Ray’s Cafe Dinner UYE #7

Dear Paul C., thanks for your always well planned and organized UYEs. You are one of the people that I think make Unilocal UYEs in Hawaii a fun and friendly place. That being said, I definitely had a great time at your UYE!
It’s not easy to organize a dinner for 25, I know. Yet, somehow, all the different pre-​orders for the night went very smoothly! Shrimp scampi and steak for most of the room, and even for me, even though I don’t eat shrimp (which I took home for mother dearest).
Shout out to all the folks that brought all the add-​ons. Desserts, appetizers, booze, good times, and great conversations are always a staple of these Ray’s Café events and fun to share!

OMG, I can’t believe it took me this long to write this review!
Thank you, Paul C., for hosting such an amazing UYE, here at the wonderful Ray’s Café!
If you haven’t had a chance to dine at Ray’s Café I strongly suggest you try it. The portions are massive and the price is ever so friendly on the wallet. As we all know, Paul’s UYE for Ray’s is never an easy task to get into. I was so happy when I saw that I was the second person to reply «I’m IN»!
Paul and Chef Felix had worked out a menu that would be easy for the kitchen to prepare as it isn’t easy trying to cook for a room full of people, especially us, Unilocalers. The choices consisted of: Grilled butterfish and NY Steak and shrimp. We could also add their famous fried chicken to our dish, yum!
As I was served my dish my mouth agape at the pure size of the butterfish! I have not seen a piece of butterfish this big served in a restaurant since… ever! You bet I enjoyed every single bite! Everyone’s food looked delicious. Next time I am definitely trying the steak and shrimp.
Paul is such a good host, upbeat, greeting everyone and he’s very active with the kitchen and staff, bussing plates, ensuring everyone got their meals, sides, salads and checking on everyone to see how the food is and how they are doing. He is definitely the host with the most!
Thank you to everyone who brought extra goodies for us to share. Jules Y. and her peanuts, Fran C. and the custard pie (I love custard pie!). Darrell and Sophie P. for the strong watermelon jello shots, bugga was ono and those cookies too! If I missed anyone, sorry, you all are fantastic!
It was great to see familiar faces, new Unilocalers and to finally meet people who I’ve been friends with for awhile now. I had an awesome time! Thank you to Judy C and her husband Alex for being my last minute stand ins, mwah! I can’t wait for the next Ray’s Café UYE #8! I hope I get in!

I am humbled and very grateful.
Very grateful for Chef Felix. Very grateful for Unilocal Hawaii and the overwhelming support of my fellow Yeeps. Very grateful for continued popularity of the Ray’s Café UYE series.
As you probably already aware of, I host UYE’s every so often and take turns with the venues of Ray’s Café and Happy Garden. In order to have the evening go smoothly, this UYE requires more coordinating which in turn lead to a headache or two. But when I look back at the evening so see many happy faces, tummies and doggie bags, it’s sure worth it.
Per the request of Chef Felix, he asked me to limit the seating from the previous record of 30 to 25 peeps. Although we had less people in attendance, we still had a blast as we took over the whole restaurant.
There are so many people I want to thank:
1) Chef Felix for closing his restaurant early to feed our group exclusively.
2) Darrell P. and Sophie P. for their continued generosity. We were all amazed of those super POTENT Jell-​o shots using the watermelon core. Many thanks to those Kapuakea bags of lemon bars, lilikoi bars, Kona coffee fudge brownies and guava bars. I’m not much of a drinker but I did enjoy the lychee SAKE — — thanks Darrell!!!
3) Jacob N. for sharing his bottles of «happy juice».
4) Adrienne B. for those yummy chocolate dipped shortbread cookies from Big Island candies.
5) Maka K. for those awesome bags of cookies from Hawaiian Pie Company.
6) Li Y. for the original dessert. It was a very unique combination of several layers. Not sure what it’s called but didn’t mind being «guinea pigs».
7) Jules Y. for the bags of boiled peanuts from Alicia’s Market.
8) Fran C. for the 3 custard pies from Nanding’s Bakery.
9) Gary N. for the ONO Japanese snacks he got from Nijiya.
10) John N. for attending ALL of my 13 UYE’s I’ve either hosted for co-​hosted.
11) Cathy T. and Maka K. as these 2 girls have attended 12 and 11 of my UYE’s, respectively.
While getting ready to serve dessert, we were blessed with former SUPER ROCK STAR Santi T. and her 2 kids «crashed» the UYE. It was such a pleasant surprise to have them stop by and although it was brief, it was enough time for us to exchange greetings and pack some desserts for her to take home. I mean, if it’s going to be a «dessert crasher», she had to take home a box of assorted sweets!
Due to last minute cancellations I was able to fill up the seats going deep into the waiting list. This has happened in the last 2 UYE’s so in the future I highly recommend you to RSVP and go on that waiting list!
I was able to convince Tomi, a friend and previous colleague when I worked for a Japanese tour agency, to attend. Someone cancelled several hours before start and Tomi had just stopped by asking me for some assistance. She didn’t have any dinner plans so I dragged her. She had so much fun that she asked me to invite her again the next time I host UYE’s!
In closing, the evening went very well. Many happy faces, many happy tummies and many doggie bags.
Once again, I thank all who took part in this UYE. Your continued support made this event a success.
NOTES: Gary N. needs to take some pointers from John N. Both of these guys are Gold Elites but John N. knows how to «do it». Let’s just say that John has a «clean» bone and Gary has a «dirty» bone.

