Ray's Boathouse — Restaurant in Seattle

My husband and I were celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary and had plans in Ballard so we decided to finally give Rays a shot.

I’m a planner so I made my reservations several weeks in advance, I did specify in the reservation that we were celebrating our 15th anniversary, coming to Rays for the first time and were looking to make it a special evening. Having never been to the restaurant I requested a table with a nice view, and I even asked them if it was possible to have a bottle of champagne on the table for our arrival. I wasn’t sure if that would be against policy and let them know that it would be OK if they couldn’t do it, but I went to their menu and picked out a few different possible options and let them know any of the ones listed would be fine.

When we arrived, the ambience was much more casual than I was anticipating, but that’s sort of a Seattle thing. We were taken to our table, arguably one of the worst tables in the restaurant? Maybe my definition of a nice table is different from the wait staff, but we were not sat by the window. There were open tables by the window that filled with parties of families, etc. so I was a little confused about the table they chose for us. There was no champagne, which was genuinely OK. There was a card on our table with the words “happy anniversary“ printed inside.

I started by asking our server about the champagne selection, and she seemed fairly unknowledgeable about their wine list, and I believe went and asked some staff members about the champagne, came back with a recommendation and I ordered it. It was actually very good!

We ordered the clams, the bread plate and the scallop skewer for appetizers and all of that was quite good.

My husband had the ribeye which was cooked very well and he enjoyed his dinner.

I ordered the smoked Sable fish, which may have been a mistake on my part, I did not enjoy my dinner, but couldn’t necessarily say there was anything wrong with the entrée. I only ate a few bites of it before telling our server that we were finished. I did not complain about the food as they had done nothing wrong that I could tell. It was a strange array of flavors in my opinion, but it is on the main menu so perhaps I’m in the minority.

We finished dinner and ordered two desserts, the crème brûlée and the cornbread. I also ordered a cocktail to round the night off. The desserts were good, the cocktail was good as well. However, we ran out of time and had to leave to make it to our next Part of the night and had to abandon our desserts and cocktail.

Overall, for a $360 dinner after 20% tip, I was quite disappointed. The service was friendly, but not exceptional, and the restaurant clearly missed the mark helping us celebrate our anniversary. Im sorry to say that we probably won’t come back anytime soon. The experience and food were good but not exceptional and it’s too bad with a reputation and location like they have, that they aren’t capitalizing on it. There are much better meals at this price...

Ray's Boathouse is separated from an upstairs restaurant Ray's Cafe and a downstairs restaurant, Ray's Boathouse. I was taken to the upstairs location. I'm told the lower level is a trifle more upscale. We came for an early-ish dinner and it was a tad chilly outside, so we couldn't sit outside on the deck. If Ray's would just invest in some outdoor heaters, they could seat people outside much earlier as the scenery is why you're there.

Our party ordered the Crispy Calamari as an appetizer. I'm allergic and did not indulge, but the others rather enjoyed it so I'll go with what they said.

I ordered a small caesar salad and it was fresh and the dressing was good. A nice preamble to dinner.

The funny thing about going here as that I and the two people who actually live in Seattle are not fish lovers. In fact, none of us like fish, so to be taken here is quite silly as it's mostly fish and seafood. I hear it's good, but know I'll never know. So the three of us got the burger.

There's only one on the menu, the Classic Burger. I removed the butter lettuce as the bitterness of butter lettuce ruins a burger. The tomato and red onion had to go as well as, well, yuck. I kept the poblano aioli along with the aged white cheddar and added bacon. The aioli was the key. It really added a nice flavor with a little kick at the end. The burger was well made and juicy and nicely prepared and the fries were decent enough. However, in my humble opinion, fries should be hand cut. If not, you're making the diner think they are frozen, thawed, and then fried. Hand cut makes you think that they freshly cut the fries that day. These were not hand cut. They were okay. I know I'm talking more about fries at the moment, but let's not dwell. The burger was good. Beyond good.

I have a burger club and we rate burgers on a 0-5. This was a solid 4.0.

I would of liked to come here when the weather was a little warmer and sat outside on the deck to look at the water - the views were stunning. And I'd get this burger and a caesar salad again. A solid outing. However, with so many places in and around Seattle and me not being a fish/seafood lover, I'd skip this place (although good) and try something...

Generally speaking, I like Ray’s, I’ve been a few times in the past and the food and ambiance are incredible. However, I was pretty disappointed in a couple things last time I went. First, we were told it would be 30 minutes when we checked in. I get it, we are just barely post Covid and still figuring things out. It was a gorgeous day and the place was hoppin. A vast majority of restaurants would overestimate in this situation.. the hostess seemed to do the opposite. One hour later I popped in just to make sure she didn’t copy my phone number down wrong and we were told “sorry, people don’t seem to be leaving.” She was very kind and super apologetic (more so than necessary as I didn’t let my agitation show to her). She gave us the option of snagging a seat in the bar to wait for our table and here’s where things got a little bad. I asked the bar tender what he recommended on a day like that and he stuck his notepad and didn’t say anything. When I went to grab it, not knowing why else he’d hold it out, he said “no, scan the QR code for the menu.” I had seen the menu, and was curious if one was better than the other. He was less than friendly and acted as though he was annoyed we were even there. The bus boy in the area had an even worse attitude, giving me a look that made me wonder if he thought I was his old enemy or something. We have been making an effort to visit local restaurants to help get them jump started, and all others seem very excited to have jobs again, to have people around, and these two definitely didn’t exhibit anything close to that.

We finally got a buzz for our table and the new waiter truly saved things. He, plus the incredible food, is keeping this review from being 2 stars. He was friendly, chatty without being intrusive, knowledgeable, and excited to be helping my girlfriend and I celebrate our anniversary.

We got the chowder, a bunch of drinks, calamari, a squid ink scallops pasta, the sable fish, and some nice desert wine. All of it was absolutely phenomenal tasting and the presentation was picture perfect. Couple that with the view and the fantastic view and you have the perfect setting for any special occasion, of just...