My wife and I had dessert here. Great atmosphere and service. Interesting decor of old menus from former area restaurants. The bread pudding/ butter cake was some of the best that I've ever had. WE will definitely be back for a date night in the near future.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Butter Cake
Chelsea Willingham
Food was solid. The wait was a long only because I had a reservation and it was 30 minutes before I was seated. The service was less than stellar for this price point.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
Sheree Domine
Excellent! As of now this is my favorite restaurant in Florence AL.I had crab cakes and he had prime rib. Both were cooked to perfection! We finished it off with the pecan bread pudding!Our server, Mary Beth, is excellent! She was attentive to our needs.I am a Navy Veteran and only give high marks when it is deserved! Ray's at The Bank made the grade!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: I Think Southern Pecan Bread Pudding, Crab Cake
Ralph Killen
Didn’t care for the smoke prime rib. Every thing else was
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
Adam Brown
The Best date spot or if you are wanting to impress an out of town guest. You will not be disappointed in anyway. The food is amazing everytime I go.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Butter Cake
Maggie Cotter
How have I been missing out on this place for so long? Best crab cake in the area; most tender, buttery steak; the crawfish bread appetizer special was cheesy and rich and so unique! There isn't a single thing that we ordered that wasn’t amazing. I was scraping everything clean off my plate so I wouldn’t miss a morsel. I look forward my next visit
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
David Hicks
Had the best meal tonight at Rays at the Bank. We had Crab cakes and the absolute best Prime Rib I have ever had. The atmosphere with the live music and great service was fantastic. This is truly a gem in Florence, we will definitely be back and I highly recommend the prime rib.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Key Lime Pie
Sacha Bennett
Sat at the bar to eat because we didn’t have reservations but they said that was just fine. The bartender was overwhelmed from the start. He didn’t even have enough glasses to serve all the drinks. He was not concerned about our experience in the slightest. Not enough staff, no bussers or food runners; they all seemed frantic and frustrated. We got there at 5:30, and we didn't see our entrees until 7:20. We had to ask for our food to go since we waited so long, and they just tossed it into styrofoam containers. It was my birthday, which they were aware, but no apologies, no effort to salvage the experience. We didn't even bother eating the food at home. The prime rib was tough and the other entree and sides were subpar for the cost. Talk about the ultimate disappointment.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
defranks
My first time at Ray’s, for a small family celebration, and I came with trepidation given the mixed reviews, so I was delightfully surprised on most counts. The exposed brick space, tasteful art and mirrors, and subtly lighted curtains made for an inviting setting. We received a warm welcome, all the servers were friendly and hard-working, and throughout our stay we enjoyed the young musician, who was an impressive guitarist with a fine voice and a repertoire of classics from the 60’s and beyond that we appreciated—beautiful music, never overwhelming. My starter salad was carefully composed (no huge pieces of lettuce or vegetables to wrangle) and had a delicious blue cheese dressing with generous chunks of cheese. Then my grilled “tri-tail” white fish, the catch of the day, was a slender filet lightly seasoned and cooked just perfectly, and the creamed spinach as my second side was scrumptious. One companion had the same fish but prepared in the Oscar style and said it was delicious. Others at the table had tenderloins, thick portions prepared exactly as requested, and they too raved. For dessert, key lime pie was good and pecan bread puddling exceptional. Where Ray’s fell down was the details of service. We had to ask for bread plates, which one server took from another set table and then when those guests arrived they didn’t have them. Steak knives were never offered for our beef eaters, although we saw them at other tables. Appetizer plates were not removed before salads came and salad plates were still there when mains arrived, necessitating some juggling. One person requested a glass of wine with their entree and it didn’t arrive until they were half done, ditto with butter, which finally came twice. And we understood the wait for our dessert while they acquired ice cream but would have expected an offer of warm-ups for our after-dinner coffees (which had arrived without cream and sugar so cooled while our server fetched them). There were five people (including the bar tender) working the front of house, and the space is not that large, so being understaffed was not the issue. All this may sound petty, and trust me our servers received their 20%, zero qualms. My point is it’s a repeat of every nice restaurant where I’ve eaten in the Shoals, including Odette’s, 360 Grille, George’s: lovely food, lovely people, attractive space, details of service lacking. I’ve been coming to the area all my life, and the food scene has come SO far in the last couple of decades, but the first restaurant that cracks this code and gets their system down will have truly reached the Big Time. People will find this does make a difference in their experience. Meanwhile, I’ll gladly eat at Ray’s again!