I love Paul C.‘s energy from the day I met him and his UYEs only exemplify his amazing personality. Bring in a killer chef & restaurant and you’ve got a night of excellence on hand! Ray’s Café is somewhere I never would have guessed to go & after the last UYE, I fell in love. Those lamb chops! This time around I was late to RSVP but luckily Cathy T. invited me as one of her +1’s — thank you lady! Such a score!
We started off our evening with some boiled peanuts from Jules & AMAZEBALLS watermelon shots from Darrell & Sophie — so good, oh my gawd. The firmness! ;) Menu choices were butterfish or T-​bone steaks with shrimp scampi plus the amazing fried chicken add on. The butterfish was huge! I was blown away by the portion size. I ordered the steak rare — it came out tender and was seasoned well. Cathy and I shared the shrimp & I of course added on some chicken because you should never turn down fried food. Maka, Darrel, Sophie & other Unilocalers for the cookies and desserts! Everything was tasty and an added bonus to the night. BYOB means we all laugh a bit too loud but it only makes the tiny place seem bigger. I shared a table with Gary, Judy, Maka, Jacob, Paul etc and loved the company. The setup allowed us all to interact so I got to enjoy the other tables too.
Thank you Felix for some phenomenal food and thank you Paul for another amazing UYE. I seriously had the best time. The best. Seriously.

Dessert crasher!
How can I say NO to Paul C?!? He posted another famous UYE at Ray’s Café and I had to crash it to surprise my fellow HI Unilocalers!
My timing couldn’t have been better as they were ready to serve desserts. Woohoo! Paul and many of the Unilocalers provided tons of dessert post their over the top dinner. I saw pictures and take out boxes of their leftovers and everyone was having a blast as Paul filled the restaurant to the max.
Big hugs to all the Unilocalers I reconnected with and met that evening! I miss all of you and your warm aloha spirit!
Paul, you nailed it AGAIN! Keep it up! Thanks again for welcoming the smiles and yummy desserts!

I must say it was a great honor to finally make it to Paul C.‘s UYE at Ray’s Café!
For you folks that don’t know about this event, I would say Ray’s Café is one of the more popular events in the Hawaii Unilocal community.
If you haven’t tried the food at Ray’s, you folks are certainly missing out! They are known for their Prime Rib, Frrrrried Chicken, and the numerous fish dishes!
I have to also thank my girlfriend — Jules Y. for booking our space for this very popular event because as you know, I am really not on top of my Unilocal events. Lol!
I also would like to thank chef Felix for making the wonderful grub. Jules & I elected to go with the delicious Butterfish, and my better half was nice enough to make sure I had my Frrrrrried Chicken on the side too!
What can I say about the Butterfish? All I can say is the fish was all so buttery good! Light & flakey, grilled to perfection! The Frrrrried Chicken? How can you not like it! So crispy on the outside, and all so meaty on the inside! Noms!
There were a lot of regulars (Yeeps) who attended this event, and if I did not get to personally talk to you, please accept my humblest apologies.
One couple — Bruddah Darrell P. & his beautiful wife Sophie P., I was really happy to see them, as I really wanted to have a few with Bruddah Darrell! (Been over one year since we had a few together). Thanks Bruddah Darrell for the wonderful champagne, and for the potent watermelon shots!
I think I had too much Champagne, Shots, & Sake yesterday… as I was feeling it on Friday, and paid the price! Lol!
Paul C., you da bestest dude! Keep up the wonderful job in hosting the Ray’s events!

When Paul had his UYE posted, I got a text from Jerrae (to rsvp),
I clicked on «I’m In» but realized my RSVP was on wait list.
I didn’t make it. Too late! Sad face!
Until Sunday night, when Jerrae’s plus 2 couldn’t make it.
Thanks Jerrae! What great news!
When she told me she got the steak/​shrimp scampi & butterfish,
I was even more happy & excited, as this would have been my choices anyways.
When I got my butterfish, the moment I’ve been waiting for!
I even ate very light at lunch to be ready for the feast!
The butterfish is huge! so soft, cooked to perfection, & so soft!
I enjoyed every piece of that butterfish.
I had to take the other half home for lunch the next day.
My +1 got T-​bone steak with shrimp scampi.
He enjoyed it & ate it all up! He said it was winnahs!
I also got the 2 piece chicken to share with my plus.
Wow! the chicken, just as I remembered, so crispy and tasty!
That was so nice of Paul to recognize a few people with his beautiful leis.
Gold Elite John N. for graduating from Police Academy. Congratulations!
The rest of the leis were given to Maka, Cathy, & Paul’s long time friend, Tomi.
Thank you to Jules for the bringing the boiled peanuts.
Thank you Darrell & Sophie P. for the watermelon jello shots & lilikoi, lemon, & kona coffee bars.
Wow! I LOVED it, talk about potent!
Thank you to the rest of the Unilocalers, for bringing cookies, rice cake, & custard pies.
It was great meeting Santi & her kids! She surprised Unilocalers with her visit.
It was nice to see Unilocal friends again!
& so great seeing the newly Unilocal couple Jules & Fran!
Yes! Everyone Paul did it again!
Oops Paul did it again, his UYE #7 @ Ray’s Café.
I could tell, everyone including me & my +1 enjoyed our time last night.
Good food, Good sweets, Good Unilocal friends, Good alcohol, = GOOD TIMES!
Thanks much Paul, looking forward to # 8, hoping to be lucky again!
Thanks Paul for adding steak and butterfish as the new choices for your UYE!
TIP: you have to be quick at securing a spot!
Hurry & click on that «I’m In»” button!

