Marlin & Rays

I think the food is good, no its not a 5 star seafood restaurant, but I do think it is better than most are saying. The service does need to improve, but they are friendly, and the problems seem to be in keeping and training a staff. I have had good luck with the steamed choices, and the grilled or blackened fish. I though the peel and eat shrimp were very good. The Marlin’s sizzler was very well reviewed by my wife. I rank it as good as Red Lobster, without any waiting. It’s not as good as Bonefish, but I think it fills a niche as a better choice then the standard chains, TGI Friday, Applebees, and the like.

Red Lobster meets Long John Silvers, with awful slow sit-​down service?
I feel like, after 3 visits, that is where this restaurant sits.
The menu is widespread with fried seafood platters, «specialties» which are usually blackened or grilled, steamed seafood, and a section for the inevitable land lubbers.
The grilled items come in a variety of sauces/​sales, for example, mango salsa on the grilled grouper and lemon butter on the scallops. They are OK, but like I mentioned somewhere less than Red Lobster but above sauces you would get out of a packet in quality. As far as the seafood itself, both the grouper and scallops I had appeared to be reasonably fresh.
Most of the appeal, and much of the emphasis at this place, seems to be on the drinks. The drink menu is nearly as large as the food menu and includes a plethora of cocktails, some including beer. The sole highlight of the beer menu is Anchor Steam, which is available in a tall glass for 3.50 during happy hour.
Unfortunately, during my most recent visit, we were seated at the unbusy restaurant on a Friday night at about 5:00, and although there were numerous servers standing around talking, we sat for 15 minutes without being acknowledged. A waitress even even took an order at the booth next to us, without acknowledging us. After 15 minutes, we got up and walked right back out of the restaurant. One of the 4 hostesses at the front (I suspect two of the employees at the front were busboys flirting with the hostesses) robotically told us «have a good night» like she didn’t even recognize we had come in 15 minutes earlier.
In sum, it’s painful that a restaurant so near my house and with at least one great beer (anchor steam) has such lousy food and service. Maybe I will try the bar next time.

Overall everything was pretty good. I had the steak and shrimp with mashed potatoes. Was well cooked. My wife had marlyns sizzler. Crab cake was all crab! Waitress was good and pleasant. One bad thing was the salad — brown dirty lettuce and little dressing.

We went here before a concert at the Nissan Pavillion to get a quick bite to eat. The only thing my boyfriend liked was the fries. The crab legs were cold and small. At lease the concert was good!

The first time I was here I was like Meh nothin that great and hadn’t been back for some time. Something had me say well let’s give em another try, and so I did
Had the cheesy shrimp dip that was grrreat not sure how it differs from the queso cheese dip but I sure enjoyed it down to the last bite, and! I had chips left over so the definatly give ya enough chips
Then I got the salmon blackened with the cajun cream sauce and I’m not a fish person normally (having fish sticks as a kid kinda ruins it) and I was ganna get the steak but I was like well this is a seafood place so let me go with salmon really good! I was impressed, and I usually say when I like certain things that its hard to disappoint me, well with fish its hard to impress me, but I really enjoyed my dinner :). Hopefully you’ll visit and find something ya like like the cheesy shrimp dip

Really great seafood! At first we were hesitant to try this restaurant because it’s in Manassas BUT I’m glad we did. The restaurant was clean, the atmosphere was really nice, and they have a lot of space for tables. There is free wifi. Our server Jennifer was really nice too. I ordered the blackened tuna with wasabi cream. I ordered the tuna medium rare and it came out just perfect. The portion may look small but it was just right. You have to try their calamari, it was really good. So in a nutshell: clean restaurant, perfect portions, fresh seafood, great service. Plus, most of their alcoholic drinks are only $ 5! We found our new drink spot. My mango mojito was only $ 5 each & so was my husband’s long island ice teas.
Give this place a try.

Once again a great meal. I had the shrimp taco’s and my husband had the fish taco’s. They were awesome. I am pretty selective about my fish taco’s. Haven’t had many that I can say I actually loved. These are a close second to Bonefish. The key lime pie is outstanding. The Sangria is pretty tasty too!

