Ray’s Pizza

Service: (⁵⁄₅)
The workers are kind and can be pretty funny. The food comes out fast and it’s piping hot — in a good way
Food: (⁵⁄₅)
The entire «bread» part of the pizza is nice and crunchy. But not TOO crunchy. It gives that satisfying light crunch every bite you take. If you’re tired of the typical take out pizza style, this is a great place.
Environment: (4.5÷5)
A really cool retro feel. Actually kind of feels like «New York” – even though I’ve never been there.

My boyfriend is a New Yorker that moved to California in his 20s. According to him, this is the most authentic tasting New York style pizza he’s ever had on the West Coast. That’s a win!
I’ve actually never had their pizza, I come here strictly for lasagna! Man is it good. I think it’s about $ 8 with tax for a lasagna, garlic bread, and a small drink. It takes about 5 – 10 minutes for it to be ready, but I’m glad to wait for something so delicious.
The workers are not rude or extremely friendly. They’re very much there to just do their job (which I suppose isn’t a bad thing). I think that’s the only reason why I don’t give this place 5 stars. I’m just a talkative person who has worked in the food industry before. I love having a friendly cashier and maybe a smile from a worker (wow, I’m very cheesy).
Anyways, your food is the bomb. You have a lifelong customer.

I understand the reviews of being cheap and sold by the slice. I understand it being one of very few options in and around UCI that serves decent pizza. But overall I gotta say the product was a little subpar. The crust was undercooked, the toppings sparse, and the overall pizza 3 stars at best. Maybe it was a bad night, maybe it was at 5pm on a Sunday it was off its A game. But for $ 57 for 3 pizzas I expected far better given the reviews. If all you want is slices for a few bucks of decent pizza, fine, but I expect more from my pizza then that, so moving on.

Best pizza in the plaza by far, the pizza is thin and crunchy at the same time .If you’re looking for a good small meal, I would recommend getting Rays special.

I have read many different reviews about Rays. Today I decided to see what I thought of Rays. I dropped by, ordered two slices for just 2.50 each.
The owner, Ray was working behind the counter. He was really friendly and offered a smile.
Once he handed me the small box, I looked inside.
I thought the slices would be soggy, boy was I wrong.
The slices where crispy and flavorful. The texture was great and the pizza was worth eating the carbs.
I highly recommend Rays to any hungry sole looking for a good slice, or the entire pie.

Great Pizza place, the food is excellent and if you are looking for real Italian Pizza this is the place. The restaurant manager Rahmon is great friendly and with great knowledge of iPhone will even fix your phone issue. We had great food and will be their customers for a long time. Eat their delicious salad with a lot of pizza combination. The cheese pizza was amazing.

Ray’s pizza is my favorite pizza in Irvine. The owner Ray is great with all his customers.

Rays makes everyone feel like family slices are great and big pizza is made fresh and pastas and sandwiches awesome

Ray’s is such a find. I love his thin crust; it’s light and crisp. It’s my go-​to place for pizza in Irvine!

My husband and I stopped by to try a slice of this New York pizza joint but weren’t too impressed. We got 2 slices of pizza and a drink for $ 6, but the pizza wasn’t all that big and was probably my least favorite New York pizza I’ve ever had (I don’t even think I should call it that). Better than Digorno but that’s about it. We had a decent time watching a few minutes of Iron Man 2 while eating our respective slice and planning on where to go for a better meal. The workers were very friendly so I would give customer service 5 stars but the food 2.5 stars.

The sandwich wasn’t bad but it was a major turn off when the cashier took money and proceeded to go make a pizza without washing his hands or wearing gloves. I had already eaten the sand which or I would have went else where; very unprofessional and disgusting to say the least.
Never going back!

Very good and friendly environment. I got the special I’m cheese and definitely appealed to my East Coast pallet, crust was almost spot on. Definitely will return.

The prices aren’t bad because the slices are big! I got 2 cheese pizza slices and my bf ordered a medium eggplant sandwich. The sandwich comes with a bag of chips. The only complaint was that the water cup had some dust floating in it and there were no other cups to grab because they hadn’t been refilled in the 30 minutes that we spent there. Limited seating inside with one tv flatscreen tv!

Ray’s is awesome. My boyfriend and I love coming here and always get the special, which is two slices and a small soda for 6 bucks. These are big slices of pizza, I usually can only half finish my second slice, and the bf takes care of the remainder.
I’ve tried the pepperoni, plain cheese, sausage, and hawaiian, love em all. Never too greasy, with a really nice thin crust that has a crispy shattery texture when you bite in. The ratio of cheese to sauce is just right (I don’t have to pull off excess cheese clumps like sometimes happens at Gina’s), and the sauce is nice and savory, it doesn’t have that gross sweetness or metallic taste that too many pizza places seem to have. Always piping hot and fresh, usually we have to let the pizza sit a couple minutes because it just came out of the oven. Yum.
The store is very small, with a nice big TV that’s usually playing sports or MSNBC. They also have some old arcade games, I haven’t checked those out because I usually zone out watching soccer.
Another nice thing about Ray’s is the owner! He remembers everyone and is just the nicest person.