Amazing food! The southern pecan bread pudding is probably the best dessert I've ever eaten.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Diane Hinton
Heard about this amazing restaurant and decided that we had to make the trip from Birmingham to Florence to taste for ourselves. We went for my birthday (9/07) and stayed for 2 days. I can honestly tell everyone reading this I was absolutely in food heaven. There was not a single dish from the Oysters Rockefeller appetizer, then the mouth watering blue cheese (cooked perfectly) filet, grilled asparagus oops! I forgot the Ceasar salad and finally!! The most beautiful delicious (can't find the words) amaretto white chocolate cheese cake! Katrina (the owner and chef) will not server anything that isn't fresh and prepared by herself and the amazing kitchen staff.Our server was Maggie and she was just wonderful. In fact all the servers were! Talk about team work. Oh! lets not forget Barrett the king of White Russians (sorry again about the half and half). If you get within 200 miles from this place you HAVE TO STOP!Thanks for making my birthday great!!Diane
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Tracy Witt
First time here... our server Morgan was awesome. Had guitarist playing tonight who was fabulous. Smoked chicken and baked potatoe was amazing... white BBQ sauce.. who knew? It was killer.... my husband loved the French onion soup and prime rib. Butter cake and ice cream for dessert.... melts in your mouth 10 out of 10!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Butter Cake
Jean Moody
This was our first time eating at Ray’s on the Bank and what a wonderful dining experience it was. Everything was perfect; the food, the service, the atmosphere. We will definitely be eating there again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Mystery Guest
Their brisket is amazing and OMG the butter cake is a must.
Best brisket in this
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Beyond Burger, Smoked Chicken, Brisket, Crawfish Bread
My wife and I had dessert here. Great atmosphere and service. Interesting decor of old menus from former area restaurants. The bread pudding/ butter cake was some of the best that I've ever had. WE will definitely be back for a date night in the near future.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Butter Cake
Food was solid. The wait was a long only because I had a reservation and it was 30 minutes before I was seated. The service was less than stellar for this price point.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
Excellent! As of now this is my favorite restaurant in Florence AL.I had crab cakes and he had prime rib. Both were cooked to perfection! We finished it off with the pecan bread pudding!Our server, Mary Beth, is excellent! She was attentive to our needs.I am a Navy Veteran and only give high marks when it is deserved! Ray's at The Bank made the grade!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: I Think Southern Pecan Bread Pudding, Crab Cake
Didn’t care for the smoke prime rib. Every thing else was
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
The Best date spot or if you are wanting to impress an out of town guest. You will not be disappointed in anyway. The food is amazing everytime I go.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Butter Cake
How have I been missing out on this place for so long? Best crab cake in the area; most tender, buttery steak; the crawfish bread appetizer special was cheesy and rich and so unique! There isn't a single thing that we ordered that wasn’t amazing. I was scraping everything clean off my plate so I wouldn’t miss a morsel. I look forward my next visit
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Had the best meal tonight at Rays at the Bank. We had Crab cakes and the absolute best Prime Rib I have ever had. The atmosphere with the live music and great service was fantastic. This is truly a gem in Florence, we will definitely be back and I highly recommend the prime rib.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Key Lime Pie
Sat at the bar to eat because we didn’t have reservations but they said that was just fine. The bartender was overwhelmed from the start. He didn’t even have enough glasses to serve all the drinks. He was not concerned about our experience in the slightest. Not enough staff, no bussers or food runners; they all seemed frantic and frustrated. We got there at 5:30, and we didn't see our entrees until 7:20. We had to ask for our food to go since we waited so long, and they just tossed it into styrofoam containers. It was my birthday, which they were aware, but no apologies, no effort to salvage the experience. We didn't even bother eating the food at home. The prime rib was tough and the other entree and sides were subpar for the cost. Talk about the ultimate disappointment.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
