Rays Place

Love Rays. Discovered five years ago and love it. Perfect college bar restaurant feel. Good selection of drafts, flights are fun. Nice menu selection have never gotten bad good here. Peppers in oil is great local appetizer; basic appetizer but some ice surprises. Excellent burgers, corned beef has an addicting smoky flavor. Downsides– wait for a table; college town organization; loud (guilt that comes with sitting too long as hungry people look over your shoulder. Rays is pretty much Kent.

This was the worst steak I’ve ever had in my life!!! I asked for well done not charcoal!!! It literally tasted like charcoals and like it fell into the grill pit and they took it out dusted it off and served it… I am totally disgusted and will never ever eat here again!!!

I liked this bar. It was a fun place to hang out and have a couple drinks with friends without spending a fortune. The food was better than most bar food. Their menu is actually pretty extensive and they have daily specials. Everything was very reasonably priced. I had the atomic burger and Cajun fries. Burgers are only $ 5-​$ 6 and we ordered a basket of fries to share for 2 people and it was huge. 2 burgers, fries, and 4 beers came to $ 42. Not bad!

Outstanding food, ambiance, beer list and service. The Mo Fo burger lived up to the hype. The wait staff is super, helpful and eager to help. The basket of fries were like going to the fair. The Reuben was enormous but so full of flavor. The burgers are flame grilled with the edge crust that makes the burger. They cook their burgers to medium and it was delicious. Must stop in Kent. Plus, extensive beer menu! Always a plus.

Ray’s is an institution, a delicious, delicious institution. Great beer list, great food list. The only thing I see as a consistent issue is that we’re frequently there with kids (during normal kid-​friendly hours… tyvm…they have a kids’ menu, okay?) and the servers don’t seem to understand the importance of GTFO when we’re done eating. Bring us the check, take our credit card, and bring it right back. I cannot stress how important this is to us, to the kiddos, and most importantly, to the other patrons.

I love love love rays! I love going to eat there! The servers are great the sweet potato fries are delicious!!! It is a great place to go I defenintley highly recommend it

Great burgers… handsdown! As a Kent Alumni — of course this place is an institution for me. A friendly relaxed atmosphere, with a large on tap offering, great burgers and fries. The Mofo burger is my fav — -though I can never finish it — the hubby gladly eats his and what I can’t eat of mine. We had the peanut butter cheesecake last night and it was delightful.

Great atmosphere, food, and beer choices. Get the sweet potato fries and the peanut butter pie… trust me.

Best beer selection in Kent by far! And it’s always rotating, so there’s always something new to try. And the food is above average for a bar. I never have to wait long for service and the staff is incredibly friendly.

Nice place. Great atmosphere and the burgers where awesome. Definitely will come back again

Couldn’t get enough of this place. During my first visit to Kent, we went here twice in one day, once during the day and the other late at night. Their Cuban sandwich is memorable. I usually forget how foods taste after like 2 or 3 days, but its been about 60 days since I’ve had their food and I remember it. Their menu describes their version of the Cuban as a sandwich with «ham, smoked pork, swiss cheese and dill pickles pressed together between grilled flatbread. Served with a side of Annato mayonnaise.» I was salivating as I was eating the sandwich – it was that good! That Annato mayo was something else, I’d like to take a bottle of it home and just put it on everything I make.
When we went to Rays later that day for their night life, their kitchen was closed but they still had cold sandwiches. I had the turkey sandwich. I’m not much of a cold sandwich person, but I was hungry, it tasted good and it did the trick. They stuffed that sandwich with A LOT of juicy turkey!
Great experience! I’ll be back the next time I’m in Kent.

