By Laura D.C. Kolnoski
The travel mantra, “Know before you go,” aptly applies to booming Atlantic City. Which hotel has renovated rooms? What new restaurants opened this year? Where are the family-friendly and adults-only attractions? The answers to those questions and more will help personalize and maximize your AC experience.
Note: As summer wanes, some outdoor dining and attractions remain open after Labor Day. Check websites for details, as well as for year-round live performance schedules from lounges to arenas.
Marking Milestones
Resorts Casino Hotel’s 40th Anniversary splash five years ago started a trend of themed bars, decorations, food, contests and events marking holidays and special occasions. This year, Borgata is touting its 20th anniversary, unveiling a $55 million redesign of the Water Club, now MGM Tower, and 700 renovated rooms and suites. The luxe Immersion Spa on the 32nd floor is being transformed into an event space. The tower’s indoor and outdoor pools are now 21 and over.
At Ocean Casino Resort, it’s been five years since its name change and evolving rebrand from the original Revel. A colorful Birthday Bar currently occupies the 1927 Club on the casino floor. Resorts 45th Anniversary is evident at the casino’s Bar One, temporarily renamed Lounge 78, as in 1978, the year Merv Griffin opened the historic boardwalk property as AC’s first legal gambling house.
Caesar’s New Speakeasy
The boardwalk façade of Caesar’s long encompassed the original marquee and entrance of the 1929 Warner Theater. Since June, that’s how patrons now enter The Hook, a live adults-only performance space and interactive “Italian-American-Psychedelic” restaurant called Superfrico by Spiegelworld, which operates a similar venue in Reno, Nevada. Live performances ala Cirque de Soleil feature The Muscle-bound Mariners and Mermaid Tuna Turner, aerial ballet, acrobats and burlesque acts. In a nod to the Steel Pier’s history and its famous Diving Horse attraction, the venue offers a circa 1969 Horse Dive Bar. Reservations required.
Showboat’s Island Waterpark
Reality has replaced the drawings we previewed here last summer. Adjacent to Showboat, 120,000 square feet of year-round water features, food and attractions opened to the public in July. The waterpark, under a retractable roof, has 12 waterslides, a lazy river, a “boardwalk” with food and games, an adults-only zone with bars (including a swim-up version), cabanas, a toddler splash pad, a zip line and a surf simulator. An indoor “tree house” can host parties and the 1,000-foot Coconut Coaster, suspended above the action, offers panoramic views of the ocean and boardwalk.
This $100 million addition to Showboat cements its standing as a non-casino destination under Philadelphia’s Tower Investments CEO Bart Blatstein, a proponent of more family-oriented entertainment for AC. In 2021, he transformed the casino into the high-tech Lucky Snake arcade with a futuristic Raceway Go Kart Track, rollerblading, rock climbing, mini-golf course and more.
“In terms of the design, scale, location, one-of-a-kind offerings and dynamic mix of entertainment for adults and kids,” Blatstein said, “no other family-fun resort…compares to it.” The hotel’s guestrooms and common areas are undergoing a property-wide upgrade.
Claridge To House City’s First
Cannabis Lounge
The Claridge ceased casino operations in 2012 and pivoted to highlighting it’s storied past, Art Deco architecture and 1920s vibe. Acquired by Radisson and a popular choice for weddings, the venue boasts a setback oceanfront location, ambiance-filled 1920s restaurant and the Vue, a 360-degree indoor/outdoor rooftop bar and lounge. Near the dark wood Malcolm’s Lounge in the lobby, pictures of Marilyn Monroe arriving in 1950s style add to the mystique.
The Claridge will soon open the city’s first cannabis lounge, High Rollers Dispensary, which will cover two floors. While rules prevent serving alcohol or food, High Rollers can utilize food delivery from the hotel’s existing restaurants. Opening is expected before the end of 2023.
Restaurant News
Tropicana, which turned 40 in 2022, debuted buzzy new food and drink options this year. Ossu Japanese Tavern now occupies the former Jose Garces Okatshe. Garces’ adjacent restaurant Olon will reopen as Il Verdi (Italian) this fall.
Upstairs, where Irish bar RiRa’ operated since the Trop opened, Wild Honey Smokehouse and Tavern revamped the space. Enjoy “twisted farm food and cocktails with a Midwest flair” at Hash House a Go-Go, located in the former Fiesta Buffet/Seaside Café. The Purple Zebra daiquiri bar joins The Marketplace on the ground floor. In The Quarter, Gin Rickey’s, featuring sing-alongs and dueling pianos, fills the former Farmers’ Almanac dry goods store space. When the new Royce Social Hall opens this fall, guests can expect a beer hall and “adult rec room” where the Providence Night Club was.
Ocean
Larry Thomas, who portrayed the infamous “Soup Nazi” on Seinfeld, recently cut the ribbon on the resort’s new food outlet, The Soup Spot. Located next to Hawaiian-themed Makai and a new outpost of Starbucks, it replaces a coffee and sandwich bar. In The Row shops, Bottled is generating buzz for its tastings and Enomatic wine dispensers, spirits, and accoutrements.
Golden Nugget
From May into fall, the main attraction here is The Deck Bayfront Bar & Restaurant and live music stage, on the Farley Marina in view of yachts and the boardwalk skyline. The upscale Chart House restaurant upstairs offers the same view. On June 29 visitors were drawn inside for the opening of the marina district’s outpost of New York’s famous Dos Caminos restaurant, where The Grotto once reigned.
Harrah’s
Caesar’s Entertainment now owns Harrah’s and has introduced one of its Reno staples with a coastal Jersey twist. La Strada at the Shore boasts contemporary Italian food along with homemade pasta and gelato in the space formerly occupied by Martorano, which closed in April.
This article originally appeared in the August 17 – 23, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
