I love everything about this place! Parking is spacious and free(Valet parking attendant was not there), location is excellent, food & service are amazing. I was here for business dinner tonight (Thu evening). Since the window seats were all taken, we seated at the outdoor patio table which has an amazing view being literally right on the water. Sunset was absolutely stunning and we enjoyed seeing a seal popped up in the water and a couple of seagulls just a few feet away. We had steamed mussels in two types. One was a standard white wine with garlic. The other one was in Thai Tom Ka soup. Both very tasty. I think it was probably the best mussels I've had in a decade of seafood dining in Seattle. They're over cooked most of the times but this time they were juicy, soft, and plump! Our second appetizer was Crab Toast. This heavenly dish came with two slices of baguette with a generous amount of Dungeness crab meat, cherry tomatoes, and some guacamole type of spread on top. For the entrees, I had grilled Sable fish in sakezuke on a bed of soba and pickled cucumbers. The fish was charred on the skin and the rest was very juicy and moist. Super tasty! After we finished our dinner, we realized how perfect the timing was to bring the each dish to us as if they were closely monitoring our eating pace. I would highly recommend this place! read more

Ray's Boathouse - Stunning sunset from the outdoor table! - New American Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Lunch during the week. Salmon burger with sweet potato fries and Halibut cake sandwich with cous cous. $30 including tip. The good: 1. Beautiful interior with lots of wood. 2. Great tables inside and out with on the water views of crabbing boats coming in to the locks. 3. Nicely prepared food. 4. Awesome bread before the meal....exceptional. 5. Great desert menu...lots of variety. Too bad I was full. The not so good: 1. Prices are a bit high...but it's seafood. Example: Lunch portion Halubut=$22.00. read more

See all

Great food and drinks with a nice happy hour menu in the bar too. Fish is a must as they prepare it so well. This place gets my high ratings for the best restaurant to watch the sunset. A nice place to have a drink to a nice place to have a romantic dinner. Outdoor seating available to enjoy the sunshine and watch for bald eagles in the trees. Enjoy read more

Ray's is an iconic place with a great setting right on the water. I ate there three times last week (for work interviews). Every time the servers were knowledgeable, polite, and friendly. Their selection of beers on tap was disappointing - unless you like IPA (I don't). The salmon was far and away the best thing I ate - perfectly cooked and seasoned - a great piece of fish. The accompanying green beans and mashed potatoes were okay, but nothing special. Other nights I had a salad (frankly boring with a ridiculous amount of cheese), the chowder (creamy but salty, and not a lot of seafood), and the tagliatelle (perfectly cooked pasta with some mushrooms and lots of melted butter). For the $$$ you're spending, I expected better food. I guess you're paying for the location, location, and location. If you come to Ray's, order the salmon and and an IPA, and sit back and enjoy the view. read more

It's your standard sorta-nice seafood/steak restaurant with a view. Great service. Good food. Expensive. read more

See all

Great view, wonderful service but food fell short. Came here with my chef friend and his recently graduated daughter to celebrate. I came early at 7:00 pm and found they had no openings until 8:30. The kind host found a way to squeeze us in at 7:45. Came back and was promoted seated on the deck. Everyone in our group is starving. About a 20 minute wait to place our order. Started with drinks, Shirley Temple for the graduate. Dirty Martini and Champagne for the adults. Another 20 minute wait for our drinks. So now the staff has two adults, with only drinks in their stomach to deal with. Thankfully, we are manageable people. Ordered the bread service, wedge salad and Brutus salad to start. Really good salads, we shared tastes and particularly enjoyed the generous amount of anchovies on the Brutus salad. Wedge salad was good too, just more on the bland side. Next, two orders of applewood grilled katsu sablefish. This was a disappointing dish. The fish was cooked nicely. But sable fish is on the bland side and the accompanying components did not add to the flavor profile.The ingredients of undercooked quinoa and vegetables did not pare well with adding necessary flavor. As this was an Asian based dish, I would suggest adding garlic , ginger and sesame oil, to elevate the taste factor of this dish. Our graduate friend had the Dungess crab tagliatelle. This had nice homemade pasta, but lacked the advertised flavor of walnut romesco and chives to balance the dish. Also, the dish was quite salty and had to grapple with several pieces of crab cartilage in the dish. Overall, paid 100.00 per person for our meal, with a bottle of wine. So, the staff and location are top notch, however the food disappointed me as a seafood aficionado. read more

It's been at least 15 years since I've been to Ray's. I was in Ballard for a meeting and decided to stop here for lunch with a co-worker. I ordered the seafood salad and it was DELICIOUS. Fresh and chock full of seafood including candied salmon and smoked scallops. There was nothing left on my plate after I was finished. Service was good and the view was serene. This iconic establishment reminded of my other favorite waterfront restaurant - Arnie's in Mukilteo. Both restaurants have been around for a long time due to their consistent food quality and service. You can't go wrong coming to Ray's. read more

