The new wing is nice, and adds a lot of great stores that are new to Calgary and/or Canada. There's a great cafe in Phil and Sebastian's, as well as "new" stores such as Coach and Abercrombie & Fitch that will be intriguing to some.
The new parking lot is cool, with lights above each stall that indicate if it's open or occupied, lots of lighting to make it bright, and fans to keep the air circulating. However, the stall status lights often don't work, which is uncool.
The food court is average, with a good assortment of foods that should allow almost anyone to find something to eat. It loses points for the merry-go-round smack in the middle of the food court, which takes up space that could be used for seating and is generally annoying.
As Sapna mentioned, this mall is usually packed. In November and December, it's a write-off. I went in November and there were police helping direct traffic into and out of the mall. The week before Christmas I can understand, but November? Those police would be much better allocated trying to catch the guy trying to steal the stereo out of some guy's Escalade. (Speaking of Escalades -- what ever happened to those spinner rims that were all the rage a few years ago? Those sure died out quickly. The worst were the fake "spinner" hub caps that cheap people put on their Honda Accords. But I'm not judging.)
Chinook is definitely one of the best malls in the Calgary area, along with CrossIron Mills, Market Mall, and South Center (eww...that last one is actually not that good). In fact, maybe Market Mall isn't that good either.
Even being so crowded, Chinook probably beats out CrossIron Mills as the best mall in Calgary (and area -- thanks Sapna) because of greater selection and a good coffee shop (P&S, mentioned above).