Felt like revising my review based on some recent experiences. My initial review was solely based on the product, which still earns five stars. However, the owner is kind of a dick and it makes me less likely to continue coming here. Maybe it’s from dealing with college students all day but he seems put out by doing his job. I ordered the lunch special last time I was here and handed him a $ 20. He said «you don’t have anything smaller?» The food was seven bucks and change… is it really that difficult to make this exchange happen? So I replied «no I don’t, I can pay with a credit card?» Apparently that was also an unreasonable method of payment because he grabbed the card from me angrily and swiped it. I’m surprised that I wasn’t charged a fee as well.
50c to refill a 12oz drink for a regular customer is pretty insane as well. I wish their pizza wasn’t so good because the experience of coming here is definitely not.

A+ Food and Service.
I’ve been going to Ray’s Pizza for nearly 10 years and I have always been satisfied.
This is authentic New York style pizza (thin crust). Ray uses fresh ingredients and provides a friendly smile. The lasagna is also home-​made and AMAZING (must get with the meat sauce).
They even take AMEX. Most places dont. It’s a small business, so they do have a minimum charge for credits cards, which is posted on the register and completely understandable. They usually break $ 100 bills if they have the change for it. Always paid the correct amount and love using AMEX or cash!
I read the other reviews for this place, and it appears those who dislike this place don’t understand that this is NY style pizza. If you wanted something else, go get it rather than being upset that this place isn’t what YOU wanted. Also, if you’re going to order a small amount of pizza and want change for a $ 100. you’re essentially treating the store as an ATM. That seems like a personal problem. :p
You can order by the slice or whole pie. Ray is personable and great to talk to. It’s nice to be able to walk in and have a down to earth conversation (as opposed to going to say Blaze Pizza where they treat you like an assembly line).
I LOVE THIS PLACE.

Extremely surprised that this is a 4 star pizza place. This place is 3 – 3.5 stars at best. The pizza tasted super bland, as some other Unilocalers have called it «cardboard with ketchup.» It tasted like bread. There isn’t a lot of toppings on the pizza itself so you’re mostly tasting the bread. I ordered cheese and pepperoni.
The prices are pretty good. $ 2.50 per slice, but they have a $ 6 minimum on credit purchases which is pretty lame since you can’t even buy two slices with that.
The two guys at the counter (owners?) were pretty rude and not helpful.

Yummy, freshly made pizza. They sell pizza here by the slice for $ 2.50 and whole pizzas for $ 11+
The crust here is thin and had a nice doughy consistency, but my favorite was the cheese. The cheese on the pizza is amazing (I ended up eating the whole 12′ pizza by myself). It was a little greasy, but nothing a napkin couldn’t soak up.
My girlfriend ordered the lasagna, and the sauce was absolutely amazing, you could really taste the tomatoes. It comes with two slices of garlic bread which compliment the sauce well, all for around $ 8.
Definitely recommend trying this pizza place instead of the generic pizza from dominoes and papa johns, you wont be disappointed. The cost is about average for the pizza, but you can tell the ingredients are good quality, and is apparent in the taste of their foods.

Authentic NY style pizza in the city of Irvine! Famous Ray’s Pizza has found a home in Orange County. One of the Big Apple’s most iconic pizza chains is nestled in a popular plaza — University Center — within walking distance of the UCI campus.
First of all, I find it amusing to read the reviews of the naïve, unqualified and uninformed here (because no one else does and for good reason). (This is both the greatest strength and biggest annoyance about Unilocal: everyone has a voice.) There is no «closest to» or «not quite» New York style pizza. This is the real deal!
I have been to the Original Ray’s on a couple of occasions in New York’s Manhattan and can assure you they are one and the same! They use the same recipe, ingredients and preparation. And all you have to do is ask the owner and former longtime New Yorker (he likes to go by Ray as well). He challenges you to find any difference at all. I certainly could not.
The crust is perfect: made thin, chewy but with that delicate crunch. There is just enough cheese and sauce. The sparsely sprinkled dry mozzarella cheese molds and blends with the sauce, turns ever so slight brown as it melts, not the thick heavy layering of cheese you get and expect with most pizzas. Most importantly, the sauce is also on point: tangy tomato-​ey, subtle sweetness, just the right saltiness and moderately seasoned.
Pizza by the slice includes Cheese, Pepperoni (both $ 2.50), Sausage ($ 2.65), Hawaiian ($ 2.65) and Veggie ($ 2.80). They are generously cut and inexpensive.
There are the usual options to pizzas at this pizzeria, including sandwiches hot or cold, pastas and salads. The opinions on those are somewhat mixed. Who cares?! ‘This is a pizza parlor, eats a pizza pie ya!‘
Perhaps the biggest barometer of good pizza: you will be craving it time and again. Simple but perfect is the New York style pizza. Blue-​collar thin crust pizza done right. These are not those gourmet, award winning pizzas (they almost belong in another category) or the more common Neapolitan pizzas: thicker crusted, heartier and heavily laden with cheese and toppings. It is, however, the pizza you will crave for the most. Few does it like Ray’s and southern California residents are lucky to have a Ray’s Pizza in Irvine — the hub of Orange County.
Awesome Lunch Special Deal: two pizza slices and a soft drink, $ 6!

I came here for the lunch special. You get two slices of either cheese or pepperoni and a small drink for six dollars. They are located in university town center so the location is great. Overall the employee who helped me was very friendly and when I walked in and he offer the lunch special to me because I had never been there before. I will definitely be returning to Ray’s.
They put a little bit of oregano and spices on their slices which is unique and enhances the flavor.