Ray’s In The City – Atlanta, GA

D.Rough, Rita and I needed some sushi while we were in Atlanta. We did some google-ing and GPS-ing and figured out we were within walking distance of Ray’s (the downtown location). We walked the three blocks to Ray’s and went in. Inside, there was a large lounge area with a piano player and a serious bar. We told the hostess we were eating dinner and she put us in the dining room, rather than the lounge, so just a little bummed. It was all fine though – nothing to complain about.

Our server Joshua came over to help us out. We knew right away he was going to be fun. I asked about girly drinks and he recommended the Pomegranate Martini. Oh yeah, that’s what I needed. He brought it out minutes later, claiming the bartender was “a little heavy handed tonight” and gave me a full martini glass and an almost full martini shaker. Enough for three more martinis. Three strong and delicious martinis. This is my new favorite place. And an awesome server, to boot!

It was a tough decision on what to order, since everything on this menu sounded delicious. I was surprised the food wasn’t more expensive, including the sushi section. These prices made us order way more than we expected to. Bonus! We thoughts we’d share the New Orleans BBQ Shrimp, D.Rough got the She-Crab Soup, and I got the Cajun Gumbo. (Note, I wasn’t sure if Joshua had a speech impediment and couldn’t say “sea crab” correctly, or if it was actually she-crab. I was seriously cracking up because D.Rough kept making him say “she-crab” over and over. Hilarious.) For dinner, I ordered a rainbow roll and a volcano roll. D.Rough ordered a dragon roll and a crunchy roll, and Rita got a salad with what she thought was some lobster on top.

The appetizery things arrived quickly and we dove into them.

My gumbo was one of the best I’ve had. There was plenty of shrimp and Andouille sausage in it, and there was a fantastic flavor in everything. The heat wasn’t too aggressive and I really liked the vegetables they used in it. Really awesome bowl of soup.

D.Rough wasn’t thrilled with her She-Crab Soup, so she gave it to me. I’m not even a fan of crab-based soups, but I really liked this one a lot. Way more than I expected. It had strong butter and corn flavors and the right amount of crab meat. I’m not sure what part she didn’t like, but I wasn’t going to investigate, since I got to eat 95% of her soup.

The New Orleans BBQ Shrimp was absolutely fantastic. The shrimp were really large and covered in really delicious dry seasoning. The sauce they were in was an awesome seasoned butter BBQ sauce, and there were two Boursin cheese grits cakes that were to kill for. These were worth fighting each other for the last bites.

The sushi rolls were better than average. Maybe not the best I’ve ever had, but there wasn’t anything to complain about, really. The fish and veggies seemed fresh and there were appropriate amounts for each bite (unlike some places that are heavy on ingredients). My rolls were covered in a delicious eel sauce (which D.Rough loves to steal from my plate), and D.Rough’s sushi was cut in a pretty unique pattern and assembled nicely. I really liked my sushi here and it was really exactly what I needed (well, four martinis was what I REALLY needed, but the sushi was needed, as well).

Rita’s was the most unexpected dish. She got a very generous portion of salad, which she said was really quite good, and then instead of having small pieces of lobster in the salad, she got a broiled lobster tail. Hilarious. She ended up looking like the fancy one at the table (not that she isn’t), by ordering the baller dish of the night. Well done, Rita.

Overall, a fantastic dinner. We got to sit looking out on the streets of Atlanta and watch the hilarity walk past. Tons of good food and Joshua was hilarious. I’d recommend Ray’s to anyone, and I Think next time I’ll even try one of their steaks!

Top 5 things about Ray’s In The City
1. New Orleans BBQ Shrimp
2. Serious martinis
3. Cajun Gumbo
4. Sushi – all of them
5. She-Crab Soup

Bottom 5 things
1. Didn’t get to sit in the lounge
2. Slight confusion on the lobster tail
3. N/A
4. N/A
5. N/A

http://www.raysrestaurants.com