Ray's Boathouse


Ray's Boathouse is a restaurant at Shilshole Bay on Seattle's Puget Sound shoreline, noted for its seafood and views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. It has been listed as one of the city's top restaurants alongside The Herbfarm, and appeared in 1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die. It is listed as a destination for visitors by Moon Guides, Fodor's, Frommer's and others.
Originally opened in June, 1973 the venue had a refurbishment in 2013.
In 1983, Ray's was one of four restaurants that began serving fresh Copper River salmon for the first time, and is credited with bringing awareness of local food to Seattle's fish consumers. The restaurant also hosted the first restaurant introduction of commercially harvested Olympia oysters, in February 1983, heralding a "comeback" for the species, which had had a total harvest measured in hundreds of gallons a few years earlier.
Prior to being the singer of the rock band Soundgarden, Chris Cornell was employed as a chef at the restaurant.
In 2002, the restaurant was awarded in America's Classics category of the James Beard Foundation Awards.
In 2004, then-executive chef Charles Ramseyer was recognized as one of the nation's most innovative fish chefs by Wine Spectator.