Ray’s Bistro

This new restaurant is sure to become a neighborhood staple. The pizza is the best in the county and the specialty pizzas are truly special. Extremely friendly staff and great selection of Italian classics.

After dining at Ray’s numerous times with both family and friends I want to express my joy at finally having a local eatery where the owners treat you more like friends than customers and where the food is reliably delicious, fairly priced and lovingly and efficiently presented. Everything coming out of the kitchen looks amazing and tastes even better. Christina will do anything in your power to make your dining experience a perfect one. I feel obliged to take issue with the previous reviewer who had the temerity to spew his mean spirited discourse especially since he admitted that the food was very good. His arm was «nearly bruised» when being served his salad ! Give us a break clamshucker and take your «plebian aplomb» somewhere else. We and all of the other happy diners at Ray’s won’t miss you a bit !!!

There is not much of anything bad I could possibly say about Ray’s. I have been countlessly impressed and go here as much as I possibly can. I started going when they were in Green Brook and now that they are closer to my house, I can’t stop going. Garlic knots are amazing and come with your meal along with bruschetta and a house salad. I have yet to be unimpressed and now my family along with myself use this restaurant for all of our family get togethers.

Food is very tasty, and the staff is Friendly and very accommodating. I’ve ordered delivery a few times from them as well and has also come on time and its awesome. They also threw in a salad and garlic knots! Love this place

Since our first visit to Ray’s it’s become «our place». We’ve visited several times now, by ourselves and with friends. Everything we’ve had there has been marvelous! You simply can’t beat the bruschetta with its balsamic reduction. Delicious!
The pasta fagioli was excellent too.
The staff is very efficient, helpful, and friendly. We decided to have my birthday party there a few Saturdays ago. Christina worked with us to make sure the date was available, and then she spent time with us picking the menu, discussing various entrees and how they’d work together.
The day of the party we got there early and Christina and our waitress, Amy, helped decorate.
The bruschetta and garlic knots were on each table, along with the cold antipasto. Dinner was rigatoni pomodoro, flounder with garlic sauce, and chicken francaise. 20 people came to the party and everyone raved about the food.
Christina came by often to check with us to ensure we were happy with how everything was going. Amy made sure glasses were filled, the food kept coming, and everyone had what they needed. They even had a juice box for our granddaughter! Christina and Amy made it easy for us to pay attention to our guests, rather than the venue and the food.
And one added bonus? We took the leftovers home!
We had a great time. We’re so glad we chose to have my party at Ray’s. We would recommend Ray’s to anyone.

My love affair with Ray’s continues.
About a year ago to this date, my fiancée and I tried Ray’s Pizza (in Green Brook) for the first time. We were floored with its quality. I’m happy to report that with our first dinner at Ray’s Bistro yesterday, we feel exactly the same way, all over again.
They start you off with complimentary garlic knots and bruschetta, which in itself is so generous. The garlic knots were what we’ve come to expect from Ray’s — delicious. The bruschetta however, was a big surprise. At other restaurants, too often, we’re served hard bread that scrapes your mouth, or makes the bite sort of difficult and the tomato salad spills all over the place. Ray’s stuff is just right. Lots of crunch, and the bread just sort of collapses in your mouth. It doesn’t end there though. The balsamic. I’ve never had anything like it before — it’s thick and dark, as if it was reduced. The flavor is sweet, and not too tart. The tomato salad is undoubtedly fresh and house made. My fiancée commented that the bruschetta alone would be a great meal or snack, and would order it off the menu if it was an item (not sure if it is). I agree with her.
Next, the fried ravioli app. These are four big-​boy pieces. The fry is as a proper of a fry as it gets! Crunchy, with a great crust, no sogginess, not overdone, not greasy. The breading is nicely seasoned, not overwhelming, not salty, and it just blends in with the ricotta stuffing, which in itself is great. If you opt to use the sauce, it actually makes it even better! I usually don’t like using sauces because sometimes they overpower the food, but in this case, it’s a great complement. I would pay the $ 8 for these over and over again.
Now onto my main — fettuccine alfredo. This dish was an absolute tour de force. It will destroy all challengers in its path. Fettuccine alfredo is my «measuring stick» for Italian places because I’m a fatty and it’s usually on the menu. This is the best I’ve ever had. Firstly, good god, the pasta itself. It’s a beautiful yellow hue, and thick, wide, and very inviting. It’s cooked just right. It’s the best executed pasta I’ve ever had. Easily up there or even better than places like Eno Terra or Due Mari. The sauce coats it just right for each bite (it isn’t slathered in it). You can actually taste the cheese because it isn’t overpowered by salt, and overall it leans subtly sweet, which I liked a lot! It’s just the right amount of creaminess; it doesn’t make you think «whoa, this is a heavy dish». On your first bite, you’ll forget about everything around you for a moment, because it’s that. damn. good. If you get a piece of shaved pecorino romano in your bite, yum, a quick burst of saltiness. I would order this over and over. (I have some leftovers and I’m debating on how to warm it up because I don’t want to ruin it.)
I’m not an expert of tasting food, but I am most certainly an expert of eating food. I will eat here for as long as Ray’s Bistro continues to grace Bound Brook with high-​quality Italian food for fair prices.
Having ordered from Ray’s for more than a year now, starting with Ray’s Pizza in Green Brook, and now with Ray’s Bistro in Bound Brook, I’m convinced of a few things. They’re in love with food. They’re in love with making their customers love their food. They’re obsessed with delighting their customers. And they just do more.