Marlin & Ray’s has closed. Mark at Safe & Sound, across from where Marlin & Rays was said that Ruby Tuesday closed all 22 Marlin & Rays at the same time. Said they were doing doing the business that was anticipated. I guess it was more important to Marlin & Ray to play their music loud and they didn’t care if they had customers or not so now it is NOT. I’m glad they went out of business!!!

Simply fantastic! I absolutely love this place!
It is a derivative of Ruby Tuesday and has the same sort of feel, but in my opinion, the food is much much better. I love their beer mixers (chambord and beer? Sold) and the scallops are pretty tasty and fairly cheap. Service has been fairly good too.

Someone said «Don’t go to the mountains for seafood and don’t go to the beach for steak.» … he was right. And that’s exactly what I was thinking as I was eating my Panko Crusted Grouper smothered in this bland sauce they call pesto cream. I spend a lot of time in Florida on the Gulf Coast where Grouper is the best. I should have known better. The zucchini slices that were supposed to be grilled had been cooked in what must have been a half stick of butter. I should have specified steamed instead. My daughter had the Lobster Tails and they arrived cold. She was so disappointed in the whole experience she didn’t even eat the second one. There is something to be said for a separate butter warmer placed on the table so it stays hot for the entire meal. J had the Sea Bass which he wasn’t impressed with either. I had a bite and I wasn’t willing to trade.
Our server was efficient. He did a good job. He told us all about Ruby Tuesday deciding to go into the seafood restaurant concept. The manager stopped by to check on us. I have to add the place was clean!
I found myself comparing Marlin & Rays to Bonefish. I would rather go to Bonefish and pay a little more for better quality. You really do get what you pay for.

Quite impressive!
They have a great selection of seafood.
Whent there for lunch on a Sunday afternoon.
The Catch Of The Day was Grouper, you get your choice of blackened or grilled.
It was excellent, comes with a more than you can eat salad and a choice of a side.
The service was great, the price was reasonable and the food quality was much better than I expected.
The also have free fish tacos 4p — 6p during the week… ding, ding, ding!

We went to Marlin & Ray’s last night for dinner with friends. I’d read the Unilocal reviews, some good, some bad, but I am a huge seafood fan so I was optimistic that Manassas would have a new casual restaurant.
I liked the atmosphere when we came in. Laid back, nice bar area. Décor was simple and fit the theme perfectly. The booths are a tad on the small side, but that’s just a personal preference. The condiments on the tables were a great variety and clean. (That’s a pet peeve of mine.)
We ordered drinks; all three of us ordered the strawberry mango daiquiri. It was great. We started with the shrimp dip. Lots of cheese, lots of shrimp, but we all found it a bit bland. Would have been nice if it offered a little more kick, not necessarily spice, but more seasoning.
One friend ordered the snow crab legs, she said they were cooked perfectly and tasted great; however they did not offer «crackers» with the legs and instead had pre but each leg and provided a small plastic pick. She was not a fan.
Another got the fish tacos. She said they were good, but not stellar. A little too much topping and not a lot of fish.
I got the blackened scallops. Scallops were perfectly cooked; the cream sauce was a bit heavy, but none the less tasty. My biggest complaint was the lemon. On the side of my plate was a roasted lemon. I originally thought, «oh cool’, however when I squeezed it, it was totally soaked in butter and instead of the fresh lemon juice I was expected, I got a blob of overpowering lemon flavored butter… so next time I know to skip that.
Our server was very sweet, very nice, and very uncomfortable. She seemed very uncomfortable with the questions we were asking and it was just award when she came to the table. At one point, she went to go get the kitchen expediter to answer questions about the food, so I am thinking she may have been brand new.
All in all, I was happy with the food, like I said, the server was very sweet just «new», the atmosphere was good, and the drinks were even better. I recommend it if you are looking for a casual dinner, but if you are shooting for upscale, go elsewhere.

Went there lastweek for lunch to give the new place a try. Overall was a pretty good experience. Theyare obviously still working out some opening kinks, but was impressed with the overall friendliness and vibe from the team there. Nice job with the hiring, for any opening restaurant this is the key building block.
F&B pluses: Queso Blanco Dip, Sangria, Clam Chowda
Negatives: Adult Slushies (super sweeet and syrupy), Chicken Taco’s (looked great to me but FYI they come preloaded up with toppings and sour cream which pissed off my gf since that wasent specified on the menu)
Next time will try: Shellfish combo or Seabass, was lunch so ate lite the first goaround :)
Service and Friendliness alone will bring me back, confident the food will continue to improve.