Celebrated my husbands birthday here and was very happy! Anna was our waitress, she recommended the sable fish and halibut, which we ended up getting. Both were great! Clams were amazing as well. Service was on point and I saw 12 seagulls, a blue heron, 2 weird ducks and a seal. read more

Went here for lunch and grabbed the salmon burger. We sat outside on the deck which has amazing views. The salmon burger was cooked to perfection and was delicately moist on the inside but still held together. I would definitely recommend the salmon burger. I feel like there were some missed opportunities on the deck though. Our table was parallel to the windows which meant two people had to face the building instead of looking at the majestic Olympic mountains. I feel like the tables along the building should be perpendicular to the building so all guests at the table have views of the mountains. The staff was hustling around but there was some cross communication on an order of coffee and a soda. The person who brought our food out too the order but the drinks never came. Then we told our sever and the drinks still didn't come. When we reminded her she said she was waiting to make sure there wasn't a duplicate order. Why not just ask the person who brought our food out right away? All in all, for the price point it was an ok experience. read more

This was a great spot to bring out-of-town guests...get there early-ish, as they are a jumpin' busy place! Food was good and plentiful, and service stellar. Can't wait for more guests to visit so we can go there again!! read more

Oregon Pinot noir by the glass was stale Salmon cooked to medium was raw Waiter was nice No chocolate on the dessert menu I liked sitting next to the fire on this cold and rainy night read more

Ray's Boathouse - New American Near Me - Seattle, Washington

If I could give zero stars I would. My fiancé ordered the halibut, as it was highly recommended by our waiter. She ate the majority of the fish, however quickly realized that the center of the fish was undercooked. Not wanting to get sick she wisely stopped eating. Moments later, to our surprise a LIVE parasitic worm began wiggling and moving around inside the fish. We were told by the manager that this is normal for fish to have these parasites. However with a bit of research I discovered, while it is normal for these parasites to occur in halibut, it is not normal for them to be alive during consumption of the fish. If the fish is properly cooked, (clearly this was undercooked), or frozen, the worms would have died. For a restaurant that serves primarily seafood this was beyond pathetic and Rays should be ashamed of themselves. Not to add insult to injury, but I ordered the shrimp and pasta and the shrimp was terrible as well. So much for "fresh" seafood. Do yourself a favor and never eat here and subject yourself to terrible food and parasitic worms. read more

Ray's Boathouse - New American Near Me - Seattle, Washington

They have fancy bathrooms and good views. The appetizers were 10/10. We got crab dip, muscles, and calamari. All were delicious but the apple salad was a little disappointing. Might have been the dressing was a little too mustard tasting/tangy for me. The prices are a little high but you're paying for the experience and atmosphere. read more

There are just so many good choices for restaurants in Seattle that the bar is set pretty high. Ray's Boathouse came highly recommended and it seems that it was because of the view. And the view was incredible. You get a front row seat to the Pacific coast watching kayakers cross by, mountains in the back. It's like a picture for an REI ad. Ray's Boathouse is your traditional seafood restaurant. There are no surprises here. The restaurant is exactly what you expect for a fancier restaurant by the water. They're incredibly busy so you should have a reservation if you plan to eat here especially on the weekend. We started off with oysters which were great. A little on the expensive side and not much variety but delicious nonetheless. A friend of ours got the crab toast which is essentially bruschetta with crab meat on top. Also a fine choice. People raved about the sablefish which is a boxed item on the menu... so it must be good right? It comes in two styles and I went with the sake kazu. This Japanese inspired dish was well chosen for this particular type of fish. If you're not familiar with sablefish it's a white, buttery and flaky fish. It's served on top of some soba noodles with what I believe is a sake broth. Awesome. That was the best thing I had at the restaurant. What I haven't mentioned yet was that we had also ordered calamari which is generally not hard to mess up. Unfortunately that evening, it took a while for us to get our dish plus it came out slimy. Calamari shouldn't be like that.... I get the impression that overall they were understaffed in the main serving area plus in the kitchen. They have overall awesome reviews but our experience that night did not meet our expectations. Everyone was helpful and friendly but something was off about the service and the food. If you do have a chance to go here and the day is nice out, you should request to sit on their patio. It's incredibly especially with the breeze flowing through. I would consider giving them a try again but there may be things I'd advise people to avoid on the menu. Plenty of parking here in their private lot but on occasion it can fill up. They are business casual to dressy but I'm not sure they enforce their dress code. However you'll definitely standout if you come in dressed in shorts. read more