Placed an order online today around 6pm and its just Now getting here @8:20.. I happened to call just before the delivery came and the lady that answered was snobby like come on it’s been 2hrs and no food yet? Pizza comes! And of course not hot just a lil warm.. AND! my order wasn’t even 100% messed up on the pizza toppings… Good pizza though but bad service

Do yourself a favor and skip this place. I went here a few months ago and the food was terrible. Tasted old, stale, and uninspired. Had to throw most of it away which is extremely rare. I’m pretty sure all the positive reviews are family and friends.
This place is not good.

Holy Mother of God…
Zagat quality food for half the price.
Amazing customer service (I felt like me and Ray were BFF after ordering over the phone).
Best Penne & Vodka I have EVER eaten. Order it!
Amazing side salad to start (I seriously don’t even like salad, I ate this one bc so much care was put into making it delicious)
My gf had some linguine dish with clams and shrimp… quality, fresh, large, delicious shrimp
Last but not least — thy surprised us with 2 powdered brownies that blew my mind. I only ate a 3^rd of my meal bc of how much I got but It was amazing.
Ps. Ray is literally the nicest person I ever met.

Ordered from this place about three times to this date. First time I ordered some stuff but the main item was the Chicago Pan Pizza, it was decent. It’s probably just me that I didn’t like how doughy it was but I will order a regular pizza in the near future. However the next two times I ordered their lasagna. It was probably one of the best I’ve ever had. That was enough for me to order the lasagna again a few days later. And anytime I was wondering why delivery was taking a little while (one time it was at least an hour), I would call the restaurant and a very nice lady would answer and would call the delivery person for me. After that they show up shortly. So customer service is also a plus. So for now it will be at 3 stars but when I order that pizza and I like it, expect to see an updated review.

Disappointed!!! Was fooled by the great reviews, but had an unpleasant experience. The only good things were the bruschetta and garlic knots — and no lie they were delicious. The service was slow and I’m being kind here… Servers were not attentive whatsoever and made no effort to make sure we were well served. Had to return the appetizer because there was a long hair in the eggplant rolatini. It took over an hour for our entrees to be served and the food lacked flavor. Not sure if it was an off night, but we will not be returning to find out otherwise!

This is a very nice Italian place. Excellent food, nice service and reasonable price. Must try seafood extravagant, a 3 course dish you can indulge yourself with a lot of food. Make sure you skip your lunch before you order this dish.

