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There’s a new rooftop in SoHo trying very hard to make you forget you’re in Manhattan and, honestly, it might pull it off.
Bar Hugo, the newly reopened rooftop atop Hotel Hugo, officially debuted tonight with a look and mood borrowed straight from the grand hotel bars of Venice. Think less “DJ booth and bottle service chaos,” more “lingering over a spritz while you wai for your water taxi.”
Set on the hotel’s 19th floor, the new rooftop embraces old-world glamour, with hand-laid mosaic floors, Venetian-inspired lighting, weathered white oak paneling and a sprawling art collection that ranges from oversized photography to original works. According to the team behind the project, the redesign was more than a decade in the making.
The rooftop is split into two distinct spaces. One side centers around a curved cocktail bar backed by a towering wall of spirits, while the other is arranged more like a lounge, with plush banquettes facing the Hudson River. (Yes, this place was absolutely designed with sunset photos in mind.)
“From the moment they arrive, we want guests to feel a true sense of escape, transported from the fast pace of the city to a dynamic space that evolves from day to night,” Matthew Moinian, the hotel’s developer, said in a statement.
The drinks menu follows the same day-to-night philosophy. Earlier in the evening, there are lighter cocktails like The Hugo (a sparkling elderflower-and-mint situation) or Lavender Fields, which combines gin, lavender and butterfly pea flower. Later on, things get moodier with mezcal cocktails, spicy tequila concoctions and a strawberry Aperol spritz called Sunset Chaser. (There’s even a Martini tower designed for groups.)
Food-wise, the menu sticks to upscale bar snacks with a slightly theatrical edge: lobster rolls on mini brioche, tuna tartare, empanadas and something called the Millionaire’s Cone, which arrives topped with caviar and 24-karat gold leaf.
In a city currently overflowing with rooftops trying to outdo one another on spectacle, Bar Hugo seems to be betting on something slightly different: romance, atmosphere and the increasingly rare luxury of a rooftop that doesn’t feel like it was assembled entirely for TikTok.