Barış Köroğlu on Luxury Hospitality & the Art of Guest Experience | INLOVE
How Barış Köroğlu Is Quietly Changing the Way New
York Goes Out
Barış Köroğlu is a New York hospitality entrepreneur creating restaurants and nightlife concepts built around atmosphere, design, food and memorable guest experiences. In this exclusive INLOVE Magazine profile, Köroğlu discusses Aquarelle NYC, Andrew Steak Society, DEJAVU, his Cappadocia roots and the philosophy behind his growing hospitality portfolio.
There are restaurants people visit because they have heard the food is exceptional.
Then there are places people remember years later, long after they have forgotten what they ordered.
Those are the places Barış Köroğlu has spent his career creating.
Spend an evening inside one of his venues and you begin to notice the details. The room settles into its own rhythm. Music never competes with conversation. Lighting shifts almost imperceptibly as the evening unfolds. Dinner slowly becomes an experience, and the experience becomes a memory guests carry home.
For Köroğlu, hospitality has never been limited to what arrives on the plate.
It begins long before the first course is served.
“The feeling always comes first,” he says. “Then I create the room to match that feeling, and finally the menu completes the experience. Everything has to tell the same story.”
That philosophy explains why his concepts can feel distinct while remaining connected by a common idea: hospitality should be experienced emotionally, not simply consumed.
From Cappadocia to New York City
For Barış Köroğlu, the connection between Cappadocia and New York is less about geography than memory. Growing up surrounded by places shaped by centuries of history influenced his desire to create destinations capable of becoming part of people’s own personal histories.
Born in Cappadocia, Turkey—a region of ancient cave cities, volcanic landscapes, and
centuries of living history—Köroğlu grew up surrounded by places that had survived
generations. That environment quietly shaped the way he would eventually approach hospitality.
“Cappadocia is full of history,” he reflects. “Growing up there inspired me to create something
that will become part of history one day. I want to build places that people remember for
generations.”
Today, that vision is unfolding remarkably quickly.
At just 33 years old, Köroğlu has opened three restaurants within only three months, an
ambitious pace that reflects both his confidence and his clarity of vision. And he is already
looking ahead. Following New York Fashion Week this September, he will introduce another
concept: 51&1, the next chapter in his growing hospitality portfolio.His career has also included leadership roles and collaborations with Paradise Club at EDITION
Hotels, Virgo Presents, The Lullaby, fashion events, nightlife experiences, and cultural
productions that blurred the traditional lines between dining, entertainment, and design.
“The people and the ideas,” he says when asked what connects those different worlds.
“Everything I create is about bringing people together around a unique experience and giving
them something they haven’t seen before.”
Today, that philosophy can be experienced across several distinctive destinations that have
quickly become part of New York’s evolving dining landscape.
Aquarelle NYC: Mediterranean Dining in the East Village
Aquarelle NYC, located at 47 Avenue B in Manhattan’s East Village, combines Mediterranean-inspired seafood, cocktails and immersive interiors in a setting designed around the experience of lingering. The restaurant’s official site describes its philosophy around fresh seafood, warm hospitality and multi-sensory dining.
Andrew Steak Society in Manhattan
Rather than relying on spectacle, Andrew Steak Society celebrates craftsmanship. Dry-aged
beef prepared over a live wood-fired grill, thoughtful sourcing, timeless interiors, and meticulous
hospitality redefine the modern steakhouse experience.
DEJAVU and the Evolution of All-Day Hospitality
DEJAVU transforms throughout the day. Morning coffee evolves into afternoon gatherings.
Dinner slowly gives way to cocktails, music, and vibrant nightlife. Rather than remaining static,
the venue reinvents itself hour by hour, inviting guests to discover something different with every
visit.
Across each concept runs the same philosophy.
People rarely remember every course they ordered.
They remember where they celebrated.
The conversations that lasted until closing.
The song playing at exactly the right moment.
The room they never wanted to leave.
Perhaps that has been Barış Köroğlu’s ambition all along.
Not simply to open restaurants.
But to create places people carry with them.
Barış Köroğlu on Creating Experiences People Remember
In this Barış Köroğlu interview, the hospitality entrepreneur speaks with INLOVE Magazine about building restaurants around emotion, creating memorable guest experiences and why the smallest details can become the ones people remember most.
INLOVE: Your restaurants are remembered as much for the atmosphere as for the food. When
you begin developing a new concept, what comes first—the room, the feeling, or the menu?
