Clara & Ray’s Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Lexington

Unfortunately I’ve tried multiple times to give this pizzeria a chance to improve on their quality as well as quantity, but to no avail. Ordered a chicken parm Sicilian pie and to pay over $35 dollars for a pie that was not cooked all the way thru was truly sad, and to top it off It hardly had any chicken as you can see in the picture some of the slices were lucky to have two pieces of chicken on them while others literally had one. It literally looked like they took one piece of chicken for the whole Sicilian pie, truly unacceptable. If it wasn’t for the fact that I live 15 minutes away (25 minutes with evening traffic) I would’ve taken it back. Yes my family ate it as we were not into wasting food, but this was truly a disappointment. My two sons are on the way to Papa Gio’s in Irmo where they know how to give their customers quantity as well as quality. I DEFINITELY will NOT give them another chance, I’ve learned my lesson sadly.

Update:

This is what a chicken parm Sicilian pie should look like and fyi it was $28 from Papa Gio’s in Irmo

Second Update:

Wow, It’s truly amazing how easily you can fabricate such a story, I WAS NEVER SHOWN THE PIZZA, had I been shown the pie I would’ve never taken it. FYI I called it in and yes I did have a slice while waiting 10 minutes for the pie but to say I showed up 20 minutes early doesn’t mean you give your customer an under cooked pie. If you “gladly” wanted to refund the money you would’ve, but apparently that was not the case as I checked my account and it wasn’t. I’m not the type of person who likes to complain about local small businesses but if you check out my other reviews I am always honest about service and quality, and unfortunately you guys missed the mark. As previously stated I’ve tried your establishment 5 times and didn’t say anything as I wasn’t happy with any of the times I visited, but I really was trying to give you a chance. I’m sorry you couldn’t redeem yourself. You have a good following so I’m sure you’ll...

VERY overpriced for what you get. My wife got the chicken Alfredo and the chicken was extremely dry and over cooked to the point where you couldn’t even stab it with a fork. When you pay $25 for a meal you would expect it to be at the least somewhat appetizing… this was not the case here. We told the waitress about the issue with the chicken, and she apologized and advised that the chicken is prepared ahead of time to save time during the dinner rush. Yuck….I ordered the manicotti. It came with ONLY 4 PIECES and it was drowned in so much sauce you could barely make out what the meal was.I assume it was to hide the lack of food in the dish. We also got an order of garlic knots. Waitress asks if we want sauce on the side for dipping. We say yeah, sure. It’s in the picture on the menu, so it obviously goes together right? WRONG. We were charged $2.25 for about an oz of sauce. Last but not least… When the check was brought out, she said we gave you a discount to make up for the chicken mishap. We scan the receipt, expecting maybe 10% of, etc. Just something to make the experience a little better… It was a whole $3… 🤦🏼‍♀️. For obvious reasons, We will not be returning to this establishment.

UPDATE: As you can see below, the owners have responded to my review... Your server offered to make us another piece of chicken for the meal. Why would I want another piece of bland, hard as a rock chicken, and have to wait for it. Also, you mentioned she refunded the "full price" of the chicken... so that means pasta and Alfredo sauce costs $22?!?!?! On what planet is that ok? Also, I am not the only person to write these comments about the chicken. If you need to defend your restaurant in a review on multiple occasions, what does that tell you? There's obviously issues that need to...

This was our first visit as it came highly recommend. Upon first entering, the friendly staff, who were tossing freshly-made pizza dough up in the air, waved to my son who was amazed at their pizza tossing skills, as was I!

We were seated quickly and had drinks within a minute. Waitress told us about the restaurant and provided menu recommendations.

Nice, relaxed family atmosphere with music playing and pictures on the walls of the owner’s families. It was very nice also seeing pictures of the staff. Tables and counters had interesting information about the restaurant, including winning “Lexington’s Best Pizza” several times.

We scanned a code on our table which brought us to their YouTube page, where you can view clips of food prep, and recorded messages from the owners. That was fun to explore while waiting.

Our meals arrived and we were quite happy. Good portions and nice having a raised stand to hold pizza while providing extra table room. Loved how the Spaghetti and Meatballs had several large meatballs instead of the normal two. The pizza was indeed amazing!

Our server, plus other servers continually checked up, chatted and ensured our drinks were never emptied and used plates were collected.

Towards the end of the meal, one owner took time to stop by and visit. Our young son gave him a great quote, with regards to the award winning pizza he was eating- “the more bites I took, the more tasty it was”.

Great ristorante with dine-in or carry out options, and we look forward to bringing a few friends to help concur their 2ft x 2ft...