Ray’s Candy Store

Lou Reed wrote a song called «EGG CREAM». Make mine vanilla please. All those tools giving this classic spot 1,2,3 stars is not a local, did not grow up in the city, and has no clue… You want old school Alphabet City grit, Ray’s is your place. Ray’s has been around for decades (40+yrs) serving up classic ny egg creams, icecream, candy, zeppolies (aka beignets), belgian fries, and other greasy fried snacks to the masses ²⁴⁄₇. Yeah it’s a hole in the wall. Yeah it’s NOT gourmet. Yeah it’s old school. That’s the point. Don’t come here and expect gourmet anything. If you want gourmet take yourself to some new fancy pants icecream shop and spend your big bucks there. «Truth, justice, and the comics» is what you’ll get from Ray ;-)

This place is literally a hole in the wall. However, once you step inside, you’ll see there no shortages for options. My friend’s friend ordered the strawberry soft serve. Despite its off-​putting pink color, the ice cream was delicious. I felt bad for her friend because she had to share that one cone with the four of us LOL. I wish Ray served waffle cones for his soft serve instead.

Don’t Let Your eyes Wonder Around This Place Its Dirty And Hasn’t Been Clean Since It Opened !
Now If You Get Past That This Place Is Really Good Ray is The Nicest Guy In The World And Loves Everyone
Ice Cream– Good
Egg Cream — Really Good
Zeppoles — Perfect !
Fried Oreos — Hard To Mess Up lol
ALL IN ALL — Pick Me Up Something From Here Bro… My Eyes Mess With My Head
A Must Try ! But Only If… lol

There’s really not much good to say about this place. Ordered «beignets» lets face it they’re just small zeppoles which I was really enjoying until I bit into a completely raw one. So deceiving until u bite into it and liquid batter comes out. Also got a peanut butter shake which was very large and not that great. Took about 3 sips and threw it out. Honestly I can’t stop thinking about the fact that I ate raw zeppole batter. I had high hopes for this place and I feel bad because the sweet old man working there was so kind. But I won’t be back.

I’ve been going to Ray’s for a number of years now and I love this place. Ray is an incredibly sweet man running a 24-​hour sweets shop in Alphabet City who has equally lovely people working for him. The shop has been around for decades and is still going strong. The place is a hole-​in-​the-​wall with tons of paper signs listing the prices of all the food you could get at Ray’s. Is it fancy? Hell no. Is it awesome? Hell yes.
Ray serves a variety of sweets and treats, my favorites being the fried oreos, beignets, fries, and milkshakes. Everything is made fresh and always hits the spot. The fries come with ketchup in a cup as a free topping, but Ray has tons more condiments to choose from for just 50 cents extra. I would suggest trying his sweet curry sauce, it’s pretty damn good and a nice change from the usual ketchup.
The fried oreos are 6 for $ 3.50 and the beignets are 6 for $ 3.50 as well. Although, every time I’ve ordered them, Ray and his generous staff always throw in a few extra for good measure. All in all, if you’re in the Alphabet City and have a hankering for some good fried food and friendly atmosphere, drop by Ray’s, you won’t be disappointed.

Wow what a disappointment. After seeing so many yummy pictures and reading rave reviews I was pumped to get some ice cream after dinner.
Pistachio soft serve was a let down. Ordered a cone… Received a giant mass of green dripping goop. It was dripping everywhere as soon as he gave it to me and it was literally sliding off the cone.
The ice cream tasted odd and made by tongue tingle.
But I will be back to try the other goods…

Ray is way too adorable and sweet! I tend to love when stores seem more old-​timey so the inner décor was definitely my taste! I had egg cream for the first time there! A woman was there with her son so my friend and I asked her what an egg cream was and ultimately, decided to try the chocolate egg cream! Addicting! We also tried the beignets and they came out hot and so so good.
Ray seems to really love his store and you can really tell from his spirit that he treats his customers very well so they just keep coming back. Oh and let me tell you, the amount he gives for the amount you pay is so so worth it. He is just too kind! My friend and I saw someone buy an order of fries and it was huge! Definitely coming back again and bringing a friend as well! :D

Ray is adorable. I was so tempted to give him all of my money. I really liked the quote on his wall where he says, «I have no family. My customers are my family.» It makes me so sad to see such an old man (he’s 83) still working so hard but I’m also incredibly humbled by this man’s work ethic and compassion. Ray knows almost every customer who comes in and genuinely seems to love his job and this store.
I ordered the beignets, fried oreos and pistachio soft serve in a cup. While the pistachio ice cream didn’t taste like pistachio, it was still good soft serve. The beignets and oreos were dope; I totally would come back for these.

RAY IS SOO CUTE AND nice ! I walked by and was like oh I found it and he was like «hi I love you» or something idk if I misheard. BUT LOVE the chocolate cream as the fried dough:0 the fries look amazing and SOO WORTH for only 5 $ you get this HUGE portion of fries! Go visit this shop! So cheap for what u get and also ²⁴⁄₇! There is no tax. Very small shop so it’s a grab and go! The soft serve is HUGEE def share it with someone !
Good service and junk food give it a go ! Also hotdogs if u don’t want sweet stuff.