It already looks a lot like Christmas at Loreley Restaurant and Beer Garden, which has been transformed into a Lower East Side holiday haven that could warm the heart of even the coldest grinch.
From Nov. 16 until Jan. 7, 2024, Loreley, located at 7 Rivington St., is spreading holiday cheer with its popular annual Holiday Winter Wonderland. The restaurant is decked out with over-the-top holiday lights and décor indoors and in the heated beer garden and streetside patio, featuring a snow globe display, gingerbread houses, reindeer, a life-sized Santa Claus, Christmas trees, snowmen, and thousands of ornaments, garlands, bows, crystal icicles and snowflakes dangling from the ceiling.
Even the benches’ back cushions are draped in the holiday signature colors red and white.
Owner Doug Jacobson loves to see the reaction from guests when they walk into the restaurant during the holiday season. For Jacobson, it’s all about nostalgia and creating the magic of Christmas for adults.
“The holiday season is supposed to be such a magical time for children,” Jacobson said. “I feel like, as adults, we kind of forget about it. We’re always trying to do it for the kids. We want to enjoy it ourselves, too.”
He shared that his mom always decorated their home for Christmas, including snow globes.
“I was saying about the nostalgia. For some people, it might be the decorations. For some people, it might be the music. For somebody, it might be the snow globe,” Jacobson said. “We’re trying to have a little bit of everything so that each person can find what maybe brings them back to their childhood.”
Some of the hot festive holiday drinks are a throwback to Jacobson’s childhood when his mother would make hot chocolate topped with marshmallows or cookies with red sanding sugar.
Loreley serves an adult version of hot chocolate called the “Boozy Black & White Hot Chocolate,” made with Jefferson’s Bourbon and Ghirardelli chocolate and topped…
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