Rays had great wings and Jerk fries. On Tap selection was great and I would go back.
I would also recommend to friends. Good atmosphere the night before a Marshall game (@ Kent)

Ray’s has some great food including the best burgers in Kent and what I would argue is the best sandwich I’ve yet had in Kent — the CUBAN. I tried the Cuban once on a whim and now I am obsessed.
The Cuban consists of smoked pulled pork and ham (double pork!) sandwiched in between two flatbreads with melty cheese (I usually ask for Pepperjack but it comes with Swiss) and crispy wonderful dill pickle slices. It is served with a side of «Annato Mayo» which is an unusual sauce that I find intellectually confusing but quite palatable and complimentary to the sandwich in practice. This sandwich is BIG so I’m usually left with at least a second half that gets happily devoured for lunch later in the week. Amazing with their jerk fries which are fantastically spiced! (And a «single» order of fries, as opposed to the «basket», comes in a smaller basket and is plenty for two to split!)
It’s often quite busy, and sometimes it’s difficult to find a table if the upstairs is closed. You can eat at the bar but waiting around is well worth it as well! They run a tight ship here and I’ve found service is consistently good even when they’re slammed.
In terms of it also being a bar, they have a wonderful selection of drafts and ok cocktails. Long Island Ice teas seem to be perpetually on sale and they are ok too. For some reason, this is the bar everyone decides they want to be at around 1:30am. I’ve never understood waiting at the door to get into a bar fifteen minutes before last call but I guess it’s a thing.
Ray’s gets extra kudos for what I’ve heard second-​hand about their great treatment of employees. It seems like they go all out for their people with events like their employee Christmas party and summer camp-​out.

So I really didn’t remember eating here a lot when I was in college at Kent, but I knew I had to take my fiancé here when we were in town. I’m so glad I did!
We started with the eggplant dip that was so good. It was flavorful without being overpowering. A great start to our meal.
I had the stuff gourmet burger & oh my god was it good! The onions, cheese, mushrooms everything together was on point!!! Hunny got the bacon cheeseburger and was equally pleased! We decided to split the single order of jerk fries and I’m so glad we did! Fresh cut fries with awesome seasoning, sign me up again!

An institution in Kent. This place has been around forever and for good reason. Great beer choices, great atmosphere, and great food, eclectic mix of college students, parents, professionals and hippies that never left.
Lots of beer on tap and lots of food choices on the menu. Daily specials of soup, quiche, and entrees. I’ve never had anything bad here. Love the mussels for appetizers. Burgers are delicious including the Bleu Cow. Black and blue flat iron steak cooked perfectly. Desserts include chocolate cheesecake, peanut butter pie, and warm brownies. Yum!
Specialty drinks Futher Muckers bring back fond memories of the old upstairs bar, Mothers. The only thing missing is all the young 18 years olds. Any age admitted until a certain hour.

Ray’s = Dying Breed
This place have everything you’d ever need in a college bar and it doesn’t try to be anything it’s not. Don’t forget to come here on your birthday to spin the wheel for your free birthday shot :)

Best beer selection in the area.
Burgers are good.

Contrary to some of the previous reviews, the service was great. Good beer selection. Nice place. The food however was mediocre at best. Burger was overcooked, artichoke dip was watery, eggplant dip was just kinda gross.
Ray’s gets 3 stars since it seems like a great place to get some beers and the place is pretty nice. I just might avoid the food next time if I can.

The food was tasty. The service was not so good. The waiter rushed us throughout our entire meal, even taking away food we hadn’t finished. He made our experience a bit uncomfortable.
The spicy garlic wings are good… try them!

Another Unilocal Success Story!
We were visiting the Kent area as my daughter just got accepted at Kent State. After a great day spent on campus we started looking for a good place to eat and end the day. Rays Place popped up on Unilocal,it was close by, so in we went.
It was on a Friday afternoon, just about ready to hit the dinner rush hour so we were lucky as we only had a 10 min wait or so. In the mean time the smell of the food cooking and watching everyone guzzle down the beers made everything look very promising. Clearly when you walk into Rays, there is no doubt this place has been around for some time and it is well used. Not the cleanest place, BUT, by far not a dump.
The wait staff is energetic, know their way around the menu and provide good tips on what beer to get. We started off with a few appetizers which one could make a meal of just by this menu alone. But, we were in good spirits, having a lot of fun and we stuffed ourselves silly and order some main meals as well and boy they did not disappoint us.
Thank you Rays Place for putting the cherry on the top of a great day!