Yes, it's a touristy place. But it is very good. Service was great and food was delicious. View is great even on a rainy night. The tuna appetizer was ultra fresh and the recommended sable entree was incredible. Very good wine list. read more

I went there recently. I had a sablefish. It's like a seabass but pretty oily and not nearly as good. After a while you kindof get tired of eating it. The sides were rice and cabbage. Yes, plain white rice. I was dissappointed with the sides since this was nearly $50 a plate. The service was outstanding. Total bill for dinner for two with 3 glasses of wine, two bowls of chowder, and 1 desert was over $200 after tip. I don't think I got $200 worth of food or drinks. I noticed all the prices here have gone up about 30%+ over the last few years. I'd be more satisfied if I got out of there for $150 with the same amount of food and would probably go here more often instead of once every few years. The whole menu seems pretty expensive. It's tough finding good seafood at a fair price in seattle. Maybe that's due to the city requiring a $15 minimum wage from everyone. The lower dinner room seems to have been renovated with a open layout, but I actually preferred the old layout better because it was quieter and more private. read more

Ray, your Boathouse gave me an experience more immortalizing in both the food and the atmosphere! The table that my handsome date and I were sat was at the corner window of the restaurant which was the best area to see the water. This restaurant trumps in comparison to other restaurants with a waterfront, as the water can be viewed through a large window that touches the top of the ceiling to the floor. The atmosphere was elegant and sophisticated. Tableware was top notch and the dip of the soup spoons were beyond appropriate. Complimentary crackers and bread was to start as well as an order of a creamy clam chowder and half a pound of delicious Mediterranean Mussels that had a mild kick of spice in every bite. My partner ordered Pan Seared Sea Scallops. It is a pasta of squid ink spaghetti in sherry, and mixed in with Dungeness crab and charred onions, seasoned with herbs and bread crumbs. The scallops were tender and up to par and the squid ink spaghetti was impressive and delicious. My meal was the House Made Tagliatelle which I added 4 prawns to the dish. It is a pasta served with three different kinds of locally foraged mushrooms and peppery spinach, mixed with hazelnuts and drizzled with olive oil. Each part of this dish had distinct flavors from one another which I can't find in many pastas that mask their food in sauce. Mushrooms tasted fresh, spinach tasted fresh, and the shrimp was flavorful and cooked to perfection. Service was slow; but overall, the caliber of the meal and picturesque views is something that I can always come back to! read more

See all

Atomesphere was good, service was good, and food was also good. Portion was actually larger than I expected (i had the Christmas course meal), especially the steak. But the entre came out a little bit late. I spent the whole 2 hours to finish the course. Not that I didnt like waiting but it was longer than I expected. read more

See all

At first glance I thought it would be a lousy tourist/old people trap, but I was really quite impressed by our food, the dockside table setting, and the great service. We started with the ceviche which was fantastic. The combination of ahi, avocado, lime and sliced jalapeño was remarkably good, and the crispy rice paper was super unique and nice change from the standard tortilla chip. I had their signature smoked sablefish with asparagus, mushrooms and curry sauce and it was insane good. Best thing I had in Seattle. The smoke flavor was delicious and didn't overpower the delicate fatty fish. The rich yellow curry sauce and mushrooms somehow went perfectly with the smoke flavor, and the cook on the Gus was spot on. This plate was very filling and certainly worth the $$. She ordered the king salmon and really enjoyed it. Personally I found the fish to be a touch dry and the taste a bit flat, but she liked it. Also, their oven-warm table bread and salted butter was stellar and worth the calories. read more

Ray's Boathouse - Smoked sablefish - New American Near Me - Seattle, Washington

See all

great food, excellent service and ambiance. nice selection of wines and fabulous menu.

I've been here off and on since I moved to Seattle (1994), haven't been for couple of years, and went for dinner recently. It used to be decent but now the prices are insane and the food is completely unremarkable, bordering on sad. Feels like what you might get at an airport restaurant. Only go if you don't care about money or *really* need a view while you eat. read more

Highly recommended. However, worst meal in Seattle. Plus I spent $40 in uber to get there from waterfront. Exhibit A. Clam chowder. No clams. Pile of potatoes. The calamari was so salty I could barely eat it. Caesar salad tasteless. Alaskan King crab salty like it was preserved and cold butter. read more

Ray's Boathouse - New American Near Me - Seattle, Washington

See all

Great view, great service. Food bland and very very mediocre. A tourist trap. If you don't care about the food and just want to soak up the atmosphere on a sunny day, go for it. Just don't expect good food. read more

Beautiful place to have dinner! Good food Long wait for table upstairs if you have a party of 6 but worth the wait. I have visited Seattle over the last year several times and always go back read more

