CASA BONITA

Here’s what’s new:

• e intake. While you’ll still be hit with a line that snakes around the entrance, the planners have improved the experience with the addition of a “ticket plaza” (styled to look like a Oaxaca, Mexico, courtyard) that will process folks through the line faster. Initially at least, there will not be walk-in tra c but a ticketing system to coordinate the crowds.

• e kitchen. at area was torn down to the studs, according to the tour guides, and dug farther down to create a place that was to James Beard Award-nominated chef Dana Rodriguez’ liking. She was on a mission, as with her other restaurants, Work & Class and Super Mega Bien, that the food be handmade and made to order. e “food slot” where you received your meals is gone, replaced with a cafeteria-style system similar to what you nd at fast-casual restaurants, to satisfy that “eat with your eyes” experience.

• ADA access. Lifts have been added to areas of the multi-level restaurant to create more access for people using wheelchairs.

Here’s what hasn’t changed:

• e scent. While you’re still struck with a faint chlorinated aroma when you walk in the door, it is MUCH fainter than the chemical smell you may recall from previous visits.

• e ambience. e faux adobe/ exposed brick interior and dim lighting still has that same “big facility made to handle big crowds.”

• e waterfall and lagoon. While modi ed and improved for safety reasons, divers will still be taking the 15-foot plunge into the depths at the middle of the restaurant. e 30-foot-high waterfall was designed to emulate the cli s of Acapulco. And yes, there are still sopapilla ags.

Here’s what we still don’t know:

• e Prices. e $5.99 all-youcan-eat is probably gone, but what’s in its place?

• Black Bart’s Hideout. Our tour guide did not know the fate of the cave that wound through darkened passageways to a game room/carnival area, but chances are it still exists in some form.

• e fate of murals. e tour was restrictive, so we did not get to see inside the arcade, Black Bart’s cave and other areas. However, the focus on restoration may mean a hint of hope that some of the murals in those rooms and other areas are still there.