collard greens, biscuits, and spicy fried chicken 'better than mama's'. This Baltimore-based chain was founded in 1979 by Ted N. Holmes and in its early days was the nation’s largest Black-owned restaurant business. Unfortunately, the following decade it filed for bankruptcy and stores were sold off.

In the 1970s this simple logo signified a VIP’s restaurant. Located around Oregon, it served sandwiches, burgers, steaks, chips, clam strips, and sundaes – but you didn't have to be 'VIP' to eat there. It had 53 outposts at its height, but by the early 1980s, they were sold off, with most of the buildings turning into Denny’s.

If you wanted Tex-Mex in the 1970s, you went to Chi-Chi’s. It served chimichangas, nachos, and salsa, and was owned by former American football star Max McGee and restaurateur Marno McDermit. However, a hepatitis A outbreak in the 2000s killed it in the US, but if you travel to Europe, Kuwait, or the United Arab Emirates you can get your fix.

The place to be in the 1990s, after an episode of Seinfeld featured Kenny Rogers Roasters, everyone wanted to go to the wood-fired rotisserie chicken chain. It was opened in Florida in 1991 by country singer Kenny Rogers and former KFC CEO John Y. Brown, and enjoyed success on US soil for the best part of a decade. After bankruptcy in 1998, the brand was sold to a Malaysian franchiser and has taken off overseas.

In the 1990s, themed restaurants were all the rage. The first All Star Cafe opened in Times Square, New York, a giant homage to professional sports. It served burgers, hot dogs, fried onion rings, crab dip, matzo ball soup, and cheesecake, and was filled with sports memorabilia. By the end of the century, it was no longer trendy and started to close locations.

America’s first fast food chain, Horn & Hardart Automats which opened at the beginning of the 20th century were revolutionary. Between New York and Philadelphia there were over 100 where you could get sandwiches, salads, pies and cakes from coin-operated vending machines. It was particularly known for its fresh-drip brewed coffee. The last of its diners closed in the 1990s.

Incredible ice cream flavours, fried clams and hot dogs is what you got from Howard Johnson’s. It started in Quincy, Massachusetts, and grew to over 1,000 stores, making it one of the largest chains in the country at one point. Each one was uniform, like McDonald’s is today. Sadly, in the 1990s, they began to be sold off.

Now take a look at the fast food menu items we want to come back