I am reviewer Donna’s fiancé’. She is a little more generous than I but than again I had the hair in my pasta. I did like the way the manager came over but I would have expected to comp the appetizer or at least my drink to boot. I am not one of those people that go in looking for free food either but fortunately (or unfortunately) the hair was in plain sight when the server bought it to my table so I was able to point it out immediately. Sad thing was that the person who brought it to our table was not our regular server. Our server showed up several minutes later to say that my food was running late and would be up shortly. Apparently there is little communication there as he was not told of my situation.
I did break down and try a piece of popcorn shrimp from my soon-​to-​be step daughter’s plate. I thought it was extremely salty but in fairness I was so put off by server and hair in the food (not hair off of someone’s head either), that maybe I was tainted.
Between the service and food I will definitely not go back. Unfortunate too as they have pretty good prices.

We went here before I went to the movies to see Green Lantern, so I was psyched and pumped for that already, and excited to try out a new restaurant. I went with my husband and my mom. Well the rolls they have are kind of gross tasting. I don’t really like cornbread, and with jalapenos? My husband ate one and it was too hot for him (he can’t take spicy stuff). It would have been different if they were just cornbread muffins, or just jalapeño rolls, but not both! Corn and pepper and cheese does not taste very good. To me, at least.
Our waitress was really nice and helpful, everything came out quickly. I just didn’t like the taste and presentation of the meals. I ordered the fish tacos, they were loaded with sauce and all, but the taste of the actual fish was bland. You have to bite through layers of salsa, sauce, lettuce, to finally GET to the fish. But the fish wasn’t seasoned, I could tell. My mom got the mango tilapia, it was so tiny on her plate that I said «wait…that was $ 13??» She liked how it tasted, but it was just ultra small.
My husband got some fish dish, he thought it was just okay. They loaded too much sauces on it. I mean I’d try it again for sure, they were definitely busy. I just didn’t like how any of the food tasted. Even the fries I had were all gummy tasting.
The waitress did comment on my Green Lantern shirt so that’s a plus, lol! The dessert was tasty but not much of a selection on desserts anyway.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE new restaurants. This was GREAT. Our waitress was very knowledgeable about the menu and had good recommendations. The service was also very fast. I didn’t like the fact that when you order platters you can’t substitute sides, so we ended up having to buy the side of our choice. As a appetizer, I ordered the cheesy spinach dip and it was BOMB!!! I also ordered a Mango Mojito… HATED IT. It had mango chunks floating in it and tasted like water. My friend ordered a plain Mojito after sending her Mango Mojito back and it tasted the same way GROSS. The manager came over, took the drink and brought us out 2 Island daiquiri’s, they were sooo good!!!
Now my only issue with this is the company’s marketing technique. The menu has everything written up nicely, but there are no pictures of the actual meal. I like to see the presentation prior to ordering my meal.
Just in case you’re wondering I ordered the Herb Crusted tilapia with mash potatoes and a side of fried shrimp. I didn’t really like the fried shrimp. You also get unlimited salad with your meal (awkward). They brought it out like they were going to do the Olive Garden deal. Let’s just say that didn’t happen and it looked like a regular bag of salad in a bowl. It definitely didn’t look like someone took the time to put it all together freshly.
We had a few issues with our bill. The drinks that we sent back were still on the bill and they charged my friend something that I’d ordered. All in all the service was GREAT. the other waiters walking around took plates off the table and thanked us as we were leaving. I will definitely be going back… soon, especially for the daiquiri’s and to try something new on the menu!!!

C’mon folks. It’s a seafood chain from Tennessee. Nothing against Tennessee but my mother always told us «Don’t go to the mountains for seafood and don’t go to the beach for steak.» All the negatives of the previous reviews were spot-​on.
The service was laughable although friendly, it was actually very entertaining. Servers were wandering around with trays of food, and drinks and had no clue which table they belonged to. One gentleman, whom we dubbed the Muffin Man kept coming by offering muffins and two minutes later another server came by asking if we were finished with them (wretched little seasoned doughnut holes that they were). They brought our salad, then they thought they had forgotten our salad, then they apologized for forgetting, then they apologized for the apology. Confused but polite and thoughtful. All-​in-​all it was a grand parade of meals and drinks going around the room to any table that looked like it might be hungry or thirsty and then being re-​routed to another unassumiing table which might have been the right one … or might not have been.
Don’t waste your time or money, I’d rather have a Filet-​O-​Fish.

