I'm NOT a seafood person at all! Went because I was outvoted! lol. The server, Nicole was great and attentive. Got our food quickly. They start you off with a bowl of sweet and dill pickles (yum) and a big bowl of coleslaw with no onion (even bigger yay!) the slaw is amazing. I ordered the burger. Literally so big I could only eat half. For not my jive, this place was pretty great. After you eat, go take a peek at the gators read more

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Perfectly fried best seafood I've had in a while. I myself think for the amount you're paying you don't get enough I paid $25 for the seafood platter plus $3 to have a piece of fish added to the plate. And I barely got anything they could really do better on the prices. There's plenty of seafood places that you get way more. Also the service isn't the best. We waited and waited and finally my old man had to go get menus for us to even be able to order for two people to eat was $90 almost it's great eating but it's not for my taste read more

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Moved away from the area 15 years ago and have not had the chance to eat here in 10 years until a few days ago! Let me just tell you the food was just as delicious today as it was 10 years ago. We had a large party and they seated us in a private room very quickly. Our waitress was kind and attentive to our needs. I absolutely love this place. I always get the seafood platter and those fried oysters, shrimp, flounder and stuffed crab were bomb!!! Cheese grits rock and the slaw is just amazing!!! I love the location because it is out in the middle of nowhere where and we even saw an alligator in the pond! My one tip is get there early before they open this place is always packed! read more

I'm going to chalk this visit to an off night but when I say off, it was as off S you can get. We sat down and ordered immediately knowing they were busy and it may take a bit to get our food. Well a bit turned into hour and 20 minutes later. At least the food was hot and they did offer us a discount. But it will be some time before I venture back read more

A regular stop when visiting family in South Georgia. Great catfish restaurant. Get there early on the weekends. If you're looking for a non-fried dish, try the grilled flounder with Cajon seasoning. read more

I love this little hidden cafe. It's close to home so we don't have to drive 20 min to find good food. Don't let the overcrowded parking into nearby grass and on the road deter you. Rays staff is so polite and you won't have to wait long! The cafe seems to have much more space than appears and they get you seated and served as promptly as possible. The crab legs appetizer is some of the best I've ever had! Their dipping butter is on point too. The catfish is tasty, but has the bones which I'm not a fan of. My husband had the fried chicken which was a smaller portion than he anticipated getting the full size plate. My main motivation for coming back is their butter grits and hush puppies. I asked about the recipe for the hush puppies and was told it's their family's secret recipe! Explains why it's so tasty. read more

Love this place awesome bone in catfish.. order the small catfish dinner if you like fried fish and hish puppys..comes with slaw pickles and fries read more

I am from California and was recommended this spot when I came into town. When we walked up there were about 100 cars in the parking lot! We were like wow should we turn back because we were starving and didn't want to wait. We literally only waited like 20 minutes. Our service was fast and oh so friendly. We got the gator tail and fried pickles appetizers. They were DELICIOUS! We ate them all. All three of us tried a different entree and we were not disappointed. We walked out of there so stuffed we needed to be rolled to the car! I honestly know know why there are bad reviews of this place. It was amazing. My sister and brother in law live in Valdosta and have never been here but I know they will be back and bring all their friends! read more

Ray's Millpond Cafe - Gator tail, fried pickles, mozzarella sticks - Seafood Near Me - Ray City, Georgia

My parents and I would always eat here when they came to visit while I was in college in Valdosta. I recently went back for the first time in nearly 20 years and it was just as good as I remember. read more

Ordered the large cat fish plate. The smallest catfish I have ever tried to eat. My wife ordered the small catfish dinner. They were about 5" long and all were all over cooked. Worse mill I have eaten in a long time. read more

This is one of my all time favorite places. Exceptionally priced food. Awesome gator and catfish. Every time I am in lower GA this is a must stop place. Great family environment, awesome service and the hush puppies and syrup are great! read more

From the moment you walk it you get the warm small town feeling, you can hear the laughter of families and friends enjoying their meal and company..Excellent food and service. Look forward to coming here every chance we get. read more

The last time I came here was 20 years ago and I swore I would not return. Unfortunately I did. We have been sitting here for over an hour and still have not received our food. The waitress keeps saying they are swamped. If we had not traveled nearly two hours to get here, we would leave now! Ridiculous! I won't live another 20 years but if I do I will never come back! Well we finally got our food. Fish was undercooked and the fries were cold. The cheese grits were also runny. My wife ask three different people for tarter sauce all to no avail. One star is being generous! read more

Food is fair but service is always good. The atmosphere is always fun and enjoy going with my family.