My first time at Ray’s, for a small family celebration, and I came with trepidation given the mixed reviews, so I was delightfully surprised on most counts. The exposed brick space, tasteful art and mirrors, and subtly lighted curtains made for an inviting setting. We received a warm welcome, all the servers were friendly and hard-working, and throughout our stay we enjoyed the young musician, who was an impressive guitarist with a fine voice and a repertoire of classics from the 60’s and beyond that we appreciated—beautiful music, never overwhelming. My starter salad was carefully composed (no huge pieces of lettuce or vegetables to wrangle) and had a delicious blue cheese dressing with generous chunks of cheese. Then my grilled “tri-tail” white fish, the catch of the day, was a slender filet lightly seasoned and cooked just perfectly, and the creamed spinach as my second side was scrumptious. One companion had the same fish but prepared in the Oscar style and said it was delicious. Others at the table had tenderloins, thick portions prepared exactly as requested, and they too raved. For dessert, key lime pie was good and pecan bread puddling exceptional. Where Ray’s fell down was the details of service. We had to ask for bread plates, which one server took from another set table and then when those guests arrived they didn’t have them. Steak knives were never offered for our beef eaters, although we saw them at other tables. Appetizer plates were not removed before salads came and salad plates were still there when mains arrived, necessitating some juggling. One person requested a glass of wine with their entree and it didn’t arrive until they were half done, ditto with butter, which finally came twice. And we understood the wait for our dessert while they acquired ice cream but would have expected an offer of warm-ups for our after-dinner coffees (which had arrived without cream and sugar so cooled while our server fetched them). There were five people (including the bar tender) working the front of house, and the space is not that large, so being understaffed was not the issue. All this may sound petty, and trust me our servers received their 20%, zero qualms. My point is it’s a repeat of every nice restaurant where I’ve eaten in the Shoals, including Odette’s, 360 Grille, George’s: lovely food, lovely people, attractive space, details of service lacking. I’ve been coming to the area all my life, and the food scene has come SO far in the last couple of decades, but the first restaurant that cracks this code and gets their system down will have truly reached the Big Time. People will find this does make a difference in their experience. Meanwhile, I’ll gladly eat at Ray’s again!
Restaurantji Recommends
Amazing food! The southern pecan bread pudding is probably the best dessert I've ever eaten.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Heard about this amazing restaurant and decided that we had to make the trip from Birmingham to Florence to taste for ourselves. We went for my birthday (9/07) and stayed for 2 days. I can honestly tell everyone reading this I was absolutely in food heaven. There was not a single dish from the Oysters Rockefeller appetizer, then the mouth watering blue cheese (cooked perfectly) filet, grilled asparagus oops! I forgot the Ceasar salad and finally!! The most beautiful delicious (can't find the words) amaretto white chocolate cheese cake! Katrina (the owner and chef) will not server anything that isn't fresh and prepared by herself and the amazing kitchen staff.Our server was Maggie and she was just wonderful. In fact all the servers were! Talk about team work. Oh! lets not forget Barrett the king of White Russians (sorry again about the half and half). If you get within 200 miles from this place you HAVE TO STOP!Thanks for making my birthday great!!Diane
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
First time here... our server Morgan was awesome. Had guitarist playing tonight who was fabulous. Smoked chicken and baked potatoe was amazing... white BBQ sauce.. who knew? It was killer.... my husband loved the French onion soup and prime rib. Butter cake and ice cream for dessert.... melts in your mouth 10 out of 10!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Butter Cake
This was our first time eating at Ray’s on the Bank and what a wonderful dining experience it was. Everything was perfect; the food, the service, the atmosphere. We will definitely be eating there again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Their brisket is amazing and OMG the butter cake is a must.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Butter Cake