Ray’s Bistro is very well done all around and is a great addition to downtown Bound Brook. It’s owners transformed the previously «blaa» space into a classy, clean and inviting BYOB with house made delicious recipes. From the street, the signage is super easy to spot and crowns the lovely brand new brick patio. There is plenty of parking both on and off the street. If you have forgotten to bring wine, no worries. There is a liquor store a couple of doors down with a great selection. The interior is tastefully decorated with small touches, such as a piano and lovely flowers that welcome you as you enter. When dining out, I pay attention to the bathrooms as sort of a barometer for overall cleanliness. The bathroom at Ray’s is simply put, immaculate. It is huge, lovely and dare I say, almost royal!
I tried Ray’s around 7:00 on a Tuesday night. The dining room was about ¾ full. We were seated promptly and our server immediately greeted us, opened our wine and poured it into large gobblets. (I hate it when BYOBs have dinky glasses). The woman who served us was no stranger to the business. She was well dressed, professional and seemed to have mastered the balance between attentiveness and privacy. Now, for the food… Entrée prices ranged from $ 12-​$ 20 and the selections include pasta, chicken, veal and seafood of various types. We had a small plate of garlic knots and bruschetta. Then for an appitizer, we shared a hot antipasto with fried ravioli and eggplant ravioli. The eggplant was out of this world! For my main, I ordered veal sorrentino. A salad is included. I had the house made vinagarette. The dressing was fantastic. I did add a little salt, but I like my salad salty. The veal was very tender and flavorful. It was served over pasta and there was no way I could finish it. This is no doubt a doggie bag kind if place! I will be back for sure, and I look forward to sitting on the beautiful patio in the spring!
Give Ray’s a try. Bring your wine, bring your appetite and enjoy Bound Brook’s new gem!

So I came here for my birthday on a Monday between Christmas and New Years… it was a Monday night and they were able to take a party of 6 (Girasole was too booked). The place is small and during the winter is brisk when the door opens by your table. The service that night was pretty off as it was one server/​waitress/​busboy for the place. Reservation was for 6p and got here on time, finally got dessert by 830p. The food was good but the service was as good as it gets fr one person covering the place. Hard to beat Girasole with all that to take in to account. I would recommend it for the food… but the service needed help us all.

We ordered bruschetta as an appetizer which was light and nice but I think I will explore the menu next time. For dinner I had chicken sorrentino and my husband had veal parm. We both thought our dishes were yummy and would like to explore the rest of the menu. The interior is also quite nice and the staff is very friendly. Great dining experience!

This is the absolutely best food I have had in a long time. Salmon is fantastic the muscles are great and pasta is wonderful.

There is so much to like about this place. Hard to know where to begin. The atmosphere and physical interior is well appointed. Table cloths and napkins a very nice touch. Met James, Rays son. Was beyond friendly and gracious for us coming to his Establishment. The menu had the perfect amount of options without overdoing it. Service was pleasant. The complimentary bruschetta was out of this world yummy. The main dishes were excellent. All pastas home made. The cannolis also home made were Delicious. The prices were reasonable, actually worth more than they charged for the dishes. I recommend highly. Do yourself a favor give this place a try. Tell James, Alan sent you. Thanks to the entire staff.

I heartily concur with the 5-​star ratings of previous reviewers! I’m dining by myself this lunchtime, after an unexpected detour off of route 287 put me on to Route 28 in Bound Brook. Ray’s is an inviting, single dining room eatery nestled between other businesses on this busy strip of road. As I studied the menu, it was obvious that the choices of other diners looked absolutely luscious in beautiful sauces. Grilled chicken-​topped salads were also popular among many of the patrons. They looked appealing, too. However, when I am in an Italian restaurant, I would rather order something traditionally ITALIAN, since one can order a salad with chicken in so many other places. I opted for the Shrimp Arrabiatta (sp?) (sauteed shrimp in a spicy tomato sauce with prosciutto, scallions, and cherry tomatoes). The portions were generous. The server, Philomena (not sure of the spelling), made everyone in the establishment feel like family. It was a great experience, and I look forward to returning with my husband and/​or mom in tow.

Nancy Griffin-​Probst reviewedRays Bistro —
1 hr ·
Warm and inviting atmosphere, great service, nice size portions and most of all, amazing food! One of the parties in our group requested a dish normally made with red sauce in a marsala instead and no one batted an eyelash; DONE. It was delicious, as were the meatballs (coming from a bunch who won’t eat anyone else’s meatballs other than our own/​our old italian relatives)…fought for the last one! Deserts were killer too. Perfect venue for a romantic dinner, fun group outing or a party. Love it here and can’t wait to go back!

Rays bistro is a newly renovated location that would be great for a dinner date with my wife. I was told about piano nights during the weekend. The space looks really clean and inviting. The service and hospitality is through the roof. The proprietors clearly put the customer first.
As for the food… Today, I stopped in after work for a quick bite. I ordered a really decadent salad. It’s presentation was beautiful. I also snacked on bruschetta, which was really fresh and very tasty. I will definitely be back again soon, but next time with my wife.