Classic catfish house located on Rays Mill Pond. Kids can watch the alligators while you wait to be seated :) honestly grew up eating here for past 40 years. I love the fried catfish and the Nile perch. Sides of pickles, hush puppies, cheese grits, and slaw fill the table. I eat a little cane syrup on my catfish and hush puppies, don't knock it till u try it, waitress will bring u some if it's not already on the table. Kids always want a gator tail appetizer. It's very casual and quite southern. Hasn't changed much in years. read more

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We love Ray's millpond and have been coming here for years. Staff is friendly and the fried catfish is great!

Heard about this place having great seafood. Sorry to say it was not what I expected. The food was terrible. I ordered broiled red snapper and it was so over cooked I could barely cut it with a knife. The seafood is by no means fresh. I overlooked the grungy dining room in hopes of a good meal. Very disappointing. read more

Its a cat fish house..food is pretty good service needs some training every single time I ahve been there the service is not good... My ex loved this place and is food picky and wont go to just any where to eat has to know it is good. I havent had a long wait EVER because I get there before 6 pm..I usually eat the seafood platter and all is well. I LOVE the sweet pickles they put on the tables. If you like standard catfish places Rays will suit you fine. AND it is nice to stroll and look at the water before or after you eat. The kids there are always super excited to see things in the water. It is a local favorite and worth the drive if you haven't been. read more

Yehaw!!! This place was pretty darn cool. The food is great if you like southern seafood. It's not all fried either. You can order it grilled. The location is sweet. It's at the end of a dead end road that butts up against a swamp dock. Very nice scenery. It's a little cramped for space on the inside, though and you don't get a whole lot of privacy when you eat. The dining area is just a big open room with tables placed a little too close to the neighbors in a kind of random assortment and they don't have any outdoor seating to enjoy the view. All that is worth the food, however. read more

I have to believe with the hype of this restaurant that I had to have visited on a bad day. The wait was too long for an elderly person but we didn't mind because we had heard so many good things. This service was disappointing and the food even more disappointing. The scenery was unique and loved seeing the alligators. May try again someday because everyone can't be wrong! read more

One thing when considering coming here is the timing. If you come to late, there is usually long lines that takes a while to get seated. However the food is excellent! Couldn't ask for better southern cooking! The waiters are also pretty good have had no complaints. The only down side is that it's a tick pricy. Other then that great service. read more

This restaurant is the best and great pricesatmosphere might be a little too country for sure they serve coleslaw and dill or bread and butter pickles in a bowl instead of bringing bread to every table the slaw is the best and is always fresh read more

I have been eating here with my family for over 50 years. Ambiance is on the outside looking at the old Ray's fishpond or feeding gators with hush puppies, and some big fish on the walls on the inside. You come to Ray's Pond for one reason, good seafood primarily catfish cooked the way it should be. You can even order the size of catfish you like and they have mullet roe when in season.. The best grits you ever had are served along with the wonderful hush puppies, mama made type coleslaw and sweet and dill pickles as good as I have found in all the years I traveled as a salesman.. Forget the frozen french fries, I have no understanding why this great place stoops so low as to have those worthless pieces of cardboard for customers. I would have given it a higher rating if not for the tasteless frozen fries. read more

Went here a few weeks ago for dinner on a Friday night. Huge crowd. The 15 minute wait turned into 50 minutes outside with millions of mosquitos. Finally got a table in a back room where the floor was slanting about 15*. Really old chairs. The staff were slow and a bit peeved at something. I ordered the sampler. Crab cake was obviously made with store-bought stringy imitation crab meat that's really just white fish. My shrimp and oysters were good. Cheese grits were good but the 3 of us had to share a bowl and was snarled at for asking for spoons. People rave about this place. I guess they just don't have many options. read more

After living in Valdosta for six years and hearing great things about the restaurant my wife and I decided to try rays mill pond cafe. Arriving at the restaurant and seeing the line we were expecting the restaurant to live up to its reputation. The staff told us it would be a thirty minute wait which was very reasonable for the line. After thirty minutes we were seated and immediately ordered food as we had looked at the menu while waiting to be seated. That's where the trouble began fast forward over an hour and seeing five tables seated after us get their meals eat and leave we were still waiting on our food! We had two tables beside us ask what we had ordered that was taking so long, our waiter came back multiple times refilling drinks and about an hour and twenty minutes after ordering told us our food was was sitting in the window waiting and it would be another five minutes?...once we got our food he than had to take half of it back because the order was messed up. The meal quality wasn't terrible the catfish was great although the shrimp and alligator were over cooked, entirely subpar to what was expected especially after an hour and a half wait. Upon checking out the management didn't even offer an apology for the wait. Save your time and take your money elsewhere. I wouldn't recommend the restaurant to anyone after this visit and will definitely not return read more