Barış Köroğlu: The feeling always comes first. Then I create the room to match that feeling,
and finally the menu completes the experience. Everything has to tell the same story.
INLOVE: You grew up in Cappadocia, where history is woven into the landscape. Looking back,
how has your childhood influenced the way you think about hospitality today?
Barış Köroğlu: Cappadocia is full of history. Growing up there inspired me to create something
that will become part of history one day. I want to build places that people remember for
generations.
INLOVE: You have worked across restaurants, nightlife, fashion events, and entertainment.
What connects all of those worlds in your mind?
Barış Köroğlu: The people and the ideas. Everything I create is about bringing people together
around a unique experience and giving them something they haven’t seen before.
What Luxury Means to Barış Köroğlu
INLOVE: New York has no shortage of remarkable restaurants. What do you believe makes
people return to one place again and again?
Barış Köroğlu: Hospitality. Getting to know your customers, remembering them, and making
them feel valued. People always come back to places where they feel welcomed.
INLOVE: Aquarelle, Andrew Steak Society, and DEJAVU each have their own personality. At
what point does a concept begin to feel alive to you?
Barış Köroğlu: When I walk into the room and see it full of happy, excited people enjoying
themselves. That’s when I know the concept has come to life.
The Future of Barış Köroğlu’s Hospitality Portfolio
INLOVE: Luxury has changed over the years. Today, what feels truly luxurious to you?
Barış Köroğlu: Old money style never changes. Timeless elegance, quality, and attention to
detail will always be the true definition of luxury.
INLOVE: You’ve spent much of your career creating places where people celebrate important
moments in their lives. Do you ever stop and think about the role those memories play long after
the evening ends?
Barış Köroğlu: Absolutely. That’s why I always tell my team that birthdays, anniversaries, date
nights, food quality, and the first and last touch with every guest are the most important parts of
what we do. Those are the moments people remember.
INLOVE: Every entrepreneur experiences moments of uncertainty. Was there a point in your
career when you questioned your direction, and what helped you continue?Barış Köroğlu: Honestly, no. I’ve always believed in my vision. Every challenge has made me
stronger and more determined to keep building.
INLOVE: At only 33 years old, you’ve opened three restaurants in just three months, and you’re
already preparing to launch another concept, 51&1, this September. What continues to drive
you at this pace?
Barış Köroğlu: Every new project is another opportunity to create something people haven’t
experienced before. Building restaurants isn’t about opening doors—it’s about creating places
where memories are made. That’s what keeps me excited every day.
INLOVE: When someone leaves one of your restaurants, what do you hope stays with them the
next morning?
Barış Köroğlu: The memories they created. If they wake up still talking about the experience,
then we’ve done our job.
For Barış Köroğlu, the measure of a successful restaurant is not simply how many people enter the room, but whether they leave wanting to return.
INLOVE: Fifty years from now, what would you like people to remember—not about your
restaurants, but about the way you made them feel?
Barış Köroğlu: I hope people remember that every time they walked into one of my places,
they felt welcomed, happy, and inspired. At the end of the day, that’s the greatest success
anyone in hospitality can achieve.
Hospitality is often measured in reservations, reviews, awards, and recognition.
But numbers rarely explain why certain places become part of people’s lives.
Guests return because something about the evening felt effortless.
Because conversation lasted longer than expected.
Because every detail seemed intentional without ever feeling forced.
Because, for a few hours, the outside world disappeared.
That is the quiet art Barış Köroğlu continues to refine.
In only a short time, he has built an impressive collection of destinations, with another already
on the horizon. Yet his ambition reaches far beyond opening successful restaurants. His goal is
to create experiences that outlive trends—places remembered not only for exceptional cuisine,
but for the emotions they inspire.
In an industry constantly chasing what comes next, Köroğlu remains focused on something far
more enduring.Making people feel genuinely welcome.
Barış Köroğlu approaches hospitality as a form of storytelling, where food, design, music and service combine to create a single emotional experience.
And perhaps that is the rarest luxury of all.
The Barış Köroğlu story is ultimately about something larger than restaurant expansion: the ambition to create places that become part of New York’s collective memory.
Barış Köroğlu’s Hospitality Collection
Aquarelle NYC — https://aquarellenyc.com
Andrew Steak Society — https://andrewsteaksociety.com
DEJAVU NYC — https://dejavunyc.com
Caviar Café NYC — https://caviarcafenyc.com
White Room NYC — https://whiteroomnyc.com
The Lullaby — https://www.instagram.com/thelullabynight/
Virgo Presents — https://www.instagram.com/virgopresents/
