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Location: Atlantic City, NJ

Interior Designer: Rohe Creative

Photography: Jason Varney

Rohe Creative was engaged to reimagine a longstanding, family-owned restaurant with a vision that blended the bold energy of 1980s Atlantic City with a fresh, contemporary spirit. Tasked with transforming a dated white-tablecloth institution into a vibrant and immersive destination, the firm approached the project with creativity, sensitivity to history, and an appreciation for the character embedded in the existing space.

Operating within a modest budget, Rohe Creative focused on inventive design strategies and the thoughtful reuse of vintage decor. Select original elements—such as tin ceilings and mosaic tilework in the bar—were preserved and highlighted. In the lounge, acoustical ceiling tiles and stone-clad walls were retained, and quirky features like wood paneling and mirrored surfaces were embraced as part of the design language.

The result is a space that feels at once nostalgic and novel. Guests enter through a boldly patterned drape and are immediately immersed in an atmosphere that is gritty, refined, and unmistakably evocative of Atlantic City’s layered past. Custom-designed VCT flooring leads to a glowing vermillion horseshoe bar beneath a convex chrome ceiling fashioned from bodega-style security domes. Vintage furnishings—sourced from flea markets, antique shops, and Facebook Marketplace—were reupholstered by local artisans in velvet, glitter vinyl, and patterned textiles.

Whimsical yet purposeful details, such as a plastic-wrapped sofa nodding to South Philly heritage and a mauve leather couch beneath a chandelier once owned by an Atlantic City mobster, lend depth and personality. Rohe Creative’s thoughtful integration of found objects and preserved architectural features anchors the project in its historic context while redefining it for a new era.