From River Cutlery to Tableside Martinis, Ray's Restaurants Redefines the Art of Hospitality
Crisp white plates, sparkling silver cutlery, glistening glassware—a well-laid table is integral to the art of preparing and presenting food, the art of hospitality. Ray’s Restaurants—Ray’s on the River, Ray’s in the City and Ray’s at Killer Creek—has specialized in the art of approachable hospitality since 1984, welcoming guests for nearly 40 years. Extensive experience and a sense of tradition allow the locally owned restaurant group to dive deeper into what hospitality truly means. At Ray’s Restaurants, hospitality is an essential part of a way of life that celebrates quality, authenticity and connection and makes every guest feel welcomed.
Alex Stockwell, general manager of Ray’s at Killer Creek, explains, “After COVID-19, we decided this was our opportunity to go back to what restaurants used to be, a living display of art that people could participate in, where they can forget about their busy lives for a moment and live in the current experience.”
Undoubtedly, the hiatus in face-to-face gatherings fostered an even greater appetite for human connection. “We looked at what we were doing and collaborated as a team to make it even better,” Stockwell adds. “We asked ourselves, ‘How do we look at the tiny details that will allow diners to relax into the experience, to enjoy the conversation and connection with other guests?’”
With this goal in mind, Ray’s Restaurants made a conscious decision to transform its dinner service, making its award-winning food and service even better. At Ray’s Restaurants, diners are enveloped in the beauty and ambiance of the restaurants, the hyper detail-focused service creating an atmosphere of approachable luxury.
Elevated service offers the ultimate in hospitality as well as an interactive form of entertainment. Tableside service provides both attention to detail—and a bit of theatrics—allowing a meal to transcend into a memorable dining experience.
Some of the details that the teams at Ray’s examined, improved and elevated include:
Ray’s show-stopping chilled seafood tower is brimming with Maine lobster, king crab legs, freshly shucked cold-water oysters, colossal shrimp cocktail and jumbo lump crab meat with a dry ice presentation. Leaving no stone unturned, Ray’s now finishes off the presentation with a new lavender-scented hot towel service.
Ray’s has always prided itself on its top-quality Certified Angus hand-cut, wet-aged steaks and has now gone above and beyond for its guests by creating the perfect steak accoutrements. Guests can now top steaks with new foie gras, bone marrow butter or black garlic puree sauces. For those wanting to try a little bit of everything (or just cannot make up their minds), Ray’s has introduced the sauce ensemble featuring all of its classic steak sauces in a tasting form for guests wanting to try a little of each.
A phenomenal breadbasket is filled with seasonal focaccia, pretzel, sourdough, raisin walnut and lavash and served with Banner Butter small-batch butter. And to ensure the quality, Ray's recently purchased local bakery The Grateful Bread Company to make bread exclusively for its restaurants.
Not only does Ray’s offer an award-winning wine list, but servers also present each wine to guests and decant the bottles tableside.
Ray’s is known for its classic cocktails and guests are in for a treat when ordering one of Ray’s James Bond-worthy martinis that are shaken and served tableside.
Fine dining service once encouraged wait staff to be somewhat formal in their treatment of guests. While servers at Ray’s Restaurants continue to comport themselves professionally—for example, refraining from being overly conversational with customers and paying strict attention to table etiquette—the management at Ray’s Restaurants continues to emphasize the importance of genuine hospitality to providing great dining experiences.
For example, the customers get to know Gerald Wallace, who has worked at Ray’s for over 21 years. They genuinely appreciate conversing with him about the intricacies of the wine, not just a robotic explanation of the wine list.
Stockwell shares, “This level of customer service is returning to the roots of hospitality. It’s not solely money-focused and profit-driven. The best business model is producing something of real genuine value, that people want. That value can be found in authentic connections, relationships and truthful desire to participate in providing true hospitality.”
About Ray’s Restaurants:
Founded in 1984 by renowned restaurant industry veteran Ray Schoenbaum, Ray’s Restaurants is comprised of Ray’s on the River (6700 Powers Ferry Road in Sandy Springs, 770-955-1187), Ray’s in the City (240 Peachtree Street NW in Downtown Atlanta, 404-524-9224) and Ray’s at Killer Creek (1700 Mansell Road in Alpharetta, 770-649-0064). Each restaurant features an award-winning menu with an emphasis on fresh fish flown in daily from the Atlantic and Pacific, house-cut chops, prime steaks and extensive wine offerings from around the world. www.raysrestaurants.com.