It says a lot about the host, chef and food when someone can host 7 UYE’s at the same venue. Paul, Felix and Ray’s Café have been a hit with everyone that has come to this UYE. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. The event is run very smoothly like a well oiled machine. It’s great that this UYE has gotten to this point because it’s one that a lot of Yeeps look forward to attending.
The menu tonight was steak with shrimp scampi or grilled butterfish. Attendees had the option to add 2 pieces of fried chicken to their meal. I opted for the steak and shrimp scampi. The steak was grilled perfectly and the shrimp was a nice compliment to the dish. As much as I wanted to add the fried chicken to my meal, I decided not to this time because I need to watch my weight. Pinch an inch became more of a handful recently.
Special thanks to Darrell + Sophie for making and sharing their watermelon jello treat! Also, thank you Li for making us guinea pigs ;)

The Amazing Paul C. does it again!
Infinite thank yous to Paul, and Chef Felix and the Ray’s Café gang for another spectacularly delicious meal, all the thoughtful folks who brought drinks, snacks and desserts, and to all the lovely dinner companions for making the night one to remember!
The t-​bone steak and shrimp scampi were mouth watering, the butterfish melted in my mouth like butter, and the fried chicken is some of the best on the island! And everything, as it usually is at Ray’s was very reasonably priced.
You just can’t go wrong with a Paul C. Ray’s Café UYE. Seats always fill up super fast since the restaurant is can only handle a couple dozen-​ish people before violating some kind of codes or something, so if you happen to see an enemy post for the next one, be sure to smash that «I’m In» button to try to get a space!
Thanks again to Felix and staff, and to Paul for making this all happen. Can’t wait to see what in store for next time!

I can’t put my arms down!
That’s the usual theme of the Ray’s UYEs as I’m usually duct taped to a wall trying my hardest to eat, not bump my elbows into my table mate and feeling very much like Ralphie’s brother in A Christmas Story.
Last night’s dinner the seventh in Paul C.‘s Ray’s Café UYEs was quite the delight in that while there were plenty of Yeeps it was just right. Not too little Yeeps and not too many Yeeps. Just the perfect amount so that we could all move our arms and legs.
Those in attendance were offered their choice of steak and shrimp scampi or butter fish and like always I’m pretty sure that many of us in attendance were served whole cows and fish. As always the fried chicken add on was enjoyed by many.
After some of us began suffering from meat sweats, desserts began being passed around and as usual there was no shortage of sweets. Generally it may be a good idea not to eat for two to three days prior to a Ray’s Café UYE or eat here the day prior to prepping for a colonoscopy so you can try to rid your body of the ten to fifteen pounds you’re sure to gain while enjoying each other’s company.
I’d like to give a huge shout out to Li Y. for saving me again from doing the parallel parking dance of shame. I’m sure the people who live in that house are also grateful as they likely feared for their safety a few times.
And as always thank you Paul C. for coordinating these.

Tonite is Paul C.‘s next UYE and I was one excited Yeep!
Yahoooo!
If you haven’t yet gone to one, you really need to just do it! How? Just check the Unilocal events page for the Paul C. UYE at Ray’s Café! He’ll hold them every so often! While you’re at it, there might be other Unilocal and non-​Yelp events you might want to attend to meet and hang out with other food-​minded Yeeps! Check it out regularly! .)
Tonite’s offerings are prime rib with shrimp scampi or grilled butterfish! One could order a side of any of the three! If you wanted a couple pieces of their delish fried chicken, you’d just pay an extra few dollars! That’s a great deal for chicken too, especially since it tastes so good!
Well, Fran C. my new BF and I chose the latter choice (Fran also had the side of frrrrried lol chicken) and we LOVED it! Buttery soft! Oh boy so Moist! Flaky! Tasty! Cooked to puuurfection! Did I say buttery *and* soft together?! Well it was! It was just the yummiest fish dish! :D
There were a bunch of fun yeeps, ones I know well or previously met Unilocal-​elsewhere, and ones I didn’t yet know that hopefully soon I will get a chance to meet!
Thank you, Paul C., Chef Felix, and all of the wonderful Yeeps who attended! It’s always a magical night at this event! Thank you to everyone who brought goodies for before and after our fun event!