5 stars for the food and atmosphere. This place has some of the best clam chowder! I had the rockfish and it was delicious. I took a star off for the waitress. She was nice enough but in too much of a hurry. She also didn't check on us often enough, and when she did, she was in so much of a hurry that when we told her what else we needed, she immediately darted off to take care of it, without waiting to hear what ELSE we needed. Slow down. Also, do not ask, "Are you still working on that?" That's something you say to your three-year-old. Dining is not work -- until questions like this are asked. Maybe she just needs some training. read more

Great service. Not great food. Meals seemed rushed and greasy. Management didn't seem bothered. A bit of a let down for a classic Seattle establishment. read more

Another recommendation from a local in Seattle, went out of my way for a dinner here, really enjoyed it, it was a quiet night, w/ the beautiful sunset on the water, turning into a full moon blaring off the water. Server was polite, courteous, knew her food and drinks there, although it was slow, though the food would of came out faster when there was only 10 people in there when I arrived. The portion was little small, but definitely had bunch of flavor. read more

See all

It's nice to sit on the deck on a sunny day but the food is very mediocre and I never leave here and think to myself "that was a really good meal". I wish they would get better chefs and improve their menu. I can't recommend Ray's. read more

Great for views and happy hour drinks. We were lucky to get an outside patio table. The unobstructed views of the mountains and Sound are unbeatable on a clear day! The food we saw come out during HH wasn't tasty looking enough to tempt us to order! Skimming over the menu, it was very pricey. We did enjoy our drinks, Moscow mule and Bourbon Buck...definitely worth it for drinks. read more

Ray's Boathouse - New American Near Me - Seattle, Washington

See all

There's two floors for Ray's. The downstairs is more upscale and the upstairs is more casual. Great view of the sound from here. If you like seafood, then you'll have a hard time choosing just one entree. Everything is delicious, you can't go wrong! read more

Ray's Boathouse - New American Near Me - Seattle, Washington

We took our son to Ray's to celebrate his 13th birthday. When I made our reservation online I noted it was for my son's birthday and figured that maybe they would do something and maybe not. When we were seated there was a card on the table for my son. The waiter greeted my son and wished him a happy birthday straight off. My son's dessert also came out with a happy birthday chocolate peice and a candle. We were really pleased with their attention to reservation notes and helping make this a special meal. The view is stunning. Not much else to say about it but that :) The food was great and we enjoyed everything we had. My son had the king crab entree and it was a very generous portion unlike some other places we have visited. I had the sablefish and it was prepared wonderfully and melted like butter in the mouth. My husband had the lobster and said it was the best version he's had in years. My only complaint... and it is a small one, is that I ordered a Caesar salad and the croutons were enormous. They were two bite croutons. Very delicious, yep. But it would have been nice if they could have been eaten with salad instead as a side :) Definitely consider coming back for another special occasion. read more

I had my wedding here and feel I was not supported by the wedding coordinator. I reached out to management/owners who didn't care about making My bad wedding experience right. Me and my family will not be back and will not recommend this venue to others. I am very sad. read more

We got there early expecting to have to find parking. We did not have to wait to be seated but DID have to wait almost half an hour before having to ask about where our server was and they said "That's weird. I'll send someone over right away." No one came, so we just ended up just leaving. If there was a way to give zero stars for the service, I definitely would have. read more

Amazing view of sunset over dinner on Labor Day weekend. Food was super delicious justified the service, quality food and the view read more

See all

Took an out-of-town visiting friend - Ray's is always quality, pleasant service and the rockfish sandwich was great! Prices are as expected. The venue, and atmosphere were wonderful for lunch in the cafe!!! read more

I've been here a few times. The view is fantastic, go up stairs less pricey, for A good dinning experience. Burger and fries cooked to your liking. With choice of sweet potato fries, or regular. Watch the boats go by, in and out, towards the locks. Good drinks too, even if you just like the lemonade. Nice appetizers as well. Or the Fish Yumm. -Down stairs is more like fine dinning. read more

Was there with my team and good partners. Best was good. Night view good too. Will try for day view next time. read more

See all

Imagine Red Lobster on the water but the entrees are $40+. At this price point, I would expect something special, however, service is meh; ambiance is meh; and food is meh. read more

This was hands down a 10/10 meal for everybody in my group. The view was stunning, there were views from every seat in the house. Come here if you want to really impress your company read more

Business get together with a party of nine. Arrived at 4 pm without reservations. Fortunately we were seated outside on the deck. As the sun slowly disappeared the staff offered blankets to its patrons. Service transition between water & drinks to appetizers then entrees was slow. Ambiance- 4 Cleanliness- 5 Service- 4 Cuisine- 5 We will return. read more