Well Fed On the Town

I always try to find encouraging things to say about the places I eat in these reviews. I take the “parent conference approach”, starting with a positive before going onto the challenges.  I pondered about this all day, and don’t know how upbeat I can be.

Over the years, I have heard so many great things about Ray’s on the River.  I was told it was an upscale restaurant “outside the perimeter” (outside the city Atlanta) that overlooks the banks of Georgia’s Chattahoochee River.  Boastful comments have come my way about elegant Friday and Saturday night dinners and a phenomenal Sunday Brunch.

It must be that I caught Ray’s in a bad day because the experience was forgetful from the get go. 

First, the valet signage and orange cones were misleading and I thought I had to valet.  I saw my date walk up as I handed my keys to the parking attendant, realizing I could have self parked.  Then, the lack of crowd control led us to have to walk on the grass, around the footpath that lead to the front door, to get into the restaurant.  Then once in the door, the hostess did not look up at us once as we presented our name and party number.

Our friendly server, Deondra I think, caused me to think my experience would turn out okay after all.  She was informative and cheerfully explained how the buffet worked since I was a first timer.  As I surveyed the cramped table area barely allowing more than single file, passing the peel-and-eat shrimp and muscles on ice, I observed the central buffet table which housed an assortment of chef-prepared dishes like scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash brown, and small waffles.  Crab stuffed flounder rolls, mushroom penne, and chicken represented some of the proteins.  A carving table stood nearby with a chef available to slice ham and roast beef. Sharing the carving table was an omelet bar, where three pans waited on open-flames behind the “fixins’” - shrimp, bacon, ham, onions, mushrooms, peppers, and tomatoes.  Then, hugging the wall, there was a table with a selection of bread choices, bagels, and cheeses. The desserts, which sat on what I think was the bar, had a assortment of various pieces of pies, bars, and cakes. Sounds great, right?

Both of us started with an egg white omelet with various veggies, and we were simultaneously taken back by the amount of oil the chef placed in the pan. The oil ended up rendering my omelet inedible because the grease ran down my plate saturating the other item on my plate.  The only other thing I tried from the central buffet was the bacon since the other items glistened with significant amounts of oil as well, especially the hash browns. Sadly, I ended up not eating the bacon, either, since it was so tough I could barely break it with my teeth. My date liked the flounder, though, and the raisins scones that were 1-inch by 1-inch weren’t bad either!

The desserts included items such as German Chocolate Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Sweet Potato Pie pieces, Cheese Blitzes, and pound cake.  The pieces were cut in small bite-size squares, even the pie which seemed random, and all looked as though the knife was dull.  There wasn’t any attempt to decorate or embellish the desserts to make it seem as though the buffet actually cost $23.99 per person.

Overall, the experience was such that I don’t think I will try Ray’s on the River a second time. It’s disturbing to know I ate at a restaurant that has schooled chefs and went home and ate.  I never thought I would say this, but next time, I’ll suggest going to Golden Corral, where for around $10, we are sure to get a much better meal that doesn’t look like it was thrown together.