I worked at Casa Bonita from 1975-1977, washed dishes, waited tables, cooked every item, walkie talkies, and serving line. I worked a LOT of hours and had 10 grand in the bank when I graduated from Hale High School which was a lot of cash back then. The work was hard but the girl to boy ratio was 4 -1 so I enjoyed most of my time there.Worked there for a couple years in high school and junior college. That was back when the line would go out the door, around the corner, and to the back of the building.
The place had seating for 720 and we would go for two or three hours with no more than 4 or 5 open tables. People just kept coming off "the line" with trays of food. We had a map of the whole place with holes drilled into plexiglass on each table. We used color coded golf tees to map out what was clean (green), what had been bussed up (yellow) and what was dirty, but available (red).
Two or three people on walkie talkies would make laps all night long and radio the results to the two people with the map. One listened and changed out tees, and the other told the waiter which table to take the customers to. It was insane, but oddly enough, worked most of the time.
In a lot of ways, I grew up in that place. Fond memories.
Oh, and when I was cooking sopapillas, I went through 350 pounds of dough in one Friday night.