I was disappointed. The highlight of the meal was the clam chowder. It reminded me of the good stuff I had as a little kid. I almost left the restaurant. It took 10 minutes from the time I sat down before my server even came to get my order. They weren’t busy. There was no excuse. The «bottomless salad» was nothing great. The dressing was so salty I couldn’t eat that much of it. I ordered the Salmon Florentine as my entrée. It was good, but also very salty. I was impressed, that the rice pilaf was made out of a brown rice. I think if they reduce the salt in the dressing and improve service, it could be a good addition to the Manassas restaurant lineup.

My fiancé and I have been waiting for this place to open. Somewhere new to eat in Manassas was much needed!
We went here on a Saturday early evening. The wait was 15 – 20 minutes. The line started getting longer and longer. it seems everyone was eager to try this new restaurant out! The hostess was so sweet and gave us a menu to look over and offered to get us a drink while we waited. We got seated in a reasonable time.
We started with some drinks from their $ 5 cocktail menu. I got the Island Daiquiri which was AWESOME! My fiancé got the Blue Marlin. He liked his as well. For our appetizer, we started with the Sweet Chili Shrimp. If you have been to Bonefish before, it reminded us of their Bang Bang Shrimp. The shrimp was hot, fresh and absolutely perfect! As much as we like the Bang Bang shrimp, the Sweet Chili Shrimp at Marlin & Rays is a close second for sure! Our waitress forgot to put in our order for the appetizer so, the table in front of us got theirs before ours even though we were seated a while before them. Before I had a chance to question our waitress where our appetizer was, she came by our table and said she forgot to put our order for our appetizer in and the cooks are making it as soon as possible. She apologized.
It really was busy there. Several different servers kept trying to deliver the wrong food to us. We kept telling them all that it wasn’t our food. I guess eventually they found who it belonged to. I could tell they were overwhelmed. It was a mad house! The bottomless salad was a nice touch but, they could have added some black olivers or pepper to spice it up a bit. The jalapeño cheddar biscuits were good as well. For our second and final drink, I tried the Pacific Punch. Since a description wasn’t listed on the menu, I asked our waitress what was in it and she said she had no idea and couldn’t tell me. I tried it anyway and I should have stuck with a secod Island Daiquiri. It wasn’t that great. My fiancé tried the White Marlin and he LOVED it. I am not a fan of beer but it was really good!
For our entrée, my fiancé got the popcorn shrimp (he always plays it safe!) and I got the fish tacos. My fiancé doesn’t touch coleslaw so, I took his and it was very good! Their shoe string fries were delicious as well. The fish tacos were not as good as I had imagined. They came out cold and just «eh». Nothing to write home about but, nothing so terrible I didn’t eat it. I only ate one taco because everything else was so good! I was dying to try their Key Lime Pie though and I am glad I did. It was so great! I recommend it for sure!
Even though the service wasn’t amazing and it was a tad loud, we were in no rush and understood why it was so crazy. I think (and hope) this place will stay. It was very good and we will go back for sure!

I’ve been looking forward to launch day and it so happened to be on my birthday. Anyway, the place is really cozy, the drink selection is really nice and the staff was top notch; however, the food was unspectacular.
The house bottomless salad was average lacking any signature like someone above said. The free muffins were pretty good, but a little overly cooked. I had the fish tacos because I’m always trying to catch that moment I had on the west coast when I fell in love with fish tacos. The fish was excellent, the taco was excellent, the underlying sauce was excellent, then they ruined it by smothering sour cream on the top. Oh well. The fries that was served along side the fish tacos where thin and overcooked. My girlfriend got the cajun chicken pasta for she doesn’t like seafood. She said it was salty.
With the above said, I will not hesitate in trying it again. I will skip the fish tacos and try one of their signature fish dishes. Good luck to those involved with the restaurant. Hopefully they use the reviews to their benefit.