Ray’s
Bar · Lower East Side ·
Dive bar vibe with disco ball, pool table, craft cocktails
Dive bar vibe with disco ball, pool table, craft cocktails
"Opened by my friend Carlos Quirarte, me, and a few others, this Chrystie Street bar hits every phase of a great night: in the afternoon it’s pretty dead and perfect for being moody or getting stuff off your chest, at sunset it perks up for a locals’ happy hour, and later the rails come off and people get wilder; by last call you’ve likely had a memorable night, too much whisky, and may question some life choices—pro tip: don’t do all three in the same day, choose two and go home; there’s also a truly great burger, a pool table, free toilet paper, and blessed A/C, plus the jukebox has been busted for a while and the floors aren’t too sticky." - Edward Barsamian
"Ray’s looks like somewhere the main character in a 1980s movie would get into a bar fight. This fight would obviously involve at least one pool cue, and at the end, the protagonist would have a beer and attempt to treat a black eye with a raw steak. That’s the feeling we get when we see the jukebox, disco ball, red vinyl bar stools, and wood-paneled walls. Despite its appearance, Ray’s only opened a couple years ago, and, while there is a pool table, fighting is not allowed. It’s almost guaranteed to be busy here no matter when you come. Consider this fact to mean a higher likelihood of meeting someone you’ll introduce to your roommate too soon into your courtship." - hannah albertine, nikko duren
"Let's go to Ray's," said every single person on the Lower East Side at some point in the last two years. This place might look like your average faux-retro neighborhood dive (that isn't really a dive), but it's actually a small clubhouse where you pack yourself in next to others and drink a tequila soda. One of the owners was a cast member of Succession, and you'll probably see people trying to spot him. But it's not like you care. All you want to do is enjoy some whiskey and french fries under a framed picture of dogs playing pool. (Right?)" - bryan kim, hannah albertine
"Ray’s is a three-minute walk from Bernie’s, which means that after mozzarella sticks at the sceniest restaurant in Greenpoint, you can go have a nightcap at the sceniest bar in Greenpoint. The second location of this faux dive bar looks exactly like its Lower East Side counterpart, with curved booths, wood-paneled walls, and a disco ball. Someone who could be distantly related to Timothée Chalamet will make your espresso martini, and on your seventh sip you might feel emboldened to make a name for yourself at the pool table." - bryan kim, neha talreja, kenny yang, willa moore
"[Their burger] just has that diner-y feel. It's on a potato roll which lends to a little bit of sweetness. It's perfect in its simplicity. The patty sticks right out of the bun. You know how when you're eating Lucky Charms and you're like, 'Oh, I gotta get through the crunchy stuff to get to the marshmallows?' With this, you get that beef in that first bite and by the end of it, you're so satisfied that you'll just eat whatever parts of like the bread are there. It soaks up all the juices at the bitter end too. So you get the beefy first bite and then you get the fatty, beefy, juicy potato bun-y sweet end. And they fully overcook it a little in a good way where the cheese is all just fully melted, covering every single crevice of the patty." - brennan carley