Buyer’s remorse: ‘South Park’ creators say buying Casa Bonita in Denver was ‘dumb’

Trey Parker and Matt Stone love Casa Bonita. They also want you to know it was an absolutely terrible business decision.

The “South Park” creators and Colorado natives stopped by “Jimmy Kimmel Live” this week to promote the upcoming 29th season of “South Park” and a new run of “The Book of Mormon” when the conversation turned to their most famous Denver investment: the iconic pink palace of cliff diving and sopapillas on West Colfax.

The exchange started after Kimmel mentioned seeing something online claiming Parker and Stone are the two wealthiest comedians in the world. “We would have been the richest comedians, except we decided to buy a restaurant,” Parker joked, wearing a suit in a shade of pink strikingly similar to Casa Bonita’s signature exterior.

From there, the two laid out the financial reality with characteristic bluntness. They originally expected the renovation to cost around $7 million to $8 million. The final tab? About $50 million. “It is going really well, and we think we might make our money back sometime, like, 2040,” Stone said. “We’re almost breaking even at this point.”

When Kimmel asked if they were glad they did it, Parker didn’t hesitate — but he didn’t sugarcoat it, either. “It was a cool thing to do, but it was a really dumb thing to do,” he said. “Knowing what we know now, there’s no way any smart businessperson would have done this, so there’s no way anyone else would have done it, so it wouldn’t be there anymore.”

Denver locals will remember the saga. Parker and Stone purchased Casa Bonita out of bankruptcy in 2021, then spent years and tens of millions of dollars gutting and renovating the Lakewood landmark — a restaurant they’d immortalized in a beloved 2003 “South Park” episode. The reopening drew national attention and lines around the block.

The Kimmel appearance also included news that “South Park” Season 29 premieres Sept. 16 on Comedy Central.