Ray's Waterfront — Restaurant in Seward

Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover

Inside is very pleasing to see and the view is quite nice. Very clean inside the restaurant, tables were cleared quickly and cleaned well. A, in those areas. The young lady cleaning the tables is also the water girl and Johnny on the Spot. She should be commended for her work ethic. Loved listening to Frank Sinatra as we waited……… forever. The bathrooms could have used work, but a B for that overall. On to the food. Incredibly small portions. Captain’s Platter, 2 small pieces of halibut, 2 scallops and 3 or 4 shrimp. A bit of rice and that was it. I am not a dessert guy, could have definitely had a dessert to fill up afterwards. Perhaps that’s part of the business plan to get more money. Taste was good, but lacked any real distinct flavor and portions terribly small. B- for the taste, D- for portions. Now to the service. I generally don't comment on service because it can be bad for reasons out of their control. This time, I don't think that is the issue. I am a incredibly patient person, you put me over the top tonight in pushing my patience level. I suspect because we don’t look like money, we don’t drink and we have kids, it was the reasoning for the absolutely awful service. Had this issue before. People seated before and after us got their meals before us, all were drinking and all looked as though money wasn't an issue. Said people finished their meals, paid and left, before we got our meals. We were given a story it was the internet, but how can our order be the only one left behind. Had the waitress not forgotten other items or taken forever that story would be a bit more believable. Again people before and after all got served and left, no food for us. Complete failure on service, F. 1 hour, 30 some odd minutes to get food is ridiculous. I haven’t not tipped in years, didn’t leave a tip. Sorry, admit your short comings, no excuses. I know the real story. I am a quite heavy tipper despite my look so there was no need to talk about my family or myself as we left the restaurant. Yes, we heard you talking. You are a horrible worker for doing that and after feeling a bit of guilt not tipping, all that left me. We were offered a compensation of a couple of desserts, but I didn’t feel like waiting for the second coming to be able to enjoy it. First coming depending on your beliefs. A proper compensation perhaps would a percentage off the bill and the manager coming to speak with us. Offering dessert as compensation is nothing as I know cost on food having worked in that industry as a wholesaler, wasn't fooled. Secondly, giving out dessert is an easy way to cover your mistakes with no one knowing what really happened. I know that trick also. $279 for 5 people is horrible. Had I tipped as I normally do overall it would have been $349 for a somewhat tasty, horribly served meal in a somewhat upper class type restaurant. Would NEVER recommend this restaurant based on service and small portions for the price. This is a reason for a 4.2...

TLDR; Disappointing. Unless the waterfront view is a must-have, find a different place to eat.

We were pleasantly surprised they were able to seat us in about 30 minutes despite the massive crowd from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that was in port. The staff was quick and sharp during the chaos of the crowded restaurant. The view of the port was lovely, albeit disrupted by the massive cruise ship in the distance.

The highlight of the meal was the standard starter bread with a dip of Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and basil.

Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there.

The bathrooms are tiny (1 stall 1 urinal for men's) and struggled to keep up with the volume of people.

It took a while for our order to get taken, but food came out reasonably quick.

The chowder was basic and diluted with potatoes. The only time it got interesting was when I got some bites that tasted like cooked tuna.

The bourbon brown sugar glazed salmon had barely any flavor and was overcooked. The highlight of the dish was the mashed potatoes mixed with cheese crisp. Extremely disappointing for an Alaska salmon in an Alaska port town.

The halibut with curry sauce was better than the salmon with some nice spice, but the flavors had nothing special going on, and it was a pale comparison to the phenomenal halibut I had enjoyed in downtown Anchorage a couple nights before.

We got a little excitement in the meal when we spotted what appeared to be a sea turtle popping up for air next to the dock.

We didn't bother with dessert because we figured it would also under-deliver like the majority of the meal.

The finishing touch was when we had to flag down our waitress to get the check, and then it took another 5 minutes for her to come back and get us on our way. We were surprised they didn't at least want to do this part in a hurry so they could clear the table for the next group.

Overall, we wish we had used our 1 meal in Seward and $127 of meal money on a more deserving restaurant. The atmosphere was fine. The service varied from good to offensive. The food was a waste of good ingredients, and was one of the least satisfying and most expensive meals on our trip (4 days...

While in town for work, I ate three times at Rays. Twice for dinner and once for lunch. As you can imagine it was great since I was here not twice but three times. 

For dinner the first night I had the Halibut Andaman as an entree with the seafood chowder and calamari as a starter. The chowder bowl was huge and delicious, a very solid 9/10. One thing I always find funny on a seafood chowder vs clam or salmon, is the seafood can be quite nebulous since you don’t know exactly what it is you’re eating; either way it was great and would definitely get again. The calamari was out of this world and I can say easily, the best I’ve had and I’ve had a lot of calamari from many great places in my life. The main dish, the halibut, might be the best seafood entree I’ve ever had; I’m hesitant to label things that way since it’s hard to be certain on the best if you don’t have them lined up but no doubt this dish is and will always be in the conversation. The halibut was served with a crispy baked breading and smothered in a delicious curry sauce and sided with broccolini. My wife had the seafood linguine which was also very good.

The next day we stopped in for lunch. We once again had the calamari and I had the salmon tacos for an entree. Again, the best fish tacos I’ve ever had and it’s not even close. I was in San Diego for Cinco De Mayo a couple weeks back for work and had no shortage of delicious seafood tacos but none of them came close to this. The salmon was blackened with a pesto aioli that was unbelievable. My wife had a fried shrimp lunch which was amazing. The breading was clearly in house and just delicious.

The last meal we had I ordered the clams as an appetizer since we’d twice had the calamari. I wasn’t a big fan of the clams to be honest but it was okay. I had the glazed salmon for dinner which again was good but didn’t live up to either of the experiences I’d had prior.

All in all this place is a home run for me. Very seldom do you go somewhere that has the view and food to match, usually it’s a trade off. This place had views to die for with the food to match.

Jim, if you’re reading this - I think it’s strange that you read...