Ray's At The Bank — Restaurant in Florence

Life is hard right now. Just a season of life and because of that, I needed to romanticize the everyday. So, on Tuesday, I called Ray's At The Bank and made a reservation for Friday evening at 7:45pm. I called my husband and told him that we were going on a date. He always asks and I never want to, so he was excited. I bought a new dress and had my hair done. Friday evening arrived and the dogs and the kids were in their respective places. We parked at 7:30 and noticed there was a sidewalk full of people. We waded through the blocked entrance and waited in a crowded doorway at a hostess station as people continued to move me out of the way to get out of the building. I was standing directly in front of the hostess stand, not in line at it. This was crazy in itself. The hostess arrives visibly perturbed. I try to lighten the mood and said, "Deep breath." She smirked it off with a "Yeah" and said, "Even with your reservation it will be a 30 minute wait. We will text you." Normally, this would have bothered me. But no, I bought a new dress. I was overdressed and this was going to be a good night. So, we meandered across the street to Bongos to wait it out. After a basket of chips, 2 waters, 45 minutes, and zero texts later, we went back across the now clear street and sidewalk to an empty hostess stand and absolutely everyone that had been waiting was seated. After waiting an additional 10 minutes at the hostess stand, she appeared and pointed to the dirty table and said, "I think that one will be yours." Wow!

We stepped outside and called 360 Grille. They had 2 available tables and would seat us immediately. We arrived and had the evening that we deserved. It was an exceptional experience with our server, Zoe, and her SA, Ryan. Our food was stellar but the teammwork that we witnessed there made me want to serve again! We will be back!

After hearing about this location forever from what seemed to be everyone with raving reviews, I wanted to give someone a chance to explain. So, yesterday, I called. Left our name and number asking for an explanation for the night before....

My previous review was 5 stars. I'm changing it. I'll leave the previous review below, because the roundabout burger is fantastic.

Tonight was the first time we decided to actually dine in. I'm an omnivore, so the whole menu was open to me.

My girlfriend is a vegan. Now, it's true, most of the time we have to explain here in the south what a vegan is. It's annoying, but not uncommon.

But this place offers a beyond burger. With vegan cheese. Awesome. It's also listed in the entrees, and the entrees come with two sides. When she ordered her two sides, she was informed that the beyond burger only comes with chips.

Bartender (had a manbun) interjected uninvited from 8 feet away, and dismissed the two sides being included for the beyond burger because it was 11 dollars. As if the only reason that dish would be orderd is because of the price. The cad.

To be clear. The only vegan option on the menu forces the orderer to get chips. Not asparagus. Not grilled mushrooms. Chips.

I'm very disappointed. I would give you 1 star, Ray's at the Bank, but my prime rib was very good. The grilled portobello was good. The asparagus was good.

The signature drinks left a lot to be desired.

Do better, Ray's at the Bank.

Below is my original review.

Whoever they have on the grill knows their business. The Roundabout burger has got to be one of the best burgers I've ever had. Seriously, it should be entered in contests.

The ingredients... Wow. Of course the bacon jellie mixes with the pimento cheese beautifully.

But the burger itself was perfect. I ordered medium, and it was a perfect pink throughout, yet they managed to achieve a good crispy crunch on the outer layer of the meat.

I only live down the road, so we order takeout pretty regularly from here, and they...

Worst experience I have ever had. Had an 830 reservation and was seated promptly and told we are short staffed as we cannot get people to work. Two chefs and only two wait staff. We should of got up at that point. Not that busy only 4 tables had people but it took half an hour to get a drink as the food staff would walk out and hand food to the server that was trying to take our order for another table and then he would be gone for 5-10 mins. Half an hour later we got our drinks.We tried to place our food order but the food staff would bring food out to the server and he would have to leave from taking our order. This is all while the other server was with the bar staff. It’s 930 and already invested into Ray’s at the Bank as we would not be able to get food anywhere else. Only had half the items in the menu that they update daily. So we take what we can get and try to place another drink order which we luckily get before our meal arrives at 1020. The bar staff was trying to give us our order and guessing who got what just simply horrible service. The food was terrible, prime rib was a big piece of fat, the crab cakes were not cooked warm on the outside and cold on the inside( not cooked looked like mayonnaise). The salad came without dressing, the burgers were under cooked. Most of us did not eat any of the the meals and we are asked if everything was good and we told them about the crab cakes and they offered to put them back in the fryer we knew at that point the type of people and business this was. They never offered deserts even though we did not eat any of the meals. They will never have my...